Apologies to Daft Punk for the headline. Cerakote is cheaper than most paint jobs but claims to be lighter, corrosion resistant and more resistant to abrasion. Will Cerakote be your next respray?
Over to Matt from Cerakote Up North to explain things further…
Cerakote is an ultra thin film technology that is in a paint form. The base of the paint is a solvent, this is the carrier of the ceramic particles in the paint. When we spray the paint – through very professional high quality Iwata LPH-80 spray guns – the solvent evaporates as the particles hit the part being coated and a 25 to 40 micron coating is left on the part.
What are some other benefits?
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Over 200 colours. Plus any colour can be mixed with any other colour for custom applications.
Metallics and clear coats plus Cerakote FX (which is a metallic or pearl powder added to the paint) can achieve even more customisation, plus stencilling and Ombre designs.
Only 25-40 microns so it is four times thinner than powder coat. This means parts are given a coating that shows all the machined detail and welds etc. Plus Cerakote is three to four times lighter than powder coat.
In a corrosion test Cerakoted stainless steel outlasted plain stainless steel in a salt chamber by over 2,000 hours (24 hours versus 2034 hours).
Cerakote also outlasted any other coating in an abrasion test. And impact tests (being shot with rubber slugs from shotguns at point blank range) did not result in any cracking, even though the panels themselves bent and warped.
This frame was originally pink, the customer fancied a change and picked the Lollipop purple with black logos (logos are decals added by the customer) We turned this around within two days as the customer had a race meeting they wanted to attend on the newly finished bike.
Go on then. How much?
The custom Cerakote frame above cost the customer £330. That’s one coat of Cerakote on the frame and swingarm including the crank refurb and Cerakote in a second colour. No primer, no lacquer, one good coat (50 microns), all threads were coated, stem area, headstock, swingarm pivots, bottom bracket area.
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