There are two main issues with using a wrap that do not come into play when using a ceramic coating; these issues are thermal fatigue and moisture corrosion.
Wraps will decrease under hood temps, saving other components, but the life of your exhaust will suffer from its use. The use of a wrap or blanket promotes thermal fatigue of the component you wrapped. Thermal fatigue is a type of metal fatigue caused by repeated heating and cooling, it is also called creep damage. This can and does lead to premature failure of a component. Some believe that wraps help prevent this, but it’s just the opposite. I have seen many headers that have been wrapped and a few years later, there are holes in the piping. This can happen quicker than you might think. The best option to manage heat is to have your exhaust ceramic coated. The coating actually bonds to the substrate (at about 10,000 psi) and prevents the heat from soaking into the substrate. If you get it done right, the rate of expansion of the coating will match that of the substrate, or the metal your manifold is made of. Your exhaust component can usually be coated on the inside as well, giving it thermal and corrosion protection inside and outside. I had one customer that went through 3 turbine housings from cracking caused by thermal fatigue. He finally broke down and paid the minimal charge to get it ceramic coated. I followed up with him a year later and it was still on his truck and he had no further issues.
Moisture is also a problem when it comes to wrapping exhaust. The wrap will actually pull moisture in and keep it there, holding it against the component, which actually speeds up the corrosion process.
The 'true' ceramic coatings can reduce under hood temps by over 50%, and the more common cer-met or ceramic-metallic coatings can reduce temperatures from 30%-40%. Another added benefit is that you will see power gains anywhere from 3-5% by keeping the exhaust gas velocity up. Increase spool-time in a turbo system, and increased scavenging is another benefit of the increased exhaust gas velocity.
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