How to Paint Exhaust Tips? (Complete Guideline)

Painting exhaust tips is like polishing your old shoes that faded over time and got messy. Do you like that? No! So, what do you like? You like the shining exhaust tips that glittered in the past, right?

So, how to paint exhaust tips?

1. Make sure a convenient environment for the process.
2. Take off the exhaust tips
3. Preparing exhaust tips
4. Paint
5. Curing
6. Finish

This is the essence of the whole process. But, virtually, you must delve into more specific action steps to successfully paint your exhaust tips.

Can you paint your exhaust tips? (Tell me the truth)

Yes, you can paint exhaust tips. In fact, painting exhaust tips is a great thing you can occasionally do to ensure its performance is up and running. Painting exhaust tips is reasonably straightforward; everyone can do it by following a few simple steps.

How to paint exhaust tips? (Step by step)

So, you want to paint your exhaust tips, and here are the action steps you need to follow.

1. Get into a painting conducive environment.

Make sure you start the painting process in an open and well-ventilated area. For your protection, wear a drop cloth to cover from overspray.

2. Take off the exhaust tips

It’s time to take the exhaust tips. You can use a screw and 13mm ratchet socket to loosen and remove the exhaust tips from the tailpipe. Open the clamp where the nut and bolt were removed with pliers.

3. Preparing exhaust tips for paint

So, how do you prepare an exhaust tip for painting? Well, the first thing you need to do is to clean the tips from dirt and dust.

First, wash it off with distilled water and clean the dirt as much as possible. Use a wheel cleaning brush if the dirt is too hellbent to stick.

Once the tips are clean enough, it’s time to paint your tips.

4. Paint

Yes, this is the moment. Painting on exhaust tips is no different than painting on any metal.

Simply paint the exhaust tips with your favorite paint. After painting, leave it as it is for 4-8 hours before curing.

5. Curing

It’s time for curing. What is curing, and why do you need curing after painting?

You should run your engine for 10 minutes after painting, shut it off for 10 minutes, and then drive for 20 minutes after you’ve finished. Make sure you shut it off after that.

6. Finish

You are all set once the curing process is complete.

How to paint black exhaust tips? (And make it shine like the sun)

Painting black exhaust tips are tricky because it’s hard to clean black exhaust tips.

The simple steps to clean black exhaust tips are:

1. Take the sponge out of the P21S Polishing Soap.
2. Wet the sponge with water.
3. Rub the sponge on the P21S Polishing Soap to get some soap on it.
4. Wash the exhaust tip with soap and scrub the sponge. You don’t need to use any special techniques here. To remove black buildup, agitate the sponge against the metal.
5. Use the polishing soap to clean the entire exhaust tip, not just the build-up on its edges.
6. Scrub any areas that require more scrubbing with water after rinsing the soap off.

The rest is similar to painting other exhaust tips. Just follow the section where I discussed how to paint exhaust tips.

Can you paint a chrome exhaust tip?

Like other exhaust tips, you can paint chrome exhaust tips as well. Painting chrome exhaust tips are not any hard than others.

Take off tips. You need to clean your chrome exhaust tips. Once you are done cleaning it, you can start the painting process.

Can you paint a stainless steel exhaust tip?

Yes, you can paint on stainless steel exhaust tips without any problem. But, you can’t paint on the surface of the stainless steel directly since it’s made of nonporous, durable surfaces and not appropriate for paint adhesion.

That means, if you now apply paint on stainless steel, the paint will end up with rapid color fading.

But there’s a flip side to it! If you follow the method, you can have excellent paint that doesn’t fade away soon.

How to paint stainless steel exhaust tips?

I know you’re eagerly waiting to learn. Let me show you how. Follow exactly these:

Step 1: Make sure your exhaust tips are cool.

Step 2: Now, it’s time to clean the tips. Grab steel wool with a trisodium phosphate cleaner.

Step 3: To avoid undesirable areas from getting paints, you can make use of masking paper, plastic coverings, and painter’s tape.

Step 4: Apply galvanized metal etching spray primer to clean stainless steel exhaust. As you apply the etching primer, hold it 8 inches from the exhaust. After it has dried for six hours, apply the second coat.

Step 5: Apply an oil-based spray enamel to the primed exhaust. Apply the enamel while holding the can eight inches from it. Let it dry for six hours.

Can you spray paint your exhaust tips?

Leave no concern holding you back from painting your exhaust tips. A lot of people question if they can spray paint their exhaust tips.

The answer is yes, and you can spray paint your exhaust tips. In fact, spraying paint is one of the easiest ways to paint. So, don’t worry.

What paint can I use to paint my exhaust tips?

So far, I have talked about everything on how to paint exhaust tips, but one thing you might wonder about is what paint I can use to paint my exhaust tips.

Actually, it depends on your choice. But, I can suggest you based on quality and choice.

And, my recommendation is Krylon K01607000.

How to get paint off exhaust tips?

Yes, you might have this question as well. Since you are painting your tips, you must also paint off your exhaust tips at some point in the journey.

Here’s the process:

1. First, take off the exhaust tips.
2. Now, wash it with soap, which will clean the dirt and dust.
3. Use steel wool to clean the hard dirt and paint.

However, you mightn’t be able to remove paint off the exhaust tips altogether if it’s powder-coated. Either way, apart from the above process, there are several ways you can paint off the exhaust tips.

End Note

So, that was all there to know exactly how to paint exhaust. Keep in mind you clean your exhaust properly before applying paints.

Make sure to wear protective clothes and glasses while spraying paint.

And finally, always read the painting manual provided by the manufacturer before painting.