Originally Posted by NickCW
[quote=1854sailor]Picked up the header from the coating company. Aluminum-Ceramic high temperature... Can I ask does it stay looking like that? Or does it dull/tarnish. cheers

As mentioned before, I have been ceramic coating exhaust pipes for 25 years. At the start, I too used to choose a chrome look like these. Sadly, most ceramic chrome-looking pipes will become an opaque grey in a year or so...losing their gorgeous sheen. And this shiny time is a function of coating the pipes inside and out (which is equally important). Many of these companies only coat the outside, saving more than half the cost of the process..producing less than one half of the undeniable benefits. frown This blue-grey opaque color is not as bad as the quick discoloration of stainless steel, but nothing like it is on the day of arrival. I find in not unattractive but it is NOTHING like chrome. The discoloration cannot be addressed and it is unwise to try the process again, assuming you find a company who will attempt it. Nonetheless the ceramic coating advantages continue whether shiny chrome or not. It is also done by those with cast manifolds. Same benefits. I once tried chrome on my wife's etype. Real chrome pipes discolor if you stare at them too hard. ooo

The chrome/aluminum ceramic coating is the most popular. I used it myself, only learning of the color fading after. The reason is the maximum heat these coatings can withstand. Cerama-Chrome is the most delicate and lowest maximum. The darker colors have the highest temperature maximum without discoloration. The chrome look is good to about 1250F (I am looking at American coater data). Colored ceramic can easily go to double that temperature which means it never discolors. What you get the first day, is what you get forever.

In the UK, if only the aesthetic effect is wanted..I can recommend metalizing. When I bought my UK Morgan(2005) and restored it, ceramic coating was unheard of. For the start of my tenure with that car, I tried metalizing, cheap and aesthetically effective without the deep advantages of ceramic coating. Image below. IIRC correctly, I paid 75 quid for the set back when. I chose silver.

gmg

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