| Author | Message | ||
     Trevd |
My dealer has received my replacement muffler under warranty to replace my rusty one, and I'm now faced with the decision of what to do with it - Either have them install it as is, or get it ceramic coated first, and then installed. I've checked with the only place I could find locally that does ceramic coating, and they want $150 to give it a ceramic coating good for 2000 degrees. That price seems a bit steep to me, so I'm wondering if it's worth it. I plan to keep my bike forever I think, and I like the stock exhaust, so I can't see getting an aftermarket one anytime. For those of you that have gotten your mufflers ceramic coated - Are you happy with it? Any issues? | ||
| Rkc00 |
Get it done. I paid more than that.  | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
 I paid $125.. definitely worth it. I noticed a much bigger reduction in temperature than with the fiberglass wrap I had before. I plan on getting the Uly muffler waranteed this winter and ceramic coating everything at the same time on that bike. | ||
| Jjr1125 |
I had the muffler ceramic coated silver for the Uly and it cost me $105. I did the same thing for the 1125R and it was a little less. i have been very happy with the results so far. They are much easier to clean. | ||
| Crusty |
For Christmas of '07, my wife gave me a gift certificate to Jet-Hot to have my exhaust coated. I had both the headers and muffler done in flat black. When I traded the bike in, 15,000 miles later, the coating still looked as good as it did when new. I think ceramic coating is worth the expense. (Message edited by Crusty on June 03, 2011) | ||
| Trevd |
Does anyone know if there's a heat difference if a muffler gets coated in black or in silver? I read somewhere that the black will transfer more heat... | ||
| Al_lighton |
The silver coating has an emissivity factor about 1/3 that of black. The emissivity factor is a linear term in the radiation heat equation. What this means is that a silver pipe will radiate 1/3 of the heat of a black pipe. Color makes no difference in the conduction and convection heat equations, but the predominant heat transfer mechanism from the exhaust system to your frame and leg is radiation, due to the temperature differences and thermal paths. Black might look better on some bikes, but silver absolutely works better. But don't take my word for it, I'm just a parts sales guy  Al | ||
| Kip |
I have been very happy but I went with the classic blue. It used to be an option on older Buells. It is a flat color so it does not clean up as well as the silver does. | ||
| Metaldude |
I had my muffler ceramic coated black and I'm not completely sure if I'd recommend it. It looked completely awesome the day I got it, but it is prone to scratching. When I went to hook up the actuator valve cable, I grazed the muffler and it made a slightly gray / silver scratch. I'm not sure if it scratched the ceramic coat and now exposed the undercoat or if the gray line is actually metal that wore off the valve cable. It's really faint, but of course it sticks out to my eyes. Question to others that have gotten their muffler ceramic coated black, did that happen to you? Or did I get a sub-standard treatment? Looking at the pictures of people that have theirs done in silver, this doesn't seem to be a problem.... | ||
| Trevd |
Al, Not sure if other ceramic coatings are different, but the place I brought mine to today uses a black topcoat on top of the silver. Are you saying that the black would still radiate more heat? Even if base layer is the same? I told them to do it in black, but now I'm not so sure... | ||
| Svh |
If it is for the muffler I wouldn't worry about it being black and radiating heat unless you plan on doing your headers as well and want the system to be one color. I like the look of the black better than silver but I have no experience with either. Yet. | ||
| Al_lighton |
Emissivity is a function of color, surface finish, and even the material itself. It, like many factors in practical scientific equations, is an empirically derived value determined by doing a lot of testing. A decent explanation of the term is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissivity To get an idea of how much the factor varies, see the table here: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/emissivity-coeff icients-d_447.html Note that there is a similar linear term in the equation as well, absorptivity, that determines how well the radiated heat will transfer to the sink from the source. See http://www.taftan.com/thermodynamics/RADIAT.HTM . As one might expect, shiny silver surfaces have low absorptivity factors, dull black surfaces have high absorptivity factors. That's why it is a very good thing to not only coat your header with SHINY SILVER ceramic coating, but also to line your frame with heat barrier material like this: http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-p rodshow/16130.html . The combination of both can really reduce frame temperatures. Al (Message edited by al_lighton on June 03, 2011) | ||
| Trevd |
Al, You're really working my feeble mind with this stuff... I believe you, but I do have a hard time understanding how a muffler ceramic coated silver will put off less heat than the same muffler ceramic coated silver, with a black paint on top of it. As it's leaving the muffler, how does the heat know what color is on the outside of the muffler? I guess I'll just put this down as yet another one of those things that I don't completely understand. I'm also concerned about Metaldude's experience with the black scratching. If the black paint is going to scratch and have a bunch of silver scratches all over the place, I maybe might as well stick with the basic silver... | ||
| Crusty |
I won't comment on the Black vs Silver thing; but I will say that the black Jet-Hot ceramic coating on my '06 Uly muffler and headers looked really good and withstood stones, sand and other road debris for over 15,000 miles. I think that it would have looked like crap if the coating scratched easily. (Message edited by Crusty on June 04, 2011) | ||
| Al_lighton |
As Seth said, it isn't as big a deal for the muffler, as the temperatures are a bit lower there, and the view factor for the muffler to your leg and frame is less significant. Take an otherwise identical black car and a white car, and put them in the sun. Which one gets much hotter? That's the absorptivity difference of color only. But an interesting anecdote...take a flat black piece of metal, and a shiny chrome piece of metal, and put them in the sun for a long time. The black metal will get much hotter faster. But eventually, the chrome piece of metal might get even hotter. Even though the absorptivity of the black bumper is much higher, it also has a much higher emissivity, so it can also shed heat better as it gets hotter. But the chrome piece of metal has such a low emissivity, it may not be able to shed it's heat as effectively. It all depends on the view angles and temperatures of nearby sinks and the other heat transfer mechanisms (convection and conduction). See http://www.coe.montana.edu/me/faculty/sofie/teachi ng/me360/Pyrometry%20Emissivity%20Notes.pdf (page 12). Al | ||
| Eulysses |
My warranty is up July 3. So I hit up Renton WA Harley and Latus in Portland (both Buellers for as long as it lasts) and both said no deal on muffler rust being covered. Fine then! So a powder coat/ceramic coat shop in B'ham will do either silver (thanks Al) or black for $100 after sandblast prepping. Throw in pipes for another $80-100. This is good. If the silver (used to do it on expansion pipes for snomo engines...keep the heat in and improves perf) keeps heat in and out the tail pipe instead of cooking me and bike...I will get used to the silver look. Hey...maybe black over silver would do the same thing! Al? | ||
| Dmmblaze |
Any pics of your old rusty muffler? I am curious to know what is needed to get a rusty muffler replaced under warranty. It seems like a hit or miss kinda thing with very little guidelines... | ||
| Crusty |
 It's not much of a picture, but it's the only one that shows the headers. This is a year after being coated. | ||
| Eulysses |
Pretty pipes Crusty! Looks a lot better black than silver methinks. Dang! Also..I cannot get either of my Buelly HD dealers to say that HD warranties these mufflers. They say some might say so then end up eating the muffler when HD says no way. Anyone know who at HD to talk to? | ||
| Trevd |
I can assure you that my dealer is not eating the muffler. He took pictures, sent them to the HD distributor here in Canada, and they told him to go ahead and replace it under warranty. Maybe it's just that the distributor (Fred Deeley Imports) in Canada treats their customers better than HD in the US? Except I'm pretty certain I've read about US dealers replacing them under warranty - but that may have been before Oct. '09. | ||
| Trevd |
Here's what my muffler looks like:    My bike is an '08 XT, purchased new in May of '09. It only has 10,500 miles on it. | ||
| Trevd |
Just picked up my new muffler from the Ceramic coating place today... Looks good, but very similar to what it looked like when I picked it up from the dealer the other day. Hard to tell that there's anything on it... I had always thought that ceramic coating was thicker, but apparently not. Here's what it looks like now:    The dealer will be putting it on the bike on Wednesday. | ||
| Kip |
I also have a Drummer muffler and there is no rust on it at all.It is an '06 and I sent in the muffler the first winter. (the stock one already had rust on it when I sent it in) Kevin does an awesome job. |
