Discolored exhaust pipes

[ohiorider_imp]

OK, this is kind of like a 'who cares' issue, but I'll ask anyway.

What the 'hey' has happened to my exhaust pipes? They're splotchy, have little dots all over them, at least off the cylinder head. I own a 1991 BMW R100GS (since 1991) that shows less heat damage to the pipes at 150k miles than my 2014 CB1100 with slightly over 3000 miles showing. And my 2008 Guzzi pipes still look reasonably kept up, even though they have 65000 miles on them. And all I do to either bike is wipe the pipes down periodically.

It's not a big issue, but I won't concede to the logic that some fellow Triumph owners said about their 2001 Bonnevilles, when their pipes turned a scorched blue within a few hundred miles. I simply don't believe that discolored pipes show that I'm a hot shoe that really runs my bike hard.

So what gives with my CB1100 pipes? Or is it just my bike?

 

[736cc_imp]

It’s simply the nature of the beast; the CB1100 pipes turn brown and uneven spots appear with use and miles. Stainless steel will never rust, of course.
They polish quite nicely w/ elbow grease, Mothers aluminum polish and flossing 1 pipe at a time with a thin rag.

 

[alprider]

Or you need a DLX just the 4in2 exhaust

 

[Guth_imp]

Speaking of stainless steel, does anyone know if the inner pipes on the DLX/EX headers are constructed of stainless steel? I'm sure that Honda would have published this somewhere.

 

[alprider]

They have double-wall pipes...outside pipe is chrome

 

[Guth_imp]

They have double-wall pipes...outside pipe is chrome

Yes, I understand that the outer wall is plated in chrome. But I'm curious about the metal that is used in the construction of the header pipe.

 

[Cormanus]

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

 

[Gumby 1100_imp]

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

Optiglanz is great for getting the overall original silver colour back, but it may still leave some freckles near the cylinder head. For those persistent spots, you will still need a traditional metal or dedicated header paste polish and "elbow grease".

The good news is, the more you use Optiglanz the less discolouration you will get, and it seems to take longer for the discolouration to return. Also, the discolouration I did get was more gold than brown with slight shades of blue near the cylinder head. The gold shade actually didn't look bad in contrast to the Spenser Blue tank.

 

[the Ferret]

Cormanus's pipes are almost black in appearance.

About the only thing I couldn't abide by my 2013 was the discoloring header pipes.

 

[Retsel_imp]

Jet-Hot is a permanent solution. They will even re-coat them once more for free if there is an issue with the coating.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

Sorry, can't seem to make the dang photo stand up right!

 

[ohiorider_imp]

In a way, it's good to know that my particular bike isn't having some lean running issues causing the splotchy pipes. I'll be googling for Optiglanz, and the Jet Cote solution looks pretty good, too. I guess I could jet cote in black and call my 2014 "Midnight."

Thanks for the responses.

Bob

 

[Bheezy27403_imp]

My '13 std does the same. "Freckles" is a good description. Not too keen on it but I haven't been bothered enough to do anything about it...yet. Opyiglanz eh? Amazon here I come.

 

[max]

Yes, optiglanz, autosol or similar, my pipes were black at the top, i'm convinced it was a preservative that had not been cleaned prior to delivery to the first buyer, given the pattern.
Had to actually get in there with 1200 wet and dry to remove the substance and polish with a strip of old jeans wrapped around one pipe at a time with autosol but i got the result i wanted;




See before and after, and yes they colour up "gold" quite quickly.

Also did a test with a magnet and my stainless headers are slightly magnetic, i wonder how magnetic the double headers are because i remember the 4 exhausts of my cb550k3 were not very old when i had to replace them, so i like the stainless idea for longevity.

 

[Lord Popgun]

Max, that preservative was supposed to be cleaned off before delivery. Cleaning it off is in the pre-delivery setup instructions.

My pipes look like yours below the cleaned part.

 

[Wisedrum]

Max, the shiny glance of your exhaust pipes will not last long. The dark spots will soon come back.

I rub some oil like Balistol on them after each ride and clean it off before I start a new one. It's akward but keeps the darkening away. Sometimes I polish them with Autosol too. As good as the 4 in 1 system is, that it doesn't keep its glance by itself is something I don't like so much, but I like shiny pipes, so nevertheless I play this never ending game....

Wisedrum

 

[Guth_imp]

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

Cormanus, my guess is that the double walled headers underneath the chrome plating are not constructed of stainless steel.

 

[Cormanus]

^^
Guth, that's just my ignorance shining through! Perhaps I could rephrase it and say it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 standards without headers that would retain their shine. It would be interesting to know if anything has changed on the 2017 standard.

 

[flynrider]

In a way, it's good to know that my particular bike isn't having some lean running issues causing the splotchy pipes. I'll be googling for Optiglanz, and the Jet Cote solution looks pretty good, too. I guess I could jet cote in black and call my 2014 "Midnight."

Thanks for the responses.

Bob

Yeah, single wall stainless pipes discolor naturally. I can see why you'd be concerned, though. If a double walled chrome pipe discolors like that, it's usually a sign of an overly lean condition.

I've found that riding in the rain tends to give the pipes a darker, spottier appearance. I don't ride in the wet very often, but have noticed the color change when I do. A bit of metal polish and elbow grease soon after will bring them back to their natural golden color.

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

Cormanus, my guess is that the double walled headers underneath the chrome plating are not constructed of stainless steel.

You don't think so? I would have guessed that Honda would use stainless on the inner pipe. The main reason being the large amount of moisture that typically collects in an exhaust pipe. If they didn't use stainless, I'd expect to see some serious corrosion issues in a fairly short time.

 

[Guth_imp]

In a way, it's good to know that my particular bike isn't having some lean running issues causing the splotchy pipes. I'll be googling for Optiglanz, and the Jet Cote solution looks pretty good, too. I guess I could jet cote in black and call my 2014 "Midnight."

Thanks for the responses.

Bob

Yeah, single wall stainless pipes discolor naturally. I can see why you'd be concerned, though. If a double walled chrome pipe discolors like that, it's usually a sign of an overly lean condition.

I've found that riding in the rain tends to give the pipes a darker, spottier appearance. I don't ride in the wet very often, but have noticed the color change when I do. A bit of metal polish and elbow grease soon after will bring them back to their natural golden color.

In my opinion it was shabby of Honda to ship the 2010-2016 Standard CB1100s without double-walled stainless steel exhaust headers. Those fitted to the DLX/EX/RS models are much sharper.

However, being essentially lazy, I've accepted this curious design decision and am allowing my headers to discolour in whatever way they want.

For those unable to live with that choice, a product called Optiglanz has received rave reviews on this forum for its simplicity and efficacy.

Cormanus, my guess is that the double walled headers underneath the chrome plating are not constructed of stainless steel.

You don't think so? I would have guessed that Honda would use stainless on the inner pipe. The main reason being the large amount of moisture that typically collects in an exhaust pipe. If they didn't use stainless, I'd expect to see some serious corrosion issues in a fairly short time.

No, mainly because I think if they had gone to the trouble of using stainless it would have been published somewhere. On the current CB1100 EX they point out the use of stainless steel spokes. But I've never seen it mentioned that they used stainless steel on the double wall exhaust headers. Maybe someone else has though and can share a link.

 

[Northrider_imp]

I asked right away because my 2014 st colored bad on the right side almost the first day,I was told it was normal and haven't given it a second thought sins. Gives it that old bike look. Might be what Honda was going for...