The question is to Header wrap or not

[Firebolt Man09]

My question is should i header wrap or not. Just was wondering some of the pro's and con's of header wrap. My header pipe is in good shape just tired of looking at the gold color after i clean it and it heats up. Let me know your thoughts!

 

[anrkizm95]

coat it

 

[ridendude]

Wrap is great for heat reduction, but needs to be redone occasionally. Ceramic coating is more permanent, great heat reduction, and comes in a few different colors.

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

some info in many other threads .

mostly its for heat reduction on you and or the bike. looks of it , there is some small amount of faster flow depending pipe size and other factor but not enough to really matter or notice. also to improve scavenging (some not really a lot every bit helps) . the problem come with how well you take care of if left wet it will cause the pipe to corrode. it will/can discolor the pipe. some like the look some dont. the wrap can fray easy . ceramic coating is another way for heat reduction an looks. I have my XB wrapped black, if riden alot or left in the sun alot the wrap will fade and then you will need to recoat it with DEI HT Silicone Coating Spray .
here is is a great wrap I used you can find it cheap at ebay summit jeggs, oriellys autozone.


Wrapped-my-Headers

Exhaust-Wrap

/Exhaust-Wrap-Smoke

dei-cycle/motorcycle-exhaust-pipe-wrap-kits

Header-Wrap-Install-WPics

 

[nwguy]

The prior owner wrapped my pipes and then removed the wrap for some reason. It took a lot of sanding and polishing to get rid of the staining from the wrap. I decided not to rewrap the pipes for two reason. One; someone mentioned the "steam bath" you get when riding in the rain. I don't intentionally ride in the rain, but sometimes it happens on a trip, and the image of a steam bath was enough for me to say no. Two; I live 2/10 of a mile down a dirt road which is often muddy. The wrap would get mud on it often, and it seems like it would be a pain to clean.

 

[drsuzuki]

I too have thought of doing this. I'll keep watching for the pros and cons.

 

[Riderdie]

IMO It's a personal preference of if you like the way it looks. There is a reduction of some heat but the headers are still hot as hell. I've wrapped two bikes with black tape and the color barely last a month. Both times I repainted them with header paint and that color has lasted for a long time.

I'd like to do the ceramic but my header has a dent and it's too expensive.

Here's a few diff picks...

 

[kalifornia]

keep polishing- your bike is worthy

 

[GW 04 XB12R]

I wrapped mine with black wrap off eBay. You should wet the wrap before install, to get a tighter wrap which, in turn, lasts longer. The black turned gray from the water, so I used high-temp paint to black it again. That lasted me an entire season. The wrap is still in perfect shape, thought it is now grayish. Painting takes about 10 minutes, and I'll probably be doing it once a season.

The actual wrap install took me about an hour. Pipe stayed on the bike, and it wasn't extremely easy.... but it was only about an hour, maybe 1.5.

I chose wrap for a few reasons:

1. Cost. $20 in wrap would take a long time to match $150+ for ceramic, even if it needed to be done every year... which it definitely does not, if it's done right the first time.

2. Look. I actually like the non-shiny (flat) look of the wrap, as well as the fact that it isn't smooth. I like the texture of the wrap. Growing up, my dad's race cars used header wrap, so for me it symbolizes speed.

3. Heat-to-touch. I can't speak from experience about ceramic coating, but using other knowledge and experience, I think it's safe to say you still cannot touch a header while the bike is running, even if it is ceramic coated. Ceramic is a very good conductor, so I feel it will still be rather warm to the touch. Wrap, on the other hand, is fiberglass, which is a great insulator. While my bike is hot or just after a long ride, I can touch the pipes with bare skin without getting burned. If I hold my hand there it will burn, sure, but just to touch for a second or so (say, by accident?) you don't even feel the heat.

I hope this was helpful... and not too boring

Gary

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

here is mine wrapped , i like the look of it,.

 

[stellio78]

I just pulled my headers off to get ceramic coated silver next week, I'll post up some pics for you when there done if you like.

But I'm doing it because I think the silver headers will flow well into my stainless Drummer exhaust and there will be very low maintenance/cleaning involved to keep them looking great.

 

[Iamarchangel]

Seeing as you're asking: no, it looks ugly and serves no practical purpose. Oh, it helps cooling and that's horsepower and all the race teams do it… oh wait, no they don't.

But, who am I? Some people like "pants on the ground", some people like spandex.

 

[buelljek]

Can you seal the wrap better with some high temp silicon??? Just a thought.

 

[Alfatango1]

I have a white XB and think it would look horrible, but not so much on the black framed bikes.

 

[12R_FIRE]

I bought the black screamin eagle wrap from HD,it matches the grey frames in color perfectly, ill probably end up repainting them the same if they fade. I also had a dent and scratch on my headers.

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

Can you seal the wrap better with some high temp silicon??? Just a thought

yes I use DEI Black HT Silicone Coating ,this stuff;.designengineering.com motorcycle-exhaust-pipe-wrap-kit

checkout the links in my posts above

 

[stellio78]

Photo of ceramic coated headers as promised.

 

[BuellerDueller]

I once burned my pants when they touched my stock headers . Would it still burn if the header were wrapped? What about ceramic coating?

 

[GW 04 XB12R]

Burned mine on stock pipes also... hole right through one pair, big burn spot on another. None yet with the black wrap can't speak of the ceramic.

Gary

 

[delta one]

I didn't think ceramic could look that good.
looks like my headers after a fresh polish but before they heat up and turn gold.

ceramic should reduce the amount of heat to the touch but I think the wrap will dissipate heat better on long rides.
the downside is that the wrap can destroy your headers, trap moisture to any steel, even stainless for a long period of time and it will start to do damage.

a good polish goes a long way