Exhaust wraps

[KarlBristol]

I've been reading up about exhaust wraps and was wondering about people's views on here... Is it worth it or not?

From what I can gather some people say it increases performance, decreases damage to the engine and generally is a good idea. Other people seem to say that it's a pointless cost, dangerous, and does nothing useful other than eventually rot and smell god awful

I was just wondering what people's views on here are...
Have you done it and does it have any effect?

[MR2 Rich]

Had a look at this seems to depend on which bit you wrap. Read too many things about cracking so didn't look any further.

[CalMac]

I used this stuff

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261095025883? ... 1497.l2649

and it was very flexible - which made fitting it pretty easy. I did find that you need quite a bit though; I used 25 metres to do mani, mid pipe and up to the first silencer of my Nur Spec rear. It smoked a bit the first few times I started the car but no permanent smells etc. and I can't see titanium rotting away

As for performance - well I haven't quite got the car on the road yet

[Slarty]

I "think" the general idea/physics behind it is that the hotter you can keep the exhaust, the faster the gases will pass through the exhaust. This obviously helps the engine "breathe".

The downside is that your exhaust is more susceptible to cracking, due to the higher temperatures.

It's used extensively on race/rally cars as longevity isn't so much of an issue.

Personally I'd say don't do it, the gains are there to be had, but they'd be minimal on a road car and the cons outweigh the pros.

[KarlBristol]

I'd read about cracking issues as well... I'm going for another full stainless system and wasn't sure if that had any difference on the likelihood of cracking or not...

The advantages seem good but I'd want a guarantee that it wouldn't go mouldy and some kind of hope that it wouldn't crack and destroy a new exhaust system over a couple of years

I'm guessing it won't be worth taking the chance

[CalMac]

I'll happily let you know a couple of years down the line how mine held up

[jon]

I've had a ceramic coated Aussie downpipe wrapped for the last 8 years or so, hasn't cracked yet!

[KarlBristol]

Lol. I'm going to hold you to that!

I am very tempted to do this in the future....

I just want to do some more research first. I am surprised that more people haven't tried it yet.