Quote:
Originally Posted by FDDandata
Ive heard that heat wrap destroys downpipes/headers. If the pipes were ceramic coated or somethin would they be ok, or is there any way or kinda pipe that could stand the trapped heat?
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Hay Dan, I do coatings for a living and the answers above are great but I don't think they completely answer the question here.
The myth about wrapping a coated part is somewhat true and false at the same time.
Wrapping has a tendency to hold in amounts of moisture which can intensify the way the coating ages over time and speed up breakdown on poorly coated or poor quality coatings. Your coating is really only as good as the initial prep work put into it by the coater. I could say spray a million dollar coating on a part with no prep and it wouldn’t last for anything. However in the same scenario I could do an intense multi step prep process and make a poor quality coating out perform a high quality coating. Now I’m generalizing quite a bit here but at the same time I want you to understand there are good quality coatings out there that perform wonderfully. Spraying the inside of the pipe will add to the performance, however even I can’t guarantee that I can create a proper substrate inside a pipe before coating because we just don’t have tools at this point in time.
The other issue to remember here is that most coatings are not designed as a Thermal Barrier but as an appearance enhancer. All coatings will slow thermal penetration of the part which will give you a slight performance gain because it helps to hold the heat in the exhaust gasses. However there are only a few which will truly retain percentages of the heat. You must also consider the material the part is made from as well. All thermal coatings will retain heat in the part to a point which can be harmful or beneficial depending on the situation or materials used.
Another thing to consider is rotary cars exhaust gasses are generally higher than that of other cars and most coatings have a working temp zone that the rotary pushes thus increasing the speed at which the coating can fail.
And finally not all wraps are the same. Several require you to spray or paint product onto them to prolong life and maintain them and some don’t. It’s also important to remember that the wrap itself will breakdown over time too which will need to be replaced. And just like the coating the wrap will retain heat in the part for an extended period.
In general the wrap will add an additional layer of performance to any coating in this instance.
Will it increase break down or failure of the part or coating, yes to a percentage however you will most likely not notice the lowered lifespan of the part in your lifetime.
The coating and the wrap both have a lifespan and you will most likely have to redo both at some point in time depending on how hard you push your car and how well in tune you run your car.
It’s all really how you way your budget for performance. Some people will say that the amount for the percentage of performance gain is outrageous and not worth it while others will see it as a small price to pay for a gain over their competition.
Hope that makes sense of it and answers the heart of the question, if not I hope you all enjoyed my babblings…LOL
Anthony
SportTuner.com