CLS55_Ian

Just wondering what most people do. I bought some stainless steel long tube headers and am wondering if I should heat wrap them, ceramic coat them, or just install them as is. What does everybody else do? Are under hood temps an issue if they are installed as is? Will it kill the life of any other components that may be close to the headers?

Style_Front

On an earlier car I had this coating applied. It's not pretty but it's effective.

https://swaintech.com/race-coatings/...aust-coatings/

But you gotta ask yourself what the point is? For the car I used it on it was turbo. Keeping heat in pipes is good for turbo spool up. And although it claims to reduce underhood temps it is temporary. Heatsoak will happen eventually, cause thermodynamics.

If you aren't trying to spool a turbo most coatings will probably just make manifold repairs challanging. If you are trying to protect underhood parts a non-connected or non-bonded shield is better. Coatings like Swain tech may cause less severe heat cycles which may prolong the metal/welds a bit but likely not in any useful measure. OEM measures things in 10s or 100s of thousands of miles compared to the benefits of this....which might improve several heat cycles but not with the same lasting implications. When (not if) your manifolds crack it's going to **** your welder off and may need to be replaced so just enjoy your pretty stainless pipes and replace the manifolds when they fail. We're here for a good time not forever, right?

If you're melting underhood parts some coatings may help for a short time, but under extended hauls you'll still melt ****. With my midlength pipes, with no coating, and many extended pulls I never melted anything. For example I found out that the cruise control was limited to 150 and made most of the drive from Venice, Italy to Split, Croatia (to go to an Ultra Festival) and didn't melt nothin.

I don't think in most use cases there is added benefit.

My .02 cents

cdk4219

Yes every header I’ve wrapped has cracked again and again. If you are worried about certain components, maybe make heat shields for them?

SICAMG

Coat it and call it a day !!

CLS55_Ian

Thanks. It's good to hear personal accounts. I read a lot about people saying header wrap causes manifolds to crack, but rarely do I see anybody saying theyve had first hand experience with cracking manifolds due to header wrap. I was looking at the header armor stuff since it seems like it doesnt trap the heat in, it just acts as a heat shield. I might go with that.

tw2

Just wrapped the header pipe next to alternator only.

CDC55AMG

Hi CLS55Ian, just curious which headers you went with and what you think of them? I'm looking for a set for my CLS55 which has full stock exhaust. I have used Swain Tech's White Lightening coating on a single turbo manifold and the heat dissipation was greatly reduced you could hold your bare hand right over top and not get burned after running. Again it's a white non-smooth finish. Kind of looks like the white Ferrari headers on their earlier F1 cars or sports racer prototype cars (P3, P4, 312pb). Thanks.

C_Note

You did 150 ON CRUISE CONTROL? 😳 What was your IAT during this missile strike??

ChrisHimself

I don't recommend this.. Heat ultimately ends up where it wants to end up. The extra bulk, lack of serviceability, and beat down on the welds isn't really worth the trade off IMO. If you keep all the heat in the welds plus all the moisture being wicked onto the tubes, you might see cracking, pitting, or fitment issues for the benefits of keeping the heat in the exhaust. You might rot it out in 5 years or less.

As much as your transmission fluid, alternator, and power steering components love being cooler, you might not like the outcome. Anytime you drive over water you're going to give yourself quite a scare too. You can ceramic coat them if you're really pressed about it but I mean youre just paying for plumbing, it's not aerospace.

tw2

Probably km\hr.

CLS55_Ian

I went with some very cheap chinese long tube ones, ordered directly from Alibaba. I havent installed them yet. If they end up being a waste of money, i'll probably fork over the big bucks and get some MBH ones.

CLS55_Ian

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with your recommendation and just leave them bare and maybe use a bit of heat shielding if there are any areas I get very concerned about.

Style_Front

Wasn't running a log.

Car is American spec. I brought it with me from America to Italy, and brought it back to the states. The car has seen more countries than most people here in America lol