I had my lakers ceramic coated from some guy named “Bonehead” or something like that. It lasted two years 3,000 miles. After the third year I wanted to go white so Eastwood aerosol rattle can was my choice and I’m very happy with it. Anybody doing white doesn’t or shouldn’t be expecting it to stay spotless white for the long run. So with that said I spend a half a day to remove them scuff them up rattle a few cans and I’m back in business. This past year I had some speckles of rust popping up so I called POR-15 to ask about their new aerosol header coating. I wanted to lay down a rust protector and top coat with my Easrwood white. They told me the POR -15 or it was por-20 was not a rust protection product and they wouldn’t recommend top coating it with any other product. HHHMMMM that doesn’t sound like any POR product I ever dealt with so I got some Rust-O- Lem High Temp Primer and so far so good, time will tell but again I’m sure I’ll be redoing them again 2-3 years down the road with $20-25 bucks worth of rattle cans. I’m sure if I paid $200-300 for white ceramic coating I would be touching them up with a rattle can in 2-3 years anyway.
I use VHT Ultra High Temp. The paint on these headers is about 8 years old now. Its not perfect but they have been out in the elements and the car gets driven in the rain and gawd knows what. They were built from a set of seasoned headers and the only prep was a wipe down with MEK. The MEK trick really won't work that well on new headers. Unfortunately no one makes high temp self etching primer and it is not easy to get paint to stick to bare steel. The trick with new headers is to first get them clean so a good wipe down with your favorite degreaser. Then to sand/bead blast them. and several think coats. Let them cure than don't just run 'em down the road, fire your motor make sure it is timed right ( slow timing with ruin the finish of a set of header toot sweet) get your headers warm but not poppin hot, kill the motor let it cool and repeat a few times.
I also used VHT high temp Flame Proof flat black paint on the lakes headers on my A. I did strip them completely of all old paint, and prepped the surface with a wax & grease remover, then gave the headers a couple of coats till they had good coverage and installed them and baked the paint on. Since then I occasionally wipe them down well with some lemon Pledge furniture polish, and after a few years they still look great.
I’m looking at having my headers ceramic coated, it’s not cheap! So was the costing failingvagyer 3 years, or was it just a colour change thing???
The ceramic coat was looking a bit shabby. It was thin in spots and flaking in the high heat areas. I will never send a set out for coating again. $20 and a bit of labor works for me. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I bought a set of high dollar Hooker Competition Ceramic coated headers for a 70 big block Malibu drag car . After one season they were rusted and looked like shit . Called Hooker and they could care less. Pulled them off and blasted them in my blast cabinet and painted them with BBQ grill paint and it lasted longer than the coating did. That was the last ceramic coated headers I ever ran.
First off it cleans them nicely. Second, when the exhaust heats up the Pledge kind of melts into a nice smooth coating that protects the painted finish. It works well on any painted engine surface, including the block, and even the radiator hoses. Try it. You can use Pledge on almost the entire car. I picked up the trick back when I was riding motorcycles regularly, I'd use Pledge on almost the entire bike, the tank & fenders shined with a mirror finish, the blacked out engine parts and the exhaust looked great. It's a common detail trick among bikers.
Thanks I'm going to try it. I just hope it doesn't turn my car into a lemon. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
