The muffler gets extremely hot so you will need high temperature paint. Something that can handle about 800 degrees. I searched around and most cheaper high temp automotive paint runs around $3.00 a can. Higher temperature paint, 1000 - 1200 degrees runs around $15 a can!!! Ok, I bought non-stainless steel to begin with because I have little money. The situation is still the same. What to do.
My father suggested to take a look at barbecue grill paint. So off to WalMart I went and sure enough... 1200 degree Rustoleum brand charcoal grill black paint for only $3.79 per can. Bingo! I bought two cans.
The painting process was quite simple. I started with a fairly heavy coat. The Rustoleum does not require a primer. If a primer is used you just about nullified the rust protection of the paint. I put the first heavy coat on, covering the muffler. I let it dry for half an hour. Then I put four more medium coats on the piping and two more on the muffler waiting 15 minutes between coats. I went through one and a half cans.
The end result was my muffler looked good as new.
You can see the paint took the patch quite well.
