| Author | Message | ||
     Tornado |
I bought some ceramic coated headers for my '99 M2. But I don't like the look. Can you over insulate a pipe by putting wrap over ceramic? | ||
| Al_lighton |
"Can you over insulate a pipe..?" Not from a performance viewpoint. Just a guess on my part, but the ceramic coating will probably never look good again naked after running it wrapped. It will probably be subjected to higher temps than it is rated for, and it will likely get ugly. It MIGHT even flake, though I suspect that discoloration and fade is more likely. If you're quite sure it'll never run naked again, go for it. | ||
| Jayvee |
Hey you can find somebody to trade you, I bet. Maybe a little cash adjustment in the mix. What color is the coating? Who was the coater? | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
To add to what Al said. This could happen (flaking and discoloration) depending upon what temp rating the coating was done on. Different colors have different temp ranges. | ||
| Blake |
Wrap over ceramic coating is a good thing in my experience. I ran wrap on ceramic coated headers for years. It worked great. When the race header cracked on me, I removed the wrap to facilitate welding repair and the finish was still good. Black ceramic coating is a waste though, it radiates heat like mad. It does help protect the header from possible corrosion in cases where the header wrap may get wet. Some folks have claimed that a wrapped header that is periodically exposed to rain/moisture will experience significant corrosion and in time even failure of the affected header. I've not had that experience, but my header is coated, which would seem to preclude that issue. Even just paint would probably protect against the corrosion issue. | ||
| Tornado |
Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go out and buy some header wrap! | ||
| Classicbuells |
Just one bad experience here. A few days ago I removed the wrapping from a header that had been wrapped over the ceramic coating on an X1. The header was wrapped on the rear pipe, for about 12" to 15" from the exhaust port. The ceramic coating appeared to have overheated with the wrapping tape and fused into glass like shards with the inner surface of the wrapping tape. The pipe underneath the wrap is OK but badly blackened/oxidised and tarnished. The rest of the system is fine, the coating OK. I have no idea how typical this experience is but it seems to have been caused by gross overheating. (Message edited by classicbuells on April 25, 2008) | ||
| Blake |
What type and color of coating was that? | ||
| Tornado |
I don't really remember what type of coating it is, but it's silver. I bought it used and I figured it was better than the rusty header I am using now. I just thought the wrap would look better and I didn't know if the two were compatible. | ||
| Classicbuells |
I believe- CERMAKROME by http://www.techlinecoatings.com/ However, I'm not 100% sure as the pipes were already coated when received. |
