Burnt Titanium Explained: Where the Colors Come From and How to Keep Them
Burnt titanium is the gold, purple, and blue finish you see on exhaust tips, intake tubes, and race car parts. Nothing is painted and nothing is plated. The color is the metal itself, and understanding why helps you pick a finish and take care of it.
Why titanium changes color
When titanium is heated in the presence of oxygen, it grows a very thin oxide layer on the surface. That layer is transparent, and as it thickens it bends light the way a soap bubble or an oil slick does. Thin layers read as pale gold, thicker ones shift through bronze and purple, and thicker still into blue and teal. The color you see is a measure of the oxide thickness, which is set by how hot the part got and for how long.
This is the same reason a titanium exhaust turns color on its own after a few heat cycles. The difference with a finished burnt titanium part is that the color is applied deliberately and evenly in the shop.
What CP1 grade means
Titanium comes in grades. Commercially pure grade 1, usually written CP1, is the softest and most formable of the pure grades. That makes it the right choice for tips and intake tubes: it bends, it welds cleanly, and it takes color evenly. Our burnt titanium exhaust tips, the GX470 titanium intake, and the BMW M3 G80 titanium intakes are all CP1 grade.
The finishes we offer
- Raw. Clean, unheated titanium with a matte silver look. It will slowly take on light color on its own where it gets hot.
- Gold. The first stop on the heat scale: warm, even, and subtle.
- Blurple. Our name for the blend of blue and purple that comes from a hotter, more even pass. This is the finish most people picture when they hear burnt titanium.
On the tips, all three finishes are the same price. Intakes add a blue and a multi-color option, where the color is intentionally varied to show the welds and heat pattern.
Welding titanium so the color stays clean
Titanium reacts with air while it is hot, so a weld has to be shielded with argon on both sides of the joint until it cools. On our parts that means back purging the inside of the tube and keeping the torch shielding over the weld until the color sets. A properly shielded titanium weld comes out silver or light gold. Gray, white, or flaky color at a weld means it was contaminated and will be brittle, which is why our tips and intakes are TIG welded and back purged rather than run fast and hoped for. Our TIG welding article covers why that process is the standard for thin wall stainless and titanium.
Keeping the color
- Wash with soap and water only. Metal polish and abrasive pads remove the oxide layer, and the color goes with it.
- Expect the finish to evolve. A tip on a hot exhaust will keep developing color with use. Most owners like that. If you want it to stay exactly as delivered, keep it away from direct exhaust heat, which is why intakes hold their color longer than tips.
- Coating is optional. Titanium does not rust, so it does not need a coating to survive. If you want one, our titanium product pages offer a high temp clear coat as an add-on at checkout.
Titanium or stainless?
Titanium is lighter, does not rust, and takes color. 304 stainless is heavier, less expensive, and polishes to a mirror. For a deeper comparison read stainless vs titanium exhaust tips, and use the exhaust tips buying guide to sort out sizing and cut styles before you order.