Motorcycle Exhaust Wrap Problems
One of the most common problems related to motorcycle exhaust wrap that our customers ask us about is the foul-smelling smoke that comes off the exhaust heat shield wrap after installation. Seeing as this smoke is something that most of us are going to have to deal with, we figured we’d cover a few facts, so you know what is going on and how long you can expect the smoke (and smell) to last.
Fiberglass: The Basic Material in Motorcycle Exhaust Wrap
The short answer to how long the exhaust wrap smoking will occur comes down to how hot your exhaust runs. Hotter running vehicles will see quicker smoke dissipation than cooler running exhausts.
Motorcycle exhaust wrap problems like smoking, however, are also due in part to the materials from which your wrap is made. While this smoke is annoying, it’s a necessary part of the curing process that sets your fiberglass wrap in place for the long term.
Fiberglass is one of the most popular materials for producing the best exhaust heat wrap because of its low cost (compared to carbon fiber) and effective thermal insulation. At Heatshield Products, most of our exhaust wraps and motorcycle heat shields are made from fiberglass yarn with a proprietary coating that protects the fiberglass and increases its heat resistance by up to 200°F—preventing many of the most common motorcycle exhaust wrap problems that might occur with a low-quality wrap.
Why Does Motorcycle Exhaust Wrap Smoke?
Returning to motorcycle exhaust wrap problems now, let’s talk about the annoying smoke coming off your fiberglass exhaust wrap and why this occurs.
Before or sometimes during the motorcycle pipe wrap application, most people soak or spray it with water to make the fiberglass more pliable and achieve a tighter wrap. As you’ll see in our step-by-step installation guide, one of the best heat wrap exhaust benefits is that it does not require soaking, but we do recommend spraying it with water during installation.
When you start the ignition and heat the pipes, the water applied during installation -- as well as binders (starches) used to help the fiberglass yarn knit together -- will start to vaporize and burn off. These two sources of smoke -- as well as off-gassing from chemicals used in any coating that might be applied to the wrap -- mix to produce a smoke that is not toxic but smells pretty darn awful.
Exhaust Wrap Smoking and the Curing Process
Experiencing motorcycle exhaust wrap problems like a wrap smoking after installation is actually a good thing; by burning off the starches, your fiberglass exhaust wrap will cure in place and form a strong wall that holds in heat and prevents worse problems like vapor lock and power loss. Once cured, this wrap should last for years and save you money in replacement lines and lost fuel.
Duration Of Exhaust Wrap Smoking
Even the best exhaust heat wrap will smoke, so prepare to run your bike for at least an hour in a well-ventilated area after wrapping your exhaust pipes. Riding your bike is perfect, or you can just run it outside. We don’t recommend hotboxing in your garage after installing a new motorcycle exhaust heat wrap. You might not get sick but the experience is going to be unpleasant.
The total time it takes to cure your wrap depends on the heat of your motorbike’s exhaust system. Cooler exhaust systems will vaporize the starches more slowly and it might take up to five days of normal use for the motorcycle exhaust wrap problems of smoking and smelling to disappear. Hot exhaust systems will burn the starches quickly and you might find that it only takes 30 minutes or a few cycles of running the engine for the smoke and smell to stop completely.
Get the Best Exhaust Heat Wrap from the Heat Shield Experts
At Heatshield Products, we’ve been working with heat insulation for extreme racetrack applications for decades and guarantee that our heat resistant fuel hoses, wrap, gas tank heat shields, and fasteners will work exactly as advertised. In contrast to other companies that inflate their maximum temps to make a sale, we test all of our best exhaust heat wraps on the racetrack and tell you exactly how high you can go and for how long you can stay there.
Got more questions about whether a motorcycle exhaust wrap is good or bad? Check out our blog and have a read through our Heatshield 101 page and Moto Product Application Guide. For any motorcycle pipe wrap problems we haven’t covered on our site, please get in touch and our seasoned experts will help you out.
