Ceramic Coating -Silver

[smp3000]

Hey guys and gals... I've been researching getting my turbo housings, manifold, and downpipe ceramic coated. My first color of choice was black, but I found out they can do it in silver as well. Does this look okay? I have a feeling that it might end up looking like tin foil or something...

Just wondering if any of you have seen something ceramic coated silver.

 

[AustinJohn]

I'm perhaps not completely neutral as I had mine done in silver. The folks who did mine were Automotive Coating Specialist in Tulsa (they're the company on the Bell Engineering "Mazda Protege Turbo Kit" website) but I'm happy with the color. It doesn't look like tin foil to my eye. More like the color of the regular valve cover, which fits my engine as I have an ES rather than an MP3. I understand the silver will continue to dull slightly with heat and age.

WShade had his done by http://hpcoatings.com although I don't know what color. You might ask him his take. (Incidentally, the reason both WShade and I coated was how the hot weather in Texas compounds the effect of the heat of a turbo install., a problem I imagine you also see in Arizona. As WShade said "The coating is a necessity for anyone who sees 95+ degree weather.")

 

[smp3000]

hmmmm. Very interesting. Thanks for the information. One question though- Why is the coating a necesity ofr those of us who see 95+ degree whether? I don't mean to sound dense but I doubt these parts will crack.

I am however wanting to coat my parts just because of the pure look. I'll probably go with silver as well, if not black. I already have a price quote from BEGI, but am now also interested inteh company Wshade used.

 

[BluMp3Turbo]

Yea my charge pipe is ceramic silver... I think it looks nice

 

[smp3000]

Very nice. It looks good. I was kinda wondering if it was more of a matte silver than a chrome silver.... If I could get it like a matte silver or even a gunmetal look -that would be off the hook!

The only bummer would be having to go without my car for like a week!!!!!!

 

[AustinJohn]

One question though- Why is the coating a necessity for those of us who see 95+ degree weather? I don't mean to sound dense but I doubt these parts will crack.

The only bummer would be having to go without my car for like a week!!!!!!

The main reason for coating in my book (and evidently WShade who lives in San Antonio) is reducing under hood generated by the turbo install. Both the company WShade used and the one I used claim dramatic reductions in radiated heat after coating.

Corky says he estimates a turbo installation adds about 30F to the ambient temp under the hood. That isn't a problem now that we have cooler temps here in Texas but while we still had warmer days, I mounted the sensor for a dash mounted digital thermometer under the hood and found temps rising 30F or more at stoplights and somewhere above 160F (the high range of my thermometer) at engine shut down.

So I added a 2 foot square piece of hobbyist sheet aluminum under the hood with Thermo-Tec Adhesive Backed Heat Barrier between it and the underhood sound/heat insulation. Then I added a switch under the dash to manually turn on the radiator fan (with a ten minute timer) which I can use either when stopped in traffic or at shut down and had the manifold and downpipe ceramic coated. I also removed the rear hood gasket to allow some heat to escape. Underhood temps are cooler but I'm still not fully satisfied and may look into louvers or some other type of vent as typical summer temps here in Austin can be 95-105F.

If you've seen a Masdaspeed you may have noticed its turbo location is different than the BEGI or other kits installed nearer the top of the radiator. The Mazdaspeed turbo is set quite low (almost at the base of the radiator). Perhaps that allows a lot of its heat to readiate down instead of up and makes its under hood temps cooler.

As for time to do the job, I'd think more three weeks than one as shipping your parts back and forth takes some time and at least the company I used only does coating a couple of times a week so all that adds up to more down time.

 

[big_ben]

I had my manifold coated in silver and it looked damn good. If I were you, I'd get all the charge pipes coated also. It will help to lower the intake temps a little. Try calling Jet Hot coatings, I know they do very quick service. You can get their number on the web.

 

[WShade]

The only reason I used black is because it was one of the only colors I could get the extreme coating in. It is stable to 2K degrees. Although, I do like Johns color better than mine

http://hpcoatings.com/exhaust_coatings.htm
(Due to pigment stability above 2,000 F semi-gloss black and gray are the only colors available.)

 

[smp3000]

Very nice... I think I'll go with the Gray. I'm like 97% go and 3% show... So it would best fit me. If you don't mind me asking Wshade could you PM me with how much you paid?

Thanks!

 

[LinuxRacr]

Yeah, the thing about Will's coating is that it is cool to the touch very fast Like in 10-20 minutes which allows you to work around it if you need to tighten something that has gotten loose (I know this has never happened before ) and it keeps the heat loss from the Downpipe to a minimum. Expensive though!