Guys, I've managed to wrap me downpipe and done a pretty damn good job of it......but only have it held in place with some plastic zip ties at the mo cuz I didn't wanna waste my posh DEI stainless steel ones I bought to do it nice & properly with at the end. So now I'm ready to put those on........but HOW THE HELL DO THEY WORK!?!?!?!

I've got em like this at the mo........



And they just won't pull tight. They pull tight.....then you let go and they go slack a bit. It's pissing me off now! They look like they're designed to go in some kinda tool that will do them really tight? But no tool is mentioned in the instructions or anything.........oh......that's cuz there AREN'T ANY instructions lol. Maybe cuz they're too simple to actually NEED instructions but they've certainly got me stuck!!

I've been to their website and the only thing vaugely of use is this picture.....



which shows them done up in some kinda loop (towards the bottom of the pic)??? But it doesn't say anywhere how to do it? Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. I doubt the wrap is gonna go anywhere like, cuz it's all held with plastic ties at the mo, but I wanna get it sorted asap Cheers!!

 

I used some no name versions of the same thing. You pull on them hard with the pliers and they go fairly tight, although not as tight as I'd like. They didn't slip back. TBH I don't think yours should either.

 

Yeah they kinda go slack when you let em go. You pull em tight with the pliers and then when you let go there's a tiny bit of slip like, so they just won't go as tight as I want em too. Ah well. My car is booked in on tuesday 25th to have the pipe fitted so I haven't really got time to do anything else, it'll have to do! I might just say to the garage that my ties are crap and if he's got anything better or whatever, to stick em on

Cheers

 

Use stainless steel mig weld wire wrapped round twice and twisted tight and snipped off.

 

ive got exactly the same metal ties on my downpipe.
you just feed the end in , pull it tight with pliers then cut off the excess wire.
mine loosened a bit but it didnt cause a problem.

 

I held the clip in place with a screwdriver as i pulled the tail tight with pliers, then whilst still under tension, i bent the tail back over itself then cut the end just long enough to feed it back into the bridged part to hold it tight.
I hope this makes sense, it does in my head, but it could sound complete bobbins to anyone else!!

 

That makes bloody good sense and I dunno why the hell I didn't think of it lol. Cheers for all ur replies guys, much appreciated I'll have another look tomorrow and hopefully will sort it. Gotta spray the high temp silicone coating on then. That should be fun!

 

I also thought of trying some kinda 'wire' like this, that I could pull around a few times and then twist it tight sorta thing, but wasn't sure what would withstand the heat. Where on earth would I get stainless steel mig weld rods from?! Lol. My problem is that the car is booked in on tuesday 25th to have the pipe fitted........and this is all a bit last minute cuz the exhaust wrap & ties that I ordered only arrived yesterday and I ordered them aaaggggeeeeesssss ago when I booked the car in. So yeah.....whatever I need to get it sorted......I need either tomorrow (sunday) or the day after. We might have something in work, I'll have to have a nose around!

 

I snip the excess tail off the ss ties to about 1/4 inch from the lock. The tail is then twisted around long nose pliers which tighten up against the lock very firmly.
I hope your not serious about using plastic ties though....

Nick

 

Ohh helll no I'm not gonna leave plastic ties on it lol, but I used them to hold the wrap in place and help me while I was doing it. It was when I came to put the stainless steel ones in place of the plastic ones that I came accross the problem of them not closing as tightly as I'd like. Am not gonna leave the plastic ones on there lol

 

If you want an alternative, what you need is stainless lockwire. Motorbike shops tend to have it, it's used for motocross to wire their grips on and retain bolt heads and stuff.