Painting Valve Covers

[Goody]

Valve covers on my R1150r are fading and I would like to paint. Any suggestions on paint brand and color to match stock grey color? Any suggestions on what and what not to do. Thanks

[DJ Downunder]

I've been thinking about doing mine black.

I talked to a guy who did his and I asked if they were powdercoated..and he said powder coating is not a good idea.

He used heatproof paint..He said paint can be touched up if you scratch them..and powder coating chips and is not as easy to touch up.

Seems like a good idea...Good luck with it.

DJ

[Buckster]

I have thought of doing this as well. You could use high heat engine paint or BBQ grill paint. As far as matching the existing color, that would be challenging. You could buy several brands and shades and paint a piece of metal or aluminum and compare until you get a decent match.

[mogu83]

Regular paint doesn't get along well with oil and gas especially gas with ethanol (corn squeezing)in it.

I've had good luck using engine enamel in spray cans, but the colors are limited.

[owldaddy]

A few months ago I hit some sand in the road on Mt. Hamilton, survived a low side slide on the right side valve cover. Bought a new valve cover from A&S BMW. Of course it was silver, and I have a black engine. The covers don't get so hot that you need engine paint, all I used was some satin black spray enamel bought at OSH. Nothing fancy, and it turned out looking great. That was about 5k miles ago, and it still looks great. After a couple warm up/cool down cycles it got real hard. Looks original.
Don

[jm1515]

Had the 'opportunity' to correct some scratches on one of my covers...
FWIW Dupli-Color #GSGM340 Silver available anywhere looks to be an excellent match.
I don't know about long term heat-related properties, but after ~2000mi it still looks great....