Why is my Exhaust Wrap Smoking?
You’ve finished installing your freshly wrapped headers and exhaust but a few minutes after firing up the engine, you notice your exhaust wrap smoking from the engine bay and exhaust. You open the hood and nothing is on fire, but your freshly installed exhaust heat wrap is smoking like it’s going to catch on fire. Not to worry—this is actually normal for newly installed high temp exhaust tape that has not yet been exposed to heat!
Exhaust and header wraps are made with binders which are specially formulated starches that give the wrap’s fibers some structure and lubrication during the weaving process. Once the manufacturing process is done, however, the job of the binders is complete. Resultantly, when the high temp exhaust tape becomes exposed to heat, the binders tend to burn off and cause exhaust wrap smoking.
Automotive Exhaust Heat Shield Wraps: Do They Fall Apart?
The short answer is yes, but only the cheap ones. So if exhaust wrap smoking is normal, why is it that cheap wraps become brittle after a period of time/heat cycles and disintegrate? A heat wrap becoming brittle and falling apart actually has nothing to do with the binding burn-off process. Rather, wraps become brittle when they are exposed to temperatures that go beyond their operational rating. The maximum sustainable continuous temperature is often misrepresented on cheaper wraps; what’s listed is typically the maximum temperature they can withstand for less than a minute. That doesn’t help you if you’re looking for a high temp exhaust tape that lasts at a continuous temperature!
When a wrap sees too much heat, the chemical state of the fibers changes from being fibrous to a weak crystalline structure—essentially a very thin and fragile glass that shatters easily. That’s the last thing you want for your high temp exhaust tape.
Avoid the Problem with Heatshield Products’ Exhaust Heat Shield Tape
You want a high temp exhaust tape that will hold up to the heat and last. Heatshield Products’ Exhaust Wrap is rated for a continuous 1200-degrees Fahrenheit and an intermittent max temp of 2000-degrees.
Will tape burn on my exhaust? Because of the temperature and its makeup of volcanic rock fibers, our Lava Exhaust Wrap might smoke but it won't become brittle and fall apart even after numerous high-temperature heat cycles under the designed threshold of 1200-degrees Fahrenheit.
Not sure which automotive exhaust wrap or heat shield is best for you? Contact us and we’ll help you find the product that’s best for you. Don’t let heat issues slow you down -- upgrade to Heatshield Products’ exhaust wraps today.
