Choosing An Exhaust

The mantra you will soon hear over and over again regarding a certain feature for searching through the threads I will not mention for many others soon will.

But to your question, I think you are talking about off road mid pipes, specifically X pipes. The X refers to the type of cross over or joint between the two sides of the exhaust. The other format is an H pipe. When you look at the pipe you will see why they have those names. The mid pipe runs from the headers to the cat-back portion of the exhaust. In stock format it carries 4 catalytic converters. The off road aftermarket version carries no cats (hence for off road use only).

As to how they compare to cat-backs, you can pick up some noticeable power (and noise volume) by switching to an off road mid pipe. You can get the same power gain with less volume by switching to an aftermarket midpipe with high flow cats. Cat-backs by comparison will add considerably less power, but will significantly alter the exhaust note.

As far as quality brands, Bassini makes stainless steel exhaust components. Any other stainless will last a long time (probably longer than stock). I am partial to the Flowmaster American Thunder cat back that I am running. I like the sound, and I have no rust out issues like some complain.

By the way, even though a cat back won't really add much power, you will notice it every time you drive in the sound of the car. So in that sense, it's one of the most rewarding mods to do (unless of course you hate the sound of whatever setup you buy).

Have fun.

Yes magnaflow is a good brand. Try Mac if you want a mean sounding exhaust.

well, there are only really 2 cats and 2 precats... but that doesn't matter

i've got the american thunder catback and it's pretty cool

but like i've described before, i think it would have been a better idea to get some 3" ractive tips (3" looks best for our cars), some exhaust piping, some mufflers and have somebody weld them up for you

i would get a midpipe in a second but CA has so many damn emmissions and fines, i'd have to take it off every like 2 years