Ceramic coating vs. exhaust wrap

[twism]

Okay guys, I want some opinions on which do you think is better and why? I have s50b32 headers on my m52b28 which I have wrapped in Vulcan titanium exhaust header wrap, but recently I started thinking about taking the wrap off and ceramic coating them. I wanted to see some opinions on both ceramic coating and exhaust wrap, and which one would you pick for your car and why. If I take the exhaust wrap off the headers I'm going to use it wrap my whole exhaust all the way to the back. This is something I've seen on race cars on the Nurburgring and would like to do.

heres a pic of the headers I'm talking about:



pic of the wrap I'm using right now:



and picture of the wrapped exhaust that I saw:



which was on this car:

[CarsSuck]

I had a header rust through from the intense heat trapped by the wrap. The car itself was seldom, like once or twice a year, driven in rain and always garaged. The car now has ceramic coating.

This might not apply to your application since those are really heavy duty O.E. stainless steel.

[iansane]

Was the rest of that cars exhaust wrapped? It looks to me like it was wrapped just around the diff for some extra protection.

I'd go with coated, just to avoid any moisture trapping and corrosion. Plus it looks much cooler.

[reelizmpro]

I would go with a good coating. It's not crazy expensive either. I went with Embee performance coatings on the INSIDE and OUTSIDE which functions to isolate the metal and keep the heat inside the tube for more velocity. A wrap is easily applied but still somewhat expensive and it traps the heat in the metal which can fatigue it. It can also absorb and trap moisture, oil, dirt, etc. This coating cost me $125 at Embee

[Mullet Bullet]

coating all the way, it will protect the header longer as well as act as a better barrier.

[e30iwite]

Heat Wrapped ebay headers

I heat wrapped my ebay headers last week. It's a bitch to do. Bought a 100ft. roll of heat wrap from ebay for $50. A package of metal zip ties from home depot for $10. i've done this before on the headers for my 2004 honda fireblade. It makes a drastic difference in the heat that gets put out, especially when the pipe is right next to your leg. the stock headers on my e30 right now are DIY can sprayed ceramic coated (no wrap). It's not very durable.

the heat wrap on the M car looks to be dry wrapped. Can't be sure. I wet wrapped mine for a tighter wrap. DEI (company that specializes in wraps) recommends wet wrap and then ceramic spray from a can. I think that second step is not needed.

The professional ceramic coating from emcee is sick and is on another level from ceramic coating from a can.

Ultimately, it's your choice. I think the emcee coating is superior because its coated on the inside too. But wrapping is cheaper but more labor intensive.

[TurboJake]

Is engine bay heat a factor?
If so. Wrapping keeps a lot more heat in. If you do it properly, moisture won't be an issue. That's the second step in the DEI reccomendation. It seals the wrap.

I would keep them wrapped them if it were me.

[Jand3rson]

I would go with a good coating. It's not crazy expensive either. I went with Embee performance coatings on the INSIDE and OUTSIDE which functions to isolate the metal and keep the heat inside the tube for more velocity. A wrap is easily applied but still somewhat expensive and it traps the heat in the metal which can fatigue it. It can also absorb and trap moisture, oil, dirt, etc. This coating cost me $125 at Embee

Those look amazing, Barry! What did they charge for shipping? I'm going to be pulling my ebay Supersprint reps soon to be coated, and was planning on going with JetHot, they do inside/outside, also.

[brutus87]

Coated.

[reelizmpro]

Embee is local to me so I just dropped it off and picked it up a week later. I should have taken before pics of the headers. They were pretty beat looking.

They looked similar to this...



Forgot to mention that this is the same coating JE uses on their pistons...

[gearheadE30]

I wrapped my turbo manifold to try to keep the heat in and so far it's worked well and held up okay, but it seems to be almost fraying over time. I did a wet wrap and spray. Moisture shouldn't be an issue assuming that you drive long enough on a regular basis to get the manifold/headers good and hot.