Can anyone advise personal experience regarding the long term durability of ceramic coated headers

As the thread states: Can anyone advise personal experience regarding the long term durability of ceramic coated headers? Say 3+ years, 10 years or more would be awesome.

I know stainless will last, but I want the heat insulation properties of the ceramic.

I am looking at the MAC 3v long tubes coated.

It really depends on how well it's applied. I've had coated headers bleed through a little rust here and there, being your base material is stainless that wont be a problem for you. That being said I found ceramic coated headers were cool enough to touch within minutes of driving the car, it was crazy.

I have ARHs on my '11 that are ceramic coated. They have been on the car 4 years now but the ceramic coating that I have isn't the normal stuff. I sent my headers to Swain Coating to have them done. They look the same now as they did when I stalled them. Not cheep but should last as long as you have the car.

http://swaintech.com/race-coatings/

MAC's aren't SS underneath, it's mild steel.

If you live anywhere with 4 seasons it will eventually rust from inside out.

Had this happen to my JBA ceramic coated headers.


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I've heard (and seen pics) about BBKs rusting through the ceramic. I actually had a set I was about to put on my car until I saw something about it, and then started looking into it. 304 stainless is where you want to be with exhaust components. The exhaust components are always going to be under harsh conditions, fuck corrosion.

o2sys said:

MAC's aren't SS underneath, it's mild steel.

If you live anywhere with 4 seasons it will eventually rust from inside out.

Had this happen to my JBA ceramic coated headers.


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About how long did it take for them to rust from the inside out, and did the ceramic hold up until that point? I had a pair of hooker long tubes non coated, the collectors rusted through in about 5 years. If the ceramic holds up I am thinking about trying the Eastwood internal coating. But if the ceramic is going to flake off and rust, then I will have to find a suitable stainless 1-3/4 header.

o2sys said:

MAC's aren't SS underneath, it's mild steel.

If you live anywhere with 4 seasons it will eventually rust from inside out.

Had this happen to my JBA ceramic coated headers.


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Wait, your JBA's might have rusted, but they wouldn't have rusted clear through being 409 stainless.

That being said, ceramic coating doesn't prevent rust at all. Mine had rust spots on them after 6 months. Paint will help stave that off but it will still happen eventually unless you have 304 stainless headers.

I haven't had any issues with the ceramic coming off, it just has some rust that bleeds out through the ceramic. Plain steel headers probably wouldn't fare so well.

The JBA’s didn’t rust through but the ceramic coating was flaking off of it and the bare metal started getting rusty. This was about 6 months on the car and the part was brand new.

The area affected the most was right by the collectors as they are the lowest point and closest to the ground.


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After only 6 months? That's surprising.

I drove mine for about 6 months with the headers, after I put it away for the winter they actually looked worse from sitting for a couple weeks than they did after driving. I pulled them out, painted and reinstalled. Helped a little but rust still eventually bled through, although I haven't seen the ceramic flaking off. Currently looking at replacing them with the 304SS JBA's because they collectors don't line up correctly anyway and it's jacking up the rest of my exhaust alignment.

I run BBK ceramic that have been on the car 4 or 5 years now and have not rusted through. I don’t really drive it unless it’s nice out.

However my MAC muffler tips are staring to rust through, they have been on the car since 08 or 09.

ghunt81 said:

After only 6 months? That's surprising.

I drove mine for about 6 months with the headers, after I put it away for the winter they actually looked worse from sitting for a couple weeks than they did after driving. I pulled them out, painted and reinstalled. Helped a little but rust still eventually bled through, although I haven't seen the ceramic flaking off. Currently looking at replacing them with the 304SS JBA's because they collectors don't line up correctly anyway and it's jacking up the rest of my exhaust alignment.

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My JBA weren’t fitting right either on the passenger side. It was hitting the subframe. Got BMR k-member for clearance which it did but couldn’t take the NVH increased from them so took both the JBA and BMR out.

Ran many other headers with no problems after that.


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o2sys said:

My JBA weren’t fitting right either on the passenger side. It was hitting the subframe. Got BMR k-member for clearance which it did but couldn’t take the NVH increased from them so took both the JBA and BMR out.

Ran many other headers with no problems after that.


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why so many if there was no problem? Not exactly a wear item...

Was in a quest for the perfect exhaust sound (which is highly subjective) lol

o2sys said:

My JBA weren’t fitting right either on the passenger side.

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Man I hope that's not a thing with JBA's. Wanted to stick with them since I have a catted H that fits. The passenger side is the side that doesn't fit right on my car too. Doesn't hit anything but it's closer to the floor and further back than the driver's side.

The collectors were really close to frames like not even a finger gap close but that never hit though.


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I have JBA titanium coated 409 SS LT's for the last 4 years, zero issues so far. 304SS would be better. There is a difference between the JBA silver ceramic and the titanium ceramic. The titanium version is supposed to be good for an extra 100+ deg F. The finish is battleship grey. This is on my 2010 auto + M90 setup. The LT's were one mod that actually does something. With the blower on 2 blocks from home, come into the driveway, shut eng off, and < 2 mins later, I can touch any of the 8 primaries,and not get burned. Eng bay temps went down 40 F after the LT's and mating JBA catted H went in. LT's don't run hot, and the oem cats were at base of eng bay, and ran stupid hot. Hi flow cats reside below the front seats. B4 the LT install, my steeda black STB over top of the blower ran damn hot to the touch, now its just luke warm.

I have Pypes longtubes that were ceramic coated by a local shop. It was like $250 if I remember correctly and worth it in my opinion. I spilled oil on them and then started the motor while searching for a valve train tick and the black outer coating flaked off where the oil was but they told me it was just more of a visual coat and didn't effect the performance. They have been on for a year now and look pretty decent. Last winter was historically horrible on us and they held up well. I would expect to get another few years at this rate. More if I stop spilling. Lol

I can attest to them being cool to the touch not long after shutting the car off. My dad's Shelby has JBA's with the titanium ceramic coating and it is better than mine when it comes to durability and temperature. All kinds of crap have gotten on them and they don't care. Also cools to the touch in about half the time as mine.

Here they are fresh from the coating shop.
IMG_5397
IMG_5396

I am convinced there is ceramic, and there is ceramic. Oven stove tops with heating eles below a ceramic top... that ceramic conducts heat like crazy. Ditto with the ceramic coated 3" coiled copper tube inside the latest gas fired, high eff hot water tanks. DOB tried ceramic coating where his al manifold meets the al heads.... to no avail. I'm convinced he used the incorrect type of ceramic coating. Then you have the ceramic coatings that impede heat flow like crazy.... and ceramic that is in between the extremes. I don't know enough about the properties of 'ceramic', I should research it. Can more than one coating be applied ? How thick can a coating be ? I think 'ceramic' is a generic term.

Pentalab said:

I am convinced there is ceramic, and there is ceramic. Oven stove tops with heating eles below a ceramic top... that ceramic conducts heat like crazy. Ditto with the ceramic coated 3" coiled copper tube inside the latest gas fired, high eff hot water tanks. DOB tried ceramic coating where his al manifold meets the al heads.... to no avail. I'm convinced he used the incorrect type of ceramic coating. Then you have the ceramic coatings that impede heat flow like crazy.... and ceramic that is in between the extremes. I don't know enough about the properties of 'ceramic', I should research it. Can more than one coating be applied ? How thick can a coating be ? I think 'ceramic' is a generic term.

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If your looking for some good info try Swain Tech Coatings

Like all of Swain Tech’s coatings, White Lightning™ is a performance improving coating. What makes White Lightning™ the best performance exhaust coating?

1. White Lightning™ really is ceramic so the material is a superior insulating material.
2. White Lightning is applied much thicker than any of the cosmetic coatings. White Lightning™ is applied about .015” thick compared to about .002” thick for the cosmetic coatings. Because White Lightning™ is the best insulating material and it is applied thicker than any other coating, White Lightning™ offers performance improvements that cannot be matched.

I have Ceramic Coated BBK Long Tubes on my 2006 Roush have been on for over 10 years 29,000 miles no rust and look as good as the day I put them on JMO but I like them.