Painted muffler - BEST inexpensive MOD EVER!

[SenorRoadRage]

High temp spray paint, a few beers and 2 hours...

Black tips give +15hp too.

Gave her a bath after this, don't worry!

[Tommy L Garage]

Paint will come off. I did that to my muffler last year.
Sanded and sprayed.
How’s everyone else’s paint holding up?

[gatorfast]

My paint is holding up just fine after several years. No prep either, just wiped the muffler down and painted it.

[jmciver]

Could the difference be due to the environment? Tommy L driving in NJ, including snow/salt on the roads in the winter vs gator driving in FL?

[wdskukm3]

I actually prefer the silver. I love that metal look just like all the aluminum on the suspension.

However I do not like the low sagging look of the stock exhaust on the M2 Competition. That looks terrible.

[SenorRoadRage]

Originally Posted by Tommy L Garage

Paint will come off. I did that to my muffler last year.
Sanded and sprayed.
How’s everyone else’s paint holding up?

I took my time washing, sanding, steel-wooling everything before spraying, so I'm hoping it holds up. If not, by the time it wears off, I'll be wanting a new exhaust anyway!

[jd__m4]

Originally Posted by jmciver

Could the difference be due to the environment? Tommy L driving in NJ, including snow/salt on the roads in the winter vs gator driving in FL?

I'm in PA and mine has held up fine for a year+. Same with my BMS tips that I sprayed black.

[Ducguy46]

Blue M1, M2 & Start buttons

[RevNev]

I painted my muffler with VHT satin black brake caliper paint and it hasn't come off

[R-M4]

Originally Posted by Tommy L Garage

Paint will come off. I did that to my muffler last year.
Sanded and sprayed.
How’s everyone else’s paint holding up?

Mine is holding up big time.

[LYTSOUT]

Just installed black chrome tips from Mode Concepts and they look awesome, but now all I can focus on is the stupid muffler (or as someone around here referred to it, the "ball sack" )

Anyway, I'm now thinking of doing this mod, but I have a few questions for those who have done it:

1) What sort of prep did you do? I don't think I have the patience to sand it all down, but did you guys at least use mineral spirits or some other degreaser to prep the surface? To me, this seems like a relatively easy step to improve adherence and would be way better than nothing while not overly time consuming.

2) Speaking of prep, did you guys use any sort of primer?

3) I know a lot of guys spray theirs, but I'm afraid of overspray. I can't find the thread, but I know one other guy mentioned that he covered the entire car with a plastic tarp and the overspray got way further onto the tarp than he even expected. So was overspray really an issue for you guys? For this reason, I'm really leaning toward brush-on paint, even if the coverage isn't quite as perfect/seamless/confluent.

4) How does it hold up with super high heats like at the track? Btw, my 997S came with powder-coated exhaust tips, but after my very first track weekend, the finish was pretty well destroyed. It didn't really bother me b/c I felt like it made it look a bit more hardcore...plus it was a nice little hint of reassurance that the previous owner had never tracked it before!

5) How did you get access to the muffler? Were jack stands high enough or did you reverse up onto race ramps or something?

This is something I only want to do once, so any advice or words of wisdom are appreciated!

[CJStevens]

Originally Posted by Aapparition90

Hey guys , help me out here what am i missing ?
If i read the thread correctly he mentions he has CP which should come with black muffler tips stock ? so why the need to paint.
on topic - well done on the diy really invokes me to get my hands dirty.

He painted the actual muffler black. You can see it under the car behind the diffuser, not the actual tips.

[EricP3]

Why did I read this thread now I want to paint mine...

[Truvett]

Steps I did and holding up great:
1. Removed tips and diffuser first.
2. Washed with soapy wet rag and let dry.
3. Lysol wiped and let dry.
4. Light steel wool.
5. Wiped with rag to clean dust off.
6. Painters tape and 8 mil plastic wrapped all around underneath.
7. Covered my floor under car with cardboard.
8. Sprayed with rust oleum high heat primer. Multiple light coats, follow spray can instructions.
9. Sprayed with rust oleum high heat black paint, multiple light coats, follow spray can instructions.

A couple of notes. The whole process only took about 2 hours of effort. There is time in between with the paint curing process, with high heat paint it is critical to follow the instructions. I did it all in my garage with windows and door open. I did not have to jack up the car at all. It’s held up great and no reason to doubt it will last as I’ve used it on grills before and that held up for years. There was no overspray and I only wrapped up to top of rear bumper for extra caution.

[LYTSOUT]

Originally Posted by Truvett

Steps I did and holding up great:
1. Removed tips and diffuser first.
2. Washed with soapy wet rag and let dry.
3. Lysol wiped and let dry.
4. Light steel wool.
5. Wiped with rag to clean dust off.
6. Painters tape and 8 mil plastic wrapped all around underneath.
7. Covered my floor under car with cardboard.
8. Sprayed with rust oleum high heat primer. Multiple light coats, follow spray can instructions.
9. Sprayed with rust oleum high heat black paint, multiple light coats, follow spray can instructions.

A couple of notes. The whole process only took about 2 hours of effort. There is time in between with the paint curing process, with high heat paint it is critical to follow the instructions. I did it all in my garage with windows and door open. I did not have to jack up the car at all. It’s held up great and no reason to doubt it will last as I’ve used it on grills before and that held up for years. There was no overspray and I only wrapped up to top of rear bumper for extra caution.

That's helpful...but sounds like a lot more than 2h of work! I was thinking something more along the lines of:
1) jack it up
1b) remove tips/diffuser...that's a good idea that I hadn't thought of
2) wipe with degreaser of some sort
3) +/- brush-on primer (# of coats?)
4) brush-on paint (# of coats?)

I bet that'd be half the time and have zero risk of overspray as your (admittedly much more thorough!) method. Wonder how good the results would be

[Truvett]

Yeah I didn’t have access to lift it easily and needed something to do in winter time. The only thing that added more time was the curing in between honestly. Sounded like a lot, but it went pretty fast. My finished look with same tips as you. The lighting doesn’t do it justice.

[LYTSOUT]

Originally Posted by Truvett

Yeah I didn’t have access to lift it easily and needed something to do in winter time. The only thing that added more time was the curing in between honestly. Sounded like a lot, but it went pretty fast. My finished look with same tips as you. The lighting doesn’t do it justice.

Looks awesome! And no overspray issues? Really??

[Truvett]

Just painters tape and plastic caught everything with ease. If you spray from 8-12" away indoors (no wind) you really should never miss what you are spraying by more than 3" or so. So to be safe, cover with plastic a foot or foot and a half if nervous.

If you press the spray can nozzle full it will go all over yes, not to mention you will get runs in the paint too. Just light spray multiple times and you get better coverage, better finish, and less mess.

Here is with the plastic still on. You can see the lack of overspray.

[LYTSOUT]

Well, I finally did it. A few months ago I painted the ballsack black. I took the long and hard (pun intended!) route to make sure it was as perfect as possible. The whole job took the better part of 7 hours b/c I did a crazy amount of prep and followed the multi-step curing process for both primer and paint to a tee. But after all that effort, I'm SUPER happy with the result and would recommend it to anyone with enough patience to do it.

Rather than retype it all, you can see a full write-up here on my build thread with tons of pics
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=33

And a few more pics in better light (three months later)
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=34

The black ballsack really compliments the black chrome Mode tips nicely. This combo is really a huge improvement over OEM. Btw, if you're interested, the full build thread is linked below in my sig

[spidy512]

I am clearly very lazy.

30 minutes., Maybe. Three coats. No prep. I don't think I hit anhthing but the muffler, and one of my tips. But ARM tips are on the way, so who cares (they are painted black as well).

Holding up great here in beatimus Nor Cal.....

josh

[Jbrown7403]

Originally Posted by LYTSOUT

Well, I finally did it. A few months ago I painted the ballsack black. I took the long and hard (pun intended!) route to make sure it was as perfect as possible. The whole job took the better part of 7 hours b/c I did a crazy amount of prep and followed the multi-step curing process for both primer and paint to a tee. But after all that effort, I'm SUPER happy with the result and would recommend it to anyone with enough patience to do it.

Rather than retype it all, you can see a full write-up here on my build thread with tons of pics
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=33

And a few more pics in better light (three months later)
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...9&postcount=34

The black ballsack really compliments the black chrome Mode tips nicely. This combo is really a huge improvement over OEM. Btw, if you're interested, the full build thread is linked below in my sig

This is great info and thanks for the 2 threads as well. Curious to know if the black muffler paint is still holding up?

[LYTSOUT]

Originally Posted by Jbrown7403

This is great info and thanks for the 2 threads as well. Curious to know if the black muffler paint is still holding up?

Yep. Doing great. Zero chipping, peeling, etc. Highly recommend this mod!