When i asked the exhaust places about whether to get my cat back in mild steel or stainless, they say mild lasts 2-3 years and stainless 10 years. When i ask my friend (car rx7 and car fanatic) he says its full of ****e cos mild steel lasts at least 5 years and that its the exhaust places way of getting you to buy stainless cos it costs more.

So, whats true and whats not?

New cars from factory come with mild steel dont they? my last magna lasted 10 years and i had no problem with the piping.

I dont want to have to spend the money for the wrong reason. Any insight?

Cheers

What the exhaust place said is somewhat true, totally depends on the quality of the materials and how many kms are travelled etc. Stainless steel SHOULD last forever, if it's quality material. Mild steel won't.

A press bent mild exhaust will last a very long time. The manufacturers fit mild press bent systems and they use the thinnest cheapest steel they can find!

When you start adding a lot of welds to the system (like all mandrel bends) you start to add a lot of sections where rust gets a head start. At the welds the steel can easily rust due to iron filings, splatters and general imperfections.

You also have to consider stainless will be a fair bit heavier. Also that most exhaust shops dont have a dedicated welder just for stainless, and they definatly arn't going to change wire over just for a few welds, so your stainless exhaust will have a few places which arn't as highly protected by rust.

I would just get the mild system.

Mild system will last at least 10 years I would think as long as the welds on it are good. Considering the "upgrade" to stainless is a lot more expensive and weighs a fair bit more, I really don't see any advantage unless your mild system rusts out on you in like 2 or 3 years...

Mild system will last at least 10 years I would think as long as the welds on it are good. Considering the "upgrade" to stainless is a lot more expensive and weighs a fair bit more, I really don't see any advantage unless your mild system rusts out on you in like 2 or 3 years...
Which can happen, just depends on the quality of the materials the exhaust place uses.

Also if you live by the sea/ drive on salted roads.

I'm led to believe stainless sounds better as well - but to what extent I'm not sure. I find it hard to imagine there would be much difference in exhaust sound quality between a mild system with a stainless muffler, or a full stainless system.

Presently I'm weighing up my exhaust options and a stainless, mendrel bent 3" system from the cat back with a good cat and muffler is going to cost between $1200 - $1500. More again if I decide to go 3.5".

Haven't got comparitive quotes for mild steel piping with stainless muffler, but I'm having trouble justifying the cost of a full stainless system. The best argument I can come up with for stainless at this stage is that I plan on keeping the car for quite a while.

Aluminumised mild steel will last a very long time. Stainless steel exhausts sound tinny, mild steel ones sound a lot better.

I got mild steel and as long as you get a quality job first time around u should be right for a fair while im thinking....

this could be complete bullscat but i heard that when ur thrashing a car with a stainless exhaust and it gets heaps hot going through a puddle and having water splash it could create small cracks in the expanding steel...makes sence but i dunno, one of my mates told me that when we were pissed as ferrets so its a cloudy subject....oppinions?

Stainless sound better because of the welds on the mandrel bends. This causes the exhaust to be a little less flexible and seems to cancel out the crappy civic sound some cars get.

Cheers for the reply everyone.

Well, ive been quoted;

From Genie Exhaust: $500 or so for 2.5" CAT BACK IN MILD STEEL with magnaflow muffler (stainless/polished)&
$700 for stainless steel.

From D&T Performance: $700 for mild steel and $900 for stainless steel (they say that they do a full custom job on every car and that its done professionaly hense the price, not sure which part is bulldust)

So, the mild systems which you get from exhuast places are already thicker than what comes from factory? I then wouldnt bother in spending the extra, no one is gonna be looking at my shinny pipes anyway.:confused:

$700 for a "fully custom professional" mild steel cat back is an absolute rip off. There's stuff all "custom" work under the magna anyway. It's all easy bends and shouldn't take very long. $500 with muffler and tip sounds about right.

From Repco I bought a new intermediate pipe $167.50. The one I took off was the 13 year old original. New muffler $165.07. This was the 2nd replacement in the life of the car and a Walker same as original. Plus 2 flange gaskets at $3.09 and $4.79.

OK I did the work so there were no labour costs and the prices I got were good. The retail price on the new muffler was $237.99. Based on these prices the $500 isn't too bad including labour.

And mild steel pipe does last more than 1 or 3 years.

I know the history of the car since I bought it new. 1993 TR V6 Wagon.

Rob

You can get a brand new stainless steel muffler (brand powerflow if it matters) for $130. Tip shouldn't be more than $70 for stainless steel (tip and muffler get in stainless, pipe doesn't matter so much) and the piping shouldn't be anymore than $250-$300.

Best thing to do is to shop around, that way you know your getting a good price.

The other thing, if you are just getting an exhaust because you want a better sounding car and have no plans to mod any further, just get the resonator removed and a new muffler on the rear. That way you get the same performance increase, for half the cost, but all the asthetics.

Cat back systems are pointless for performance anyway IMHO, they add a change in diameter aswell as poorly bent exhaust bents so that your just ending up with a louder exhaust and a bigger bill.

I got a deal with 21/2" hi flow cat and redback catback system for 650 fitted:D

I got a deal with 21/2" hi flow cat and redback catback system for 650 fitted:D


No you didnt :nuts:

2.5" Hi flow cat $120 if u shop around, redback system from Ebay $220 and u fit it you self.

So, if i were to just change the rear muffler, i would be ending up with the same kind of result minus the bill?

So, if i were to just change the rear muffler, i would be ending up with the same kind of result minus the bill?
Not really. The ralliart exhaust is still a bit restrictive, aswell as the muffler. Replacing the whole thing but retaining stock extractors will net a nice little gain (nothing earth shattering) and will give the car a nice note.

No you didnt :nuts:

2.5" Hi flow cat $120 if u shop around, redback system from Ebay $220 and u fit it you self.
Where the hell are you shopping? the cheapest cat i found was $250 plus fitting and that place looked dodge, usual price i've been quoted is $400 fitted, that's just for the cat!
And ebay charges $380 for the redback system.... $650 all up installed is a damn good price...

Roflmao, i got my cat back exhaust done by 'the muffler man' who does all the cars around here $384 dollars, but my twin tip was the most expensive one there was but i love it sounds like u blokes gettin rippppppppped

Roflmao, i got my cat back exhaust done by 'the muffler man' who does all the cars around here $384 dollars, but my twin tip was the most expensive one there was but i love it sounds like u blokes gettin rippppppppped
How so? You've only got catback. There's not very much piping in that at all. The most expensive part would be the muffler (or mufflers in your case) Yours probably got fitted with cheap mild steel mufflers which probably cost the muffler place $10 each.

No you didnt :nuts:

2.5" Hi flow cat $120 if u shop around, redback system from Ebay $220 and u fit it you self.
I'd like to see where you're getting a quality cat for $120 from. Maybe a second hand one off an old magna. Redback system is $380, so again, I'd like to know where you shop.

Disciple, i feel like punching the screen everytime i read one of your posts, honestly do u get off on being a smart ***/having a go at anything in the majority of things u type on these forums?

FIG JAM?????????

Disciple, i feel like punching the screen everytime i read one of your posts, honestly do u get off on being a smart ***/having a go at anything in the majority of things u type on these forums?

FIG JAM?????????
Hey I aim to please.

But seriously, you insinuated everyone here is getting ripped off and you're getting a better deal. I pointed out a couple things and asked you for an explanation as to why, maybe with some proof of what type of mufflers etc you had installed, wether the piping was mild steel or stainless, you know, things that make a constructive post. If your aim is to insult me, you're not doing very well. If your aim is to look stupid by trying to insult me, you're succeeding swimmingly.

Roflmao, i got my cat back exhaust done by 'the muffler man' who does all the cars around here $384 dollars, but my twin tip was the most expensive one there was but i love it sounds like u blokes gettin rippppppppped
Sorry mate but i'm with Disciple, you only got a cat back system, which isn't that great of a deal considering that doesn't include the cat. You have no idea on the quality of the exhaust they've put on, what kind of warranty does it have?

Sorry mate but i'm with Disciple, you only got a cat back system, which isn't that great of a deal considering that doesn't include the cat. You have no idea on the quality of the exhaust they've put on, what kind of warranty does it have?
Thanks. Those are the sort of things I was getting at. I guess I need to spoon feed some people. You can't just go "oh I got an exhaust for $x you guys got ripped" Why did we get ripped? What parts do you have? What warranty did you get? What kind of material was used? How long did the job take? How were the people to deal with? Would you recommend them? How has the system been since? :nuts:

the only reason why cat-back systems are so cheap is because there is hardly any parts used to make it up and there isnt much labour involved to install it, but if you were getting a full exhaust system fitted then that would be a different story

When I got my cat back done it was $490 with a lukey LR2779 and tip. Not the cheapest but they do VERY good work there so I was happy to pay the extra money for that quality and back up service

mild steel will rust, stainless steel doesn't! if the vehicle is used on constant short trips, i'd go for stainless!

mild steel will rust, stainless steel doesn't! if the vehicle is used on constant short trips, i'd go for stainless!

fair enough, but i had no problems with my last magna and i had it for 10 years. Im sure it had mild steel from factory.

I've been making some calls to get mine done, and the other difference between mild/stainless is the warranty provided. All the places I've called have said 2 year for mild and 10 for stainless.

The best price I have been quoted is $1400 for full mild system, pacemakers and hi-flow cat included.

$1400 is a bit exy. I got my whole system done for $1500 which included pacemakers, full 2.5" mild steel, high flow cat with dualies which included 2 mufflers and 2 tips. For single I'd think maybe $1200-$1300. Hmm, maybe $1400 isn't THAT bad.

to qoute my muffer place....."mild steel is more then enough....most of the time it lasts longer then the car itself" and beside stainless steel is heavier and cost much more without the any real performance benefits......just my two cents worth(dame my tots are cheap"...lol

to qoute my muffer place....."mild steel is more then enough....most of the time it lasts longer then the car itself" and beside stainless steel is heavier and cost much more without the any real performance benefits......just my two cents worth(dame my tots are cheap"...lol

Oh yeah, because mild steel exausts never rust out.. In fact I am sure that prople never have to replace their exaust.

Sounds like you need to go to a new muffler place.

A lot of it comes down to how much driving and the type of driving you do and how long you are planning to keep the car.
If you are just doing short trips then the exhaust system wont get hot enough for long enough to evaporate any condensation in the system so a Stainless system will definately last longer.
If you are doing long trips any condensation, etc which may settle in your muffler potentially causing it to rust out will evaporate in which case mild steel will last you a long time.
For the best of both worlds why not use mild steel piping and stainless mufflers. The mufflers are usually the first thing to rust out.
Most reputable exhaust shops use aluminized mild steel piping which is more resistant to rusting than Black steel. It would be of benefit to paint the system with heat proof paint especially on the welds to slow down any potential rust.
Also, many stainless systems are welded with a mig which is just standard wire so that would be the first point where it would start rusting.