snorris

I wanted to share my experience with Pacesetter Headers which was not a good one. I would not recommend anyone spending their hard earned money on a set of inferior headers as I did.

This is a letter I sent to the CEO of Pacesetter:

PaceSetter Performance Products
2841 W. Clarendon Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85017

Dear Woody Harrah:

I purchased a set of ARMOR coated headers and y-pipe for my 2000 Pontiac Trans Am from Summit Racing on 10/09/2007. I researched my purchase and found that these headers offered a high quality, well built, coated header at an affordable price from an American company. This car has low mileage (31,749 miles) and has not been in the rain or snow. I take immaculate care of this car and want quality products to go with it. A couple of weeks ago I was underneath the car doing some maintenance work and noticed that the headers had quite a bit of discoloration/rust (see pictures) on them. I decided to call Pacesetter to see about a possible warranty claim and spoke with Tim. He informed me that letting my car sit and not driving it contributed to the type of discoloration/rust I had on my headers but he would pass the information along and someone would contact me that day or the following. I didn’t hear anything so I contacted Pacesetter back and spoke with Joe, who basically said that I needed to read my warranty papers to see that this was not covered under my warranty. I then spoke with Fred Gurley. I explained to Fred that this car sets in my shop and has only been driven approximately 900 miles since I put the headers on the car and that I would like to possibly receive a new set from him (at a reduced cost or free). He told me I could find them on the internet to purchase. He also said that 2-3 years ago, Jet Hot was coating Pacesetters headers and that Pacesetter no longer uses them due to poor quality and that my headers could have been a batch from this time frame. He then offered to recoat my headers at no charge if I would send them to him. While I appreciated some extension on his part to make these headers right, I told him I did not want to take a chance of having the same rust issue 2 years down the road. I asked if he could send me a new pair and I would send the old back. Fred said no to this. I also told Fred that the y-pipe was beginning to show rust yet the Flowmaster cat back exhaust I installed at the same time looks as good as the day I put it on. My dilemma is that I have invested $500 with Pacesetter and am not happy with quality of product that I have received. Please reconsider my warranty claim.

Thanks,

The CEO of Pacesetter offered to recoat them but I declined the offer. I will never buy another set of Pacesetter Headers again.

johnLs1camaro

iTrader: (28)

^same issue here man. My headers from pacesetter started rusting after 3months, they are the coated ones too. Now after having them for 2 years, they just look like crap. They also didnt fit as good as hooker headers and other brands I have installed on other peoples cars. I will never buy from pacesetter again also, I was very upset with them.

Im gonna take some pics and show you mine, they look a lot worse.

thewholefnshow1

iTrader: (2)

Great post to people who are looking at or deciding what kinda of headers to go with. This is a good reason why you do it right and do it one time. Do stainless and be done.

jts98z28

iTrader: (18)

x3 bought my coated headers and now they look a lot like yours....im prolly gonna paint them with that vht high temp paint...anybody else do that?

moeZ28

iTrader: (7)

Sounds like Pacesetter made an attempt to fix your problem by recoating for free...but you declined. They even gave you a resonable explaination that the old company responsible for the coating being substandard was no longer in use by them. You paid $500 bucks for coated headers...not stainless steel. there is going to be discoloration. I think their offer to recoat them for you at no cost was very reasonable and you should have taken it. I had a set of black painted pacesetters that were on my car for over 6 years. Never had a problem with them and made great power. I know alot of people with pacesetters that love them as well. Most companies would have told you to suck it...I think you screwed the pooch not taking his offer.

bballr4567

iTrader: (5)

Pretty reasonable offer to recoat them for free.

This is why you should go stainless if you are looking for good looks.

johnLs1camaro

iTrader: (28)

I wasnt looking for looks, I just dont want to fork out money for something to rust after 3months. I do agree should have got them recoated if they pay for shipping, either way if It was good qaulity he shouldnt of had to worry about that issue. Plus he would have had to pay for shipping there and back most likely. Not worth it when it comes down to that.

snorris

I probably should have had them recoated. But Pacesetter said I was responsible for shipping both ways. By the time I paid the shipping, I could invest that money in a set of stainless headers. I just wanted to give anyone interested in a set of headers to go ahead and pay for a quality header. The old adage of "you get what you pay for" is definetly true. I am in the process of getting a set of stainless headers. Does anyone have a recommendation based on their experience. Thanks.

408z28

iTrader: (44)

I would just get those re-coated, pacesetter quality(fitment,welds,etc.) is actually pretty good. Ive used a bunch of their stuff. I just think you might have got a batch that had some bad coating. They shouldn't have rusted that quick. As far as turning blue theres not much you can do about that.

I always buy the painted headers. I'll throw them in the blast cabinet and bead blast them down to bare metal, then paint them with ceramic(vht type gloss black) paint. They hold up for several years and look great. The paint/ceramic coating on alot of headers just keep the headers from rusting in the box, they dont offer much protection against rust,discoloration, or flaking.

TA1364

iTrader: (11)

Any coated header is going to do that, hell you should see my hookers,waaay worse.

Mumbles

iTrader: (5)

First question: Should a set of coated headers really need to be recoated in 2 years and after only 900 miles?

Second question: I know Jet Hot's coating is intended to trap heat within the exhaust tubing and thus reduce underhood temps by not having it radiate into the engine bay. But is it not meant to keep the headers looking nice and to be a protective coating as well?

Third question: Does anyone have any pictures of their coated Stainless Steel headers that have been on vehicle for some miles? I would like to see if the coating on these pieces have any rust.

firstinlastout86

iTrader: (4)

If you do get a new set of headers I do recommend not using those crappy C-clamps, get a good set of band clamps man.

Gatsby

iTrader: (7)

My coated pacesetters have been on my car for about a year now and they have some slight discoloration on the very bottom where the road debris hits it, but theres no rust other than that. I drive mine about 700 miles per month in the rain and snowy/salty roads here in baltimore MD.

I know everyone telling you their good experience doesn't help you out, but I just dont want people to think that $475 for coated headers that add roughly 15-20whp is a bad deal.

quadd2244

iTrader: (13)

I have 2 years on mine with appox 5k miles. No rain or snow however but plenty of washing it and a few under carrige wash's. They look NOTHING like what the op posted and still look new

Shockwave179

iTrader: (7)

I don't think you did enough research. It's pretty well known that pacesetters rust like this. You should have bought something that was stainless...

TXZ28LS1

iTrader: (5)

well, why did you buy the pacesetters in the first place? atleast pacesetter tried to take care of you. i am more than happy with my pacesetters and have performed great for me. i have just a little bit slight of rust. but im sure thats happend to alot of the headers that are ceramic coated compared to stainless.

go look up at some used stainless steel headers in the classified section. ive seen some of those "stainless steel" headers look like **** for how much people have paid for a shiny header.

02*C5

iTrader: (1)

I have stailess from American Racing and they still look like the day I got them a year ago.

King Nothing

iTrader: (9)

mine looked kinda discolored after being on the car for alittle more than a year and i put 30K on em not to sound like a dick but maybe you people who are worried about the color of you headers shouldn't drive your car or any performance car . . . these cars are meant to drive not to sit and collect dust when they can be driven

ttranssam

iTrader: (10)

good luck finding any non stainless header that wont rust to some extent...two yrs on my paceshitters and just the bottoms are rusted a little bit....only way around it is stainless...

Snake_Skinner

iTrader: (12)

DAMET!!! I jus bought some coated pacesetters b/c they were so cheap. where was this thread two weeks ago!! Picked pacestters b/c of price and heard fitment was very good. Did the pacesetters at least go in pretty easy b/c that was my final deciding factor to go with pacesetters b/c i heard that the fitment was very good. So besides from the shity coating did everyones pacesetters go in fairly easy??? (knew i should of went w/ LPP stainless Arrgghhh!)