Stock IC hard pipes - can these be spruced up?

[framey]

Hiya,
been thinking about doing something to the stock elbow and crossover to make them look better.
Just wondered if anyone has had a go at this and what the results were?

Options would be maybe that chrome paint or maybe giving them that powder coated look?

What you reckon?

Thanks

[elford_tim]

IMHO chrome paint looks fairly carp and isn\'t that durable either.

I\'d be tempted to either paint it in a contrasting colour (for example, by FD\'s black so I\'d be tempted to paint it red) but whatever you do, make sure that the finish is up to par. Otherwise it\'ll just look bad.

[framey]

Yeah I thought the chrome paint might be a bit poo!

I\'d like a nice lustrous (?) look like what powder coating does.

[elford_tim]

Hmm. IME properly applied paint gives you a more lustrous look compared to powder coating. Powder coating tends to be more durable but can\'t be easily fixed if you get a chip or two in it.

For the proper look I\'d be tempted to remove the old paint, make sure that the elbow surface is properly smoothed (that\'ll be some elbow grease then), primer, paint (several coats), lacquer (several coats again, the more the better for the depth) and polish it to a nice shine. Mind you, it\'ll be a pain in the nether regions to keep it that way.

[Prof]

Could try anodizing - finish looks quite special !

[interloper393]

i painted all my parts in pz mazda black, looks great against all the polished parts

[LeedsLad]

i did mine in metalic black (better than i sounds) with a bit of high temp laq it looks BLING

[framey]

ANyone got any pics?
Thanks

[Jit]

Could try anodizing - finish looks quite special !

anodize plastic? :3Confused

[Prof]

anodize plastic? :3Confused

Well that won\'t work too well !  I didn\'t realise they were plastic as stock, assumed they were ally!
 
So can you powder coat plastic then ? :3Confused

[probedb]

deanflowers said he\'d found somewhere that could chrome plate (or whatever) plastic....