VHT. Media blast first, then thoroughly clean/ degrease, then preheat with an oxy-acetalene torch, then 2-3 thin coats following the can's instructions.
I'm going to be painting some soon with VHT white header paint. I too agree with a cleaning, sanding and heating the headers up. My Dad use to put them in the kitchen oven, but I don't think I can get away with that. For black the BBQ paint works well too.
I'm sold on BBQ paint and agree with blasting them clean first. Cure in oven if they'll fit and with approval of the domestic manager. I do a thin one or two coat thinking paint build is not good. Lynn
Cerakote Glacier series Black https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerakote-coating/C-7600/cerakote-glacier-black
I just did this a few months ago, I used Rustoleum High Heat Paint. It honestly has worked better than any other Paint i have used on exhaust in the past. I used a red scotch brite pad on the headers (they had old cooked off ceramic coating on them) Sprayed the headers with the Rustoleum then put them back on. started the car and let it idle till the headers started smoking, and then shut it down. I heat cycled them this way 6 times. then took it for a drive. They smoked a little, but hen just stopped smoking. The last picture is after a 4 hour drive up the freeways around DC on the way to TROG with my son Driving with his buddy Roscoe. This stuff is tuff. nearly 4,0000 mile later and they still look as good as the day I Painted them. The picture of the can is exactly what i used.
It's not cheap, but I used Zybar Header Coating System on mine. 6 years and still looks great!! https://ZyCoat.com
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