sjs:
I really disagree with you here. Dean Baty, my friend and vendor on Acuraworld...also one of Comptech's first distributors, is who suggested this to me. If you check out steel's thermal conductivity, it's anything but low. So I would have to completely disagree in your assessment of your stainless steel headers offering the same benefits. There's absolutely no comparison in terms of thermal conductivity of this coat of ceramic versus plain steel, many orders of magnitude difference. Realistically, you're not going to gain...like...30 HP from these. No. You're most likely going to gain somewhere along the lines of 5 or 6 for coated headers. But take note the price. At least for our cars, you won't get that price/performance ratio out of really anything but nitrous oxide. On top of that you're talking about your engine bay accessories lasting longer, your headers always having a chrome look, protecting the headers themselves, etc.
Putting it another way, I did a lot of research before I even called this company. I'm adamant about this because I want it for my car too, and there's no way I'd pay money for anything I didn't think would be a substantial improvement and gave me a good improvement/price ratio.
And if all I said above isn't enough, I called Comptech...and asked one of their reps. He gave the green light on it, saying that it would improve heat retention and thus gains. After that call I really don't need any more convincing.
RyRy210:
Swain does coat the headers with a much thicker layer, but at the same time, it's white, and you're talking about a much more substantial cost. I chose Jet Hot over Swain because of price and looks.
If you'll read the post on Acuraworld you'll see the answer to the warranty thing. I spoke with the rep, who said it would be impossible for them to show that the headers, coated with ceramic, would crack. It in fact would protect the header welds from heat (coated on the inside and out as Jet Hot does) if you had them coated, and the Comptech rep said it would actually be an improvement. Much like Acura deals with warranties, and wouldn't void your transmission warranty if you put in, say, a transmission cooler, Comptech isn't going to void your warranty because you improved their headers. That point was discussed and set to rest.
Again, I'm doing this to my car, I promise I've done the research, and I wouldn't do this if I didn't believe it was a good thing to do, nor would I do this if I had doubts.
Any other Q's guys shoot them my way.
Austin519
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2002 Black/Black Acura TL-S Project
http://www.acura-tl.org
Quote:
IntegraVT - "Maybe we can organize a Neosporin® group buy for you."
