i wanna buy a Megan o2 housing, but i want to coat it..

with what? thats what i haven't decided yet..

i can't decide to get a ceramic coating, or get this Swain Heat treating that STM offers http://www.streettunedmotorsports.co...gan_o2_evo.htm )

Can anyone break it down for me which is better? Swain or Ceramic coating..

both would cost the same price so.. im not worried about which is cheaper. i want best quality and performance.
which is better basically??

 

the BEST is swain tech coatings. all the competition stuff is a waste of money. it flakes off. and actually does nothing.

 

+1 I wanted Swain coat my manifold but it was 5-8week wait and I didn't have the time.

Doesn't swain also flake over a period of time but not as bad as other coating treatment? Say for instance, you bought a brand new manifold and you got it swain coated. It is more prone to flake than someone buying a new manifold installing it doing a pull or two and then taking it off to go and get it coated? I know it is time consuming and could cost more money for installing, and than take it back off, etc. unless of course you are doing the install.

I'm guessing that's for most coating treatment?

 

so swain it is?

 

I had swaintech coatings on all my headers/O2 housing hotside from PPI in Michigan. They do the best IMO. The only thing is don't get your finger prints on the white coating because it's hard to remove, other than that it's quality work.

 

I have a Swaintech coated header and hotside on the turbo. The coating is very well done and seems to handle markings pretty well. You'll notice a difference in the heat emanating from the hood louvers with the coating on compared to stock.

The coating is white when new and turns slightly brown as it ages. I leaned against my hot header by accident wearing a jogging jacket which left a nice black plastic melt mark on it. I was pretty pissed until I drove it the next day and checked on it and the melted plastic was completely gone, it had burned off. I've also got a set of pistons which are eventually going in the car which are Swaintech coated on the top and sides. They do fantastic work.

 

i had it for about 2 years. and never had it flake.

+1 it most defiantly holds heat in like its ment to. i noticed huge underhood temps drop vs no coatings at all. i also had that other crap and well. im glad i went swain. i plan to do my new setup as well over the winter. i go all out. mani, turbo hotside, and downpipe, dump tubes. haha. its sexy looking stuff too.

 

So, what I'm able to gather from this is that you guys have had very successful luck with the Swain coating. I understand the ceramic coating but is this the same process as the Buschur jet coating as I'm in the process of sending my OEM exhaust manifold to Ohio. This is an informative thread as I can get the Swain coating done locally so any feedback would be appreciated.

 

swain is an excellent choice. The issues I've had with it were more header design than coating issue. On long tubular headers that "grow" with heat, the ceramic will have a different growth rate, and this eventually leads to the ceramic flaking off as the metal and ceramic expand at different rates. But on cast headers that don't have long tubes, or even an 02 housing, I would expect the swain coating to stick well and last a long long time. Even on long tube manifolds, it's going to last a couple years at a minimum. Just my experience.

 

thermotec heat wrap is another good alternative for parts that can actually be wrapped. It's cheaper and easy to re-wrap once a year if you chose to go that route. Has excellent insulating qualities, better than the coatings actually.

 

Swaintech coating is overpriced and nothing special IMO. I've personally held both in my hands and I'd take regular silver ceramic coating any day.

I've have Buschur's ported/coated exhaust manifold for almost 2 years now and its still in perfect shape. Normally I'm not a Buschur nut-swinger but the coating they use is top-notch.

 

I've got Swain on my stock exhaust manifold and tubular O2 housing. The coating flaked and bubbled on the stock cast manifold after the car saw track time. It was fine on the street though for about 2 years. O2 housing is okay, so it appears to be an issue with coating a cast piece.

 

Not to go OT but, these guys have done a fair bit of coating for us and do very good work. You might call them and see what they recommend.
http://www.calicocoatings.com/indust...motive-racing/

I've dealt with swain before once or twice and they do good work as well.

 

have it in my AMS evo for the last 3yrs and procharged C5 for 5yrs.

 

Hey who does it locally? I am really interested in getting this done. I think if can cut down on some the heat it should be well worth it.