COBRA PIPES IS THIS NORMAL???

[JAYZSTEALTH/SHIRTS]

I am kind of disappointed. My "new" cobras seem awful rusty for having putting around 1500 miles
I352535263527 love the sound but after paying almost 700.00 I wouldnt expect this to happen

[Phantom]

:shock:

This looks like a Chroming issue ???? :shrug:

Not pretty to say the least, a possible BAD Chrome batch ???

Contact Cobra through a PM, they are usually good about getting issues resolved.

[FlyinF]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Years ago I had 1200 Bandit with expensive Hole Shot performance exhaust and within a few months from new some surface rust as you have showed up around a clamp............I called Hole Shot and he said put some WD40 on it and brush with a soft brush to clean it up...........it cleaned nicely and never rusted in the years I had it.

[opas ride]

I had/have a similar problem with the same pipes on my bike and it has only 675 miles on it...Cobra people said this was somewhat normal depending upon where you live..Cold/Humidity, etc...Brad at Cobra, offered to send me new clamps and nuts/bolts etc. if I felt that it was necessary to keep me happy..I declined at this point as my dealer and another rider on this site had a possible solution...I drilled one small 5/16" hole at the lowest point of the pipe where it connects to the stock Honda pipe next to the clamps to drain moisture from the pipes after starting..I am amazed at the amount of moisture than blows out on the ground from these tiny holes until the motor heats up, but so far it seems to work....I will know better in the spring when this "sucky" Michigan weather gets better....Try it as it may work for you...It doesn't seem to make any extra noise like"whiffing sounds" unless you are on the ground under the pipes and straining to listen..Once the throttle is opened a little, nothing...If you decided it does not work, which it should, you can always buy a couple of chrome or stainless self-tapping screws and plug the little holes.....After a few months of riding next spring I will monitor this issue, as well as the "dreaded drone", and if nothing changes I will take off the Cobra's and return to the stockers.....

[Scotrod]

.I drilled one small 5/16" hole ..

You mean 5/32 or 5/64, correct?

=)

IMHO:

The baffles will rust some,,, Soot 'em up good if you can,,,

Clamp ? (Is it visible?) =(

Should be able to clean up the inside ends of the pipes and hit 'em with black exhaust paint. Should look nice for quite a while that way.

Drain holes would help some. Takes a long time to warm up / dry out all those pipes. Avoid starting w/o riding 5-10 miles.

[opas ride]

I don't remember the size as I just grabbed a drill bit...Maybe 5/64 or 5/32..It is pretty small but works....

[Scotrod]

I don't remember the size as I just grabbed a drill bit...Maybe 5/64 or 5/32..It is pretty small but works....

=)

5/16 is big enough to slip a Bic pen or a regular pencil inside,,,

I would hope most of us wouldn't blindly bust out a bit that big and go to town on our pipes just because we read 5/16 online, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ya never can tell!!! :icon_biggrin:

In this instance, you did exactly what I would do,, grab a bit about 'yea-odd-big' and don't pay a lot of attention to the exact fractional size as you know it's "what ya need" for the task at hand,,,

:beer3:

I'm just lookin' out for the 'blind followers'! :icon_biggrin:

[opas ride]

Went back and looked on older post about drilling small hole under the lowest point on the pipes...Use a 1/16" or so, NOT a 5/16"..I think I used a 5/64"..Anyhow my fault I quess I typed wrong info......Sorry, hope no one does the bigger hole as it would be nasty..Thanks for catching the error.....Opas Ride...

[Scotrod]

hope no one does the bigger hole as it would be nasty.

Nasty, no doubt, but it sure would drain good! :icon_biggrin:

:cheers:

[Mustangjake]

Mine are doing the same thing but not as bad as yours yet.

[opas ride]

I took some light weight steel wool soaked in WD-40 and almost all of the surface rust is gone after rubbing down a couple times. Cleaned the rest with Turtlewax Chrome polish and the pipes look almost new inside and around the clamps...I am hoping the small holes I drilled under the low point of the pipes will help keep the moisture down and slow down or stop the rusting...So far, so good.....