[DaleHeinz]

As most of us have probably experienced, the buildup on the stock black painted exhaust tips can be a pain to manage. I've noticed over the past 10K miles on my M240i that I'm getting crud baked on the lower lips throughout the week, and it doesn't all come off during washing.

What have you guys tried or had success with in removing this? This past weekend, I sprayed a grille/oven cleaner on them and let it work it's magic for about 15min. Nothing detrimental to the paint, as it's designed to work with high temp painted surfaces like grille grates and oven interiors, but it didn't remove all of the gunk. It worked pretty well though. Anyone tried this or other methods with success?

[xantdieselx]

Originally Posted by DaleHeinz

As most of us have probably experienced, the buildup on the stock black painted exhaust tips can be a pain to manage. I've noticed over the past 10K miles on my M240i that I'm getting crud baked on the lower lips throughout the week, and it doesn't all come off during washing.

What have you guys tried or had success with in removing this? This past weekend, I sprayed a grille/oven cleaner on them and let it work it's magic for about 15min. Nothing detrimental to the paint, as it's designed to work with high temp painted surfaces like grille grates and oven interiors, but it didn't remove all of the gunk. It worked pretty well though. Anyone tried this or other methods with success?

I actually use Sonax full effect wheel cleaner with very fine steel wool (0000). The car is a year and a half old and they still look mint.

[DaleHeinz]

Originally Posted by xantdieselx

I actually use Sonax full effect wheel cleaner with very fine steel wool (0000). The car is a year and a half old and they still look mint.

I thought about 0000 steel wool, as I use it on my chrome pipes on the Harley, but wasn't sure if the tips were hard enough not to scratch even with mild scrubbing. Good to know this will work. Thanks!

[Paisano]

0000 steel wool and BMW wheel cleaner works incredibly well.

[DaleHeinz]

Tried the steel wool out and a mild cleaner. Worked like a charm. Good as new. Good tip!

[xantdieselx]

Originally Posted by DaleHeinz

Tried the steel wool out and a mild cleaner. Worked like a charm. Good as new. Good tip!

[msej449]

Quite a few Forum threads here in the UK around the subject of replacement tips and powdercoating of existing tips. The general conclusion seems to be that you can get the stock tips clean but it doesn't last long before they're back to looking rubbish.

Power coating seems to be an effective solution. After seeing forum recommendations I found a sand-blasting and powder-coating company near to where I live. Costs here are around the £30-£50 (US$40-$66) mark for sandblasting a pair of tips back to metal and then powder coating them with a much, much thicker paint layer compared to the frankly poor finish of the stock components.



Note that these tips are coated inside, as well as out. I suspect this makes a big difference in resisting corrosion, compared to the originals which seem uncoated inside.

The company doing the coating offered me a wide range of colours and finishes, with the quickest being gloss black, as they could be done with other work. I didn't have the courage to go for body colour or red - when I photoshop'd red on the tips, it actually looked quite a good match to the red taillights and reflectors.