How to restore the bullitt exhaust tips?

[KXU_KAT]

These are the Scrub Ninja pads I use. I use them for my steering wheels and other leather cleaning. Not super abrasive so they shouldn’t hurt the finish. Spray some of your Autoglym on the pad and the tips and give it a go. Just keep enough cleaner on the pad so there’s some lubrication there as well.

https://a.co/d/7HsAK5C

Thanks, I’ll try finding similar ones as I can’t see those available here in the UK. I will also get an iron remover and stronger wheel cleaner or similar.

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[NGOT8R]

I’ll bet CLR (Calcium and Lime Remover) will work. I just used some on my rusted black lug nuts. I put them in a container, poured CLR in it , put the lid on and shook them vigorously for exactly 2 minutes. I then removed them and rinsed them off and repainted them with Rustoleum 2X spray paint and baked them in my oven at 350* for 15 min. They look so much better now.

If you try CLR on your exhaust tips, I recommend saturating a rag with it and wiping the tips down. Have a bucket with fresh water and another rag nearby, to follow behind the CLR application. Here are pics to show how well the process worked for me.

 

[KXU_KAT]

I’ll bet CLR (Calcium and Lime Remover) will work. I just used some on my rusted black lug nuts. I put them in a container, poured CLR in it , put the lid on and shook them vigorously for exactly 2 minutes. I then removed them and rinsed them off and repainted them with Rustoleum 2X spray paint and baked them in my oven at 350* for 15 min. They look so much better now.

If you try CLR on your exhaust tips, I recommend saturating a rag with it and wiping the tips down. Have a bucket with fresh water and another rag nearby, to follow behind the CLR application. Here are pics to show how well the process worked for me.

Thanks, I’ll try it in case the next step doesn’t give better results.

 

[OldPhart]

Hi - Flat black exhaust tip touch-up. If you live in a cold weather area of the country, go to a store that sells wood stoves and buy a can of stove pipe spray paint - cheap and easy... Bruce

 

[Stangnut]

Has anyone tried either one of these?
Rejuvenate Outdoor Color Restorer
Rust-Oleum Wipe New ReColor Multi-Surface Formula

 

[NGOT8R]

Matt Maran also had this issue with his car with 4K miles on the odometer.

 

[NGOT8R]

IMO, pulling the exhaust, masking off the mufflers and scuffing the exhaust tips with a Scotch-Brite, followed by spray painting them with a few light coats of BBQ grill paint would be the way to go. You can always touch them up (as needed) and keep them looking new.

 

[Nightmonkey]

@NGOT8R
Why?
There's a black-coated exhaust tip with dirt on it, and instead of removing the dirt you want to destroy the coating and spray oven paint on it?
You can do that if the coating is damaged, but not because of dirt!



The same applies here as with paint, a cleaner that removes the dirt but does not damage the coating is needed!
With paintwork, only abrasive agents are used to remove scratches. We should not scrub such black tips with abrasive products that are intended for polishing bare metal!

The tips should also not be glossy black, this is a matt to satin black finish when they are new.
If you polish matt or semi-gloss surfaces, the result is glossy and never matt or semi-gloss, so anything that is polish is completely unsuitable.

 

[NGOT8R]

@NGOT8R
Why?
There's a black-coated exhaust tip with dirt on it, and instead of removing the dirt you want to destroy the coating and spray oven paint on it?
You can do that if the coating is damaged, but not because of dirt!



The same applies here as with paint, a cleaner that removes the dirt but does not damage the coating is needed!
With paintwork, only abrasive agents are used to remove scratches. We should not scrub such black tips with abrasive products that are intended for polishing bare metal!

The tips should also not be glossy black, this is a matt to satin black finish when they are new.
If you polish matt or semi-gloss surfaces, the result is glossy and never matt or semi-gloss, so anything that is polish is completely unsuitable.

That’s just the way I would do it if it were my car, especially with an inferior factory flaw that caused peeling on the tips, as seen in the video.

I also would use whatever paint would withstand high temperatures and look like the factory matte black coating.

I would scuff the tips with the Scotch-Brite pad to promote better paint adhesion. I actually just used this process on my Steeda Subframe braces to prep for paint and they turned out great.

 

[Nightmonkey]

I have now driven just under 20,000 mls with my Bullitt and the coating is dirty but intact.

If something is damaged, I'm fine with your aproach.
But this is about cleaning, and how some people probably end up doing more damage than cleaning with abrasive agents.

 

[NGOT8R]

He may have to get aggressive with it to remove rhe rust, that’s where CLR comes in. I wouldn’t soak them in CLR like I did my lug nuts, but rather, pour some on a rag, wipe the tips and immediately follow up with water and another rag or sponge to clean off any residual CLR. If he can’t get the rust off, he’ll likely have to consider the painting option.

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