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I'm not basing it on "speculation", but upon having done the same thing to many exhaust tips over the years and having to do it over fairly often. The matte or flat color without an outer coating will get dirty and dull with age, road grime exposure and carbon emissions mixed with condensation. There's no way to "polish" it or make it look clean.
For long term durability, powder coating is the way to go.
Perhaps.
Whatever it takes so it doesn't look like there's four of these on the backside of my C7.
Tips look great, nice job. My C7 is Silver and would look great with the exhaust tips flat black, also the exhaust would blend in better with the rear fascia.
Tips look great, nice job. My C7 is Silver and would look great with the exhaust tips flat black, also the exhaust would blend in better with the rear fascia.
It looks a zillion times better. i kind of thought it would look better, but it exceeded my expectations. I really don't like those honkin exhaust horns, and this tones it down perfectly. Makes them far classier looking. And makes them look smaller. Goes great if you have blacked out trim on your car (black flash package, black wheels, etc.).
It looks a zillion times better. i kind of thought it would look better, but it exceeded my expectations. I really don't like those honkin exhaust horns, and this tones it down perfectly. Makes them far classier looking. And makes them look smaller. Goes great if you have blacked out trim on your car (black flash package, black wheels, etc.).
The C7 really doesn't have a circular shape or curved body line on the entire car, especially the angular rear-end. To my eyes, the exhaust tips (vents) would look much more natural if they were square, flat - and just two of them. The round tips don't fit at all.
Maybe something in this theme:
Last edited by COvert-red; 05-19-2017 at 11:42 AM.
The C7 really doesn't have a circular shape or curved body line on the entire car, especially the angular rear-end. To my eyes, the exhaust tips (vents) would look much more natural if they were square, flat - and just two of them. The round tips don't fit at all.
The blacked out treatment really makes them work for me. The look half the size in black vs. the stock polished stainless steel. Hey, it's all subjective, I think most owners love the four steel horns on the back of the car, I just never could get used to them.
The blacked out treatment really makes them work for me. The look half the size in black vs. the stock polished stainless steel. Hey, it's all subjective, I think most owners love the four steel horns on the back of the car, I just never could get used to them.
The black tips are an improvement - good job.
I edited my earlier post for a photo, but I'm sure that there are better ideas out there. I clearly remember some very flat, square-looking tips that were subtle - that's what I was envisioning. I'll keep looking-
The black tips look great. I'm kind of surprised you did this knowing how much you love the appearance of the stock exhaust....
I kept trying to talk myself into liking the stock stainless exhaust horns (in stainless they look more like horns than tips) but it wasn't happening.
You have to be pretty motivated to go after the stock stainless exhaust tips on your brand new $60K friggin car with a spray can of Rustoleum paint you bought at Lowe's. But it all worked out.
Truth be told, I'd never do it again. I'd bring it to my trusty local body shop and have HIM do it, he'd drop the rear bumper, throw it up on his lift and have much easier access to it. Yeah he would have charged me $300+, but getting that masking tape on and off really did suck. I can be done but it's not easy and it involves a lot of garage floor gymnastics.
Note to self: whenever some car weenie on the Internet tells you how 'EASY' some car task is, bear in mind that they probably ENJOYED doing it. there's a reason I haven't wrenched on my own cars since age 20, and it's not because I can't figure it out. I hate doing it.
I'll see how it goes, if they start to look like crap and I can't clean them I'll sand the existing paint with fine sandpaper and re-spray them. If that stops working i'll probably relent, get a guy to pull the exhaust and then I'll go find a place to strip the tips and powder coat them. Hopefully the paint works, we'll see.
The car is so utterly off the hinges. I don't get to drive it as much as I'd like, and whenever I go more than 20 miles in it or get to open it up at all (which is mostly unpossible on public roads and streets) it just blows my mind. I just don't think cars GET much better than this, and if they do they cost 3x the price. Never thought I'd own a car remotely approaching the performance, styling and sophistication of this Z51. It's the perfect car for me. I think a Z06 would be harder to enjoy, I like GETTING on a car and you can't hardly do that with 460 bhp. The car is fast enough. I think it's telling there is no mid-cycle hp boost from GM on the car. The motor is kind of perfect the way it is now for the C7. They did get it right.
I do think it's possible for sports cars to be too fast, so fast they're hard to enjoy, and the C7 is guilty of that sometimes. But I get the feeling you ask any owner of a fast car from a Cayman S to a Ferrari 488 and they'll smile and tell you 'that's ok, it's not too fast.'
I edited my earlier post for a photo, but I'm sure that there are better ideas out there. I clearly remember some very flat, square-looking tips that were subtle - that's what I was envisioning. I'll keep looking-
I keep trying to get a rise out of you guys by saying stuff like 'at least my car doesn't look like an extra in 'The Grinch That Stole Christmas' flick anymore', but so far everybody takes it in stride.
Sigh.
It's too hard to be a troll here, nobody gets upset.
Anyway, maybe my thread will inspire others to paint the tips black, but it really was a pain, and I would have preferred to buy an aftermarket part to replace them. But that was unpossible without replacing the whole exhaust.
And that's why doing this has another benefit: few owners will do it, so it will personalize your C7's appearance.
I called a powder coater in town and they can't do it. They said it would bubble on the high temp exhaust. Also asked a high end paint shop that works on exotics and they wouldn't do it either.
05-18-2017, 12:16 PM
