Valve cover paint question
 

Hi guys

My valve cover is starting to chip paint. Im thinking about repainting it in the future.

Now my question concerns the future value of the car. The car is pretty stock otherwise.

Will the car retain more of its value if I keep the valve cover with its original chipped paint, or if I refinnish it? Then I can choose for a look alike oem finnish in red wrinkle, or perhaps a red gloss finnish like I found on google (2nd pic).

What do you guys think? So not for looks, but purely from a future value standpoint.

Thanks!
Ps. The black cover plate with VTEC logo was only off for cleaning.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...ed20809db8.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...0d5068d3a9.jpg

Definitely go with new red wrinkle paint.
Use chemical paint remover to clean it.

I haven't seen any wrinkle paint that matches the factory colour or texture. It's better looking than a chipped one....but its easy AF to tell its not original.

If originality matters....
Buy a new valve cover from Honda.

Sell yours to someone who wants to weld breather tubes to it or doesn't mind the chips.

buy a new one, nothing looks better , that's what I did when mine started to deteriorate.

How much do they sell for?

As mentioned, if you do refinsh it, DO NOT media blast it. Chemical strip it.

You'll never get all the media out of all the crevices. It'll get into oil, engine destruction soon to follow. A warning worth repeating for people that stumble into this thread in the future.

I repainted an ap2v1 valve cover Honda Paradise Blue-Green Pearl since its my favorite honda color. Original Red in a storage box

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...123d45e04.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...03a6ba448.jpeg

It's not hard, but wetsand and polishing is a bitch.

If you don't know how to colorsand, stick with wrinkles ;)

my spare upgraded cover cost me 65 bucks from a junkyard

Word to the wise.

I repainted my s2k valve cover with VHT wrinkle red. Looks pretty much like OEM. You can see it in this video.

It doesn't look OEM. I wouldn't focus on that statement.

You did do a really nice job either way. If the goal is to refinish the cover in a non-OEM colour...then this method works.