Well, after reading about how paint flakes off Bursch mufflers (and seeing pics here on World), I decided to email Horsepower Engineering and ask why they don't use better paint.

I discovered two things:

1) You can order Bursch exhausts unpainted from the factory. Pricing is the same for painted or unpainted.
2) They claim their paint is "rated for temperatures between 4-500 degrees"
3) They stated the pricing for ceramic coating is from $150 to $175 (following up to make sure they offer that as a direct option from them).

One of the funnier lines from them:

"The best paint we have found to have a higher temperature is Rustoleum BBQ black. We can only buy it in spray cans so you may want to paint it yourself."

Wow.

Do they still do all their invoices on an abacus 1st before they chisel the details into the Flintstones notebook made of granite?

WTF?

They are right, though.
Grill paint or ceramics is the best way to go.
Ceramics being best of all, but it costs about the same as the bursh to have it done.

Buy one unpainted and hit it with grill paint. Otherwise the paint they use will burn off in about the first hour of use and the system will rust away.

More information: They send the mufflers to Embee Performance for ceramic coating.

FYI: I splurged on their ceramic upgrade and it rusted in one year at the seams.

Link to Joe Sayre's muffler saga which go me on this kick. Pics of his exhaust at the end of the thread probably from the Embee Performance shop.

JSayre's Exhaust (car exhaust that is)

Joe - chime in with an update on what your muffler looks like.

That's great info... can buy a lot of cans of rustoleum (or not as much VHT Flameproof / gas to run the car for the curing process) for the extra ceramic cost.

At least I know that I can get the exhaust without the paint so I don't need to pay someone to strip it.

The exhaust rusted to shit in less than a year, brand new. It was my second one from Doug. I figured it was just unlucky but after the second one went

I called Chris

Here is a current picture

I need to ask Dave what kind of paint he puts on his Triad mufflers. It's really good stuff and looks cool too.