header wrap or header blanket?

[I<3flippyheadlights]

Now that I have had both on my car I feel I can make a reasonable opinion on both products. Personally, both suck in their own ways. Hopefully this list can help anyone decide what they want for their car.

Header wrap

Pros:
-It works! It kept things very cool under the hood. No real readings but I know I could touch my headers after a drive!
-Looks awesome. Its the next coolest thing to seeing a bare header.
-About 50 bucks and a couple hours of work, its effective.

Cons:
-It can potentially rust your header. Potentially.
-If you do it wrong you will regret it forever. It crumbles and falls right off.
-You have to take the header off the car to put it on. For some people, that is a real pain.

Header blanket

Pros:
-Better than taking off your header to install heat stuff
-Keeps things pretty cool.
-For 50 bucks more than header wrap you get a nice shiny piece to put in your engine bay
-It can be installed on the stock heat shield for more awesomness.

Cons:
- While you don't have to take off your header, it is still a pain. I feel with any custom parts, it is tough.
- Don't think it works as well as header wrap. Could be wrong. I'll get back to this after a time.
- Comes apart rather easily. You will tear the edges when forming it.



There you go! What are your opinions?

[MX5RACER]

Ceramic coating > Blanket > wrap.

Ceramic coating seems to be the best option as it not only insulates but also prevents rust. A header blanket works well, but can fail prematurely if installed wrong. Header wrap sucks gorilla nuts... Has to be installed wet and having itchy hands from pieces of fiberglass stuck in them sucks even more.

It's called the tiny little keyboard on an iPhone sucks with explaining full thoughts.

[I<3flippyheadlights]

As in all three or that ceramic is the best?

it's important to completely write out your thoughts.

[RoadsterTech]

I can tell flippy is a right brain kinda guy.

[kung fu jesus]

I had Ceramic coated JR header and a TDR blanket. The blanket was easier to install and remove if I had to work under it.

[BoBo]

Header wraps will crack you headers prematurely.

[turn]

Header wraps will crack you headers prematurely.

This^

I have the TDR heat shield. You can put your hand on it any time without burning yourself; if that explains its effectiveness.

[Massiah]

I have a ceramic JR with TDR blanket. Before I was running without a blanket and noticed significant temperature increases in IAT when standing still/stop & go. Went from sucking ~+10* over ambient to 110*+ in just under a few minutes. With the blanket time decreased to about 10mins or so and heat dissipation was quick.

The blanket is relatively cheap in car terms and installation is no fuss. Header wrap is a pain and ultimately cracks the metal, as has been said.

[BoBo]

This^

I have the TDR heat shield. You can put your hand on it any time without burning yourself; if that explains its effectiveness.

The TDR shield is good, I had jackson racing headers before on my 92. After 6 months it cracked in a few places. I wish I used the TDR shield instead of wrapping it. My friend wrapped his dc headers on his crx. There was a slight improvement on performance, however, his headers lasted only a year.

[miata2fast]

I had wrap on my Jackson Racing header for years. I loved how well it worked, and gave the header a bold look. It held up pretty well, but after wrenching on the car so often it eventually fell apart. My header did eventually develop a crack, but all in all, I was very satisfied with the heat reduction. It cracked where two pipes crossed over, so I welded it back up. So far there are no problems.

After the crack I did not reinstall the wrap. I doubt I would wrap a high dollar header.

[WASABI]

I wrapped my OBX header last year, and it's brought the heat down considerably. So much so, that you can touch the wrap. I haven't had any cracks so far (knocking on wood).

http://www.fagerquist.com/miata/build/tb 23.jpg

[BoBo]

I'm looking to buy a jackson racing extractors again, but this time with a TDR blanket. I also had OBX on my 92 as well, and those ebay headers were pretty durable.It should last you a while. I remember when I needed to have my car smogged a few years ago when I had my 92 miata, the smog tech was cool and let me smog my 92 with the OBX headers installed even though it wasn't CARB approved. And the car passed just like it did with my RB 4-1 headers installed.

[Agent☣Orange]

I wrapped my OBX header last year, and it's brought the heat down considerably. So much so, that you can touch the wrap. I haven't had any cracks so far (knocking on wood).

http://www.fagerquist.com/miata/build/tb 23.jpg

Still one of my all-time favorite engine bays.

[atank]

^^Agreed, Looks like we can eat off of it!!^^

[BoBo]

^Yeah, I was about to say the same thing. Very clean.