430 Anyone have naked headers?

First question, is anyone running naked aftermarket headers on their F430? Any issues. I’ve heard of heat melting some rubber bits in 360s… But what about F430s?

Secondly, are the blankets easy to install after the fact? I get there would be some serious reaching to do, but it seems possible, no?

I won’t bother anyone with all the details, but in short, due to timing/shipping, I will have to run naked for a bit, and that just got me wondering, how critical are the blankets long term? I’ve seen so many debates over ceramic coating vs blankets vs wraps and any combination… But I just wonder, while everyone talks about “the difference,” how many people have actually done the comparison of naked versus anything else?

 

Maybe I’ll just use some header wrap regardless, then install blankets.

Even if I knew nothing, it would be obvious that some kind of protection seems better than none. But I was mostly curious if someone out there is just running bare naked headers for some years and hasn’t had any real issues. We all have a reasonable tendency to be precautionary… but I can’t help but be curious about experiences for those who just go with it. I envy their courage and way of life…

 

Yeah, I’ve seen many people recommend them for coating. But on the blankets topic, it seems easy enough to install… maybe even without removing them?

I also thought this older thread on the fabspeed headers was interesting - including comments from the guy from fabspeed. He essentially says:
1. The components on the f430 that would be susceptible to heat soak are far enough away compared to 360, 355, etc.
2. He has customers running naked fabspeed headers on 430s and hasn’t heard anything problematic.
3. They made the blankets out of request, not necessity (which doesn’t mean there were issues, more so for increased track performance)

that thread is here: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/fabspeed-header-blankets.453302/

jump to the bottom.

there is also this other person’s quote on the threat that is interesting:
“I have Fabspeed headers from the pre-wrap days (been there 8k miles & about 4 years). FWIW, I asked Eric @ Fabspeed if the wraps were worth it, and his reply was that as long as no problems had yet surfaced, not to bother.

Being an engineer, I don't find that answer supremely comforting, but I've yet to see any heat related issues with my "naked" headers.”

 

And no tracking for me… just some good open road driving.