I'm eventually going to try my hand at filling the chips on my red 22" with a high temp metal putty (ThermoSteel). But I was curious about what the temps were on the outside of the bowl with coals banked against it. So I bought a Tell-True magnet thermometer. I also measured the lid temp with the stock Weber Performer thermometer, and another Tell-True in the vent.
Here's the setup...
Bowl temp...
Stock thermometer...
Vent thermometer...
Pretty amazing differences. The bowl was about what I expected, the high temp metal repair should work just fine, as should the very high temp primer and paint.
The differences in the stock lid and the vent are about what I expected too, the heat is flowing out the vent so it should have the highest temps.