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White fender well headers. Paint or Ceramic coating?

29K views 31 replies 13 participants last post by  noted1017 
#1 ·
Hi guys, just wondering what you guys think is best. Mine are painted white with the hi temp vht rattle can kind. I'm not too crazy with how its lasted. Of course its probably just my poor skills in painting things. Tried following the directions as much as possible. Just wondering if anyone has tried white ceramic coating and if its lasts.
 
#4 ·
Seems like you can never know what to expect.

I bought a new set of ceramic coated Hedman headers for my SBC El Camino. Paid extra $$$$ for the coated ones figuring I'd finally get a set of headers I wouldn't be constantly messing with to keep them looking good.

After driving the car all Summer& put away for the Winter when Spring came the headers had started "pitting" along with rust all over the headers. Especially on the tubing nearest to the flanges.

I prefer the look of WHITE ..... which seems like the toughest one to keep looking right.

If someone has "white that works" I'd like to know.

I have found that for some reason "silver" seems to hang on the best. Used to have some silver I got from work that was used to paint steel around a industrial furnace. (1550+ degrees) which worked great. First used it on stock headers which I didn't even clean up at all.
 
#6 ·
Try Branden Enterprises p.o. box 511 feasterville PA 19053 215-327-4926. he has a white high heat paint thats great i used it on the exhaust on my Mack truck and it runs 10hrs a day threw rock mines and sand pits and it washes clean every time no chips! $20 a can..
 
#9 ·
Speaking of "white paint".

Makes me recall how we used to paint everything underneath the car & the inner fenderwells ALL white. It was a popular thing to do back in late '60's thru the muscle car era into the early '70's.

Haven't seen anyone doing it much today although I am sure someone out there has. I have seen some on-line photos from back then showing this "trendy" yet "short-lived" touch of things hot rodders used to do.
 
#11 ·
White Ceramic Coating for Headers



I think most would agree that Ceramic Coating is the best way to go about any exhaust coating, BUT it’s certainly not the cheapest relative to a couple cans of VHT. It depends what your budget is and what your time is worth. How many times are you going to yank your headers off, blast them and coat them before you get tired of doing it??? We see some customers with limited success with black VHT’s, but I haven’t seen any success stories with white. It’s also not a real common color though. It’s pretty specific to vintage and nostalgic cars.

We've had pretty good luck with the white Ceramic Coating we’re currently using. Below is a 1 of 6 original 289 Shelby Cobra race car we did that is still ACTIVELY raced. This seems a bit crazy for a $750,000.00 irreplaceable car, buts that’s just me, lol…..





 
#12 ·
I think most would agree that Ceramic Coating is the best way to go about any exhaust coating, BUT it’s certainly not the cheapest relative to a couple cans of VHT. It depends what your budget is and what your time is worth. How many times are you going to yank your headers off, blast them and coat them before you get tired of doing it??? We see some customers with limited success with black VHT’s, but I haven’t seen any success stories with white. It’s also not a real common color though. It’s pretty specific to vintage and nostalgic cars.

We've had pretty good luck with the white Ceramic Coating we’re currently using. Below is a 1 of 6 original 289 Shelby Cobra race car we did that is still ACTIVELY raced. This seems a bit crazy for a $750,000.00 irreplaceable car, buts that’s just me, lol…..


Thanks for the info, I'll definitely give you guys a call.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Well Max about covered it....... I also wondered what we should expect as far as longevity. Dose it make a difference if the car is only seasonal ? Are there any special care we should give to extend the luster or finish, and why is it the header always seem to start to show rust threw in the collector area, right were the for pipes enter. Is it better to have it coated inside also or is that really a waists ? What are the differences in product that allows the coating to with stand higher temps ? What proses do you do after blasting ? Do you do a chemical wash, and do you preheat the parts? ;) Thanks CCP ! !
 
#27 ·
VHT sells hitemp paint for exhaust. I also used Eastwood silver exhaust paint. I used a bullet heater to prebake the paint before installing them.
 
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#28 ·
John, (Opel Gasser) hasn't been on the site for years.
I use VHT Flame Proof high temp header paint. It's rated 1300-2000 degrees f. and holds up fantastic. I painted my Austin headers with it, and just let them dry good and used exhaust heat to cure it. They never burned off or flaked. Started the engine up, and let it run about 30 seconds. Then let it cool, and repeated that several times. After that just ran the engine normally.
Avoid getting too much paint build up, and be sure the headers are clean before painting! If you go nuts trying to get too many coats it's more likely to flake off later. One light coat, followed by a 2nd good coat is all I ever use.
 
#30 ·
I know this is an old thread, but i thout ide add to the list for anyone else looking for a good header paint. I recently did my headers with KBS' xtreme temp coatings. I used there zinc primer and pure white aerosols. Have a few half hour to an hour run cycles in the driveway and are holding up well. I will note this was my second attempt at this. First time i used the aerosol primer and i got a pint of pure white and reduced the white to spray in a gun. I did everything the same as the 2nd attempt exept using the reduced paint in a pint, but the white bubbled as soon as the engine fired up however the primer stuck well. Was told i applied the white too heavy. If you do get there header paint stick with the aerosols and do light coats. Heres a link.
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