FAQS

As part of Poeton Industries, Apticote 2000 is subject to the same rigorous testing procedures as the coatings that service the aerospace market. Our processes and process chemistry are strictly maintained to provide a quality finish that delivers superior performance.

We don’t necessarily need the piston although it would help us exactly match the bore size. If you’d rather not send the piston, we can hone to a size you indicate or to the manufacturer’s nominal bore size.

No, we don’t need you to send us the piston rings.

Please remove all steel parts, power valves, studs etc before wrapping the cylinder in a protective material and placing it in a strong box. We recommend sending to us by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery.

Alternatively, you can drop off and collect your cylinder from our Gloucester site.

Yes, you can drop off and collect cylinders from our Gloucester site.

Please print off and complete an order form to bring along with your cylinder. Alternatively, we can provide you with a form to complete onsite.

Our address and opening times are available here, please head for our goods-in.

We aim to repair all cylinders within 15 working days. If you need it sooner, enquire about our Cylinder Express fast track service and we’ll you know if we’re able to get this back to you sooner. Our Cylinder Express service is subject to availability, please contact us before ordering.
Please note, we can only confirm lead time once your cylinder has arrived on-site and we have assessed it.

Unfortunately, we can no longer offer any weld repairs on cylinders. We are more than happy to complete the strip and replate process once the weld repairs have been completed (Additional carriage charges will apply).

We reluctantly have to inform you from Monday 21st September 2020 we will no longer be covering the carriage charges to return cylinders which have been sent in for the weld repair service.
If you would like to use your own courier in order to collect, we will do our utmost in supporting you to do this. However, if you would prefer for us to arrange a return courier, we have a next day TNT courier service.
These costs will be forwarded on in the form of an invoice payable before the cylinder is returned.

We accept no responsibility for the results of plating where weld repairs have been carried out.

We hone all cylinders to the manufacturer’s recommendations and for all 2-stroke cylinders we’ll dress the ports and relieve the exhaust bridges. All cylinders have the top face lapped to remove any ‘flash’ of coating and so parts should be ready to fit. However, we always recommend that the engine builder follows manufacturer instructions regarding piston to bore clearances, piston ring end gaps, squish clearances, cylinder head volume and port timing in order to maintain maximum performance.

This depends on the previous works that have been carried out. A straight forward re-plate and hone will only remove a small amount of material from the bare casting. But if you have had to undertake weld repairs then there may be some distortion, and therefore more material has to be removed in order to get the cylinder true again. Usually, cylinders can be replated 4-5 times and after that it becomes more difficult (depending on previous repairs), but we’ve seen many cylinders that have had 8 or more replates.

Due to their very nature, the pitting is generally in the actual casting as when the original coating is chemically removed any impurities at the cylinder face will also be removed. This will often occur if you’ve had to weld repair the cylinder prior to plating as well. Pitting should not be derogatory to performance, some lower quality castings will even have pitting from new, and the pits are generally viewed as just holding oil. Unless the pitting bridges the piston ring surface, minimum blow by or compression would be lost, and in the case of a 2-stroke engine, if they are lower than the top of the exhaust port, no compression could be lost at all.