possible bad news, i just got informed today at my NAPA store that Duplicolor is discontinuing their DH series of paints. they're going to merge / rebrand with VHT. the NAPA guys told me that VHT SP-109 is supposed to be the same thing but who knows? o No: anybody else heard anything about this? http://www.duplicolor.com/vht.html definitely bad news. the SP-109 is not close to 'our' DH-1608. if the Duplicolor brand is not available you'll have to go for the Krylon 2114.
I knew that VHT was gone and I read somewhere that DC was reviving the brand.That the DH line is going to be phased out is news to me and I'll go to my local NAPA tomorrow to find out or buy the last case.I will say that I was using VHT on manifolds for a long time and I did like the brand,I was bummed when it went away since I had good results with the product.It may not be bad if this happens,hope for the best.:bglasses:
I just spoke to Dennis Wheeler today about it since he needed some. NAPA here in FL no longer carries it and can not order it. The VHT version is flat and is for headers. We need to find another supplier. Autozone here no longer carries it and DH1608 shows up on their system as "no longer available"
...yea. What HE says! :TU: I searched Autozone records late last night to no avail..their computer shows a DE1608, but its BLUE!? This morning I visited NAPA and they told me Duplicolor has changed to VHT, as was discussed in an earlier post. When the paint I ordered came in tonight, I went to pick them up only to learn the VHT RED is now FLAT RED for 1000-1300 degree headers! :rant: Back to the drawing board guys. I wonder WHO manufactures the Buick RED Year one sells?? Wheelz, Tampa Bay
I will say that I was using VHT on manifolds for a long time and I didlike the brand,I was bummed when it went away since I had good resultswith the product. i don't know anything about VHT temp performance, one way or the other. it's the Buick Engine Red color matching that i'm concerned about. I went to pick them up only to learn the VHT RED is now FLAT RED for 1000-1300 degree headers! that's what i was afraid of. their computer shows a DE1608, but its BLUE!? yep. Back to the drawing board guys. what's the Krylon number? or don't you like that?
I bought the Buick Green from Year One, and it ended up being the stuff that cars.com sells - with the labels cut off. Not sure who makes it for them.
I went to O'Reilly today and looked for the DH 1608. No dice. I did see the Duplicolor 500* "Universal Red" engine paint, although I did not buy any, or don't know how it looks painted. I would imagine it is a good alternative.
I just bought a case of the Krylon and that stuff looks as good now as it did way back in the day. It's a great high build medium gloss. Devon
I used Plasti-Kote 209 Universal Red on both my 350 & 455 engines. Not sure how it compares to original but looks good. One season of driving with the 350 & it's just starting to burn off at #1 exhaust port. Intake looks fine.
The Autozones around here stopped carrying the DH1608 over 6 months ago. Last few cans I bought, I got from Summit Racing. A little pricey at $7.95 a can, but its at my door in a day or two.
only to learn the VHT RED is now FLAT RED just verified this against my can of DH-1608. the VHT is nowhere near the same color. so, if you can find DH-1608 you're golden but if somebody tries to cross-reference in the VHT SP-109 do not buy it.
I managed to find 4 cans of the Duplicolor DH-1608 through a Napa store in another town, but they had to bring it in from 2 other stores 60 miles away to get it. I am supposed to pick them up on Saturday. No one else locally had anything red but the VHT SP-109. We have a Family that runs one of the local parts stores (grandpa & grandma, sons & their wives, uncles, and anyone else that happens to be in the store can answer the phone there at any given time). When I called there today, grandma answered the phone, and when I asked her about the Duplicolor engine paint, she swore that the only engine paint they had was a couple of small cans of ford blue! Thanks for the heads up about the paint. If you had not told us about the shortage, I might have ended up having to paint my 455 "grandma ford blue"!!! :eek2:
Thanks for the heads up about the paint. If you had not told us about the shortage, I might have ended up having to paint my 455 "grandma ford blue"! anything to help a brother out. :beer also, it probably wouldn't hurt if other people around the country made some complaints back through their local parts stores or even to Duplicolor / Krylon themselves. i returned the VHT cans to my NAPA store today and explained the significance of DH-1608 being "Buick Red" to him. he said he'd get on the Krylon 800 number come next week ( once the holiday is passed ) and see if he could get an answer from them. it's really quite aggravating that Krylon/Duplicolor is actually going out of their way to use our paint color on their web site: http://www.kpg-industrial.com/products/brands/duplicolor/ http://www.kpg-industrial.com/products/highheat_paint_with_ceramic/ gosh, i wonder if they accidently picked the 1608 because it's one of their higher volume sellers? :af:
Bob, I sent them an email asking why it was discontinued. I also looked at the list of vendors on your second link, and I noticed there were some large industrial vendors listed there that might have some of this paint tucked away in their warehouses. Grainger, McMaster-Carr, MSC Industrial, Fastenal, and several others listed are really large companies, with distribution hubs located all over the USA. Might be a good idea to look there if the auto parts store sources are drying up. Krylon\Duplicolor would be more inclined to bring it back if their larger customers started ordering more of it from them again. Happy hunting, Randy P.S. Opening the hood of my 67 Riviera and seeing a ford blue motor in there would have been too much to take, even for me! UPDATE!! I just got my email response from Krylon Industrial, and the answer to my question as to why the DH-1608 paint has been discontinued is as follows: "This product has not been discontinued yet, but it is in the process of being phased out. This normally happens if a product is not a large enough seller. A dealer can still special order this product as long as there is remaining stock on it (and there is plenty, from what I currently show), but that will depend on the dealers willingness to do so. Regards, Eric".
Stopped by my local Napa today and ordered a case. Chicago area still seems to have some stock around.
