How do you feel about header wrap?

[iamjdm]

As the post says how do you feel about it?
Would you do it?
Im thinking about buying a header for my car and wanted to know it my header would get messed up by doing it?
It is stainless steel i believe so is it going to rust?
Also would it be better to get it coated?

Last thing if anyone has wrapped theirs right (wrap it wet let it air dry then then coat it in high temp paint) have you had any problems?

Thanks for any response and help.

 

[Joebmsp]

i would go with the black dei het wrap it looks sweet ant holds up nice, you will gain a few more ponies with the wrap because it keeps the heat in the exhaust moving it out faster. It wont make it rust with stainless and if you want to paint it for added protection dei makes a silicone spray to coat it in clear or black i wouldnt use regular high temp paint as it isnt made for this application.

 

[iamjdm]

ok thanks for the info that really helps.
do you have it done to your header?

 

[HKPRO5]

I have my headers wrapped and my intake to the supercharger wrapped.

I live in Hawaii so I dont have to worry about rain or snow. If you have lot of that going on in your area I would suggest not to do it. Stainless steel does rust when using the wrap.

 

[Flash5]

honestly I don't see how it will help that much. i live in an area where rust is common and my header has been fine for over two years. i really doubt you will get any performance gain either. at most it will look good and hide any purpling that occurs.

 

[thepope540]

I've wrapped pipes on several cars. It lowers underhood temps, holds heat in the exhaust, and can (not saying will) result in small increases in power. I say go for it if you're buying a header.

 

[iamjdm]

i really just want to reduce under the tempertures cause it get so hot it i can feet at my feet and i have air conditioning lol

 

[Lewis7789]

^^^ What?

I wrapped my header 2-3 weeks ago and it does do a really good job of keeping the underhood temps lower. I have an AEM cold air intake which is mounted on the inside of the engine compartment a little too close to the super hot header so that's why I wrapped mine. Plus I got the header wrap for free from a friend. I'll have to silicone paint it before the winter though, all the talk about it rusting my header scares me. But who knows if that's just talk.

 

[JLBMP5]

If water gets inside the wrap it will soak up that water and will keep your header wet causing it to rust. when I put a header on my car I had it ceramic coated and it was great. after about 10 minutes of cool down time the header was cool enough to touch with hand. I had the header on my car for over two years and it looked the same as the day I installed it. I paid 125.00 to have it coated and I would recomend it to anyone. I have never used wrap on a header so I cannot tell you weather or not to use it im just letting you know there are other options .

 

[o.g.sk8er]

+1 on the coating...that'll be your best bet.
but if you decide to wrap it, you'll probably be ok. I had my awr header wrapped for years and never had any trouble. I did change it once though after like 3 years just because. lol I never painted it, looked at it or anything. no problems.
however, I did get mine wet once from the rain and it did smoke for a bit till it dried up.
which also brings me to another thing about the wrap: it will smoke like crazy when you first drive the car after you do the install. its normal though. its the chemicals of the wrap burning off. the wrap will stain the header after years of use, but no real harm is done.
have a look at mine wrapped on the car, then a few years ago after I removed it to smog the car and it all looks ok..except for the slight stain from the wrap. lol

 

[iamjdm]

Thanks for the pictures i really think going to wrap my headers now.
It is a lot less in cost and i dont really see any down fall.
Sorry i was drunk last night what i meant was my engine bay gets hot and i can feel it at my feet really badly and i dont have air conditioning....my compresser went out.

 

[Lewis7789]

I agree that coating is the way to go 100%. However, I no longer have my OEM "header" so I couldn't send mine out for coating while I waited two weeks without a car. So I decided to wrap it. I'll let you know how well the header wrap holds up in the harsh Cleveland winter next spring though. heh-heh

 

[Tom03es]

I had my OBX coated. Wasn't terribly impressed.

It does make the engine bay look sweet though.

I wrapped a header on a different car and I think it helped control underhood temps better.