I thought the black "coating" was just to keep it from rusting in shipping. I cleaned mine off with brake cleaner when new and painted it with some high temp exhaust paint. After a few years it was starting to rust so I had it coated at Classic Coatings. I also had the twin exhaust housings, hot pipe and down pipe done. I had them do the satin black. I was considering the polished cermakrome but they didn't have any casting examples in the showroom and I wasn't sure I'd have liked the result.