Header Coatings and Hoods
 

My local powder coating company tells me it's almost twice as expensive to ceramic coat a header as high temp powder coating. Is ceramic coating worth it over powder coating? I'm trying to reduce radiant heat off the header as much as possible to help keep the engine cool at the track.

Also are the carbon fiber hoods with the vent lovers worth it for keeping the engine cool? Do they actually work?

Why not just use exhaust wrap?

How good is wrap compared to coatings? Sure would be cheaper.

Exhaust wraps have been shown to increase corrosion on headers. Also there is the issue of getting anything flammable on them once they get hot

Wrapping holds water and can lead to corrosion.

Disclaimer: no first hand experience

I've never liked the "flammable" explanation...If your leaking oil or gasoline, you have other issues to worry about but its a fair argument I guess. However it wouldn't be a reason to stop me from wrapping anything.

I've personally had good experience with wraps so that's all I can speak to, it works very well at stopping radiant heat which is what the op was querying..

Oh I'm sure that wraps work fine, but its hard to argue that coatings are not the superior option.

True, Ive seen coatings actually chip but Im sure thats due to an inferior product.

If money is no issue the coating is the way to go...

You can't powder coat a header, period. It would melt off. You also didn't mention if the header was stainless or not.


Ceramic coating, wrap, and heat shields all are used to control heat, and can all be used together. The advantage to ceramic coating is it's corrosion resistance as well as the heat control (this is especially true if the inside is also coated). Wrap can go over it for even more heat protection. Heat shields tend to act as reflective surfaces for the radiant heat, so you use them to protect sensitive areas.


Properly applied header wrap requires soaking the wrap in water and tightly applying it (if you haven't figured it out yet, this is bad if your header is bare steel). Once it's dry, the wrap is then sealed (so it shouldn't be a fire hazard unless it's not properly sealed!).


It's not as important for NA cars, but keeping the heat in the exhaust helps a hell of a lot for turbo cars.


Ultimately, do you want to protect your investment? If yes, ceramic coating is worth it.

Not sure what "twice as expensive" equates too is exactly, but high temp powder is completely useless for automotive exhaust. I strongly advise you to run away from any coater that is offering you powder coating for your exhaust components as fast as you can. Although there are some limited "high temp powders" they are glorified BBQ paint meant for lower temp industrial components exposed to LIMITED heat. More importantly they offer ZERO thermal protection and radiated heat reduction.

The header I'm getting is SS.
My local coating company ceramic coats the header inside and out. he also has a special header high temp power coating.
This will be on a NA engine, if I ever went forced induction it would be supercharger, not turbo.
So the bottom line, he wants $350 to ceramic coat the header inside and out, is it worth it?

Unless that includes installation and a rental car, 350.00 is VERY HIGH....... Again there is NO SUCH THING AS HEADER POWDER COATING........RUN.......

Get your headers ceramic coated inside and out, and then wrap your headers.
Make sure you specifically ask for ceramic, NOT high temp coating or whatever they told you.
Also 350.00 is absurd for coating.

Inside and out of the same stuff or different?
Even ceramic coating has different grades.
How thick is the coating is another as well as adhesion.

Don't bother wrapping after coating, if it's done properly, you can literally touch it after a half an hour drive.