Seems like a pretty easy thing to DIY. Have any of you painted exhaust tips yourself with good results? What method and what paint did you use?

 

I got my tips powder coated gloss black.

 

I painted my old dual PSE tips with high temp flat black paint I bought at Autozone and they held up really well! Look simialr to my current ceramic coated center exit tips.

 

My tips were chrome and were sand blasted and ceramic coated flat black for only $40. I was told by a powder coating shop to have them ceramic coated since powder coating would not last because of the heat from the exhaust.

Someone suggested using high temp spray on paint. But they did not say how to prep the chrome tips.

Good luck....

 

As a few guys have already said, stick with ceramic coating. It will be much more durable in terms of resisting damage from road debris and heat.

 

I was originally thinking of satin black, but gloss may look pretty good too on my black car. hmm...

Thanks for your response, did you do any prep work before you painted it? sanded and/or primer? How long has it been on your car?

$40 sounds like a very reasonable cost! I've heard of price quotes three times higher than that. Can you PM me who you used?

Thanks Tom, I may very well go that route. Was just interested to hear from others if they've tried painting tips themselves and how it held up.

 

Looking into it as well for ceramic coating. $40 is a steal

 

On my RS4 (I know not a Porsche but same concept) I used 400 grit sandpaper to take the chrome finish off which gives the paint the ability to grip much better. I then used whatever high heat rattle can they had at Auto Zone to spray multiple light coats on. Between each coat let it dry and then lightly use some 800+ grit to smooth it out perfectly and then do the next coat. You can then use the 800 grit after the last coat to give it a nice finish which looks a lot like the ceramic coated finish. If I had a shop close by that could do the tips in ceramic coating I would have but in San Antonio such shops are not prevalent so DIY's are sometimes a must. Good luck.

 

BTW, I forgot to say those tips are beautiful!

Thanks for the response, so no primer needed?

 

I didn't prime it and the finish looked nice and held up well. And the nice thing is that you'll have plenty of paint left to do touchups if the need ever arises.

 

I like the matte black as well. Cheap as I am I'll let the soot take care of it...

 

That was my original plan, but the soot wasn't happening fast enough for me.

 

Ceramic coating is not very expensive. Its worth it to get it done right.

 

Does anyone know of a shop that can do ceramic coating for exhaust tips in the Bay Area, CA? I can't quickly find one on Google.

 

I've done both the Paint and Ceramic coating options in the past, and although everyone always warns against the "high heat and rock chips" that the paint option is bound to encounter, I never had any problems with it for 2+ years. It's just like painting anything else though, 90% of the job is in the prep work... as Brian said you'll need to key the chrome to give the paint something to grab onto. Step up to lighter-grit sand paper as you go to get a completely smooth finish with your last coat. It's pretty simple and should anything ever bang it up you can touch it up at home instead of having it re-blasted. Either way seems to work just fine in my experience.