R129 oval exhaust tip - Refurbish or Replace?

[RajHundal]

The oval exhaust tip on my R129 has seen better days. It was painted black from factory and years of driving have left it looking like sh*te and it's really letting down the look of the back end.

To buy a new oval AMG tip costs over £200, so I was wondering if anyone knows of a company who can strip down the old paint and grime and polish or plate my existing tip. OR knows of a more economical replacement.

Thank you in advance!

 

[RKC-benz]

The oval exhaust tip on my R129 has seen better days. It was painted black from factory and years of driving have left it looking like sh*te and it's really letting down the look of the back end. To buy a new oval AMG tip costs over £200, so I was wondering if anyone knows of a company who can strip down the old paint and grime and polish or plate my existing tip. OR knows of a more economical replacement. Thank you in advance!

There's recently been a thread on this which caught my eye eye because I have just bought a SL320 R129 - either your car has a stainless tip and is so covered in crud that it looks like black painted metal (answer is clean it) or you have a black painted tip which is likely removable and fixable.

When I collect mine this week it is either polish it for the stainless recovery job or removal and hand it to the powder coaters for a blast and silver finish. It's effort and little cash either way. Hope this helps ... And I hope I'm right when I get mine in Wednesday...

 

[RajHundal]

I was hoping mine was a dirty stainless one - but 15 mins with autosol and fine wire wool confirmed my suspicions that it was painted black.

Do you have any recommended companies who can strip and refinish it? - I want to make some calls tomorrow and get it sorted. Also an estimated cost?

 

[RKC-benz]

I was hoping mine was a dirty stainless one - but 15 mins with autosol and fine wire wool confirmed my suspicions that it was painted black. Do you have any recommended companies who can strip and refinish it? - I want to make some calls tomorrow and get it sorted. Also an estimated cost?

If mine is black painted rather than stainless it will go to the local powder coaters I use in Birmingham... Wheel refurb places are the same. Bill for under £20...

 

[RajHundal]

If mine is black painted rather than stainless it will go to the local powder coaters I use in Birmingham... Wheel refurb places are the same. Bill for under £20...

I found a local plating company today. Just dropped it off to be acid stripped, chrome plated and polished - £30. Will hopefully be done by friday

 

[Sp!ke]

£30 sounds like a bargain.

I used blood, sweat and tears.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/detailing/151502-extreme-exhaust-tip-detail.html

 

[RKC-benz]

Good work mate... It will change the look of the rear I'm sure.

I saw Sp!ke's thread and it has motivated me to do the same. I suspect mine is stainless under the baked on crud.

Make sure you put up a picture...

 

[RajHundal]

So a little update:

Called the chrome plater only to get some bad news...

It seems like the original black finish on the tip was ceramic (or similar) the piece has been in the stripping process for 3 days and they haven't been able to remove it! He said to give him another few days... fingers crossed it cleans up

 

[RajHundal]

So I finally got the exhaust tip back. The platers had great difficulty with the stripping of the old coating and the metal mix and the poor condition of the tip meant that they ended up doing a hard chrome on it - ie. there was no copper or nickel layers. I was told that they left in in the vat for a whole day and the finish will be very durable.

Upon closer inspection there is small pitting in the areas where rust had started to form and the polishing process couldn't do the inside - but I'm not bothered, it looks way better that the piece of cr*p that I gave them to begin with and it only cost £30.

Can't wait to get it on to the car.

 

[BTB 500]

Can't argue with that for £30 - should look good on the car.

I will really have to have another go at getting the one off our C230

 

[Sp!ke]

So a little update:

Called the chrome plater only to get some bad news...

It seems like the original black finish on the tip was ceramic (or similar) the piece has been in the stripping process for 3 days and they haven't been able to remove it! He said to give him another few days... fingers crossed it cleans up

ha ha .. I had to grind what ever surface it was off with flap disks - whatever it was, it was tough.

 

[RKC-benz]

Good work ... More motivation for me.

Looks very fine.

 

[Abb]

Wow, looks great and at a bargain price! Have tried to do mine numerous times, even the detailer tried. Has come up good, but nowhere near what I want. My tips dont come off, otherwise I would have tried oven pride, apparently it can work wonders.

 

[mmirza]

So I finally got the exhaust tip back. The platers had great difficulty with the stripping of the old coating and the metal mix and the poor condition of the tip meant that they ended up doing a hard chrome on it - ie. there was no copper or nickel layers. I was told that they left in in the vat for a whole day and the finish will be very durable.

Upon closer inspection there is small pitting in the areas where rust had started to form and the polishing process couldn't do the inside - but I'm not bothered, it looks way better that the piece of cr*p that I gave them to begin with and it only cost £30.

Can't wait to get it on to the car.

View attachment 46853

I got a very similar job done very recently for £20 in Essex. I am still waiting for my exhaust tip to arrive and will post pictures of before and after.