heres the skinny on coatings and paint..... Paint is ok, as long as it is a high temp paint. If it is a high temp paint you better be damn careful when you install them because they scratch real easy until they are cured (i.e., ran on the motor). Even then I'm less than impressed with what they looked like after a few months of use. I would always recommend using a higher grade paint like vht if you want them to last awhile. I worked at Hooker headers for a few year as a technical assistant/returns cordinator . I have seen it all. There are some header companies out there that just use a "shipping paint" and will not stand up to heat at all. They just paint them so you wont pull a rusty header out of the box. Plain and simple. The ceramic coating company we use is Embee coatings http://www.embeeperformance.com/processes/h_anodizing.html We have had very good luck with these guys. They spray the coating on just like everyone else. To my knowledge, nobody dips headers. Then it is baked in an oven at about 600 degrees, then sent to a vibritory polish. I have tryed our coating on numerous cars from 12 second daily drivers, rock crawling off road vehicles to supercharged applications and under extensive dyno and racing conditions and I havent had a single problem with flaking or corosion of any kind. Our coating is designed to withstand temps up to 1200 degrees and it is guaranteed. grbmaverickmo. Pm sent your way.
I've wondered if, when guys say a particular ceramic coating doesn't hold up, it might be because they put them on a new engine that wasn't run in and tuned properly yet. All of the coating and header places warn you to use manifolds or old headers on a fresh engine and not to install coated headers on an engine that isn't correctly tuned because the exhaust temps can be too high during breakin.
Hey, I will be at SEMA in the CarTech booth #22519. What booth number will you be in? I would like to see these up close and talk to you about them.
The price is extreamly reasonable, however because I live on this rock here in the middle of the atlantic ocean the $332 become $646 including shipping, tarifs and taxes so I need them to fit...
Cool! I'll be in the booth most the show. Wednesday is a busy day, I have Zone, Advance, O'Reilly and Keystone all in that day, but the other days are pretty flex. Printed this page for my SEMA file....
