Type of headers????
As far as heat-retention properties, my understanding is stainless is highly desireable although I'm not sure how it compares to the coatings available today.
IMHO, if you have the $$$ for stainless go that way any you'll likely only have to do it once (assuming you go with a good brand.)
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Agreed
Ive had them all, cheaper, doesnt last longer.
I am very glad I went to stainless over ceramic, my last set of Jet Hot LT's lasted a season at the collector and were a bit better up top, but even being garaged, they just dont last as long.
If it was a show car, thats one thing, my cars are not.
Stick with stainless.
As for coating, we coat all our headers in Jet Hot Extreme Sterling 1700 degree coating. This is the highest temp sterling out there and it will not haze or crack.
If you are looking for a great deal on Kooks, call us at the number in the sig
1. to eliminate the worry of corrosion or rust
2. to eliminate the need for coatings
Contrary to what others preach, we only recommend coating 304 S/S under the most extreme conditions, like turbo or high boost supercharged applications.
Nick
Lastly, there is a much bigger reason to coat headers than corrosion prevention, and that is heat. Heat robs power, and makes parts wear quicker. The 1700 extreme sterling coating we sell is the best in business at keeping heat out the engine bay while looking good, and and we have yet to have any warranty issue with it. It is Jet-Hot's most expensive coating, and we sell it for the price of the standard coating. 70% of the headers we sell are coated.
Here is something I posted on another board that explains why coating headers is important regardless of what they are made of-
Lastly, and the biggest reason why coating headers is important is, because an uncoated SS header is like a hose with a million little holes in it. Picture that hose spurting water everywhere out the holes. Your uncoated header is doing the same figureative thing...radiation heat out the header and into the engine bay. If you have a lot of holes in a hose, the end result is that the water travels slower out the end of the hose because it is less pressurized. The same thing happen with a header...as heat is radiated through the stainless steel, it becomes less pressurized, and leaves the car slower. Coating the header is like plugging all those holes. It keeps the heat inside the primaries/collector.. which increases exhaust pressure/velocity leaving the car (since hot air expands). This means the hot exhaust gas leaves the car faster and is not radiated in the engine bay. This pressurized exhaust gas also has a vacum effect, which pulls more air in the cylinder head as it leaves, making your engine breathe better.


