rbahr

Not sure if this appropriate but Swaintech is mentioned as a 'true ceramic' coating, and if you read their site, it sounds pretty good. As with all things, the fine print is what is important.

First, as one quickly finds out, it is expensive. The next thing that the fine print mentions is that it is not guaranteed.

I called them and asked questions like 'Will the coating rub off, or fall off' and I was told that it would not, that the ceramic coating was very durable. I then had my headers and up pipe dropped shipped and sent them the hot side of the Turbo. I got everything back and installed everything.

My car is a track car, so I went to the track :-)

After ~4 days of fun and games I found this (My turbo housing flaking):



and this (some of the header runners with the material melting):



and this (some flaking of the runners):



I then called them up and was told that I should have checked to see if there was any guarantee - there wasn't and they were not going to do anything for me. I asked what temperature this coating was good to - They told me that 'They don't know', I asked if they could have applied this material incorrectly - I was told 'No' . A lot of dancing around the notion that this is not an exact science, that sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, bottom line is they are either ignorant of or will not say what the failure modes are of this product. In addition, the customer service is lousy.

My recommendation is that, from my experience, for these ceramic products, save your money, this stuff is not suited for these temps.

Ray

ltusler

Thanks for the warning. Now I don't have to think about that anymore. Sorry you had to pay for the experience in order to find out. Perhaps the power of the list will help them see the error of their ways and take care of you.

springgeyser

wow. thanks for posting the pics...everywhere I have read, had nothing but praises for Swaintech. Guess it is all marketing.

Have you tried sending them some pics, surprises you are getting the cold shoulder. GL.

Apex996

>> Guess it is all marketing.

Not all mktg. For >20 years they have been a leader in the coatings biz. Something seems amiss here...

onefastviking

Coatings are critical to being applied on new parts that have been properly cleaned. I would suspect you had your old, used, but cleaned parts sent to them and that is the reason for the poor results. Sending them new parts will result in much better results. When doing old/used parts you can have them cleaned and then bake them to get all the oils and residues out of the parts before coating. In the past I have baked parts in an oven for 2, 10-12 hr days at approx 250 degrees and cleaned before baking to get a good result in my coatings. While new parts will still work better, the baking process seems to help it last.

Hope that helps,

sonny1

Dart coatings is the place to go,cheers.

95ONE

Agreed.. Completely. Both Swain and Polydyne have stuck very well. they do actually become part of the metal. But, if the part is not new and been used before. The results vary. unfortunately your results weren't so good. When new parts are used though. the coating has remained every time.


Hi Viking.. lol

Darkstar1

I have used Swaintech White Lightning coatings on exhausts and turbos for almost 20 years. I have only done new parts and have never suffered any separation of coating from materials. This is a picture of White Lightning on a wind machine exhaust that sits outside and has been on for well over 10 years without any pealing what so ever. Mild steel exhaust coated new.



I recommend their work. I am sorry you had issues.