"Why Do We Paint Mufflers Rusty?" Topic

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The most common response I hear is that modern mufflers are made with stainless steel and WWII mufflers were made with mild steel.

I've seen a ton of period pictures showing muffler discoloration (although with B&W pictures it can be hard to tell whether it's rust or grime), but I've also seen a ton with no discoloration.

I have supposedly rustproof mufflers on my mustang,oops where did the rust proofing go…oh i forgot i live in cold ,wet Canada,your rust proofing is from California.

Its not rust.
The heating and re-heating of the metal would 'burn' off the paint and show the discoloration of the repeated expanded and contracted metal stress.

i hade a black painted front pipe and silencer on my honda dirt bike, the front pipe is now coloured red of the mud it has been ridden through, as the constant heating, cooling and coating burns the mud into the metal and it will not come off without a grinder mounted wire brush, so thats what happens to tank exhausts as well.
metal discolouration, even stainless steel will discolour in time.

Scomac has it right. Take a look at the exhaust system on a 1960's or older vehicle.

Rusty muffler sure – but rusty tracks? Had the vehicle been parked in a museum?

The tracks are originally only painted for protection in storage, but that wears of in minutes once the vehicle goes off road. The tracks are then permanently exposed to moisture in the atmosphere and soil, so they quickly rust. The ends of the cleats wear the rust off when the track passes over pavement or rocks.

Paint tracks rust, then a heavy wash of mud, followed by a light dry brushing of the outside surface of the tracks in a bare steel color.

Next time you're near a construction site, take a good look at a bulldozer and note what color the tracks and muffler are.

I use a mix of red-brown and silver to make the base color, with the raised edges in bright silver. Model railroad suppliers carry a ready made color for doing rails and exposed metal parts.

I also base my track/exhaust colours on real, operating tracked vehicles. Tracks tend to be a thin layer of lightly rusted metal, thickly covered in mud with metal highlights.

Tracks only rust if a machine sits still for a long period of time. After a few hours of use the rust will be gone. I have no shortage of construction equipment to check, or I can check over an universal carrier.

Either way if it moves the rust will be wore off as dirt is very abrasive. Now if you have US half tracks with rusty tracks then there is no hope whatsoever.

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Note how the tracks are rusty, even in most of the propaganda photos. Modern tanks have rubber pads on the tracks to keep paved roads from becoming gravel ones. This particular tank happened to be the battalion commander's so theoretically was taken better care of than most. Of course, note also the blown wheel seal on the #1 road wheel on the right side.

Cool! I had 5-33 AR's HQ66 attached to my platoon when Paul Funk was the battalion commander. For some reason that was never explained to me, the battalion was short three tanks: one in each of the line companies' third platoons. But HHC farmed out the three HQ tanks, and A Company's Third Herd got HQ66. Never looked that bad when I was responsible for it!

Allen

Also the Germans spray painted their tracks their usual red oxide primer in WWII I believe.

A picture of a shop queen? Like I said if its a museum piece go ahead paint the tracks rusty. If it has moved off road anything metal that is in contact with dirt will get polished and quickly.

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Like your photo Ditto. Thanks