Polishing ceramic coated headers

[Mongoose]

The headers on my car are ceramic coated with a polished aluminum finish that has become dull, what can I use to bring back the luster that is suitable on such a high temp item?

[Mike Phillips]

My guess is nothing.

Ceramic coatings, at least the ones I've worked on don't lend themselves very well to being abraded at any level with the end result looking good.

See this article,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...


Even if and/or when you're not actually trying to remove scratches, the principal ideas in the above article apply to the topic of polishing anything to make it look better.


That said,

"You don't know what you can do until you try"


That means, if you just want to make the ceramic coating look better, maybe try using something very simple that offers some light cleaning ability and is know to makes surfaces shiny, like Meguiar's A1216 Cleaner/Wax in the maroon bottle.

This stuff has been around for over 30 years and has time-proven history of working on a lot of different coatings and materials.

It's easy to find and inexpensive to purchase and if it doesn't work you can always use it on your car, truck or s.u.v. or if you already have a favorite wax give it to a friend that's probably using something more plain or vanilla as it is a good product.

[Mongoose]

I was considering trying the Hot Rims aluminum polish as it is working very well on the casings on my Dad's Triumph Bonneville motorcycles. My concern was any possible bad effects of any residue left behind when the engine was started and the headers heated up for the first time afterwards.

[DetailArtist]

Polished aluminum ceramic coating is a very durable finish created by high temperature bonding of a specialized paint that uses actual aluminum particulates as its medium. The process involves special surface prep along w/ high temperature curing. And it polishes w/ Mothers Aluminum Polish absolutely fantastic (any aluminum polish will work). Wipe the polish on, buff it off. Use a soft toothbrush to get into tight areas, buff w/ cotton towels. Its not a mirror-like finish like you get from super-polishing aluminum; its more satin-like, a softer clean aluminum look.
http://yfrog.com/0j1piecevalveaj

[Mongoose]

I tried the hot rims on the E.O. tag on the headers and it came out great. Unfortunately I won't have time to remove the headers and polish them in time for my first show of the season next weekend.