Ceramic exhaust coating

[rickygolf83]

Hi,

I have had a tsr 4 branch manifold sitting for years to go on my 16v mk2 golf, and with the engine coming out, now is the time.

I had read when I bought it (came in a bundle with my exhaust) that it is advisable to wrap the manifold as its gets quite close to the bulkhead area as it leaves for underneath the car. 

I have also read bad reviews of exhaust wrap leading to fires and corroding the manifold (this is stainless steel).

Does anyone have any experience of ceramic coating exhaust parts?

Can anyone recommend somewhere to do this in central Scotland?

Thanks in advance! 

[Deleted]

I had both my manifolds done on my Rover P6 V8 probably 15 years ago - it reduced the under bonnet temperature of the car by over 30% company that I used are nowhere near Scotland but you can easily mail a manifold to them

www.zircotec.com/zircotec-uks-largest-thermal-barrier-ceramic-coating-offerings-2-2/exhausts/

[rickygolf83]

Thanks, i have emailed them for a quote.

Anyone else any recommendations?

[mk2cossie]

I've wrapped the stainless steel manifolds on my Granada without any problems.
I would imagine the catching fire part is when the wrap gets oil impregnated and then hot enough to burn the oil off quickly

[rickygolf83]

Cheers, i'm still undecided whether its worth the hassle of fitting it or not! Lol

[reliantreviver]

Avoid cheap wraps. Over you've experienced good quality stuff from a reputable supplier you'll never touch the rubbish fuzzy bandage stuff from eBay again.

Be warned though unless your exhaust is a higher grade (316 or such) stainless it will rust and wrapping it will accelerate this.

I was looking at having my manifold done by zircotec and had almost convinced myself until inspecting a friend's car which had had this treatment to it's original cast manifold and the rust was breaking through the coating in under a year. Much less of a risk with a tubular manifold given the different material surface, but it's certainly put me off the idea, hardly cheap is it?!

[tristanh]

Did he talk to Zircotec? The mild steel tubular we got done is perfect, years later, and it's on a rally car. So lots of high temperatures, and being left parked.
The covering flaked after the first event, they immediately without question took it back and redid it FOC, even though it was only the cosmetic top coat.

[ChasR]

I know on luckyseven's RX-7, it was potentially sited as the reason why his exhaust manifold cracked, albeit a lack of turbo bracing may have also played a role. But the manifold cracking partially being down to the exhaust manifold is worrying.

[rickygolf83]

I think after a lot of consideration, i will be applying some sort of heat reflecting material to the steering rack boot!

Wrap and coating seems to transfer the heat either to the head or other areas, and the the wrapping or coating seems at time to accelerate rust or cracking.

Car will be doing less than 3k a year also lol

[reliantreviver]

Nov 6, 2019 15:00:46 GMT tristanh said:

Did he talk to Zircotec? The mild steel tubular we got done is perfect, years later, and it's on a rally car. So lots of high temperatures, and being left parked.
The covering flaked after the first event, they immediately without question took it back and redid it FOC, even though it was only the cosmetic top coat.

No idea if they went back to Zircotec over it, will ask next time I see her. Online reviews suggest repeated customer service issues and disgruntled customers. BUT for every one upset person who pins it to the post, you know there are usually 100's of satisfied ones, so it'd good to see a couple of positive accounts on here

My quick look over it suggested it was rust creeping back in / out from the "pores" of the cast material. I seem to recall that the old website had clearer T&C's with some stipulation about cast items not being covered for such deterioration of the coating, but I could well be dreaming it. I opted to linish my manifold smooth have it blasted and coat it in stove polish, we looked really good for a while and is easily re-applied. Glad I didn't get it coated as a crack has subsequently appeared in one web although not causing a major leak / issue.

Anyway, Ricky, you may as well go for heat shielding regardless, but then there's a whole other discussion on those products. Spoilt for choice these days!

[nalesutol]

You may have to wait a while to get anything done by Zircotec as their factory burnt down earlier this year and they are still rebuilding it. I am waiting for their ZircoFlex heat shield material to become available.

My cast iron Cosworth 4WD manifold was treated by Zircotec 10 years ago and it is still fine, as is the stainless steel pipework.

I think the rusting of pipes when using wrap is a myth. Any moisture that manages to get through the wrap to the pipes will be burnt off within seconds of starting the engine. Any explanation as to why wrap would cause any more rusting than an on an unwrapped pipe would be interesting to see.

[tristanh]

I think it's because it's inclined to stay damp for a long time when parked up.

That said, the TSR manifold in my Golf is wrapped.

Didn't know that about Zircotec, that's a shame.

[optimusprime2]

Had a price from these guys to do my W124 M103 manifolds talking £350 i will manage with out this .Anf use VHT on them after sand blasting.

[tristanh]

Nov 9, 2019 10:58:42 GMT optimusprime2 said:

Had a price from these guys to do my W124 M103 manifolds talking £350 i will manage with out this .Anf use VHT on them after sand blasting.

You're comparing apples and oranges. The Ceramic coat is to retain heat mostly.
On the rally car, where the manifold ended (under the passenger footwell), on our car, there was something like 80-100 degrees more in the next, untreated section of exhaust.
Which meant there was a lot less heat in the engine bay.
Also, hot gases travel faster, so it's a marginal performance gain too.

Vht paint is only for aesthetics.

[rickygolf83]

Nov 9, 2019 1:35:44 GMT tristanh said:

I think it's because it's inclined to stay damp for a long time when parked up.

That said, the TSR manifold in my Golf is wrapped.

Didn't know that about Zircotec, that's a shame.

Me again 🙈what wrap did you use? Thanks

[optimusprime2]

Tristan whats the differance - if i whant them coated for heat desipation , or just for looks . Mine is rusty ,and after blasting i will paint them with VHT .If it was cheaper i would go ahead ang have them coated ..

[tristanh]

Nov 9, 2019 20:09:10 GMT optimusprime2 said:

Tristan whats the differance - if i whant them coated for heat desipation , or just for looks . Mine is rusty ,and after blasting i will paint them with VHT .If it was cheaper i would go ahead ang have them coated ..

Well I wouldn't ceramic cost for appearance, (even though some people do),
If the goal was just to improve the look, I'd use VHT. Purely down to expense.
But if, like in our case, underbonnet heat was causing other problems, then I'd use ceramic coat.

[reliantreviver]

Nov 8, 2019 22:39:25 GMT nalesutol said:

I think the rusting of pipes when using wrap is a myth. Any moisture that manages to get through the wrap to the pipes will be burnt off within seconds of starting the engine. Any explanation as to why wrap would cause any more rusting than an on an unwrapped pipe would be interesting to see.

Speaking from experience without a thought spared for theory.

Previous low grade stainless system on my car ran very close to some sensitive components near the rear arch, so I wrapped a section in cheap fibreglass wrap. Several years later said wrap was near enough falling off and on removal it was very apparent that this section of exhaust alone had nearly rotted out.

Perhaps not an issue on a car that doesn't get wet, but mine was used in all weathers.

Any thoughts on ceramic coating a manifold that is susceptible to cracking? Is this likely to heighten or alleviate the issue?


Ricky as for what wrap to use, look at anything from a reputable stockist, merlin motorsport, tweeks, rally design etc. The basalt stuff is loverrly

www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s?search=exhaust+wrap

[reliantreviver]

And for your interest, here's my experiment in using stove polish on a cast manifold for aesthetics.



Lasted well enough but the rust has started to creep through. Not tried polishing it back up since though.

It's a cheapskate take on the proper stuff which is Calyx Manifold Dressing.

[deano123]

don't be fooled by cheap coatings, they're a waste of time and money. There is a reason why Zircotec is around 400 quid for a 4 pot manifold, because they're the best.