[damager]

Hey y'all!

I'm gunna be blacking out my bike... Thought i'd start with the pipes. The first thing I did was call Harley (which was stupid) and apparently I can't get blacked out header pipe heat shields. Well, correction - I can, but only in the BUCKSHOT style, which I don't want. And I told the dude... "but... I've seen Fat Boy's with black heat shields!" and he told me yeah, but Harley does NOT make em for SPORTYS!

So, blackout process... HALTED! at the first step. hahaha

I'm gunna try the twin slash black mufflers... but, they would DEFINITELY look silly with chrome header pipe shields. The guys at Harley recommended I powder coat mine with black ceramic.

Is this good advice? or should I grab the buckshots and suck it up?

 

[Kainam]

I had these pipes ceramic coated with Jet-Hot long before V&H started offering black coated pipes.

 

[02sportytex]

Take your existing shields and get them either powder coated or ceramic coated.


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[Zeta7]

If you scuff'um up good you can also paint'um.....lots of good heat paint out there. Textured, flat, glossey, semi gloss....

 

[Gampa]

One of the guys that hasn't been on for a while used black plastidip on his pipes and it worked well. Cheap experiment if you want to try that. I found his picture of the pipes.
http://www.harley-davidsonforums.com/forums/members/99057-bookers_lost-albums4674-bike-picture12578-blacked-out-plastidip.html

 

[Thunder~Struck]

If you scuff'um up good you can also paint'um.....lots of good heat paint out there. Textured, flat, glossey, semi gloss....

+1
Done right with quality high-temp paint they will look good hold up very well.
But if you got the $$$ then ceramic or powder is the way to go.

 

[Zelrick]

+1 on coating them, it's cheap and lasts. Powder would probably be fine for the shield, of course, ceramic would be better.

My local coater would probably do powder for ~$50, including the sand blasting.

 

[DynaKid]

I used some VHT high temp paint on exhaust parts before and when baked on, it's near impossible to get off. I haven't been able to find it in stores but it can be ordered online. It's much better than any other high temp paint, and I've tried a few.
But I would prefer powder coating or ceramic coating over paint.


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[Zeta7]

I used some VHT high temp paint on exhaust parts before and when baked on, it's near impossible to get off. I haven't been able to find it in stores but it can be ordered online. It's much better than any other high temp paint, and I've tried a few.
But I would prefer powder coating or ceramic coating over paint.


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VHT is availible at your local auto parts stores, it's the one i use most.

 

[damager]

WOW. This is all awesome info. And SO MUCH more than I got outta the guy at the dealer.

Can't believe that Plastidip. Man!

I'm definitely going to go with the ceramic coat if I can find someone around here cheap enough. I DID hear from one dude that it flakes after a couple years, but we'll see.

While we're on the topic - I'm interested in going with one of the Harley "denim" colors for the rest of the bike, either the green or the black. Does the Harley denim paint have it's own specific primer that I'd have to buy along with it? or some kind of special clear coat that has to go with it? In other words, I can't simply buy the denim paint, bring it to the painter, and say "here ya go see ya in a week!"

can i? I'm assuming not. haha

 

[Kainam]

WOW. This is all awesome info. And SO MUCH more than I got outta the guy at the dealer.

Can't believe that Plastidip. Man!

I'm definitely going to go with the ceramic coat if I can find someone around here cheap enough. I DID hear from one dude that it flakes after a couple years, but we'll see.

While we're on the topic - I'm interested in going with one of the Harley "denim" colors for the rest of the bike, either the green or the black. Does the Harley denim paint have it's own specific primer that I'd have to buy along with it? or some kind of special clear coat that has to go with it? In other words, I can't simply buy the denim paint, bring it to the painter, and say "here ya go see ya in a week!"

can i? I'm assuming not. haha

Ceramic coatings do not flake.
Thunderheaders are Jet-Hot coated from the factory... I've had mine for going on 8 years now I'd say.

HD denim paints are just regular paints, just powder coated a matte clear as the final stage vs the glossy powder coat of the non denim colors.


You can also buy an automotive matte clear that will give the same effect.

 

[Thunder~Struck]

Kainam should be able to confirm or deny. But a properly prep`ed and done ceramic job should last a long time.

 

[Kainam]

Kainam should be able to confirm or deny. But a properly prep`ed and done ceramic job should last a long time.

Yup!

:thumb

 

[02sportytex]

I powder coated my heat shield for the cross over pipe and that's been 3 years ago now; no flaking. Ceramic is even better. If your buddy's flaked it was most likely due to poor prep and execution on whoever performed the job. Powder is good up to 220 degrees if I remember correctly.

I could be wrong but I think the denim paints don't have a clear coat at all on them. If you repaint definitely put a matte clear coat on that way if you get a scratch you can buff it out of the clear then touch up the clear back to matte finish (at least that is what I've been told you can do).


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[Kainam]

I could be wrong but I think the denim paints don't have a clear coat at all on them.

Nope.

HD denim paints are just regular paints, just powder coated a matte clear as the final stage vs the glossy powder coat of the non denim colors.


You can also buy an automotive matte clear that will give the same effect.

 

[damager]

Well - i found a local place that does ceramic coating. I asked him about the black, and he said no problem at all. But it's gotta kind of be "broken" in apparently.... He recommended running the bike for like 5-10 minutes after the ceramic coats were put on, let it cool, do it again. Then the next day, run it for 15-20 minutes, let it cool, do it again. Apparently this helps with the longevity of the ceramic and makes sure that it takes properly.

ACCORDING to HIM, anyways.

So I'm gunna run those down this week! I'll post some before and afters! weehoo!

 

[Thunder~Struck]

Well - i found a local place that does ceramic coating. I asked him about the black, and he said no problem at all. But it's gotta kind of be "broken" in apparently.... He recommended running the bike for like 5-10 minutes after the ceramic coats were put on, let it cool, do it again. Then the next day, run it for 15-20 minutes, let it cool, do it again. Apparently this helps with the longevity of the ceramic and makes sure that it takes properly.

ACCORDING to HIM, anyways.

So I'm gunna run those down this week! I'll post some before and afters! weehoo!

Sounds reasonable. Likely has to do with the bonding process.
Keeping in mind the expansion\contraction of items when they heat and cool off.....
And we all know how hot our pipes can get.

 

[ggruber]

If you scuff'um up good you can also paint'um.....lots of good heat paint out there. Textured, flat, glossey, semi gloss....

I find a light sand blasting is better than trying to scuff chrome.

 

[mojodad]

I had these pipes ceramic coated with Jet-Hot long before V&H started offering black coated pipes.

I just now noticed your hp & tq in your signature. Is that on the 88ci ?
Impressive my friend, impressive!

 

[Zelrick]

Jon Deere blast black is very close to HD Denim( and cheap), matte black powder coat is better.

My bike will be getting matte black powder when it collects a few more blemishes in the factory paint.