I was talked out of purchasing a black exhaust system because if its discoloration after a while . I was told the black will actually turn into a muddy grayish color.
I'm really so tired of polishing chrome.... I still have my heart set on a pair of blackened ceramic pipes . I have never read on this forum any complaints of this "graying" of black pipes. Is there any truth to that.?
Also, is it just the shields that are Black or do some manufacturers actually have Black Pipes along with the black heat shields.?
Depends on the manufacturer but yes there are plenty of black pipes that are not just heat shields. I personally have not heard of the discoloring concern but i could see where it could come from if the pipes are not treated properly, both inside and out. Dragos, Basani, V & H all have black pipes.
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Our black pipes are Poweder Coated heat shields. And we raise the heat shields 3 mm above the the pipe so they dont discolorartion and the ceramic keep the heat in side where it belongs.
Muffler bodys are Power Coated also and inside they are lined. To help them from changing color.
I run a D&D fatcat on mY dyna. It has been on for about 7000 miles so far and looks as good as it did new. I had a TH on it prior and that turned a terrible brown color in about two days and then the exhaust bracket broke. On the V&H I think it depends ont eh system you get. I have seen their 2 into 1 comp series turn very brown as well but the big shot longs I have seen in perfect black after many miles.
I have a friend that has a Vance and Hines Pro Pipe on his 2010 WG. It is several different shades of what used to be black. We talked to V&H at Sturgis, they said the would make it right if he shipped it to them, and paid for shipping back.
I run the Bub 7 and have discoloration on the rear pipe underneath in front of the rear tire, but the rest of the head shields, pipes and mufflers are fine. Should mention I have 48K miles on them.
I have the V&H Power Duals and Hi Outputs. I have put 10K+ miles on mine and I have no discoloration issues. I would expect that you could hit them with High Temp black paint it you needed to, but so far it hasn't been an issue for me.
I've noticed that a black pipe won't keep it's luster like when new. The front of my Dragula muffler turned a little chalky. I picked up some of the s100 engine brightner in the orange can and put on it. Since then it looks great and hasn't wore off.
Drago's pipes are built to stay black, I have his pipes on my bike, they are darker and glossier black than any other company! the heatshields are fully powdercoated and sit away enough off the pipe where I believe they wont ever discolor! I've also had V&H big radius 2 in 2 on my previous dyna with a built motor, had the black pipes on for over 20K without turning color. tho it did fade just a slight tad bit, but nothing that you'd ever notice by far! Go with black ,and chrome is easy to polish! Use WINDEX, will get all the greese off the chrome pipes and won't leave a streak or smudge behind!
my black Rhineharts have held up good 19k on them and one bad spot that i noticed after getting caught in the rain looks more like oxidization from acid rain versus discoloration!!
Had a black V&H pipe that discolored a bit. Sent them a pic and they sent me a new pipe (just emailed proof of purchase). They even let me keep the used pipe which was in perfect working order. Only time I have ever had issue and they went above and beyond to fix
Just bought the same bike and the same color. Plan to do the same VH power duals and not sure which muffler; maybe Pythons. I spent a lot of time wiping chrome on my trade-in 2007 Road King Classic. Thinking of going with black pipes this time. I bought the HD race tuner and will get the other pieces one by one this winter. Any advice?
The HD Screaming Eagle touring pipes are available in black, along with black heat shields for the headers.
They are not much louder than stock (which I personally like) but sound good and look good. I get frequent questions about who makes my pipes.
I have about 15k miles on mine and they are still perfectly black.
Good luck
Ian
Old thread here but I thought I should post as this is still a thing. I have Vance & Hines as well and they turned gray colour within the 1st few months. I talked to Vance & Hines they they told me to go pound ..... Here are some photos, they actually look way better in the photo, in person they look like total crap.
well as long as you're pounding... may as well break out the bbq black high temp paint and paint them. they'll look good again, and easy enough to touch up if you get a scratch or two.
My 07’ had a black thunderheader on it that discolored after 55k, I had it Cerakoted and still looks new. I know the guy that bought it.
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