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Alright, I know there are two camps of "opinions" on this. But I want to seek answers from those who actually had it done and can talk about it. Not theories, not "I think"...
I want to powder coat my header shields to gloss black. Right now, they are factory matte black. I did some research and I have seen different opinions, so I called powder coating place and asked if there is a special high temp powder needed for those. I was told "we do a lot of those without any problems, you do not need high temp powder, besides, high temp powder is cerakote and it only comes in matte finish". I was told that shields do not get up to the temperature to cause issues with regular powder and that it should be perfectly fine. They bake regular powder at 400 degrees or something like that.
Now, I see different posts about this. Some say "It WILL DISCOLLOR", but they don't say anything that THEIRS discolored. I think it was just an opinion and not a fact.
So I had my M8 heat shields powder coated gloss black two years ago. My experience is that the gloss black has held up pretty well. I had no fading or discoloration until I did big bore kit (produces much more heat) and it only faded on the heat shield connected to the front cylinder. The other heat shields are still in good condition. So just recently I took the front cylinder heat shield back to powder coat, which cost me $50. Here is a pic so you can see the fading after two seasons and 5k. I say got for it.
I remember seeing your bike because it is hard to forget it. What a beautiful ride. I really like how the high gloss shields look. I don't have any big bore kits or anything like that. I was even thinking maybe wrapping the headers in heat tape to help shields a little?
I have experience with both PC and cerkcote. I also do a little powder coating and kinda went wild on my own bike.
There are different powders for coating. The shop will likely know the best to use. For several parts on my bike I used a mirror black powder from Sherwin-Williams. It cures at 380-400 for 10 minutes, then a 15 minute cool down, bringing down the temp gradually. That powder will not hold up on the heat shields, but looks great on other parts, such as my fork legs, levers, etc. Thing that don't get hot. There are higher temp powders that cure at about 420-430 and those are going to stand a better chance. Prismatic Coatings is a fun place to shop and you can see the specs on the powders to gain some knowledge. The gloss will last, but will fade. But if the wrong powder is used, it can start to bubble and flow.
The cerekote is a ceramic coating and is only a satin/matte finish. It can be either, depending on how it's applied and the color chosen. It comes factory on black pipes and should hold up but can still discolor with heat.
So, the powder coat can work, but my experience has not been stellar. CJ250 clearly had better luck and damn that bike looks sharp! For the price, maybe $150 for the whole pipe, might be worth it to try.
So I had my M8 heat shields powder coated gloss black two years ago. My experience is that the gloss black has held up pretty well. I had no fading or discoloration until I did big bore kit (produces much more heat) and it only faded on the heat shield connected to the front cylinder. The other heat shields are still in good condition. So just recently I took the front cylinder heat shield back to powder coat, which cost me $50. Here is a pic so you can see the fading after two seasons and 5k. I say got for it.
Here is something further to consider. The top heat shield is the one that I just got back from powder coat. The lower one is the Harley CVO Black Onyx heat shield (p/n: 65400435A, $228.19). I got the CVO one from Harley online bc I figured the finish might last longer than the ones that were 3rd party powder coated.
Def got price gauged but it is what it is. So I installed the CVO heat shield and went for a quick ride. Not even an hour into the ride the CVO heat shield started blueing when it got hot. Disappointed to say the least. Below is a pic. For what its worth I'll be sticking with my powder coated heat shields (even if I have to touch them up ever few years). The CVO one is going up on eBay. Best of luck gents!
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Powdercoating header shields
