I'm definitely not looking to stir anyone up, but I'm wondering if anyone has had any problems with the quality of their Exotic Muscle headers. Specifically those purchased in the last year or so that are ceramic coated.

This is my situation. I have not yet attempted to contact Exotic Muscle to resolve this. I'll do that this afternoon. I'm just interested in seeing if anyone else has had any problems.

I ordered a pair from them on 6/29/05. When they came in, the coating seemed like it was pretty thin and much more delicate than I would have expected. I would have complained, but I didn't have any experience with ceramic coating so I didn't know what I should expect. Also, I was needing them right away and didn't have time to ship them back. Well, turns out I would have had time because they sat in the box for at least 2 months before they were installed. After that, the car stayed parked in a garage for almost a month before it was driven. Then it was parked under a carport for another 6 months before it was driven again. It's been driven twice since the headers were on and the second and last time was to a local shop to have the exhaust connected. Everything looked fine then. There were a couple of small nicks close to the top from installation, but it was very insignificant. Well, I was under the car yesterday, and my driver's side header is covered with rust along the bottom. The collector is covered with pretty thick rust, and along the back primary tube it is speckled with it.



Has anyone had anything remotely similar to this? I would have expected the ceramic coating to be pretty tough. There definitely wasn't any scratches or anything along the bottom that would have caused it to rust. I actually left them in the plastic as I installed them because I didn't want them scratched up.

For $800 I expected a lot more.

 

I purchased my EM headers about 2.5 years ago. Iinstalled them immediately, and they still look like new.

Maybe they changed their ceramic coating since mine were produced.



-Mike

 

I have specks of rust starting to show on the tops near the motor. I too, have not tried contacting them about it. Unless it gets a lot worse, I dont want to have to pull them and then let the car sit while they are repaired, not to mention shipping cost.

 

Thanks for your reply. Would you happen to know about the time that you placed your order? Keep the car garaged all the time?

 

Yes, and not driven in the rain.

 

The question was really more for 93 ragtop since he's started showing rust. Thanks anyway though. It all helps.

A friend of mine had his headers (non EM) recoated by someone in Texas just over a year ago. While his aren't shiny or anything anymore (probably from not wiping them down after doing work on the car) there isn't any rust.

While my car hasn't been sitting in the rain all this time, it hasn't been completely protected from the elements either.

 

purchased mine about 2.5 years ago on a group purchase. I have put approximately 5,000 miles on them, and yes the car is garaged. Its rarely driven in the rain if ever, and Im not sure what that would have to do with rust up next to the heads.
Im not trying to badmouth EM as the rest is first class, fit, etc. Now if you want to talk header extention pipes, then I can badmouth them.

 

I don't have EM headers, but, being local to EM I used the same people to coat my TPIS longtubes, at the time they were using HPC in Tempe. I've had my TPIS headers now for about 4-5 years, and all I have are a few tiny spots (size of a pinhead basically) spots on one or two of teh tubes. I do have a little rust on the collector, but that's from the slip-fit connectors I have made up scratching the header collector and some moisture getting in. But for an almost 5 year old finish it's holding up very well...I *think* they still use HPC, but I'm not %100 sure. It's possible that HPC had a bad batch, it happens, in fact the local harley delaership in AZ that uses them had to recently send back a huge order of parts because the coating wasn't holding up. Contact EM and see what's up!

 

I bought mine, they sat in a box for about a year, then I installed them over a year ago. They still look new.

Was the exhaust that you connected the headers to rusted?

 

I'm telling you guys.... the stainless headers are really starting to appeal to me.

My coated hookers are starting to rust after a jet hot coat I did about 2 years ago. My next pair will be stainless.

 

my coated stainless DRMs look perfect after approx. 5 years

 

I've had the Stainless Works headers installed for about 2 months now. The steel is a little discolored, as expected, right by the exhaust manifold, but the rest looks squeeky clean.

 

My EM headers are about 4 years old now. And there is some very slight pitting on the collectors, but overall they look great. With the next engine build I am planning on recoating them with a 2000 degree rated coating. It won't be the nice shiney silver color but rather a dark titanium color. Mine are dull anyway so coating them a satin darker color won't bother me, besides it will be a different look as everyone goes for the shiney look, well at least most everyone!

 

This is some of the first negative comments about EM that I have heard of. Makes me glad I decided to order SW this morning. Mine is a daily driver, rain, hauling dive gear to the boat ramp with salt water puddles, etc. I would hate to have them rust.

 

I wouldn't say it's about EM, just this particular batch of headers maybe. They were nothing but great when I was talking with them before I ordered. Maybe it's just mine. I can't imagine anything that I could have done or not done that would have caused them to rust this badly so soon.

Anyone know how tough the coating should be? It seems like I can remember being able to scrape it with my fingernail if I tried hard enough. Nothing special, just standard issue fingernails.

 

Just got off the phone with Merle at EM and he was just as nice as always. He said the headers could stain or get a discoloration that looked like rust, but if I took some rubbing compound it would come right off. If it doesn't and I'm worried about it, he said he would recoat them for me at no charge. I'm almost 100% certain there's no chance that it's not rust. I'll try the rubbing compound though. He also told me that the coating is pretty thick on the inside and out, so they shouldn't scratch too easily, but they will scratch.

Man, I don't want to have to take those things back off. I hope it rubs out. Something to check though for you other guys with the specks on the tubes.

I'll check it out this weekend and post what I find out.