Header Coating Care and Preventive Maintenance

TTI strives to offer the highest quality header coating available on the market today. However, high performance coatings do require care and maintenance. The following tips are suggested to insure years of service from your Ceramic-Coated and Polished Ceramic headers. 

After Header Installation and Before Engine Run — To remove any grease or skin oils from the header tube surface, we suggest wiping your Chrome plated header tubes down with rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth, dry thoroughly. Ceramic coated headers, wipe the tubes down with a soft cloth, mild soap and warm water or an environmentally safe Orange Cleaner Degreaser.

First Engine Runs — Header coating damage usually occurs during the first engine run when the exhaust temperatures exceed 1200°F. Excess exhaust temperatures are normally caused by excessively lean or excessively rich air/fuel mixtures and/or incorrect ignition timing. For this reason we strongly suggest that you use an old set of headers or a set of cast iron manifolds for your first engine run / cam break-in. This will insure that you will not damage the coating or void the warranty of your new TTI ceramic coated headers.

Cleaning — Stains on Ceramic Coated (Matte silver) headers can usually be removed by using hot soapy water or an environmentally safe Orange Cleaner Degreaser and a soft cloth. Two or three cleanings may be required depending on the severity of the stain.
Note:  Never use abrasive cleaners or cleaners with alkaline / caustic ingredients. Polished Ceramic Coating can be cleaned in the same manner and can be polished with a non-abrasive aluminum polish. (Wax Shop, Mothers, Never Dull)

Preventive Maintenance — When storing your car for an extended period of time, some precautions must be taken. Park the car over a large sheet of plastic or tarp. This will protect your car and headers from moisture seeping up through the floor. Wipe down and dry the headers thoroughly. Then coat the headers with WD-40 or an equivalent where the tubes are welded to the header flanges and where the tubes come in close proximity to each other (especially where the four tubes enter into the collector). These areas are prone to rusting as the coating is unable to get between the tubes in the unexposed areas of the header. If rust occurs, it will travel into and under the coating and create a stain. When you are ready to start the car after storage, wash the WD-40 off by following the cleaning procedures.