Exhaust Wraps: The Basics, Different Types, & How Much You Need
Keeping more heat inside your exhaust system has multiple benefits. It increases exhaust system efficiency, reduces under-hood and under-car heat, significantly reduces the amount of heat components near the exhaust system are exposed to, and helps to reduce the risk of severely burning yourself on a hot exhaust pipe when working on your vehicle.
Exhaust Wrap is one of the best ways to keep more heat in your exhaust system, especially when it comes to insulating exhaust header and manifold pipes. Heatshield Products has spent decades developing and evolving the best and most durable exhaust wraps available to insulate pipes and reduce the amount of heat they radiate. But there are some important things to know before you purchase an exhaust wrap so you can make sure your installation goes as smoothly as possible, and the result is as effective as possible.
To help everyone better understand which exhaust wrap they need and installing it for maximum effectiveness, we’ve gone into some detail explaining the benefits of exhaust wrap, the different options that Heatshield Products offers, how these options are used, and correctly figuring out how much will be needed for any given installation.
How Much Exhaust Wrap Do I Need?
Determining how much exhaust wrap to use can be tricky. Figuring out how much will work best for your application is extremely important if you want a safe, effective installation. Using the Heatshield Products exhaust wrap calculator is the best, easiest way to estimate how much wrap is needed for your next header or exhaust wrapping project. The exact length of wrap you’ll need will vary with length and diameter of the exhaust/header pipes, and the installation method used. The calculator will give you a close estimation of the amount of exhaust wrap needed.
For the most accurate measure possible, in the exhaust wrap calculator, be sure to enter your exhaust pipe dimensions and make sure to include measurements for bends and overlap. If you’re having trouble learning the process, check out this video to learn about getting the measurements right. This way, you can be sure that you order the right amount of exhaust wrap for installation. We usually recommend a 0.25-inch overlap of each layer of exhaust wrap to get the safest and most effective installation.
How to Wrap Exhaust Pipes
To help everyone better understand how to wrap exhaust pipes, we’ve gone into some detail explaining what wraps are, how they are used, and some different types of wraps.
What is Exhaust Wrap?
Exhaust wrap is a specially formulated tape-like material designed to insulate exhaust pipe and exhaust header tubes. Unlike regular tape, exhaust wrap has no adhesive backing, and is made of special fibers that can withstand high levels of direct-contact heat while insulating a pipe to keep more heat inside it. Besides insulating, the material is also designed to withstand the elements underhood components are typically exposed to. A secondary use for exhaust wrap can be to “hide” less-than-attractive-looking exhaust headers and header pipes.
What Does Exhaust Wrap Do?
Using exhaust muffler wraps provides many performance and functional benefits for your car, motorcycle, or boat. These materials can reduce up to 50% of the amount of heat radiated by exhaust pipes, while at the same time increasing exhaust gas temperatures or EGTs. Increased EGTs lead to increased exhaust gas velocities, which improve exhaust system performance and scavenging of exhaust gases from the engine’s cylinders. This leads to more efficient combustion cycles and increased performance.
Types of Exhaust Wraps
While there are plenty of exhaust wrap kits on the market, generally, there are two main types for you to select from.
- Inferno Wrap
The inferno wrap is designed to keep heat within your exhaust to ensure the efficiency of your vehicle even in temperatures exceeding 2000°F, making them great for use in race cars and other high-performance cars. Even if the wrap completed hundreds of heat cycles and faced extreme temperatures, you still can unwrap it. It’s made from silica fiber that makes it flexible, soft, and strong even in highly challenging conditions.
- Lava Exhaust Wrap
LavaTM Exhaust Wrap is the original basalt wrap tape that’s made from crushed volcanic rock fiber, which gives 25% more force than the usual exhaust wraps. This wrap can enhance exhaust scavenging to boost your car’s efficiency when used on exhaust components. It’s also quite durable and approximately 25% stronger than fiberglass wraps—making it one of the most resilient products on the market.
LavaTM Exhaust Wrap can withstand 1200°F continuous temperatures, while it decreases exhaust-related radiated heat by up to 50%. Excellent for wrapping exhaust pipes or headers, this exhaust wrap tape keeps your car cool by maintaining exhaust gas heat, lowering the gas density, and drawing the intake gases faster from the system.
If you’d like to learn more about these products or order InfernoTM and LavaTM Wraps, contact us today!
