Ceramic wrapping a header

[leoseller7]

Hello,

Just got a Megan stainless header but wanted to know if i should wrap it with ceramic wrap? I have heard lots things negative things about warping the header.

1. Wrapping the header should keep the heat in (is that a good thing or really bad?)

2. comment off the net : "If you have a race car then this is great at reducing the heat under the hood, However if its a car you drive everyday this is not a good thing to do. Daily drivers will damage the headers from the constant heat not escaping from the wraps. You just will be cooking your headers until you need to replace them"

3. comment off the net: "Using an exhaust header wrap on your exhaust system will retain more heat inside the exhaust system. This results in two significant benefits: (1) Reduces the amount of radiant heat damage to other vehicle components and lowers under hood temperatures and (2) exhaust insulation will maintain hotter exhaust gases. Hotter exhaust gases have a decreased density; this allows the exhaust gas to exit the system faster. An increased exhaust scavenging effect is produced in some cases this can also lower intake temperatures: that all equals more horsepower"

4. Also lots of comments on the net saying the life of the header is cut in half and a header should be able to breathe. (What is correct?) I have to remember this is for a Yaris not a Nascar racecar!!!!


Applying instruction:
Exhaust wrap like bandage and is much easier to apply than powder coating. However, if you soak the exhaust wrap in water, squeeze out the excess water, and apply the wrap while it's still wet, you will be able to apply the wrap tighter and neater. You will need a few metal ties to hold the wrap in position and it is easier to at the port end of the header. When you apply the wrap, make sure that the overlap is constantly half the width of the exhaust wrap and be careful not to have too many layers at the collectors. You also need enough wrap to cover the down pipe but the rest of the exhaust doesn't need to be wrapped.

Once you applied the wrap to the header and down pipe, leave it in the sun to dry; then spray the wrap with silicone based spray to protect it from moisture and oil. Once that's done, you can expect about 60% less heat soak in the engine compartment! is this above statement true?


Not sure what to do, as you can see above there is lots of different opinions on to wrap your header or not. I think now I should of bought a header with a cermaic coating already applied.

Any comments would be appreciated

[B2FiNiTY]

If your car is a daily driver, I wouldn't recommend it. It will keep the heat and condensation in eventually leading to premature cracking.

You're better off just keeping it unmodified. There are coatings you can apply but it's not really worth it for the price of that header. Might as well buy a new one when something goes wrong with it.

[BEEF]

I actually wrapped my header (weapon-R) and used a silicone spray to seal it. I made a thread on it a while back but can't find it currently.

I've heard a few things about this but the biggest one was that keeping the heat in kept the gasses expanded and thus kept the velocity higher. Higher exhaust gas velocity equals higher torque at lower rpms... that is more a rule of thumb but that is what I heard. I did not wrap the downpipe as it goes pretty much right into the cat.

I don't know about premature wear but mine is stainless so it isn't going to rust like the old ones back in the day. moisture would get trapped and they would rust and thus shorten the life of them (older muscle cars and what not).

I honestly wanted to be different and I checked into a place to ceramic coat it and they were charging $250 which was more than the header itself.