Heat Tape Discussion

This is a thread to discuss heat tape: brands, materials, applications, and any other related thoughts.

I'll post a follow up shortly with my initial thoughts.

Ok, so there was some mention in another thread about generic heat tape from Home Depot. I have no scientific data to suggest that those will not work, however I wouldn't use them on my car. My reasoning is that the adhesivemay not hold up to really extreme temps near turbo or exhaust components. DEI says, about their expensive Reflect-a-Gold: "Adhesive protected by a release liner rated up to 325?F." I have a feeling in many situations, you could experience temps mugh higher than that. Think about the underside of the IC on a hot day after a spirited run. I'd be worried that tape originally designed for a dryer vent would simply fall off, catch fire, or something like that.

I ended up finding a few tapes that listed adhesive temp ratings (thanks to Amazon Racing):
Metalized Mylar Tape (states 302): http://catalog.cshyde.com/viewitems/tapes-with-psa/metalized-mylar-tape
Kapton Tape (states 500): http://catalog.cshyde.com/viewitems/tapes-with-psa/kapton-polyimide-tape?
Foil Tape (states 325): http://catalog.cshyde.com/viewitems/tapes-with-psa/all-categories-tapes-with-adhesive-foil-tapes-3?

I bought a roll of the Mylar tape ($10 for 72 yards on Amazon when i got it) and have been waiting for time/space/energy/weather to install it. As a bonus, it comes in many colors, so you can really customize your engine bay.

As for placement:
IC, all over
Intake Snorkel, all over

That's all i've got for now.

Hi!

True if the surface temperature were hot enough that the adhesive could fail but your TMIC shouldn't be getting that hot. No data but I don't see that part absorbing and retaining that much heat.
Another thing to note that the reflective surface of the tape keeps the adhesive cool. It acts as a barrier.

True the tape is designed to reflect heat. But i havent had time/money/energy to do experiements, I assume DEI has, and will try and mimic their product's specs, assuming their product wasn't retardedly over-engineered.

Grinder34 said:

True the tape is designed to reflect heat. But i havent had time/money/energy to do experiements, I assume DEI has, and will try and mimic their product's specs, assuming their product wasn't retardedly over-engineered.

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Well let me say this:

I felt my tmic after a spirited drive and it was hot, of course.

Did the same after tape install. Not as hot! So it did improve in one way or another.

(I bought the cobb intake with the cf wrap and heat tape on it already)

I assume the intake heat shield makes a drastic difference?

Put a mirror near a radiant heat source. Why is the mirror not hot?

Spamby said:

Put a mirror near a radiant heat source. Why is the mirror not hot?

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Is it because the heat source is not hot enough?

:tard:

alinro said:

Is it because the heat source is not hot enough?

:tard:

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It reflects heat, silly.

Stand behind the mirror. Significantly cooler, right?

Now apply this to your tape wrapped air box or TMIC.
Same goes for the adhesive on the other side of your shiny tape.

Spamby said:

It reflects heat, silly.

Stand behind the mirror. Significantly cooler, right?

Now apply this to your tape wrapped air box or TMIC.
Same goes for the adhesive on the other side of your shiny tape.

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So it reflects heat on the sides of the tmic cause thats the only part wrapped. The bottom is exposed so heat is still creeping in there. This damn wrap will elimiate that for the most lart right? (Heat coming off of turbo and dp)

alinro said:

So it reflects heat on the sides of the tmic cause thats the only part wrapped. The bottom is exposed so heat is still creeping in there. This damn wrap will elimiate that for the most lart right? (Heat coming off of turbo and dp)

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The exposed bottom, I assume you mean the tube and fins?
Yes. A wrap on the turbo and DP will help with that. If there is radiant heat through the insulation layers, it will be a few hundred degrees, at most, and only very close to the surface of the wrap area. Educated guess.
This just depends on how hot your exhaust line at the time is. It can vary wildly depending on how hard the car is driven.

Yes yes. Sorry i refer to the tmic top as the part where STi is written and the bottom as the opposed side of the written part. Now that i think about it from your post im dumb. Lol

alinro said:

Yes yes. Sorry i refer to the tmic top as the part where STi is written and the bottom as the opposed side of the written part. Now that i think about it from your post im dumb. Lol

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Nope your not dumb. Just clarifying.

Just to be complete: a mirror will still get hot. It reflects most of the EM energy in the visible spectrum. It even reflects most in the IR spectrum, but definitely not all.

tape=biggest waste of money

Grinder34 said:

Just to be complete: a mirror will still get hot. It reflects most of the EM energy in the visible spectrum. It even reflects most in the IR spectrum, but definitely not all.

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Correct. It still can absorb heat but significantly less than other materials.

fuji_production said:

tape=biggest waste of money

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When it's 50 bucks a roll it is and when compared to heat isolation such as turbo wraps, it is.
But you can't argue that the reflective surface does in fact prevent some heat absorption of the substrate material.

fuji_production said:

tape=biggest waste of money

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Justify that please.

I've pretty much burned my hand on my IC. I've put my hand on a friend's IC with tape and it was hot, but tollerable. Same day, same drive.

Heat tape is good stuff, but then again what are you using your vehicle for to justify where to put your heat tape? Realistically NO heat tape is going to completely protect from heat soak.

RIPsta said:

Heat tape is good stuff, but then again what are you using your vehicle for to justify where to put your heat tape? Realistically NO heat tape is going to completely protect from heat soak.

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Agreed. But seeing the $$ people put into other heat shielding products, a $10 roll of tape is pretty good. Examples: Turbo Blankets, Phenolic Spacers, radiator shrouds, ceramic coatings, heat wraps, bigger ICs, etc... While most of those are pretty proven, they do tend to be quite expensive. The one exception i have is phenolic spacers. I have another thread on here where I question just how much heat transfer they prevent, but whatever. $10 is cheap, AND it can look cool (cool....get it. worst pun ever.).