| Author | Message | ||
     Vaneo1 |
Hi, Ive wrapped my headers on my bike but someone who races cars told me that it significantly reduces the life of the headers and soon leads to cracks in the piping. Is there a difference in a motorcycle header vs. a car header, or is my friend correct? ADAM | ||
| Diablobrian |
for one the pipes on your bike are stainless. Car pipes usually are not. Another difference is the number of miles on average that a car covers vs a bike, and under what weather conditions ie rain and snow. My pipes are wrapped and I'm not worried at all. | ||
| Vaneo1 |
cool thanx Brian thats good enough for me...I see a lot of guys have their headers wrapped and I couldnt understand why they would do such a thing if such a con actually existed. | ||
| Slaughter |
I think the big problems come from soaking up water. We have a number of folks with their pipes wrapped out here and ZERO problems so far (couple years on one) I wrapped my race bike's pipes and since they route differently than the stockers, they rubbed against each other where they came together and wore each other out and started unwrapping so I took the wrap off. I can't picture the stock pipes in my mind but if there's no way they could rub, you'd probably have no issues. | ||
| Glitch |
My pipes have been wrapped for a couple of years now, at least 20,000 miles with them wrapped. All kinds of weather as well. I had to take the wrap off this winter, because the wrap had gotten pretty ugly. The pipes looked fine, I rode around a while with them unwrapped because I had no wrap at the time for re-wrapping. BIG difference in heat! I re-wrapped them as soon as I could! | ||
| Jerseybuell |
Were they treated after they were originally wrapped? If so, what did you use? | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
i use the DEI header wrap and seal it with there header silicone spray. they have been on my bike since new (well 1000 miles i waited till after first service)and about once maybe twice a year i re spray them. check profile to see them. | ||
| Glitch |
Were they treated after they were originally wrapped? Yes. I used high temp header paint, good to 1200o the can says. | ||
| Cyclonecharlie |
My headers on my XB9R have been wrapped since I bought it new in 03 and I don't put anything on them(at install or now) have over 7K on bike. I don't like riding in the rain,but they have gotten wet afew times. Always get wet when I wash it,garaged inside.If wet I run it until I feel like it's dry before putting up for the night.........Charlie PS No signs of fraying or wearing outand nice color | ||
| Bubabuell |
I think he is correct to a point. Trapping the heat is good for performance but also can shorten the life of the pipe. Not sure about stainless, but I've seen wrapped headers that after a year you can push your finger through the wrapping and metal. Again not sure about the caracteristics of stainless and prolonged high heat. But with metal I'd say be prepared to replace them at some point. | ||
| Glitch |
But with metal I'd say be prepared to replace them at some point. Does header wrap make the pipes hotter? Or do they just make the header more evenly heated? The exit point of the header is hotter than the rest of the pipe. I've not seen headers just fall of a bike at the head. I've seen wrapped headers that after a year you can push your finger through the wrapping and metal. WTF? That, I'd like to see! | ||
| Bubabuell |
I've seen it twice before. On a turbo 9000 Saab and a race v-dub. Trapping the heat increases the inside temp of the exhaust as well. I know this for a fact as the Saab was mine. As I said I don't know about stainless, but I do know that it can cause premature failure on some headers. | ||
| Diablobrian |
I could see the wrapping holding heat and annealing a carbon steel. I could also see the moisture and heat accelerating oxidation. I think the stainless headers on our bikes will do better than the carbon steel tubing used for car headers, and it certainly won't rust away inside the wrap. | ||
| Glitch |
What's a Saab's headers made of? How long did it last after you wrapped them? That's awful. Bet you were pissed! | ||
| Bubabuell |
Cast iron (or cast something) I think. They lasted just over a year, but to be fair the car had 90K on it so they weren't new. I was pissed. Pissed that I didn't listen to the blokes on Saabnet who said don't do it. Though it gave me the opportunity to upgrade the headers and the turbo at the same time. | ||
| Glitch |
Though it gave me the opportunity to upgrade the headers and the turbo at the same time. Ah! the silver lining! If they were iron, I can see that going away. Iron is pretty poor at everything but being heavy. |
