Rob116

I just applied cermakrome to my first header and it has dried in the oven. Unfortunately, due to my less than stellar compressor, I applied it a little bit heavy in two spots and upon drying, it appears to be cracking(?) a bit. Do you think that I will be able to sand this out or what? I sure hope so, the damn stuff took two weeks to get here... anyone have any experience with this problem? How did it work out? Did it?

deadbird

The 'cracking' itself isn't really much more than a cosmetic problem. Depending on how many (thin) coats you have under the heavy area that cracked will determine if you can sand out the 'crack' fully.
If the heavy coat is the one and only you put on then just sand it down untill the cracks aren't very deep/visable.
If they (the cracks) are in a spot that isn't going to really be seen... I wouldn't even worry about it.
I did the same thing the first time I everr used cermakrome but, it was around the collector flange so it didn't bother me. The headers are now on another persons car and holding up just fine. The coating is roughly 4 years old.

Z28 Boy

whats the deal with that stuff? i got mine coated locally, and the finish was called cermakrome. but, it was at a shop and it was 220 bucks.

can you get it mailorder and do it yourself?

here is a pic of mine...



is it similar in appearance?

just wondering...

-brian

Rob116

Thanks Deadbird, my fears have been put to rest upon the initial sanding of my headers. The 'cracking' has been vastly reduced through the gentle use of some 320, then 600 and, eventually 1200. Unfortunately, it is still a little bit visible, however, I don't think that I will respray these as I'm afraid that I'll probably make it worse rather than better. It's not that bad anyways, and the rest of the headers are starting to look pretty damn good!

Z28 boy, that looks exactly like well-polished cermakrome. I got my bottle of the stuff for $30 from Techline coatings, (www.techlinecoatings.com) however, my final product will probably not look quite as nice as yours does. Most likely the shop that you had your headers done at used a vibratory polisher. (They look awesome, by the way)

I was quite worried that I wouldn't be able to do this very well, but at this point, I'm really happy with my purchase. If I had had the money to get them coated professionally in the first place, I probably would have done so... now, having done a set, I'm not so sure. I think that if I was to do it again, my results would be quite a bit better.

Thanks to all those on this board who have provided so much information on this process - hell, without you guys, I probably would have installed the headers with the factory paint still on it, blissfully unaware that it was utter crap. (Who would initially assume that a performance part such as a set of headers, would come with paint that would burn off within their first usage? If you ask me, it's a little bit ridiculous.)