Well the short stock tips were annoying me with the OEM kit installed so I went out and got the 3A 62-2356 crome exhaust tips. I painted the bolts black because it looks stupid otherwise. I also painted the ugly looking exhaust pipe. So now the exhuast is hidden nicely and the crome tips are all thats noticable. I also painted my calipers black (no pics cuz the rotors are ugly, getting Brembo's next month.

 

Nice got the same tips last night. I might look into painting my exhaust too.

 

Yet another happy 3A Tip Customer!!!! Great choice man. Now SLAM IT to hide it even more!!! hahaha. >)

 

Yes SURRR!! Another 3A satisfied customer....Lookin great!!!! I'm waiting for 3A to give some kickbacks for all this free advertising LOL! Yeah, I'm going to repaint my pipe and mufflers with bbq stove black flat paint later this spring. That paint works very well with high heat and lasts for a long time. I think the mag chloride kind of ate into it a little. Painting the mufflers/pipe is so easy but it makes such a huge difference when looking at it..looks like the tips are just floating!

 

Sweetness.

 

What kind of paint are you talking about for the muffler/bolts?? What process do you use (i.e. primer, base, clear coat, etc.) for maximum longevity?

Would this be the same kind of paint you could use to paint the DIY mesh grill for the front? If so, I am going to go ahead and do both of these this weekend.

 

Join the 3A club. give me your bodykit arghhhh

 

Hey man, the spray paint I use is made by Krylon. It's designed for BBQ grills..in fact the can has a pic of a grill on it. The paint is flat black in appearance..it doesn't have any gloss or anything. It's basically high temperature paint..you'll want to use that obviously since the tips and muffler get really hot. Regular spray paint would cause the paint to dry, crack and then peel off. This special paint is heat resistant and will last much, much longer. Its about the same price as regular paint. Just go into walmart or any home depot type store and ask the associate for high temp spray paint. They'll hook you up. There is no primer or anything like that. I would just get a real light sand paper and maybe take off a little rust but I didn't do that..I just cleaned the pipe and muffler with good ol sponge, soap and water and sprayed it...let it dry. Then, I put newspaper around things I didn't want to paint and just painted it with two coats about 5 minutes apart. By painting the pipe connecting the two mufflers and the mufflers themselves, it blends in with the shadow under the car and hides the nasty rust metal look that distracts from our car's real beauty. Folks that have the nice stainless steel exhaust systems obviously wouldn't paint, but for us Po folk...we don't want our rusty shit hanging down, so that's why we paint...all we have left are our nice shiny new tips! The tip bolts are painted too to hide the clamps. Just wrap the tip in news paper and spray them..it's that easy..no prep work other than cleaning before you paint. Hope this helps!

 

ROFL...I think 3A Sales just jumped by like 50%. I just purchased my set yesterday, from amazon.com. Paid $39 bucks, free shipping on orders over $25 bucks. I didn't know if I should get the straight tip, or the slanted ones. I got the straight tip, cuz it looks nice on your pics. Nice simple mod!!!

You should contact 3A and tell them to give you some stock options!!

 

Yeah, I got them because everyone else here has used them and they look factory. (only better) 3A really has been making a lot of money off of us TL owners. hahaaMy friends saw the car tonight and said it looked great with the bodykit, and those tips.

CJITTY, I think having everything "hidden" like that makes the tips that much better looking. I'm very happy with this cheap mod. Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

 

btw if u are getting brembo blanks, marcus does not recommend them at all and says they are as cheap as ebay rotors but with a name on them.

 

i love this site lol i went and got the high heat paint yesterday.. its been a year now are you guys still happy with the paint job?

 

Hey, it's my old thread. lol Yes, I am very happy with the high heat paint. It has held up well. Even survived the (mild) winter. Tips still look new as well. I keep them polished with blue magic metal polish.

 

You polish the tips on the car, or do you take em off to do it?

 

I used the black grill paint on the back half of the exhaust and it hides everything nicely.

I leave them on .

 

I painted mines also:



Just use a flat black dupicolor engine enamel spray paint and your good.....

 

 

I want to do mine but I have no chance to clean the bottom of my car before do the paint job.
How did you guys do the cleaning and the paint job yourself?

 

I leave them on. It's not that hard to get every area. One became loose, and I took them both off to get some new bolts and I polished them off the car once. It's less of a pain to do it on the car.





I get under the car, spray everything with simple green letting it soak for about 5 minutes, then I hose it all off with a steady stream of water. After it's dry I painted the exhaust and used low gloss armor all on the under carriage.
I clean the under carriage about once a month.

 

Here is a more recent pic, I'm de/re badged now.

 

I'm gonna get some slant cuts now and do this painting process you guys are talking about. I just painted my rear "A" emblem smoked chrome.

 

Oh post a pic, I wanna see how it looks on a NGM.

 

x2

 

wow, i just did the exact same thing... i got different tips tho, like them a lil better than the 3A. ill post up pics asap..

as for the paint i would reccomend high heat flat black (500 degrees and up)

 

well im finally gonna tackle this on tuesday or thursday and had a couple questions bcuz ive never spray painted before , did u guys jack up the car to do it? do i need a mask? any tips or advice you could give would be greatly appreciated thanks

 

I didn't have to jack the car up. I put an old blanket down and crawled under the car.

Spray the pipe(s) with some carb or brake cleaner. BE SURE THE EXHAUST IS FULLY COOLED, or you will go up in flames. Let it dry, then spray about 3 coats giving 10 minute drying time inbetween coats. I didn't mask anything off, but it would help if it wasn't windy out.

 

damn you people with the OEM kits! Make me wanna go out and shell out some money for the full Kit. >=\

Time for me to order 3a tips. Amazon is on sale right now + I have amazon prime

 

did you do any prep work before painting? like covering everything under the car except for the exhaust?

 

Nope, none at all. I was just careful not to directly spray anything else. No wind either. There really isnt anything in the way, or anything that would be "hurt" if it got some paint on it.

I only did the visable part of the exhaust, not the entire thing.

 

Same crapp with me, i always loved the OEM black trim paint, well thas what i used, I found it to give the car a more compact look on the bottom, rather than to have everything that ugly rust color, thas if you have any. Nice tips, im thinking of going slant style.....

 

got it done i dont have a lip kit yet so i really needed to do this

 

nice, it came out great.

 

paint the exhaust just so its not visible right? or less visible? hmm id imagine it'd be better visible but mine arnt so i dont know lol

 

yea we're trying to hide it, we dont have the shiny aftermarket catbacks so putting chrome tips on old rusty mufflers and pipes looks

should of taken a before pic

 

I've been thinking about getting some of the 3A tips myself and I just have a quick question: How do the tips affect the sound? I know this may be a silly question, but I honestly dont know. I actually like how quiet my car is now, but I love the look of the replacement tips. Thanks in advance!

 

they dont affect the sound

 

Yes, I did it to basically hide the ugly, and somewhat rusty pipes for a cleaner look. I also painted my brake calipers the same color to "hide" them as well.




Nope, there is no sound difference. Just much better looks.

 

Thanks homie! Preciate you too ChrisQ1980!

 

SO, I got mine.
I will put them on tonight or tomorrow.

Did you guys chop the existing pipe down at all, or leave it full length? Could I do that? Does your tip grip the pipe well enough to cut it down or not? Am I making sense?

 

Yes you make sense... you can cut the pipe a little bit... at least enough so that when someone is driving behind you they wont be able to see the regular exhaust tip inside the 3A.

I plan on doing it..... once my car is fixed