I used VHT, spendy. The primer worked great, the paint blistered and peeled, over sprayed with Rustoleum BBQ paintLess than $4.00 and looks great after a couple thousand miles! Oh, by the way I baked the VHT on as per instructions. Just sayin'.
Eastwood high temp Stainless Steel coating works great on headers and exhaust manifolds. Only drawback, one color....charcoal. For prep, sandblast and then sweat the moisture off the surface with a torch just before painting...it's the key for long lasting no rust, no flake finish no matter what paint product you use. Paint immediately after cooling to ambient temp.
This is Rustoleum BBQ high heat that looked good for about two years. Last year at the salt flats was real wet and sloppy and thats when the finish went to shit. The previous two years held up real good against the elements at the salt flats without any touch up. I used a good zinc and phosphate etch without any primer. Now I'm thinking about using KBS Coatings Xtreme, expensive but Ive had good luck with their rust seal products. I would say that Rustoleum BBQ holds up great until its soaked with salt water.
This is all I have used in the last ten years. I works great. I have never had a problem with it. I have used it on Harley exhaust too with great results.
I've used DEI black high temp paint on my Harley headers it has held up just fine. Cures when heat is applied.
Nothing you can apply at home will be worth a damn, ceramic coating eventually goes to shit too. Stainless is the only way to go
Nope! Stone is the only thing that can hold up to exhaust heat. Think fireplace. Get some porcelain clay and mix up a good slurry, then dip your headers in there and cure them in a kiln at the local junior college. Only thing that will hold up to heat like that. Just kidding. I use VHT, let it dry in the sun, cured it in the oven. Worked great. Yes, I am single.
I have used VHT both with and without the VHT primer and have also used Rustoleum BBQ paint on my headers. I have alway sandblasted the headers and completely stripped the old paint. I have never had a problem with either paint. I like the finish with VHT. Without primer it looks good for about 2 years. After that a few rust spots start to show through. With primer it seems to hold up longer. I didnt' like the finish of the BBQ paint so I stripped it off and redid with VHT. You don't need a lot of coats. Just need enough paint for even coverage. I recently redid a set of block huggers and used Rustoleum High Heat automotive paint. The can says it's good to 2000 degrees and it sprayed just like VHT and it is more readily available locally.
My rattle can fav, having used everything from Rustoleum to Krylon to VHT, is Zynolyte. http://aervoe.com/paints_coatings/Zynolyte-Hi-Temp-Paint.html
I bought headers for my late model Dodge truck. I had them sandblasted prior to applying VHT paint. After several coats, I allowed them to dry for a couple of days before installing. 17 years later, they haven't peeled off and still look good. Same thing with my '32 3 window. Full length headers with VHT. Still looks good after 6 years. I switched to ceramic coated lake headers on the '32. The problem I ran into with the ceramic coating, it radiated more heat. So much so, it boiled the brake fluid so I had to wrap the brake lines and M/C.
I did a bunch of research regarding header paint because I ordered a set of Red's Headers and wanted them to look good for my truck. I sprung for the ceramic coating. Nothing compares and it seems like all of the header paints eventually look shitty. I did a bunch of research before hand and it seems like one person will have great luck with something and someone else will have terrible luck with the same product even though they both followed the same instructions. I didn't want to risk it.
Seems to be a general trend with all the coatings here. Most but not all who live in dry climates ,CA AZ TX had good results. some in rust belt states were ok but more were not. Also if exposed to the exterior of the ride and heavy usage they were less lasting. Just my .02 cents.
Some guys are harder on their stuff than others. My lake headers are 8 months since I painted them and they still look great. They're on a T Bucket that's kept outside under a car cover. I drive it every day and average 1,000 miles a month. I think the guys who have more problems, get grease and oil on them and either don't remove it or remove it and don't touch up the paint in that area. Painted headers need a touch up, every now and then. If I drip a spot of oil on the header, I dab it off, then spot spray where it landed on the header. If the headers hot when you drip the oil on it, don't do anything. let it burn off, then spot spray. If you do wipe the stain, you have to spray the whole area you wiped. Also, don't wait a month to clean your headers. if you stain them, try to clean and touch up as soon as you can. not 3 months down the road. If you're clumsy and spill a whole quart of oil on your headers, you should remove and redo. A lot of horror stories are just lack of maintenance and tuning. If you're running off time and getting the pipes too hot, nothings going to last. Not even ceramic coating.
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