Are Turbo Blankets and Ceramic Coating Worth Your Time?

We often get asked about turbo blankets and ceramic coating on our manifolds and turbine housings, so I thought I would take a second to explain what these heat coatings and blankets actually do.

First we need to start with the basics properties of gasses and thermal properties.

It's common knowledge that things can expand and contract when temperatures change; What's going on in your new turbocharger is no different! On the exhaust side, as the exhaust gas temperature rises, the gasses expand. This expansion generates additional pressure. Additional pressure raises the velocity of the exhaust gasses. Thus you have more abundant and quicker moving velocity. These scenarios combined result in more and more readily available energy to drive the turbine wheel, which means boost comes on faster and turbo lag is decreased.

Now that we understand the thermal properties and how they directly affect performance, let's talk about ways we can take advantage of what we know.

Ceramic Coating: Not only does ceramic coating make the engine bay more uniform looking and aesthetically pleasing, it's a great way to keep heat inside the manifold.

Blankets: Specially made blankets of Kevlar and other materials are another great way to keep the heat in.

Wrap: This has a similar effectiveness and is by far the cheapest option, but can lead to rust and corrosion from holding moisture in.

Aside from the performance benefits of blankets and ceramic coating, there are a few others worth noting:

Aesthetics: A blank on a rusty turbine housing really does alot to clean up an engine bay. Same goes for ceramic coating on the exhaust manifold or turbine housing. Dressing up the engine bay may not have an effect on efficiency, but its something worth wild if you take pride in your machine, especially considering its also providing performance benefits!

Protection: While this may not be as much of a factor on our big truck builds, heat protection is very important in smaller packed applications like cars. The heat from turbine housing, down pipe, or exhaust housing can easily damage other components in the engine bay without proper heat shielding.

Bottom Line: Blankets and ceramic coating are not required, but for folks looking for a little extra from their setup, its an easy gain! If you have any other questions, about blankets, ceramic coating, or turbos - give us a shout!

Momentum Worx | 215-237-9672 | Info@MomentumWorx.com