[BuffDriver]

Originally Posted by weederr33

Is cracking coated headers really a common issue? I haven't heard very much at all about that.

There is so much myth and hearsay about wrapping or coating headers that it's hard to tell the truth.

And what material the headers are made of makes a major difference. There have been major advances both in design and materials but old opinions have not caught up. A perfect example is the performance of the A350 being discussed here!

Back in the day (ha ha) when I was driving my first car, a 1973 Mustang, the crap mild steel headers had to be repaired about every 1K miles (coat hanger n oxy/A torch DIY) and they rusted out in 6 to 7 K anyway. If you wrapped them cut that in half. Now I actually have not had a header problem on any car since the late 80's because of use of stainless. I STILL have/own a 1985 Chevrolet Beauville G20 van with a totally wrapped exhaust (wrapped with aluminum foil THEN exhaust wrap) that is still in great shape and it did not crack or en-brittle or all the threatened things everybody warned me about.

My opinion: So cracked headers is just mostly a scare tactic for NA but still happens sometimes with FI with bad tunes. It just got mentioned casually because I was just relaying what the header mfg said... Don't worry about it.