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Painting the heat shields

6K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  Bubba in TX 
#1 ·
I would like to paint part of the heat shields with black. Has anybody done it or know a place to do it?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
#2 ·
heat shields



I haven't thought of doing that, but if I did decide to, I would have them powdercoated or better yet, ceramic coated. Ceramic coating dissipates heat rapidly. Supposedly, 10 minutes after shutting off the bike, you can grab the pipes bare handed because they're already cool.
 
#6 ·
I painted mine with Rustoleum BBQ paint bout 9 months ago. It was rated at 1200* F. I pulled the shields, sanded and painted them in the shed.

At first the paint wasn't very durable and I scuffed it putting them back on. So I touched it up by resanding and stuffing paper behind it in place. I was careful then not to get on it with my boot heel till I road the bike a good while. After the pipes got heated up throughly the paint fully cured and it's held fine now ever since.

The paint has ceramic particles in it and it doesn't hold good till they heat and melt down. Also what ever you are painting over make sure it's sanded thoroughly before painting. Doesn't have to be a deep coarse grit but it does need to be sanded everywhere for it to grip.

BTW my shields are Vance & Hines and they were powder coated new. But the powder started to fade a funny color as they got older (my bike is an 07) so I painted them a gloss black.

Here's a pic (excuse the battery cover I had off)
 

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#15 · (Edited)
I painted mine with Rustoleum BBQ paint bout 9 months ago. It was rated at 1200* F. I pulled the shields, sanded and painted them in the shed.

At first the paint wasn't very durable and I scuffed it putting them back on. So I touched it up by resanding and stuffing paper behind it in place. I was careful then not to get on it with my boot heel till I road the bike a good while. After the pipes got heated up throughly the paint fully cured and it's held fine now ever since.

The paint has ceramic particles in it and it doesn't hold good till they heat and melt down. Also what ever you are painting over make sure it's sanded thoroughly before painting. Doesn't have to be a deep coarse grit but it does need to be sanded everywhere for it to grip.

FYI, for future reference if you have to coat another pipe, assuming for the moment that the particular BBQ paint you had is capable of the stated temps, which most aren’t, it would never stick with that type of prep.

The part needs to be chemically or thermally cleaned before you do anything to it. Then it should be profiled via blasting media. Sanding the part down or scuffing it with scotch bright in most cases is actually smoothing the surface which is the opposite of what you want. The coating needs to bite into something in order for it to hold.

As for the “ceramic particles” that VHT and some BBQ paints claim to have in them, this is mostly BS. They’re jumping on the preverbal “Ceramic Coating” band wagon. The curing or melting process you’re describing is for setting the paint resin itself, not for the ceramic. You’re never going to melt a ceramic particle Unless you have access to about 3000F-4000F+….

If your parts are prepped properly, even some of the DIY paints can work for a bit…… The key to success is the prep and the cure…… If either of these is off, it's going to fail…….

CCPcoatings.com
 
#10 ·
My next investment is to take the shields off and have the ceramic coated to try and match the motor, black of course
 
#19 ·
That Muzzy pipe looks very good. Did you coat that one?

I like chrome as much as the next guy, but sometimes I think the manuf. puts way too much on for stock appearance. Riding my Voyager around noon just about fries my retinas out from the sun off all the chrome. Way too much in front of you. It has the most stock chrome on any large scoot I have ever owned.

Don't get me wrong... it all looks great, but for me it is a tad too much. I would like to replace the chrome metal tank bib with a black one as I have not found a decent leather one yet, and the speaker grills from chrome to black. I don't know if the speaker grills could take the heat of ceramic coating. I don't know what an anodize process would take. But paints just don't hold up.
 
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