| Author | Message | ||
     Greg_e |
Ok what is the real story on header wrap? Much of the info on the 'net that is negative comes directly from places that offer ceramic coatings. No big mystery why they make it look bad when they sell a coating. So before I do this, is there a real reason not to wrap the headers on my 9R? Not real interested in tearing them off to send away for coating right now, but I would like to get the heat away from the other parts. Anyone have there headers wrapped for the last 10,000 miles with no problems? | ||
| Andymnelson |
have you ever tried the search function here on badweb? many of your questions are basic enough that they have been asked...and answered dozens of times over the past years. you can find quick answers, and tons of them. that said, my headers have been wrapped for 12,000 miles with no issues. | ||
| Sort23 |
Mine have been wrapped for about 6000 miles with no problems. I did it for the look, but also helps with heat. | ||
| Greg_e |
Yup, spent an hour looking at threads with lots of nothing in them about header wrap! And honestly if you have a problem with it, you are more than welcome to add me to your ignore list and you will never have to read anything I say again! (Message edited by greg_e on October 12, 2009) | ||
| Andymnelson |
damn dude, I suggested it for your own benefit as many do not know that it's there or how to use it effectively. notice the reasons I gave- quick answers and more of them right there. sorry for trying to help you out, i'll add you to the list then. | ||
| Zoink |
Unless you use black or have some way of keeping them clean it's going to look like crap. My bike had silver wrap on it for about 1200 miles and it was filthy. Just took it off today and the headers themselves are filthy...going to take me a while to get them polished clean. I'm not a big fan of the wrap, I don't think it looks that good...my vote goes to polish or ceramic coat. My friend just got his ceramic coated titanium and they look awesome. | ||
| Boliver |
I've had mine wrapped for 10 or 12k miles now without a single problem.The bike seems to be cooler on hot days and the fan does NOT kick on as often.If you ride your bike more than you show it just spend the money at any auto parts store and have them special order you some black wrap.When it fades simply replace with new. | ||
| Jimmy_in_nc |
When the weather finally ends my riding season for a week or two I'm going to rotate the motor in the Uly and wrap my header. All of the Buell mechanics at dealerships that I have talked to highly recommend it. They even went to say it fixed most heat issues before scoops and such were available. If the header gets dirty in the wrap.. who cares? | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Header Wrap Pros: reduced heat you won't burn your hands or legs on the wrap even when the engine is running, it's hot but not insta-burn cool "hot rod" look cheap Minimal down time, should take you most of an afternoon to install then you're up and running. Personally, I've seen enough scrapped up pipes to think that maybe.... just maybe, the wrap would help protect the pipes if it gets dropped on the right side Plus, if you've already gone down header wrap can hide small dents and scraps (just be sure to be honest with the buyer if you ever sell the bike.) Cons: If not done right it looks cheap Up keep, eventually you'll have to re-wrap but not for a long time and between wrappings you might want paint them with a wrap coating cause they will fade they steam like crazy in the rain, people think my bike is on fire If you ever decide you don't like the wrap it is a pain to polish all the wrap marks off the pipes You might have read a lot about wrap damaging pipes. That's true for steel/aluminized pipe but all the XB pipes are stainless steel. So even though the wrap will hold moisture from time to time it won't corrode the pipes. The only "damage" you'll get from wrap are cosmetic, surface marks. Here's my thoughts on Ceramic Coat. Gathered souly from what i've gleaned from others and not my own experience. So please correct me if i am wrong and feel free to add to the list if anyone has experience with ceramic coated headers Pros: reduced heat Clean professional look pipes cool quickly once the engine is off zero-maintenance (if done right it should last a lifetime) Cons: Cost... but really i don't think it's that bad Down time, unless you find someone local you'll have to send the pipes out. Your bike will probably be out of commission for at best several days, at worst several weeks. um.... i can't think of anything else So really.... i guess if the look (clean vs hot rod) doesn't matter to you and all you want is protection from the header heat, then the ceramic coating is the better deal. A little more initial cost but you never have to worry about it again. That being said I still prefer my wrapped headers.  (Message edited by not_purple_s2 on October 13, 2009) | ||
| Bromanowski |
I've heard people say that coated headers cool off faster but that inherently contradicts them decreasing the heat from the exhaust. It's simple science. If the coating is insulating the exhaust from heat then it will be holding the heat in and not releasing it fast. I would think the ceramic coating on the inside would be the most important part for 2 reasons. It is supposed to help the exhaust cases move through the pipes (smoother surface) and insulates the metal of the pipe from the heat. Most people forget that the reason wrap and coatings increase performance is because they keep the heat in the exhaust gas which decreases the density of it and making it flow better. Now all that said personally I'm going to wrap my headers in lava wrap and have the exhaust coated silver. Remember that colors matter too, black will give off more heat then silver or white. Also a glossy surface will reflect more heat then a dull. | ||
| Wardamneagle |
I have mine wrapped. In my opinion its the quickest and easiest way to get that heat off your leg. Looks pretty rad too. | ||
| 1_mike |
What "Not-purple" said... The wrap will help carbon steel tubes rust. Wrapped on stainless....the bike will be long gone before it hurts the stainless. BUT, depending on the grade of stainless and prolonged high temps., along with the vibration, the wrap "can" (not will) make the stainless brittle. I've only seen one other person bring this up...his header cracked. I don't recall that he said where the crack was. The wrap not only helps keep the heat from your legs.....it helps keep that same heat from heating the frame...which is...the fuel tank...which...well you know the rest..! Coatings...some...(not all, very well) of them work. But as another sorta says...to perform the best at heat control, it also needs to be properly coated on the inside of the tubes. Mike | ||
| Greg_e |
The only thing I found when searching last night (beside a bunch of prattle between pro and con wrappers) was that one guy got a cracked header, be he also had a front mount that lost the bolt a long time before the crack and never fixed it. Which do you think caused the crack? Maybe I'll do a coating next winter, but this winter I think I'll just wrap the thing for half the price. I've spent enough already that I definitely will not go the extra expense of a coating this year and certainly not when spring hits and I can really ride it. When I was searching google about wrapping headers, I did find a strong argument for the coating. One guy who races Rotary powered cars says that the wrap would last all of a couple races before being trash. The reason is that the exhaust manifold of a racing rotary normally glows red (yup this is common). So he went for the highest temp HP brand coating and has been happy since. I tend to believe that guy because I had an RX-7 and know how hot the header will get (also seen lots of cool pictures of RX-7's with their header glowing in the bright sun). Now all that said, Area P says that all warranty on any of their exhaust products will be void if the user wraps or coats the system. Kerry says he has seen where these things will cause problems with even their stainless steel systems. I think I'll risk the wrap, and probably do it with a 1 inch strip and I may see how a short section looks if there is no overlap. If I have to over lap I'll use as little as possible not to exceed a 1/4 inch as I found this recommend in several of the google search pages. Hopefully I can get some wrap and stainless cable ties at one of the local auto parts stores and maybe work on this on the weekend since I can't really ride the thing right now. (Message edited by Greg_E on October 13, 2009) | ||
| 1_mike |
Greg - Not necessarily so. I wrapped the header on my 03, Yamaha R1 at about 250 miles. It now has just over 98,000 miles on the "same" wrap...! This is the second bike I've wrapped that has ended up with very high milage...and NO NEED to rewrap...! This includes driving in the rain. So don't necessarily feel the need to write if off after a year. Mike | ||
| Bromanowski |
Wrap can last a long time. You just need to take your time and read up on how to do it first. | ||
| Greg_e |
Well here's what I'm thinking... My bike is the Almost Angelic white so I'm thinking of doing the wrap in white for now. It will not be white forever and at that point I'll probably get the headers coated or at least change the wrap color. A year may be all that is needed for the white wrap. | ||
| Vortec57 |
Get some black wrap, do your headders. dont do any of the stuff they tell you to to preserve the black. A couple of weeks and maybe wash the bike a couple of times and the wrap will turn a nice silver that matches the frame almost. as for finding a pure white wrap, or painting it white, it will look nasty dirty all the time |
