Ceramic coating exhaust - yes/no?

[PeterAllen]

I'm looking to have the extractors ceramic coated.

Is it a good idea?
What do I need to know and ask the coater?
I would prefer an off-white colour but will this be a pain. I'm not afraid of a little patina, in fact I prefer it, but are light colours suitable?

Any alternative suggestions?

I have heard that exhaust wrap will retain moisture and accelerate rusting. The extractors are steel.

Any recommendations for coaters in Sydney?

[NZCOBRA]

Hi , we got headers for 2 cobras done in HPC coating in silver , nice finish , they will probably tell you it is cheaper to coat these from new ,they don't have to sandblast the internals or whatever they use .If you are going to get car dyno tunned as in a EFI set up , get the pipes coated after, they run hotter and it will dull off the colour and sheen. Cheers

[Rog246]

They reckon it's the G O. The pipes run cooler, so less under bonnet heat and reflected heat as well they reckon. That is enough for me to get it apart from some small gains in HP too.
Rog

[marksy40]

I had ceramic coating on my first car and HPC on my second and I can say I'd prefer HPC.

The ceramic coating was prone to getting dirty fairly easily and hard to get clean again. HPC is low maintenance, looks great and gives good exhaust flow.

[DaveW]

Hi Peter,
i've been using HPC coatings since 1995, the team at Leongatha in Vic are great to deal with,
The coatings wont dull off like paint, or discolor like chrome, and i am still running headers and muffler system on an ultralight aircraft from that time, they still look new, and i'm happy to send you some pics.
HPC will do the inside and outside of the headers, and the coating is incredible durable to knocks and dings with tools or stones,
i recently had my front and rear suspension knuckles done in polished aluminium and i was wrapped in the results,
cheers
Dave

[PeterAllen]

Sorry, is HPC just a proprietary name for ceramic coating? Are they the same thing?

[DaveW]

Peter,
HPC is a company name, "High Performance Coatings", they have both performance and appearance coatings.
The high temp products are a ceramic coating. they do pistons and bores as well.
Give them a call and have a yak.
Have a look at the current HSV calipers if you want to see the quality of their work,

Dave

[Tenrocca]

If you want black they first coat in silver then the black. I found the black came off very easy after not too long. I ended up blasting off the headers back to the silver and spraying it with black header paint which has lasted well.

[Dimis]

Another vote for HPC in Leongath.
They've done my pipes and other parts, it was a no brainer and really not that expensive considering the quality of the end result.

[REPTYL]

HPC They even picked up and delivered.

[bret a ewing]

The ceramic coating on my sidepipes were off white. Great product.

[Rob. Smith]

The coating back in the sixties was Aluminized metal spray coating..It was a white rough finish (like 100 grit sandpaper) It was supposed to slow down the rusting. It didn't stop any heat and it got dirty pretty easy. I had it done on my VW exhaust...it looked good till some simple dip poured beer on the hot pipe...it then had a permanent burnt brown stain. 12 Yrs ago I had headers done inside and out on a 351 mustang by HPC and the under hood heat was reduced by 40 deg c. They still look good today.

[bret a ewing]

This is what I used.........

Automotive Coatings Price Sheet | Swain Tech Coatings | Industrial Coatings | High Performance Racing Coatings

[FWB]

Originally Posted by bret a ewing

This is what I used.........

Automotive Coatings Price Sheet | Swain Tech Coatings | Industrial Coatings | High Performance Racing Coatings

ditto.......you can paint them after coating to whatever color you desire

[cameron02]

I rekon ceramic coating is essential in a Cobra since the headers are so close to the driver. I had my headers coated inside and out and had the rest of the system coated outside only (including mufflers). It prevents rust but the main reason I had it done was to reduce heat in the engine bay and cockpit. HPC are great but for turbo applications (much higher temps) they are expensive. I am about to get my XR6 Turbo done and will probably use Competition coatings in Coburg as he is much cheaper for that type of coating. That said HPC have a reputation for being the best.

[sambo]

Here's a photo of my headers after HPC silver coating. Brilliant stuff and well priced. Hasn't dulled or discoloured after 5000km.

[Aussie Mike]

I've had work done by HPC, Jet-Hot and Competition Coatings. I will only use HPC now.


As far as it's merrits.. Several production cars are comming out equipped with coated headers. My Ford Pursuit 250 has factory fitted Ceramic coated headers. They are 11 years old now and still look good. If Ford can see the value of the coatings on a production car when they usually try to do things as cheaply as possible there must be something in it.

Cheers

[Mother]

With the pipes ceramic coated, the pipes run cooler than high heat painted. With a heat gun ceramic pipes run around 750 F, painted= 1150F. They are still hot enough when coated to leave a burn mark. But painted requires more attention, and the pipes will rust quicker, if only painted.

[PeterAllen]

Shipping to HPC today. Here is the obligatory 'before' photo.

[Modena]

Peter what oil pan is that?