Just wanted to know how the armor coated headers hold up. Do they look like crap after a few months. Trying to decide between painted or coated.Would like to see some pics if possible.

 

i got the cheap ones... went down the road about 1/2 mile and came back.... it had almost all flaked off

 

i got the painted for shipping ones, spent 2-3 weeks sanding the paint off and then primed and painted. still have the paint on them and havent flaked off yet. oh yeah i got the high temp stuff that "should" be baked on.

 

i have the ceramic coated LT's had them on for about 3 months, and they still look like they were new!! i love em

 

How long have they been painted?

 

I have mine on for a little over 2 months now and they are nearly new. Granted there are only about 1000 miles on them, they have seen their share of rain. the biggest spots of rust are about as large as a dime and are right around the collectors and lower parts of the primaries. It's very light rust too, nothing bad at all.

 

I have had the coated ones on for almost a year, and they are fine. I'm sure there are quite a few others that can say the same..

 

im not happy with the coating on mine. down around the collectors its rusty, and on the primaries there are rust spots. you get what you pay for....if i were to do it all over again, id get LPP's or Kook's

 

it took me about a month to get them all painted up. i put like 3 to 4 coats of both primer and paint. had them on for a little over a month now. the first time i put them on and started up the car i got smoke from the paint but none of it flaked or burned away. and for the first couple of weeks after words i smelled paint when ever i drove to and from work. but i still like the way they look now. guy i know has a the same set up on his 93 z but didn't prep them like i did and the shipping paints all gone and they are all rusty.

 

ceramic or better. you dont really think paint will last in an lt1 engine bay do you? on my first headers, pacesetter mid tubes, i had the bullshit black paint sandblasted off, then i painted the headers myself with 1500 degree engine paint. **** flaked off in an hour. headers looked like ****. then when i put the new motor in i had them ceramic coated, then decided i wanted long tubes so i got the ceramic coated jet hot LT's FTMFW

 

see the thing is that pacesetters coating is just a heat protectant, so that it looks good and reduces heat. its NOT a rust prohibitor so it will flake and rust if it gets scratched and wet or introduced to road salts.

either way they will pretty much always look good from the top(at least mine have) but will rust and flake at the bottom.

 

My car's had them on for a little over a year. It isn't flaking but there's a little surface rust on the collectors. I also do not drive the car in the rain.

 

pics after having them on after a month

 

I have the Hookers and had them coated by Jett hott (before jett hott sold them directly), they are 9 years old (Mufflex alum coated Y) the coating up top is still in excellent shape, but down around the collector rust has come through the coating, I recently went through the motor again and sanded off the rust and painted it with VHT silver flameproof coating, it matched well and looks excellent ,been six months like that.

 

Thanks for the pics. I dont have a show car but sure dont want to pay for something I have to spend weeks to paint. Will get ceramic coated or just another brand of headers.

 

if you don't mind spending a little i would find something better than pacesetter. i will not spend my money on them again.

 

Every single set of Pace Setter Headers that I have seen that were the painted ones, the paint flaked off in about 5 minuted of running the Car. That's just the way they are.

 

its because its just a coating to keep them from rusting during shipping.

 

they are ok, nothing compared to jet hot. I have a set of armor coated pacesetters. I'm going have them jet coated eventually because there already starting to go, and hell I only drive my car in the spring and summer. There ok, but don't expect them to stay as nice as jet hot.

 

I have about 1500mi on my ceramic coated pacesetters, they look good. I also don't drive my car in the rain. Any header that is non ceramic coated, is painted black to keep them from rusting while they are shelfed or being shipped. You should only intend on buying these if you have a place that's going to coat them(like jet-hot).