CermaChrome by Bright Hot for Headers - An Experiment

Got my header pipes back from Caps Coatings in Fresno Ca. They were coated with ' CermaChrome '.

"CermaKrome is a metallic ceramic coating that polishes to a near chrome like finish. This coating will withstand over 1300f base metal temperatures. This coating can be applied to any metallic part (except magnesium) that can withstand the curing temperature of 500f. CermaKrome not only enhances the appearance of your headers and engine parts it dramatically increases performance. No other coating can stand up to the elements like CermaKrome."

Not so much interested in 'dramatically increasing performance" as I am in reducing exhaust temperatures saturating the radiator due to changing from dual wall to single walled header pipes. Supposedly the ceramic coating is much better at keeping heat internal, even better than header wrap.

That's all I have for now. Fresno is about 110 miles away, but 'the guy' was traveling to Paso Robles with family for Moms day, so I offered up gas money and brought them to me. They are still in the trunk, LOL. 

Initial, brief review is they look great. A hard visual will follow. Price was $311. These are for a DG 6-1 system.

More to come.

  jet hot coatings   is another one famous for header coatings.
  Eastwood   also has an option that I bought to internally coat a set of DG pipes  ($17.00)  

Cerakote  has a coating option for piston crowns that looks interesting as well. I'll be "experimenting" with this as well.

2023-05-15 Caps Coatings for KZ1300Original estimate was $458.. so at $311 it's a deal. Aaron at Caps stated he thought these would be like a car header, all one piece.. more difficult than 6 discrete pipes.

This is IMPORTANT! Before firing up, headers MUST be cleaned with iso alcohol to remove finger prints which will etch into coating with heat.

The procedure..

Not AS shiny as chrome. However, if they reduce heat into radiator, I'll settle!

Close up view.. Not as smooth as chrome..

Reality is, once a few hundred miles pass by, the headers wil be dirty and no one will notice!

That's all I got.. for now.

Just a thought. I chose to go the Eastwood route because the ceramic coating goes on the inside of the pipe. My thinking here is that the ceramic coating acts like a heat barrier preventing the heat from dissipating through the coating so the heat will be retained in the exhaust gases for the most part. Now my speculation is that with the ceramic coating on the outside of the pipe, the heat will conduct into the pipe itself and not radiate through the ceramic coating and I suspect that the pipes will get really hot and not dissipate any heat because of the coating although the ambient temperature around the outside of the pipes will be 200-300 F cooler than no coating at all.
As I remember it Jot Hot coatings coats both the inside and outside of the pipes thus keeping the header cooler on the outside and keeping the exhaust gases as hot as possible for better exhaust extraction. Ceramic coating the outside of the header is reportedly a great way to minimize rusting of the header and depending on which coating used, there are multiple finishes available in a variety of colors and gloss finishes. Jet Hot is not cheap. I think it was around $700 USD to do a 6 pipe header.

I've had a set done for about a decade now , and they have been quite satisfactory. Main reason being -finding a chrome plater to re-chrome sooty exhaust headers was near on impossible. And this coating is about half the cost of chrome.
But --- mine too has the orange peel  finish and the dull alloy look.
They were supposed to be coated on the inside as well, but how could that be verified. And as they are the oem header pipes, was both sides of of both pipes coated. ?  And whether the coating actually helps in stopping heat radiating off the header , well , how could that be measured ?
But it is a good second option to either new stainless headers or finding someone to re-chrome the old ones if the primary goal is to improve the appearance.

Kawboy wrote:

Now my speculation is that with the ceramic coating on the outside of the pipe, the heat will conduct into the pipe itself and not radiate through the ceramic coating and I suspect that the pipes will get really hot and not dissipate any heat because of the coating although the ambient temperature around the outside of the pipes will be 200-300 F cooler than no coating at all.

 

Interesting thoughts, thanks for the input. Had been in contact with Jet Hot, and yes, they are $$$. Didn't know about the interior coating. How would they do that and get even distribution of product along interior header length? (Down another rabbit hole!)

I don't care what happens to these headers. If they melt down like a reactor with out water, that's ok too! I'm not in love with DG 6-1 system.... and have slowly but surely been acquiring oem header with bung holes which I'll attach a nice silencer to. So I can change the rear tire without dropping shocks.

In the meantime, as all projects take time, I'll give this a try.