Powder coated exhaust tips via mail order powder coating

[staying_tuned]

After installing my catted AMS down-pipe I initially came to the conclusion that I liked the resulting exhaust note paired with the stock cat-back. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the chrome on my stock tips was starting to pit and wear away. I could get them pretty clean via mild polishing but eventually I started looking for replacements. I was shocked to learn that it would have cost me nearly $450 shipped to replace them with new tips (all 4 on my R). I then decided to route that money into a mild aftermarket cat-back which allowed me to specifically select black tips. After waiting for nearly 3 months on an exhaust that was supposed to ship in 2 weeks (I called in advance, etc.) I cancelled the order and found myself back to square one.

I decided to pursue having them powder coated. The shop I usually work with is nearly 2 hours from me so I punted on the idea for awhile, figuring I'd just wait until I needed something else coated as well and would just batch it all to avoid hours and hours of driving from multiple trips.

Then I found this mail order powder coating place online where pricing is based on the size of the box you ship with a limit on total quantity. Basically anything you can fit in a standard USPS box (or custom box) you pay a flat fee, ship your items and they are shipped back when completed. You pick your color from a small selection of standard colors or specify the color code for any prismatic powder color. I've used prismatic on everything I've ever had coated so this was great to know. I opted for gloss black. The price was cheaper than I would have paid the place I usually go. This seemed perfect, almost too perfect. Being skeptical by default, I called them. The conversation was great.

The cost was $81 for the service, which included return shipping, then another $16 for me to have them shipped out totaling $97 bones... I'm still shocked by that.

I got the rear up on ramps and wiggled while gently tapping the back of them with a plastic mallet. I cleaned them up a bit and sent them off on a Monday. By the weekend, I had them back in my hands. They turned out beautifully. I rubbed them down with alcohol and applied 2 coats of CQuartz UK 3.0 and let them cure another day.

Installed them and put about 1k miles on the car. With the powder plus ceramic, the carbon deposits wiped off with ease, as if it were a fine layer of dust I was wiping off a well polished fireplace mantle.

I apologize for being so wordy on this review of something so trivial as exhaust tips. I'm obsessive about details and so thoroughly pleased with the service and final result that I felt it worth elaborating a bit more than I usually would for those that are OCD about this kind of think as well.

Ok, onto the pics:

2nd coat of ceramic applied:

Left side installed:

Right side installed:

Done:

 

[davcohen]

That is awesome, I just bought an aftermarket muffler and was wondering if I should paint the tips as I really dont want the chrome tips they came with but this sounds like a better solution that would look alot better then high temp rattle can finish

 

[staying_tuned]

That is awesome, I just bought an aftermarket muffler and was wondering if I should paint the tips as I really dont want the chrome tips they came with but this sounds like a better solution that would look alot better then high temp rattle can finish

I've even used VHT's high temp coatings that I then bake to cure in our kitchen oven when my wife is gone for a few hours. The results are usually pretty good for about a month, then it just starts to break down. The powder coating is so thick that I could barely make out the serial numbers that were etched into the tips when I got them back. I'm literally rooting around for more stuff I can send in a box to have done haha.