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I hate to pick a fight with the pros but I'm assuming yall have tried Swain coatings and can counter their claims?
I have been seriously considering it and it is costly.
I had it done to a set of early production TTI shorties. Didn't think the pricing was out of line. That's very subjective of course.
It's the only product discussed here that is actually a ceramic coating. All of the others have some sort of polymer binder and any ceramic materials are mixed into that.
Unfortunately that shorty installation was not going well and we aborted it. My buddy did use them for some engine break-ins on a run stand before selling them for me. But, unfortunately I wasn't given a heads up and they didn't measure temperatures. All I got was that he thought it worked well.
I have tested zirconium dioxide bonded to thin sheets. As you might expect from anything bonded to a metal, there is still alot of conduction. Given time for the temperature to stabalize, it still was measurably lower than on the side subjected to the heat source. But it was noticibly higher than if insulated by something like a woven wrap.
If you're asking about moisture resistance sufficient to prevent rusting, I do not have any personal experience. However based on the technology it ought to be similar to other ceramic coated items - think of steel bathtubs, some early automobile manifolds, etc.