Exhaust Wrap on a 6th Gen

[beigs]

While my fairings are out for paint, I decided to wrap the pipes with exhaust wrap from the bottom to the Staintunes. I ordered the wrap from my local dealer (25' x 2") and it arrived with absolutely no instructions, just the black wrap and 4 stainless ties. So, me being me, I simply wrapped the exhaust. Got it super tight and it appears to look pretty good. I wrapped it twice because 25' was way more than I needed.

Now I'm looking at it and second guessing myself. I did some research online, which I know I should have done before hand, and am seeing all sorts of different information about how to wrap the pipes, including painting the pipes with high-temp paint or spraying with a silicone compound before wrapping, as well as soaking the wrap first.

Wondering if anyone has done this or has any input on it. If I'm going to have to tear it all off and start all over, I want to get it right the second time around because the wrap took about 60 bucks out of my pocket...

Thanks...

[SEBSPEED]

I think you'll be ok with not painting or coating the Staintune mid pipe beforehand, as it's already stainless material. The reason some people coat their pipes is because the wrap tends to hold moisture and when the pipe heats/cools this trapped moisture can deteriorate the pipe quicker.

Soaking the wrap in water does 2 things; it helps to get a tighter wrap, and also keeps the fiberglass"dust" down, so you don't get itchy and make a mess.

[AnikMankar]

Not sure the moisture will hold once you have the bike running for couple of minutes. Been searching the net and VFRD forum on this topic for long...but nothing clear.. Mixed messages.... :fing02:

1) read couple of place - instead of starting the wrap around from the exhaust port side - start from the other end. This way the grooves are against the direction of travel - hence catches less grime and dirt.

2) wrapping it double is of no use. keep it for future use

3) was 25feet enough.

4) is it worth it ?

Would be nice to post some pictures of the finished product.

[number9]

I wrapped the exhaust on my previous bike (1995 Ducati 900SS) and got caught in a nasty rain storm one day. The wrap was dark brown after all the dirt from the road got washed up on to the wrap :(

[Rush2112]

I wrapped the headers on my Integra and they do collect moisture after sitting a few days. The moisture steams off after heating up, but it definitely collects in the wraps after cool down. I coated my headers prior to wrapping to help prevent premature rusting of the headers. To avoid the wraps soaking up road grime paint them with a high temp silicone based exhaust paint. This helps protect & seal the wrap. I like the idea of starting the wrap at the collector so the windings will be less likely to collect road dirt... nice call. I'm planning on ceramic coating my '98 VFR headers and wrapping them as soon as I get the chance and installing them on my Y2k. I've got all the parts, just haven't had the time. I'll post up when I do mine.

[beigs]

Not sure the moisture will hold once you have the bike running for couple of minutes. Been searching the net and VFRD forum on this topic for long...but nothing clear.. Mixed messages.... :fing02:

1) read couple of place - instead of starting the wrap around from the exhaust port side - start from the other end. This way the grooves are against the direction of travel - hence catches less grime and dirt.

2) wrapping it double is of no use. keep it for future use

3) was 25feet enough.

4) is it worth it ?

Would be nice to post some pictures of the finished product.

1. After getting the bike put back together and gave it a wash/wax, any moisture in the wrap smoked out pretty quickly after starting it up. It certainly doesn't stay wet long, but it looks like the only reason to wet the wrap down pre-install is to get a tighter wrap. At this point, I'm not concerned about because after getting it wet several times and riding 8 or 9 times, it's still as tight as can be (thus far)
2. Too late...already wrapped it twice. May not be of any use, but I do like the bulkier look. I'm just hoping there are no adverse effects of double wrapping.
3. Way more than enough for my purposes. Wrapped twice and still had about 3-4 feet left over.
4. I only did it for looks. The only thing I've noticed since putting it on is that it stinks for a few minutes when it gets hot, but I'm told this will go away over time.

Pics...

[ggathagan]

If you only did it for looks, then nothing else matters.

As Seb stated, you wrapped a SS pipe, so there's no need to paint.

If you had done it for its intended purpose, then you would have wanted to wrap the entire exhaust system.

In that scenario, you would want to clean and paint/coat all of the exhaust up to the SS pipe prior to wrapping it.

From your pictures, however, it looks like the rest of the exhaust is already coated.

If you wanted to throw money at it, you could buy the SS replacement for the rest of the system and then wrap it all. :fing02:

[beigs]

If you only did it for looks, then nothing else matters.

As Seb stated, you wrapped a SS pipe, so there's no need to paint.

If you had done it for its intended purpose, then you would have wanted to wrap the entire exhaust system.

In that scenario, you would want to clean and paint/coat all of the exhaust up to the SS pipe prior to wrapping it.

From your pictures, however, it looks like the rest of the exhaust is already coated.

If you wanted to throw money at it, you could buy the SS replacement for the rest of the system and then wrap it all. :fing02:

My only question would be, if I had wrapped the pipes for the intended purpose, would it really make a difference? Has anybody done this, have an opinion on that? If it really makes a difference, I may make a winter project out of it and redo the whole thing...

[AnikMankar]

Not sure the moisture will hold once you have the bike running for couple of minutes. Been searching the net and VFRD forum on this topic for long...but nothing clear.. Mixed messages.... :blush:

1) read couple of place - instead of starting the wrap around from the exhaust port side - start from the other end. This way the grooves are against the direction of travel - hence catches less grime and dirt.

2) wrapping it double is of no use. keep it for future use

3) was 25feet enough.

4) is it worth it ?

Would be nice to post some pictures of the finished product.

1. After getting the bike put back together and gave it a wash/wax, any moisture in the wrap smoked out pretty quickly after starting it up. It certainly doesn't stay wet long, but it looks like the only reason to wet the wrap down pre-install is to get a tighter wrap. At this point, I'm not concerned about because after getting it wet several times and riding 8 or 9 times, it's still as tight as can be (thus far)
2. Too late...already wrapped it twice. May not be of any use, but I do like the bulkier look. I'm just hoping there are no adverse effects of double wrapping.
3. Way more than enough for my purposes. Wrapped twice and still had about 3-4 feet left over.
4. I only did it for looks. The only thing I've noticed since putting it on is that it stinks for a few minutes when it gets hot, but I'm told this will go away over time.

Pics...

Buddy - these look great a little bulky but still great. you seem to have wrapped only the sections towards the baffle - no wonder you have some wrap left. I want the entire header wrapped as its all rusted. Will have to sand, paint and then wrap it.

[LeSQUID]

This might be a silly queston, but what is gained by wrapping a Stainless pipe (especially those awesome Aussie made Tunes :blush:) ? I understand about the deteriation on the standard header pipes but....

Cheers

Adam :blush:

[SEBSPEED]

This might be a silly queston, but what is gained by wrapping a Stainless pipe (especially those awesome Aussie made Tunes :blush:) ? I understand about the deteriation on the standard header pipes but....

Cheers

Adam

The theory is that insulating the pipes keeps heat within the pipes, and that hotter gases flow faster, therefore improving flow. The downside being accelerated rot of the pipe you've wrapped.