I recently just bought a brand new HKS 75mm single exhaust.

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Sadly I live on a crappy dirt road, and I have no garage.

Any products I can apply to help protect it from the elements before I install it?

A friend suggested wax. Would like to get other ideas for products/brands...

Thanks.

 

There isn't really anything you can apply to the exhaust to protect it that will survive the heat. It will just burn off.

On thing I like to do with anything exhaust related is to clean it with acetone to remove all oil and fingerprints before and after it is installed. This will make sure that as the exhaust gets hot and starts to change color there won't be any weird marks left from the residue as it goes through heat cycles. You don't want to use a lot, just wipe it down with a small amount of acetone on a shop towel, and make sure it is wiped down with a clean towel as well after.

Just drive nice and slow on the dirt and it should be okay.

 

Heat discoloration will occur if you drive the car too.

I've seen aftermarket exhausts ceramic coated black so they're heard but not seen.

-- Chuck

 

I painted the cans on my Q300 exhaust with high heat flat black paint and left the polished tips alone. More for stealth than for protecting it.

 

^^same here.

didn't want all that shiny under the car that would taunt me to clean it when it got dirty as well as the stealth factor.

 

I wash my Fuji cans at least once a month

 

Washing and the use of a quality metal polish should help.

 

Let's face it. It's mounted under the car and it's going to get dirty. You will need to clean it if you care about such things. I wash mine and dry it quickly with an old microfiber. Once a year I'll jack the car up and scrub the cans with a household powdered stainless steel cleanser like BarKeepers Friend or Bon Ami. After that maintenance (washing) is what will keep them presentable. Once stuff starts cooking onto the surface you'll have a harder time removing it.

 

Brake cleaner will get 99% of the crap off and polish it to an extent as well. When I took the 5 year old cobb catback with 30k miles on it, it was crazy dirty work a ton of carbon build up. After scrubbing it with some brake cleaner and steel wool it looked brand new

 

I've never tried it but someone told me oven cleaner will work well also. Most of OP's issue will be dust and dirt from the dirt road. I don't think there's much he can do about that other than wash it.