Painting headers

[HP2]

I've painted a few sets of headers in my day and while they may look good for a period of time, they always eventually peel. I've never used a high heat primer. Perhaps that is why the paint jobs eventually failed. Anyone else have a successful experience using high heat primers?

[JS29]

They make a ceramic coating for headers. It's suppose to give the car better performance by keeping under hood heat down.   

[HP2]

So I scuffed up the pipes with a red scotchbrite, degreased them and shot paint straight to them. Guess I'll see how well it holds up. Maybe in the future I'll consider ceramic coating for headers and pipes if I like this configuration.

[docmel]

I have tried EVERYTHING under the sun as far as painting headers:  NOTHING lasts, period.  High heat primer wont work on headers.

Ive been big into ceramic coating for about 10 years now, and thats the way to go.  Do a local serach in your area for power coating services.  Typically those places also do ceramic coating as well.  Note:  Its not cheap nowadays.  You might come off same $$$ if you get a new set of headers already ceramic coated.  Another Note:  Most ceramic coating tends to dull a little after awhile, but it doesnt effect the coating.  A Huge plus on ceramic coating is how much they reduce underhood heat   

[Scooter]

I have tried EVERYTHING under the sun as far as painting headers:  NOTHING lasts, period.  High heat primer wont work on headers.

Ive been big into ceramic coating for about 10 years now, and thats the way to go.  Do a local serach in your area for power coating services.  Typically those places also do ceramic coating as well.  Note:  Its not cheap nowadays.  You might come off same $$$ if you get a new set of headers already ceramic coated.  Another Note:  Most ceramic coating tends to dull a little after awhile, but it doesnt effect the coating.  A Huge plus on ceramic coating is how much they reduce underhood heat   

^^^ This.. ceramic coating is the way to go IMHO.

If not a possibility just plan on removing, stripping them down and repainting them when the paint starts to go away.

If going the rattle can route you might look into the VHT or XTC specific header paint.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Ceramic, nothing else holds up.

[Strawdawg]

I have never been able to make VHT, or other brands, last very long.

My experience with ceramic coatings is limited to the shiny silver version but it does much better.  The best part in my opinion is how much cooler it is under the hood and how fast the pipes cool down making plug changes much less painful on warm engines.

[HP2]

So after a 30 minutes cam break in and 30 minutes of tuning, the paint is starting to turn a blackish/brown color up near the exhaust ports. It hasn't completely burnt off the paint, but another hour of running probably will.

Thinking of pulling the engine this winter to paint the engine bay. may seize the opportunity to get them coated. I've painted them black and most ceramic coatings are silver. I could go either way but still need to decide. Has anyone done a black ceramic coating before?