Hey guys! I have a couple questions for you. So I I've been doing a little research on wrapping your downpipe. It's a back and forth thing on whether its good or bad. I can honestly say that I've read more pros than cons. How many of you have a wrapped dp? What's your input on a wrapped dp? I'm not really worried about rust, I have a SS TBE. I was also going to do a ceramic coating on the Dp, obviously let that dry, meanwhile have my wrap soaked in water, tightly wrap my Dp, clamp it, run it, and once dry apply a few ceramic coats to the wrap to deal it up. What do my fellow subie owners here on island think? Thanks for any input.

 

I wrapped mine about 3/4 of the way, mainly to help minimize heat on the ewg tubes to the boost controller. Had them crack from heat before and was mainly wanting to reduce heat. Didn't do mine for any performance gains. I also just used safety wire to keep the wrap in place, worked well for me. I know I'm not on the island, just wanted to share.

 

Not on any island, but I do have a wrapped DP. Did it to minimize heat soak of the TMIC. I also have a turbo blanket. I used to have a slight stumble taking off from stop lights in hot weather, but with these precautions it dgoesnt happen anymore.

I'll be wrapping my up pipe pretty soon to keep even more heat away from the TMIC.

 

Also it keeps from cooking your CV. There was just a thread on this.

 

Don't waste your time.
1. There is no power gain to be made from wrapping the downpipe other than keeping heat out of the engine bay. So, most likely a waste of money.
2. If you ever get liquid on it, it sticks around for a while. Water is not so bad. Oil, brake fluid, and power steering fluid on the other hand can cause a serious fire. So, it's a safety hazard.
3. The wrap (especially when applied wet and allowed to dry in place) will put pressure on the pipe, which over time can cause welds to crack. This could also be attributed to holding more heat in the metal. Depending on how good the welds are, this might be a non-issue.
4. After a few months of heat cycles my DEI Titanium heat wrap started to come apart like old wet asbestos drop-ceiling tiles. It just hardened and flaked off in chunks and strips like 1-6 inches long. I used a 50ft long by 2inch wide strip for my bellmouth downpipe with a half-width overlap all the way from the mouth to the cat-back. In my opinion this is a materials manufacturing defect, but all the DEI titanium wrap on my headers did the same crumbling thing when I poked it with a screwdriver after finding that my downpipe wrap was falling apart.
5. There is no reliable ceramic coating that you can apply at home (that I know of). The stuff in the spray can that says "ceramic sealer" is nonsense, you need a certain thickness of material to actually do any insulating, and that layer of spray paint is certainly not doing much. Not to mention those cans are pretty expensive.

In conclusion, Swaintech or bust.

 

I appreciate a lot guys. I wasn't expecting any power gains, wasn't even going to get my hopes up for that, just wanted to reduce SOME heat in the engine bay because I am running a TMIC. Figured any little bit will help out a lot.

Gancherov- did you use all 50' to wrap it? 15' should have been plenty.

 

I wrapped my catless perrin DP in DEI TI. It took more than 15' to do more like 20. I used stainless steel wire and two stainless steel zip ties that a friend gave me. I did it because i had the wrap and i didnt see the worth in sending the DP in with my header/up to swain tech. FWIW my wrap is not falling apart.

And its swaintech or bust, because all of the other coatings out there flake off.

 

buy an aftermarket up-pipe and wrap the up-pipe...brah.

 

I get wrapped dp, up, headers, and turbo. Oh And I wrapped my tmic with reflective tape. I think that's about it

 

Just ordered my invidia catted dp and planning to use thermotec heat wrap with the high heat coating. We'll see how long it lasts

 

^^^ Grimmspeed does ceramic coating also. I just got their downpipe in with the ceramic coat on it. Quality looks great.

 

Let us know how that ceramic coating lasts.

 

I've had good luck using the plain DEI heat wrap on my ex. manifolds. Just be sure to seal it with the sealant. I had it on for about 8 years, including track days and autocrosses without any issue.

When I just installed some PnP'd ex. manifolds, I saw that they had the copper stuff. I went with that since you don't have to get it wet to apply it.

This is the stuff I got from www.summitracing.com in case you want to duplicate.

You'll need the metal ties too, but I already had some left from the first wrapping I did.

Here's how it looked before I put the OEM heat shields back on.

 

Sorry if that's a thread jack. In short, yes, you should do it, don't believe the hate.

If my Crucial DP wasn't ceramic coated, I'd heat wrap it for sure.

 

Thanks! Ill keep everything in mind for sure!