Exhaust Pipe Paint Colour

Unless you are going racing, paint it whatever color looks good to you.

For maximum engine performance you would want as much heat retained in the exhaust stream as possible. For going to the store, it just doesn't matter.

<...What colour would you put in an exhaust, please ?...>

Cerise is such a pretty colour.

in the words of Mick Jagger, paint it black - matt black

Hummingbird yellow or lime green...

I think most exhausts rust from the inside because of condensation (look at the pretty white smoke you get when you start your car on a cold day). I think the paint will make little difference so just choose whatever looks good.

Look at the heat specs of the colors, they used to vary from color to color, dramatically.

Pick the paint that can handle the highest possible temperature....

Since lead was removed from petrol, exhausts do not rust so badly I find. Diesel car exhausts, it lasts around 10 years (at least on Mitsubishi diesels.....)

It really won't make a difference. But I would like to lobby for lime green.

Every time I get a colonoscopy, I am subjected to a color film about other people's colonoscopies, and therefore I can attest, though I have no particular interest in such knowledge, that most people's tailpipes are pink. Does paint really make a tailpipe last longer? Two people I know had tailpipes (in fact, whole exhaust systems) made of nickel, a mildly toxic but nonreactive metal that will last the lifetime of several cars. One man was an old farmer who showed me a ring he had made out of the exhaust system of his car when he junked it. The other was a lieutenant in the US Navy, who had the ship's machine shop stop all work on other projects in order to create a nickel exhaust system and install it in his car. I suspect that was illegal. I don't know why they don't make exhaust systems out of materials designed to last the lifetime of the car. Not even luxury cars have this option, though. It must be insulting to buy a new Bentley and a few years down the road, find yourself cutting Midas coupons out of the Sunday paper to save money on a new muffler.

Jet Hot type coatings are the best for steel exhaust. Local guy here charges by the foot $200-400 should cover it. It coats inside and outside does not flake or wear. I have a 2 stainless steel (416)systems which are now on second cars (same frame, different body) Both are over ten years old still OK.

THANK you ALL for your nice comments.

I enjoyed reading them as many of you make me laugh.

I've a diesel particles filter exhaust, so going to paint only 80% of the exhaust, the part from the particle filter to the bottom end - it's a 2 section design (1st particle filter, 2nd rest of the exhaust). The particle filter is in the back of the motor, do not want to mess up with the return pipes, etc...

I'm going chose black matt and for the drums and calipers aluminium (the nearest colour of the chrome) - later on when I have more money will put some nice wheels.

Have a nice holiday all of you around the world, the snow finally arrived in the UK, need to get this job done ASAP after a good high-pressure wash to the car and the exhaust.

PS: maybe will paint engine block pink or green later ... lol :)

Silver because i like that color better than black. I have n ever saw high heat paint in any other colors than silver or black. The thing with high heat paint that I ever used only stayed on for a few heatings and then started to flake off or just burned off. Hope you have a better type of high heat paint than I did.

good-luck

___'...Aluminium reflects, so would it reflect also heat coming from interior to exterior ? Black attracks heat/rays, would it keep the exhaust warmer ?...'___

Actually the results will probably be just the opposite in most cases (depending on the paint).

There won't typically be much sunlight striking an exhaust. The exhaust will typically be much hotter than the surroundings. If the R value of the applied thickness of paint is assumed to be the same, the dominant factor will be the emmisivity of the paint.

Black paint typically has very high emmisivity compared to silver paint (consider the thin aluminized 'survivor' blankets for perserving body heat in cold environments). An exhaust system painted black will likely radiate much more ht to the surroundings than one painted silver.

Benbenben

"For maximum engine performance you would want as much heat retained in the exhaust stream as possible. For going to the store, it just doesn't matter." - Lynlynch

I understand i should choose the colour that keeps the most heat in the exhaust = ALUMINIUM (survival blanket example - Benbenben).

Thank you again.