hey i was just wondering, i know bikers wrap their exhaust pipes to supposedly add hp to the bike and make it faster, it supposedly also prevents the exhaust from gettin too hot, did anyone try that on their cars? wrapping the exhausts to gain performance, and if you did, what gains did you get?

 

ive seen people wrap the exhaust manifolds to keep the heat down in the engine bay but personally have not done it myself. Wrapping any further down the exhaust system would probably be a waste as they cool off quickly post-turbo.

 

Ive heard of welds cracking but not too much info on here. Just yes and no answers

 

you want to wrap the exhaust pipes to keep the heat INSIDE the pipes, not to cool them down...the exhaust gases travel faster when they are hotter, so the more heat you can contain in the exhaust system, the better

i have also heard of welds cracking, but have never actually seen it happen...i personally plan on wrapping my downpipe when i take it off to get a wideband bung installed...if a weld cracks over time, no biggie...downpipes are cheap nowadays

 

I agree, hot air is thinner, therefore it travels faster through the exhaust system, similar to wrapping hot water pipes in a house which saves energy by retaining heat in the plumbing system

 

I have always had good luck wrapping headers....but mostly just to keep the heat in the engine bay down... The hotter gases flowing quicker is true...I just wonder how much difference it actually makes anywhere besides on paper <shrug>

 

It also cause rust, something else to keep into consideration.

Personally Id get it coated instead of wrapped

 

people use heat wrap to keep the temps high resulting in increased velocity of the exiting exhaust gases. i don't know if there is a huge difference between wrapped and unwrapped because i have never seen dyno results. it is true the wrap will speed up the degradation of the piping as it retains the heat long after a car is shutoff. as for exact numbers on that i couldn't tell you either.

i'm sure there are gains to be seen from heat wrap because they use it in pro sports, then again they have the cash to replace all these things no question. and it may also be a case of a very minor gain and they simply use the "every little bit helps" philosophy.

 

the only time ive seen pipes wrapped in a car the explained to me was the keep the temps under the hood as low as possible. they had the headers wrapped, but nothing else. i think once youre past the turbo it wouldnt do you any good.

 

someone do it and find out!

 

did it and it sucks.

Here's the skinny: the temp is kept in the pipes better, but for whatever reason, it also heats up the engine bay quite a lot (trapping heat in the wrap itself perhaps?). Your intake air charge gets really hot (in my case it was only 10 deg less than my coolant). The ECU goes into limp mode if the coolant temp is not more than 50 deg more than the IAT. So, you get a CEL and a crapy running car when you wrap the header. Plus it's hot as hell under the hood.

I only wrapped the header, and haven't yet wrapped my downpipe (don't plan to either).

Pay the money to get your pipes ceramic coated. A little pricey, but if you're at a stage where you're spending every dollar you have to squeeze every last HP out of your eninge, then go for it. Chances are you have something else you can afford that will be more effective in terms of power.

 

that should answer your question

 

i have seen people wrap their downpipes. i might just try it to see if it helps any

 

wow never heard of that one...

 

i had my first downpipe wrapped in an effort to keep temperatures down around my oil pan. my second downpipe is smaller and i didn't feel the need to wrap it, and didn't really notice a difference either way.