Do you guys know if there's a benefit to ceramic coating a CAI? Just curious.

 

I had asked that question a while back and was told that it would. To keep costs down, I just used heat wrap.

 

go with ceramic powder coatings, looks better.

...but does nothing

 

well if you have good placement on your filter and are actually sucking up ambient air, it would help reduce the amount that that air is heated as it goes into your engine, but not by much. u prolly wouldnt feel any difference unless it was a hot day and im assuming that would be a limited gain

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Patreezy @ May 31 2005, 12:29 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>go with ceramic powder coatings, looks better.

...but does nothing
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NO, you are wrong. Powdercoating does nothing for a thermal barrier, Ceramic Coating will keep the tube and the air in it COOLER.

 

Will it make a difference? Sure. If you were to compare back to back ceramic coated vs non-ceramic coated CAI's, you would see a decrease in air temps for the Ceramic coated unit.

Is it worth it for the extra 1-2 degree's of temp drop it would provide? Personally, I don't think so. I you'd get better CAI temp drop by Ceramic coating your exhaust manifold/header.

 

^^^
Agreed.

Only reason I'm going to do mine is so it matches my Airram IM when I get it coated.

And my headers.

 

I knew you'd chime in.... rolleyes.gif

I know, I know,

anyway, I'd suggust ceramic coating over that heat wrap stuff on ebay. It just looks like cheap in your engine bay (sorta like those strectchy bandages you wrap around sprained ankles). You should clip one of those metal things on your cai to finish off the look, lol.

I looked into ceramic coating and it's not THAT expensive. I don't know where you're located but in my area there's a coatings shop that will do my headers and exhaust tip in the color of my choice for 95 dollars. (I want the exhaust tip done to minimize the bumper burns). Check out the listings in your area, and give em a call.

How much is that wrap btw? 35 dollars or something?

 

$95 is not that bad of a price at all, I think it would look great.
There are some heat wraps that have that aluminized look aviliable at Jegs. Check it out if you're interested in going that route. The one I have is specifically made for air intakes and uses a shoe lace that tires up it.

 

Something I've always wondered is if ceramic coatings have the same negative effects on the life of the exhaust manifold as "wrapping" it... I've seen plenty of cracked headers that were wrapped, and only a few non-wrapped. I've never seen a ceramic coated header that cracked from heat, but then again, I haven't seen many ceramic coated headers.