After seeing so much stuff fly around on this, I had to add
some clarifications:
1. Bluing of the pipes isn't caused or prevented by single
or double-walled pipes. It's caused by excessive heat.
When you run extra lean, you run hotter. Chrome pipes will
then turn blue. Pipes made of other materials will turn
other colors. Double-walled pipes will still turn blue, if
you run hot enough for long enough. With as many people
as there are on this list playing with pipes and jetting,
I expect we'll see a lot of rich and lean bikes.
2. Aluminum/Ceramic coatings are a functional coating, Chrome
is asthetic. If you want something to look pretty (if you
like that look), chrome it. If you want functionality, have
them Aluminum/Ceramic coated. The benefits of this are:
o The pipes can never rust.
o The coating won't pit, flake off, stain. And
you've got to work like hell to scratch it. I had
some oil bake onto my pipes (from a slight leak) and
I got the stain off with a ScotchBrite scrub pad!
I rubbed as hard as I wanted to, you can't tell on
the pipes. Awesome.
o The coating is both inside and out.
o Performance is better. It's an insulator, so the
heat stays in your pipes. This increases scavenging.
o The coating will smooth out any tiny irregularities
inside the pipe. This increases flow.
3. Personally, I like the look of the Aluminum/Ceramic coating
better than chrome. It more closely matches all the brushed
aluminum on the Vmax. Chrome is too flashy. (says the guy
with the "Bee" motif on his 'Max. Oh well ;-)
There's a third choice- AirBorn Coatings. See them at:
http://www.airborncoatings.com/ They're cheaper than
Jet Hot, and the turnaround was pretty fast for the two sets of
pipes I had done. Oh yeah- I had my *stainless* GTS-1000 pipes
done there. For functional reasons, of course!
Other notes:
> Don't they make a chrome pipe polish that cleans the blueing
> and prevents ot from coming back?
No. Bluing is caused by heat. No polish can prevent heat.
> There's only a couple of small rust spots that have been forming
> over the last 10 years(!) or so on the 750 pipes where rocks have
> really dinged the chrome. These require just a bit more attention.
> Any coating will suffer similarly from such abuse.
You've done a good job maintaining your pipes. But even with the
best care, Chrome WILL pit. Aluminum/Ceramic coating is VERY hard.
Rocks will NOT ding it.
> it's called blue away , but the chrome is a satin finish after using
Yes, Blue Away does work, but you have to be careful with it. It
has an abrasive in it to get rid of the blue. And that abrasive
will dull the look of the chrome, and there's no way to get it back
without rechroming. (well, maybe a clean buffing wheel with a
non-abrasive polish might work, but that's a lot of effort)
Blue Away will not prevent the blue from coming back. That's a
heat issue.
-K
======================================================================
Kelly Cash Main: 408-727-5497
Solid Data Systems FAX: 408-727-5496
2945 Oakmead Village Court [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Santa Clara, CA 95051 www.soliddata.com
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