noob type question, but ive had mine in for a year and its got surface rust on it.... Just wondering what the best method is to keep it in good shape

 

hello?

 

to keep in good condition you need to hide it under the factory heatshields. that is one of the fuggliest headers in the world.

 

its beauty is not my concern, making sure it doesnt rust apart is!

 

The Header is made of Stainless steel and it will not rust through. The more you mess with it the worse it will get.My recomendation is to clean it with a brillo pad and then Spray it with some CLEAR 1500 degree paint. Ir you can paint it with the satin black to match the heatshield.

VHT makes the Clear and the brillo pad is the best thing to clean it.

 

stainless steel still oxidizes.

one other thing to mention is that i've had several conversations about this with people and we came to the conclusion that the headers arent exactly quality stainless steel

 

yeah, i hoped it would stay marginally pretty and not have rust, but the opposite is what i am saying. Im not into bling, but a 400 header shouldnt look like **** either

 

who cares if it looks like as long as you get the power out of it

who looks at a header anyhow

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">who cares if it looks like as long as you get the power out of it

who looks at a header anyhow </TD></TR></TABLE>

you are a man of the truth

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">who cares if it looks like as long as you get the power out of it

who looks at a header anyhow </TD></TR></TABLE>
something I wondered about headers or downpipes in general.. somebody had mentioned to me that because of the extreme heats the exhaust manifold sees, it tends to oxidize slower (or not at all)... exhausts themselves tend to rust through first before a header ever will, as they will see lower temps..
discuss..:0

 

it's not polished SS, and there are varying grades of SS.

if you've ever seen a cargo ship propeller, many are made of very high quality steel but it gets a protective layer of rust on it. I don't know if this is the case for the JDM 4-1 though.

Your best bet is to have it Jet-Hot or HP Coatings, etc. treated if you want the bling.

 

I think it's similar to a 409 stainless, the same material that is used for catalytic converter bodies and probably the same as the stock ITR cat back. The 400 series stainless steels will rust. A 300 series stainless won't. Most of the polished pieces you see are 304 stainless so they won't rust by themselves. However, if other particles of carbon steel get on them those particles will start rusting and make everything look like crap. That's why there are stainless steel wire brushes. If for some reason you used a regular wire brush on a polished tube or even used a stainless bruch that had been used on carbon steel you are depositing this carbon steel on the polished 304 stainless and it will rust.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">stainless steel still oxidizes.

one other thing to mention is that i've had several conversations about this with people and we came to the conclusion that the headers arent exactly quality stainless steel </TD></TR></TABLE>

wow, soup i am impressed.... yes, the grade of the stainless on the oem jdm header is less than ideal. the headers from manufacturers like spoon, jun, toda etc. is of higher grade stainless (less ferrous metal particles in the stainless composition) if honda was to make the header that grade of stainless, it would be much more expensive. audi, just get it coated.