Painting valve covers?

[ven0m]

After searching I wasn't able to find an answer as apparently nobody has done this on a BNS engine so far.

I never liked the flashy red valve covers on our engines. In my mind it simply didn't fit into the contrast of my car in particular. So I'm thinking about some more decent and less flashy colour like black, silver or blue. I'll get a second set of valve covers to get them ready upfront and do a quick swap at the next planned carbon-clean.

So I have a couple of questions:
- Which material are the covers made of?
- Can they be powder coated or simply painted?
- I remember there was some talk about updated valve covers, is there anything to this?
- Are the OEM item numbers for BNS valve covers: 079103471AH (left) & 079103472AJ (right)?
- Do the OEM silver valve covers from Q7 4L fit (079103471AF / 079103472AF)?
- Do the OEM silver valve covers from RS4 8K fit (079103471BD / 079103472BD)?

[AlexHurley]

I painted B5 s4 valve covers with red high temp brake caliper paint and 1000F clearcoat. they looked great until the first time i dripped oil or gas on them. I think powder coating or even ceramic coating is the way to go.

[seishuku]

As far as I know, the covers are made of magnesium, so a glass bead blast and a high temp sealer primer (or powder coat primer) would be a good idea.
Just don't get carried away with blasting them, they're very thin.

I would powder coat them though, way more durable.

[komseh]

I thought our valve covers are made of plastic?

[jakeoboy67]

As far as I know, the covers are made of magnesium, so a glass bead blast and a high temp sealer primer (or powder coat primer) would be a good idea.
Just don't get carried away with blasting them, they're very thin.

I would powder coat them though, way more durable.

I thought rs4 valve covers were made of plastic ?

[lucidmatt]

yup. BNS covers are textured plastic, check under the oil cap ;)

[ven0m]

yup. BNS covers are textured plastic, check under the oil cap ;)

Correct, I forgot about it, even though I'm reminded every time I have to top-up my oil. :))

Considering that it's plastic, is it then simply painted or can you also powder-coat plastic? (I think you can only powder-coat metal or?)
Any info on that updated valve cover. I read somewhere that the driver-side valve cover was updated, is that true?

[blubusdrvr]

I read somewhere that the driver-side valve cover was updated, is that true?

Correct. Very minor modification to allow the new gasket to fit and complete the circuit around the last plug hole.

[lucidmatt]

Unless theres a new tech I haven't seen yet, powdercoating is not possible on plastic. if I understand the process correctly, when you powdercoat metal, they ground it while applying the powder to assist in it sticking with static cling, then bake it at a very high temperature to melt the powder into a paint-like coating. The temps would just melt plastic. This is also why manufacturers highly advise against powder coating forged wheels, the baking process may undo the strength benefits of forging.

[Mr. Corey]

The B7 S4 also have plastic valve covers but the B6 came with metal so I lucked out and was able to PC. I wonder if metal was ever an option on the R8.....? The way Audi changes and revises part numbers it might be worth looking into. If not I guess you can try high temp paint.