i have been looking and researching online forever now and there seems to be a whole lot of info out there on it being bad or good for some reason or another and a whole lot of people out there who have have bad experiences and good experiences with both. and i cant make head or tails of this...

so for MINI's using a cheaper header like a Megan or a OBX... what would/should be better?

Cermaic?

Wrap? (if so what material?)

Both?

keeping heat in the header promotes better flow and sucks the gasses out of the cylinders better. and it keeps heat in the engine bay down. which i want!

so people with experience share your knowledge!!!!

 

I had a good experience with a Pacesetter ceramic coated header in my previous car (05 Sunfire 2.2L Ecotec). It was driven all year long here in Québec and it didn't showed any sign of failure, just lost its shine. I'd say that if you can get a good company to do a ceramic coating, go for it. Wrap is usually better over short periods of time, otherwise it can end up keeping humidity and damaging the header (if driven on short trips, etc). For a daily driver, not sure I would use wrap.

 

hmm i was leaning towards a ceramic coating there is a shop next town over from me that does it inside and out for 150 for 4cly headers. shop has good reviews.....

... what about doing both a coating and a wrap?

 

well it really comes down to personal choice.
Unless the material is prepped propper, the ceramic will eventually flake off.

If you use cheap wrap.. it will degrade over time.

If you are using your headers for a race application and you have "cheap stainless" you could cause the metal to crack due to the wrap/coating holding in more heat and causing chromium precipitation. (only really an issue in high octane race cars and turbo applications, but thought I would mention it)
(321 ss is used in these applications (or should be... often it is not) as it is stabilized from chromium precipitation with titanium and a but ton more chromium is also added to the mix. (and nickle? .. idk without looking it up)

If I had to suggest a coating, it would definitely be swaintech.

 

I think you'd only need about 25' of some nice wide wrap. Think I only used like half my 50' roll of 2" wrap. Get some nice stuff, I think I got DEI, and some hose clamps. You'll be set. Spend that other $100 somewhere else!

 

We have tried both in our R&D testing with our de-cats. We wanted to test out which worked the best for our customers and because we see all seasons it would be the best to test. We have used many different types of wraps, and we found that it can trap moisture and rust from the inside. Coating the de-cat was the best method, last long and holds up very well with all sorts of weather.