Pacesetter Headers = Poor Quality & Warranty
Don't they make **** you can buy at the parts store to spray on them before you install them to prevent this? Some high heat paint or coating or something? I mean if we can fly to the moon we should be able to keep **** from rusting up lol. I've had my good old Mac mids for 10 years now and they still look great with no rust. Sure they give up 10-12 hp but who cares. I made that up going with duals instead of a ory pipe and they sound much, much better in my opinion.
I stated in another post that I have had my pacesetters on for almost 5 1/2 years and there the non coated and there still going strong. Look like the op's headers but for 300 shipped to the door and a kid in high school at the time you cant beat that. Mine have also been in the snow, ice, salt, sand, and rain aswell so I cant imagine those coated headers have been driven so few miles and look like my rusty *** pacestters 
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 44
Likes: 0
So....pretty much the general opinion is if you just want speed and don't worry about looks...pacesetters are good to go..but if you want flash with the vroom...go with stainless for mor $$$?
sounds good.
I remember reading a thread a few weeks ago aout undercarriage rust. Say if once or twice a year you get up under the car with a brush and some simple green and scrubbed away..you think that would prevent the rusting?
sounds good.
I remember reading a thread a few weeks ago aout undercarriage rust. Say if once or twice a year you get up under the car with a brush and some simple green and scrubbed away..you think that would prevent the rusting?
Most of us went for the Pacesetters because they were way cheaper than all the other brands and were coated. I have had two sets and my buddies use them also. Every pair is rusted at the bottom. Just an inexpensive header IMO. They fit pretty good for me. The Y-Pipe was a little iffy though. Broke the bracket on the left side where it bolts to the floor and rattled my head off.
I agree 100%.. For a car that has one purpose of going fast, they are an amazing deal. But for a car that you want to be quick but still be a "nice" over all car, kooks and the like are the way IMO.
My next project.race car will have PS I'm sure. I use to say I would never spend the kind of money Kooks cost, but now on a nice car, it is all I would buy. Purpose built is another story.
My next project.race car will have PS I'm sure. I use to say I would never spend the kind of money Kooks cost, but now on a nice car, it is all I would buy. Purpose built is another story.
very true!!! not sure why people would bash a product that has a reputation for being " best bang for the buck" header. of course if people had the money to buy kooks, or ARH i am sure they would. but the pacesetters do perform very well. the only reason i would get rid of my pacesetters would be due to going with bigger cubes like a 402/408 and running some 1 7/8 headers instead.
as soon as i got my pacesetters and ory installed i took it for a test drive, and it really woke my car up big time. all i had was a slp lid, ls6 intake, headers, magnaflow catback and shitty 2.73 gears..
but damn my car would pull very hard and was very noticeable. so i am overall happy with them. I've had my coated Pacesetters on for 5 years and at least 60K miles. The whole time they were driven through rain and snow in Chicago, and the car is stored out on the driveway all year. Yes the collectors are rusted, the primaries have a litte rust...but so what. It's not a show car, they were cheap, and the headers/ory/catback was worth 25 rwhp on my car.
The people that realize what "bang for the buck" means, are the ones that can see why this is a good product. It just wasn't worth it to me to spend the extra money on SS, same reason I didn't get a SS catback. If having $1000 shiny headers makes you sleep better at night, then be my guest.
As far as fitment goes, mine were perfect. No raising the motor, no unbolting the steering shaft, etc.
The people that realize what "bang for the buck" means, are the ones that can see why this is a good product. It just wasn't worth it to me to spend the extra money on SS, same reason I didn't get a SS catback. If having $1000 shiny headers makes you sleep better at night, then be my guest.
As far as fitment goes, mine were perfect. No raising the motor, no unbolting the steering shaft, etc.
if you had done some better research you would have known that some people have problems with the pacesetter coating not lasing too long.the bottoms/collector part of my headers are starting to get some rust but nothing horrible but my primary tubes still look brand new.but liek others have said if you wanted a header that was going to last almost forever you should have went stainless.and im not biased either, i have pacesetters
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To sum it all up... you get what you pay for. I think $500 for headers and y pipe is cheap! I went kooks s.s and have no complaints. They weren't cheap.. but I have no complaints!
What happened to the good old days of buying a set of hedman headers for $125 with that bad black paint that comes off the first time you fire her up? I have a 20 year old set on my Camaro, it's not show worthy by any means, but I only paid $125 for them... $500 for a set of headers and well, they better look good for awhile.
thats what happens when you cant afford stainless. If you could afford stainless then you should have bought them in the first place. its just rust who cares unless its a show car lol. its not like its hurting performance or anything.
Oh and that was more than reasonable offer from pacesetter. im suprised you were offered anything at all
Oh and that was more than reasonable offer from pacesetter. im suprised you were offered anything at all
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 555
Likes: 0
From: NearHouston, TX
I noticed this old thread while looking for advice on removing some rust on my Pacesetters, at the collector before cutouts.
I'm thinking I can hit with a wire wheel, and paint with a silver high temp rattle can paint. Anyone that has touched up headers (not removed) from car - I'm asking if you have recommends or advice, paint selection, and if it worked for you. thanks
I'm thinking I can hit with a wire wheel, and paint with a silver high temp rattle can paint. Anyone that has touched up headers (not removed) from car - I'm asking if you have recommends or advice, paint selection, and if it worked for you. thanks
11 Second Club
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 730
Likes: 0
From: Middletown, DE
You get what you pay for with headers OP. All this "bang for the buck" is good for the first 2 years or so, then you start paying for the cheap price.
Paid $1037 for mine and they're still holding strong and looking good
Paid $1037 for mine and they're still holding strong and looking good
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 555
Likes: 0
From: NearHouston, TX
agreed, these were installed on car before me, personally I'd go stainless. I'm slowly making every thing right on it. I don't feel so bad, my '08 Mustang GT factory headers were rusted red after a few days
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 1
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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.
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.
