ARH vs Kooks headers

[A.R. Headers]

Caverman, Put those coated headers through their paces on a drag strip or road coarse and watch the coating eventually flake off and disappear. For regular street use it's fine. Also I'd like to point out that it might be a good idea to stick a magnet to certain coated headers since we've personally seen certain components weren't 304 when they're advertised to be. I'm sure that could effect the sale price wouldn't you think?

Nick

[CamaroFTW]

I have coated 1 7/8" Kooks and Borsa S and love it. Sounds perfect. I have nothing bad to say about ARH though. It is good stuff too.

[VADER SS L99]

Originally Posted by A.R. Headers

Kilo, You'd have to do a 20 ft cliff jump to scrape our headers. The installer has more to do with how the system hangs since the system is adjustable.

Caverman, There's a reason why we down size system way in the back. It's done to maintain temperature and improve scavenging. Other than making the car louder (and dealing with enough drone to loosen your fillings) there's absoloutely no performance gain with larger pipes by the mufflers. We have a customer with a Corvette that's gone 9.40's normally aspirated with a 2-1/2" axle back muffler system and our headers with 3" mid section. His name is Rob Zona, look him up. He ran the car without the mufflers and saw no appreciable gains in ET or mph. Believe me, we did our homework.

With regards to coatings, speaking for our products only, it's completely unnecessary. I just returned from Virginia International Raceway where I watch 14 (out of the 50 built) Dodge Viper ACR-X racecars, all ARH equipped by the way, race for almost an hour straight in 95 degree heat without any coatings. There were zero heat issues.

As far as price, I can personally guarantee that if you're paying more for ARH it's because you're getting more. Our pricing is set to be as competitive as possible but since we refuse to sell our souls to the Chinese by buying inferior materials like cats, collectors, flanges...etc or we won't use 409 S/S or even mild steel, we cost more. It's that simple. ARH will never be for everyone and we're fine with that. We're for those that won't settle for second best (whether they know it or not).

Nick

This is a ARH vs Kooks thread so I would take it that you are saying that Kooks headers have Chinese parts and are made with 409 S/S or worse. From what I know this statement is 100% false and even though your not directly saying this about Kooks most people on this forum that dont know much are going to take it that way. If you think your headers are better than Kooks then make some true statements why they are(if there are any, which I highly dought), Don't make statements why your headers are better than other headers besides Kooks. This is a ARH vs Kooks thread not ARH vs everyone besides Kooks thread. You have a great company and make a great product but if your headers truely are better than Kooks PROVE IT!

[Wilburbeest]

Originally Posted by VADER SS L99

This is a ARH vs Kooks thread so I would take it that you are saying that Kooks headers have Chinese parts and are made with 409 S/S or worse. From what I know this statement is 100% false and even though your not directly saying this about Kooks most people on this forum that dont know much are going to take it that way. If you think your headers are better than Kooks then make some true statements why they are(if there are any, which I highly dought), Don't make statements why your headers are better than other headers besides Kooks. This is a ARH vs Kooks thread not ARH vs everyone besides Kooks thread. You have a great company and make a great product but if your headers truely are better than Kooks PROVE IT!

Unless things have changed recently then yes it is very false. An easy way to tell if your headers are 409 stainless or worse is to see if a magnet will stick to them. Well a magnet doesn't stick to mine any better than it would to rubber and I ran it all up and down the headers when I got them. Also, 409 stainless tends to get some surface oxidation after a while. I have never seen a set of Kooks headers or any other premium stainless header with even a touch of rust or oxidation on them. ARH is a great header, but I would really question any claims about materials being better than comparable manufacturers. Now after the headers I can't speak to. A lot of exhausts are 409 stainless because really other than cosmetics there isn't much issue with it. The grade of steel is generally advertised though.

[ZAPSSRS]

I went with the complete Kooks system from Maryland Speed and I am very happy with it. The install was very easy and I did it my self with no lift. I constantly get compliments on the sound and looks. I did go with the coating for the looks more than anything else.
Trust me, I did a lot of research on an exhaust and could not beat the Kooks deal from Maryland Speed which by the way was a pleasure to deal with.
I beleive a complete system from heads to tips is the way to go.

[PQ]

So you guys all tuned your cars also I'm assuming?

And if so, standard mail order tunes or dyno tunes?