Ceramic header rusting? LOOK!!!

[azguy]

I don't know anything about what ceramic coated headers should look like as these are my first pair. This is what one of my headers looks like. I bought them through JTR. They are sanderson street rod headers. I paid the extra money to get them coated also. They look like they are rusting. WTF? I talked to JTR who advised me to use some aluminum polish on them. Tried that and it gets the rust off but the headers are REALLY dull looking and no longer shine at all.

One of my friends at school said that they should not look the way they do. He said either they were coated really cheap or not coated at all. Please help me out with any information.

This is what it used to look like.

Now it looks like this.

[slownrusty]

I agree those headers were VERY cheaply coated, they should not be spot rusting like that, you can tell they were poorly coated as the flange is rusting the worst pribably due to their inability to get the ceramic spray coat on it during application....I would complain to JTR and get your $$ back -or- have them send you a new ceramic coated set -or- let re-caot your headers -or- send them to Jet Hot and have JTR pay for the cost.

 

Jet Host will probably charge you about $100 per side to re-coat.

 

I have only trusted Jet Hot over the years. Typically their Sterling Silver ceramic finish will loose some of the initial shine over the years with all the heat cycles but still looks fabulous and will not rust like your JTR thats for sure!

 

Here is a down pipe they did for me for my old turbo Corolla:

BEFORE (bottom downpipe not the wrapped top one):

 

After:

 

This is a set they just finished on my Porsche 911 Turbo:

 

Hope that helps!

Yasin

[preith]

I had both a header for the Z and another set for my truck coated at Jet Hot. A year later both of them looked like the one above, but not quite as bad. I ended up selling both vehicles and never bothered with the warranty.

[jbc3]

The headers on my Z28 starter to rust and pit similar to yours and I called Jet Hot and sent the headers back to them and they recoated them for free, I just had to pay for shipping both ways. Cost me ~$25 each way. If Jet Hot coated the headers, call them up. The pain is uninstalling and re-installing... but they look great again.

 

Jody

[azguy]

Wow those are some nice looking headers you got there slownrusty

Thanks for the input. I am going to give JTR a call.

[ezzzzzzz]

I feel I must insert my two cents worth here. While Sanderson is a well known brand of headers I had only the worse experience with them. I purchased a set of block huggers for a '96 4.3 Vortec V6. This engine was bone stock and using a stock ECM. In only several months the headers had blown out where the primaries come together. These were also ceramic coated. The metal was so thin that attempting to wlre weld proved impossible probably due to the coating as well. A call placed to Sanderson was met with insolance and insult. They immediately said my engine was running too lean causing the headers to burn through. Fuel pressure flucuated between 55-60 psi in all conditions and the fuel trims were dead on per GM specs. They offered no compromise and said I needed to purchase another set of $400 headers! Fat chance of that and NEVER AGAIN from them! I modified stock s/s tubular manifolds (a few cuts and some tig) to build a new exhaust system. That was five years ago and I've never had another problem since. It's unfortunate that a company built on quality would grow big enough to resign to it's own indifference in customer satifaction. Every customer should count regardless of buying power and shear numbers.

[azguy]

I called Sanderson right after making my last post. I figured my problems are not JTR's fault because Sanderson made the headers and not JTR. The people at Sanderson were very helpful and advised that they would recoat the header one time for free with about a week turn around time. I asked them about not having a receipt. They said no problem, just to leave a note saying I bought them through JTR and that was good enough.

Does anyone know how they get the rust off the header before they coat it again? I'm thinking it has to be a chemical.

[slownrusty]

More than likely they will meida bead blast the headers before re-coating them, I know this for a fact as when I sent in my last set of headers there was some stray beads lying around inside the pipe. Sand blasting is too hard on the metal and they only need a slight "etch" for the coating to stick properly.

 

P.S: Thanks for the compliments too..wink..wink!

 

Yasin

[johnc]

Jet Hot's Sterling coating is not the best for headers. They have a much better coating (2000) but its a flat black finish.

[spork]

Sadly, John is correct. In general any of the nicer looking coatings don't stand up near as well as a standard black. My shop does ceramic as well as other thermal coatings and I'll let you in on a little secret. The polished look coating you get is mostly aluminum, which is why it doesn't work well in high heat applications. If it gets too hot, the coating can actually pool up and run off the part. For all of out high performance applications, we use a system that is good up to 2000 degrees because its not worth risking a comeback and a unsatisfied customer. I've used quite a few diffferent "ceramic coatings" over the years, and always go back to the black coating for exhaust components. Tho ours is a gloss black and holds its color for quite some time. Some coatings go gray over time.

[slownrusty]

It depsneds on temperatures you will be running too guys. I agree that the Sterling is not their "hotest" coating, their 2000 coating is also avialable in blue now. Here is what it looks like:

 

Which I think looks great as well.

 

I did some testing with my infrared Pyrometer on my Porsche 911 Turbo (which runs extremely HOT, as it is all air cooled), before the Sterling silver the manifolds would record 1100+ temps easily now after the Sterling coating the hotest I have seen is around 480F, which shows the heat is staying in the pipe. In terms of durability I will see how long the coating lasts.

 

Yasin

[TimZ]

As I recall, the shiny coatings (even from JetHot) are only good to about 1400degF, which is pretty difficult to avoid on a set of headers.

[spork]

Don't get me wrong, The coatings do work as far as temperature drop, but durability is the key, especially when paying big bucks through jet hot.

[MikeJTR]

"They look like they are rusting. WTF? I talked to JTR who advised me to use some aluminum polish on them. Tried that and it gets the rust off but the headers are REALLY dull looking and no longer shine at all."

 

The fact that the "rust" spots were removed with aluminum polish means the "rust" spots were not caused by the headers being poorly coated. The "rust" spots appearing on the headers were probably caused by oil or other chemicals getting on the headers, causing some staining that does not affect the durability of the coating, and is no indication of poor quality.