Painting exhaust pipes

I am just curious what every ones experience is with painting exhaust pipes. I painted a set of pipes before with VHT paint and still had wrinkling and peeling after they got hot. Maybe I am missing a vital step somewhere or something I just don't know about. Whats your method?

 

Scuff them up good and then paint.

Did you use the right VHT paint? They have different temp ranges.

Did you cure it properly?

 

what would be the proper cure?

 

Depends on the paint you bought.

The last can I used said something about baking it in an oven or run 20 minutes, cool, run 20 minutes, cool, ride 30 minutes, cool, done.

 

If it were me i would start it up run it for a very short time let it cool do it a little longer each time . It will not take 30 sec to get the head pipes very hot you do not want the paint to blister if it is not dry before starting. As it is curing it will become tacky and road grit will stick to it. The major downside to painting is it will chip easy even roughed up

 

I've painted both roughed up chrome (was long past salvation) and unfinished metal expansion chambers and used BBQ paint for both which worked great! The uptick is that you can hang newspaper to block off unwanted parts from being painted and you can touch them up a year later without removing them from the bike. Just wash them with trisodium phosphate or other industrial strength cleaner to remove any and all oils and fingerprint first, then hang to dry and paint in place. I've never "cured" them in an oven but it doesn't sound like a bad idea and I've heard that with epoxy paints, its a required step in the process.

jeff

 

My only advice, with the little experience I have, is that VHT paint is the best stuff for the job.

I tried a couple of others and they were flaking within a week.

Get the high heat VHT, follow the curing directions carefully, and it should stay pretty solid.

 

I just sandblasted both headers today, will be painting with VHT paint, can I cure them, or start the curing process with a heat gun blown into the pipes ??

I'm not putting them in my oven - toxic fumes !

 

Dont blame you they really stink up the house. You might want to give the whole thing a heat up with a hair dryer. heat gun in the pipe sounds kind of extreme you will only heat the top of the pipe. If you do try to only get the heat inside the pipe not sure what will happen if you cure it from the outside and inside at the same time i would hate to see it dry inside and outside at the same time and leave in between soft. Even if you decide to put it on the bike and cure it after you run it a few times and the semi goes away. Its still gonna stink every time you ride it for a few days. If you can stay away from dirt and grit for a few days sometimes it sticks. But anyway you cure it will work Its 1500 degree paint right

 

Yes, the good stuff !

My plan "B" was to build a fire, suspend the pipes over the fire, monitor the progress with my IR thermometer (with LASER!)

I'd rather use a heat gun.

 

I did it on my 650 with VHT 2000 degree flame proof Flat black.



Scuffed em clean with a brown sctoch brite wheel. Ospho'ed, dried. washed with Dawn, dried, Painted, 3 coats, Dry over night, installed on bike, cure by rideing the bike around for 3 20 min trips,

No flaking so far.