Ducati Monster Forum

On my wish list is a set of Zards.  When I get them, I'm going to have the pipes ceramic coated prior to installation.  I was wondering how porous the ceramic coating is, and if a white coating would quickly look like crap. For that matter, I wonder how anything other than black would hold up to road grime.  Anyone have thoughts on this?

I'm thinking the white won't stay white long regardless of how non-porous it is...

I can't imagine the white would stay white for long. Road grime plus intense heat = baked on crap. Even the black takes work to keep it looking good.

I've never laid hands on ceramic coating anything, so I wasn't sure if it was like powder coating, or more like flat paint. Thanks for the replies.

My car is silver, and right now, if you lean against it, you'll get pretty dirty.  from a distance it looks shiny and clean, but it's not. maybe I'll go with a natural aluminum color on the pipes for the same reason.

I think you really ought to go with a good silver color over white. Think of road grime, bugs, oil, heat and white starts to look very unappealing. I've thought of getting a good silver, the same color as the stock rearsets.

I have seen white ceramic coating on some "oldschool" styled bikes, and it never lasts.
I would go with a polished silver or black..

It'd be pretty awesome if the JetCote was offered in a black chrome. 

I have a buddy who podercoats for a living (he is doing the stuff on my Ducati) , and he has been playing around with a ceramic/powder kinda coating. Looks like my bike is going to be the test bed, but one of the finishes he is working on is a black chrome coating for exhausts.. [thumbsup]

I've done white and red ceramic coating -- looks stunning.  But in the real world of actually riding motorcycles it doesn't work.  Eventually pulled and recoated in satin black.  Most shops that I know that do the process will only for "show bikes" that aren't actually ridden. (ie: no warranty on the coating)

Yeah, it seems like white headers would rule on a show bike, but I ride mine all the time, and it gets (and stays) dirty a lot.

I have a set of Zards that are going in for ceramic coating as well, but was wondering if the heat process could damage the carbon fibre cans.
I am going with flat black for the reasons posted above. Any comments on the carbon fibre.

I doubt you'd want the carbon fiber cans to be baked.  I remember reading another thread somewhere about drilling the rivets and removing the parts you want coated.  That's what I plan to do. 

I drilled the rivets and pulled apart the Zard cans last night. It went pretty well. Took about an hour to feel my way through the first one and a half hour or so for the second. You have to take off the motor side first with a rubber mallet then knock out the end caps with a rod through the can. A little WD helps as well.

Cheers
PW

i had a set of pipes which were originally black chromed (elefant 650) redone in black with a gloss clear coat added, it was very close to the look, but not exact of course.. it was darker and less "mirror" if that makes sense.

Do you have any photos of that by any chance? And can you get high-temp clear coat? That sounds like exactly the sort of look I'd like for my exhaust cans (which are currently chrome).

I have my Ex-box ceramic coated in Silver and it's held up ok. There are some pits and scratches in it, but nothing to terribly bad. I'm not sure how white would work, but would suspect you'd be cleaning your headers more often than you clean your chain and even then you'd likely see them discolour a bit.

bike is in storage and i'll have to scrounge for pics as my pc exploded a couple of weeks ago (see previous posts about virus)..

the guys who did it are performance coatings in WA.  i talked to them on the phone and he suggested a black coat with a clear gloss on top.  both are high temp ceramic, i think the clear one is transparent aluminum  ;D

seriously, it looks great, it is the closest thing to black chrome i could get.