Best Way to Prep Exhaust Pipes for Paint?

[Redneck]

My exhaust pipes have a little more surface rust and pitting than will allow for simple polishing. You can see them in this picture here.



My question is is sandblasting to rough a finish before using Gloss Black VHT on them? Should I just take the time and go to town on them with the old wire wheel? If they made a VHT paint in Hunter's green I would go that color think the placement of that would look wicked. Anyway that is what I was wondering. Hope someone here has been there done that and has some good advice for me.

Paul

[Agemax]

bead blasting is not too rough, but good at cleaning off surface rust. it leaves a perfect finish ready to spray

[Octain]

I sanded(DA) the crap out of em with 80 grit.
Several, several very light coats of rattle can heat paint with tha final coat being very thick.
Just keep in mind, they will scratch pretty easy once you get em painted.
I wouldnt think bead blasting would be course enough but I may be wrong.
Sand blasting would prolly work better than bead.

[Hoosier Daddy]

+1 on the sandbalsting from my experience, chrome is aweful hard.

[Larry D]

*IF* you wanted to keep them chrome, you may try some ZUD cleaner. It's sorta like Comet cleaner except it has oxalic acid in it and does an outstanding job of cleaning up rust. BarKeepers Friend has oxalic acid in it too, but, I've found that ZUD does a better job. It does take some elbow grease though. I've cleaned two exhaust systems with it and they came out nice......

I'm more interested in your water piping setup. Do you have a in-floor heating system or something ?

[Octain]

I'm more interested in your water piping setup. Do you have a in-floor heating system or something ?

Heh, no kidding!(just noticed)
What the heck?

[chuck hahn]

Neither sand oir bead blasting will strip chrome..do like waqs aid with the3 sand paper..scrub the crapout of, it then keep doing it. I would suggest you use an Eastwood product.. they make several colors for header paint that stands up to like 1500 degrees.

[Agemax]

Neither sand oir bead blasting will strip chrome..do like waqs aid with the3 sand paper..scrub the crapout of, it then keep doing it. I would suggest you use an Eastwood product.. they make several colors for header paint that stands up to like 1500 degrees.

i didnt mean bead blasting would strip the chrome, just clean off all the surface rust, saves the elbow grease!

[chuck hahn]

Thing is you also need to create a texture for the new paint to adhere to..thats why i chimed in.I had tried the bead blasting and it ( paint ) wouldnt stick. I had to restrip the paint then scuff the crap out of it. Not much will ever stick to chrome.

[Agemax]

Thing is you also need to create a texture for the new paint to adhere to..thats why i chimed in.I had tried the bead blasting and it ( paint ) wouldnt stick. I had to restrip the paint then scuff the crap out of it. Not much will ever stick to chrome.

i had my slightly rusty black chromed harris exhaust bead blasted, then sprayed it with satin black VHT exhaust paint.
cooked the headers in the oven and let the rear section cure with the engine exhaust heat. over 5 years now and only a few minor scratches from stones etc. no sign of fading or flaking

[Octain]

Neither sand oir bead blasting will strip chrome..do like waqs aid with the3 sand paper..scrub the crapout of, it then keep doing it. I would suggest you use an Eastwood product.. they make several colors for header paint that stands up to like 1500 degrees.

Im not suggesting the need be removed, just rough enough for the paint to stick.
Mine looked like sanded primer.

[Redneck]

Thanks a bundle for all the recommendations. I have access to a booth used to strip teflon coated parts it will strip or rough up just about anything...at least we will see..lol.

Octain do you remember roughly how many light coats you applied? Did you wait the 10min between coats or did you wait longer?

I may want to wait and do this last, so that I can cure the paint with the bike running.

Now if I can find some Hunter green exhaust paint..lol.

[Octain]

The stuff dries fast so I waited maybe 10 mins at the most. I went through 2 cans on a 4 into 1.
I didnt even cover the entire pipe for the first few coats, could still see thin unpainted areas.

[1980GS1000E]

Right on the pipes. I recognize an expansion tank, but what's the deal with all that stuff?

[mighty13d]

Sandblast them. If it goes through, then your pipes were soft to begin with and either need to be patched anyway, or get new ones. Those don't look bad though so a nice blast should clean them up and prep them perfectly for paint.

I'm more interested in your water piping setup. Do you have a in-floor heating system or something ?

Some sort of radiant heat. Either in the floor or radiators or baseboard on separate zones. Those work great when everything is hooked up correctly. We had a guy into work who was trying to do everything himself to ''fix'' his system like that and he was causing more harm than good.