Believe it or not my pipes were powder coated black. I'm sure they can be polished to a shine from their present state if that's what you wanted. I just spray painted mine the silver color right over the powder coat. I sanded them down a bit to give it a slightly rough texture, not like I sanded the black off, then just painted over them. Been on 7 months without a problem. You figure once they're in place, you don't move them around very much, if ever.