anyone had a problem with the chrome on their Hooker sidemounts rusting? Mine are a couple of months old and have lots of rust on them. I drove it about 5 weeks ago and pulled the carb to help my son with his Nova and when I pulled the cover off to put the carb back on they were rusted. I'm going to get them off to have them replaced but I don't want the replacement ones to do the same. Any ideas?
Dennis

 

I believe that this has been a common problem with the Hookers. They tend to rust at the collector where the pipes get welded together due to trapped water. Mine are ceramic coated and they have not rusted, but others on the forum have complained about the chrome too.

 

yes i did but after 4 yrs & my vette hardly sees rain & is never out in the winter. i sent em to jethot to be stripped & jethot coated in the sterling finish. here they are

 

They look great!

 

I purchased new Hooker headers straight from Jet-Hot with their sterling finish on them. THe finish is not quite as brilliant as chrome, but it it keeps them from rusting, I can definitely live with it .

 

I wonder what the cost is for buying a set of sterling coated headers directly from jet hot as well as getting a set coated if you already own the headers?

 

What are you doing with the rusty ones? PM me if they're for sale, and maybe post some pictures of how bad the rust is. Thanks.

 

I just got my flat black Hookers the other day and noticed that there was this brown dust all over the pipes. Most of it wiped right off but when I felt the texture of some areas of the pipes it was rough. Upon closer inspection it turns out they are rusting already. The metal must not have been properly cleaned before they painted them and the rust is now showing through the paint in some areas. I haven't even put them on the car yet! In my case I'm just going to clean them up a little and repaint them, but as for as the chrome ones I don't know what you can do short of returning them for better ones. And that's if Hooker agrees to do so. If the metal is exposed to moisture in the atmoshere for a period of time before the painting process it will start rusting and keep going even after being painted. Now if I had bought the more expensive chrome or ceramic headers I would probably try to send them back. I mean that's what the nice finish is supposed to prevent or at least slow down and it's ashamed that they are already starting to rust when the customer gets them. It may not be evident on some at first but if your saying that only after a couple of months they are rusting, then that's just wrong.
I have had better results when I bought galvanized turnouts for my van when I changed it to side exit exhaust. They are still not showing signs of rusting and I drive that thing into muddy sand pits when I go riding motocross.

 

Pre-mature rust can occur if the engine is started and stopped before it reaches operating temp. By running the engine for a short time, a lot of water builds up in the exhaust system as a result of condensation. There is sits unless it's blown out and heated up to operating temp.

 

I can understand them rusting inside from condensation but not on the outside..... it is where the collectors are welded. Contacted Hooker and they said there was a 90 day warranty. I just need to make time to get them back off the car to return them. Maybe I'll see if I can upgrade to the ceramic coated ones. I understand that they are also available with O2 bungs in them and that would be nice. I post back when I find out.

 

For the sterling finish, including shipping it was roughly $1300.00. This included the side tubes, headers, and mufflers.

 

Why not buy the stainless model? Sure they cost more, but should last almost forever. Summit sells them.

 

I have the same problem with mine. Bought new headers, put them on when the car was down for the winter, rusted and discolored within a month of startup. That 90 day warrantee don't give them much incentive to upgrade their plating process does it. You would think, for the price you would get a better product!

 

It seems the older ones held up a lot better than the new ones. I had a new pair on a '77 that lasted for several years before rust started forming at the collectors.

 

They are the only game in town with sidepipe headers so they don't have much incentive to improve. No telling where they are actually plated, the EPA has shut down most of the chrome platers in the USA.

 

I'd rather paint them white than jet hot them.

Unless there is white jethot.

 

Umm...okay.

 

why would you paint them white and then have the jet hot coating applied? does jet hot offer a clear hi temp coating?

 

Jet Hot does offer 3 (I think) colors now. I had mine coated with the Sterling and when they arrived there was paperwork inside announcing the colors available.
-P

 

Much older pipes on mine. Completely discolored near the exhaust ports, total discolor & rust from oil & other leaks on the horizontal header pipes...but very nice chrome from collector on back....they are polished often...
Eddie