Stainless vs. Aluminum Exhaust?

[domer]

Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to hear what everyone thought of stainless exhaust  vs. aluminum.  The pros and cons of each setup besides the obvious durability of stainless.
Thanks

[jeff1956]

my fleetwood has stainless and without the use of resonators is extremely loud...ok if you have a hotrod....so if you go with stainless make sure to get the resonators or youll be adding them shortly thereafter.

jeff

[Otto Skorzeny]

Hi Domer,

I have had an aluminized system on my '56 since 2001. It doesn't rust and is whisper quiet without resonators.

The advantage is that it won't rust and it's much less expensive than stainless steel. Stainless steel systems are not as quiet, generally, as regular steel or aluminized steel systems.

Personally, I think the SS systems are a bit of a waste of money. For the type of driving and care that collector cars receive, there is almost no chance of rusting out regardless of the type of system used. Why spend big bucks on SS when aluminized will do?

The aluminized system offers added protection from rust at a reasonable price and doesn't have the tinny sound of stainless.

[Chris Conklin]

Hi Dominique,

Save your money and go aluminum. I'm installing that on my Eldorado (when it gets here!).

[domer]

Thank you all very much for your advice
dominique

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I put Stainless on all my cars when they are due for replacement Exhausts, but always go for the heavy wall tubing, to stop the "noise" that is associated with the paper-thin systems.

I always go for the Stainless Mufflers and Resonators, and once on, never have to touch them again.

Better than paying for a system multiple times.   And, as I keep my cars for long periods, it is worth it.

Bruce.

[Cadillac1955]

Go for a Stainless Steele exhaust system... You can even use the mufflers as a mirror! 
These days Im mounting stainless steele exhaust on my Cadillac 55 CPEDV. I bought it without resonators, so the caddy will be a HotRod Cadillac with Eldo 55 engine 

[jaxops]

I couldn't afford the stainlesss system at the time (dual exhaust) but when the aluminum ones wear out I will probably shift. It sounds pretty throaty but that was a factor of whom I bought the system from.  When it wears out I will find the correct mufflers with the correct number of baffle-chambers and whisper down the road like Otto's car. I replaced the stainless ones in my 89 Ford with aluminum (again because of the cost) and it has been good so far but won't last as long. 

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I replaced the stainless ones in my 89 Ford with aluminum (again because of the cost) and it has been good so far but won't last as long. 

G'day Mark,

Why would you have to replace the Ford Stainless ones?   Stainless Steel won't rust out.

Bruce.

[Carfreak]

I live in the 'Rustbelt' but of course my collector cars are not driven in the winter.  One of them has an aluminized exhaust from 1991 which is still in like new condition.

Two other cars have STEEL exhausts which were installed in the early/mid 1980s.  One is starting to need a new muffler and the tailpipe is getting weak.  The other is still very good condition and I expect it to be useable for several more years.  Granted neither steel system is very pretty but at the time when they were installed, aluminized pipe wasn't commonly used.  Both of these cars are driven often. 

So how much longer than almost 20 and almost 30 years do you expect exhaust systems to last?   

In my opinion, unless the car came factory-equipped with stainless exhaust, an aluminized system looks closest to being correct & original with our cars. 

Does the CLC judging deduct points for a stainless steel exhaust modification?   

[Cadillac1955]

Does the CLC judging deduct points for a stainless steel exhaust modification?   

Yeah! What about the judging deduct points??

[Carfreak]

Item #16 on the CLC Judging Form indicates 'NO appearance deduction for use of unpolished stainless'. 

What is the definition of 'unpolished stainless'? 

[Cadillac1955]

Item #16 on the CLC Judging Form indicates 'NO appearance deduction for use of unpolished stainless'. 

What is the definition of 'unpolished stainless'? 
[/quote

I have polished my Stainless steele exhaust... The mufflers are so shiny, so I can use them as a mirror... Do it once, do it right??

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Not sure what they are using for steel in USA, but here in Australia, the Exhausts don't last very long as they rust from the inside out.

I know that the Rear pipes on my '97 Falcon have been replaced a few times, and the complete system is due for replacement, again, and the car has travelled just under 200,000 Kilometres.

Bruce.

[Otto Skorzeny]

Hi Bruce,

In the northern US where salt is used to melt snow in winter, mufflers and exhaust systems last around 2 or 3 years. Most systems are soft steel.

I've lived in Georgia (southern US with no snow and no salt) my entire driving life and have never had to replace mufflers or pipes on any vehicle I've ever owned except the '56 Cadillac. The system was rotted out when I bought it and I put an aluminized system in it in 2001.

I had an '88 Dodge Dakota for 15 years and 231,000 miles (385,000km) and the only exhaust component I had to replace was the catalytic converter.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Even stainless systems will corrode and rot out if driven in the harsh winter conditions
here in the North East (Pittsburgh).  Salt is frequently used on the roads here due to the icy conditions and the hilly terrain.  I had to replace my wife's 1995 Seville stainless system
after 6 years (it was a daily driver) due to these conditions ($1,500).

As far as our collector cars -- I don't like the sound the stainless systems produce.  They
are loud, sound "boomey" or "tinny" and not at all like a Cadillac should.  I had one on
my '55 which after I heard it run, tore it off and never used it again. This was with the
stainless resonators too! I believe that some of these mufflers have incorrect (or no) baffels
inside the chamber that contribute to this.  There is one supplier that has been discussed
on this forum from Florida that's famous for supplying these inferior (but not cheap) systems.

These cars originally had mufflers that were "double sided" -- they had a double shell with an asbestos liner in between the metal layers to muffle the sound.  Listen to an original system sometime and you'll see what I mean.  You can hardly hear them running!  You can't get
asbestos lined systems anymore, but some of the new aluminized systems sound pretty good.

Mike

[Otto Skorzeny]

Does anyone know what happened to King & Queen Muffler of PA?

That's who I bought my aluminized system from and it was/is perfect. Easy to iinstall with no modifications and quiet like it should be. I can't find any information on them anymore. I found them on ebay in 2001.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Herein lies the problem with cars of little use.

My daily driver gets used about 8,000 Miles a year, and my Ute about 1,500 Miles a year, and the Caddy even less.

We can't drive here for too long a distance or we would fall into the water and drown

The problem here is that cars don't start to warm up till at least an hour's of driving, and seeing as the longest average drive the car would take per useage would be 5 miles there, and 5 miles back, with a few stops in between.

Last Monday we drove 60 miles one way, parked for 3 hours, then 60 miles back home.   That was a long trip.

This promotes condensation, acid build-up, and therefore, internal corrosion.

My dad's '67 420G Jaguar had to have the Exhausts replaced every year and a half because of limited useage.

Bruce.

[Walter Youshock]

One thing that really helps is to drill a small drain hole at the LOWEST spot of the bottom of the muffler and resonator as the car sits parked.  I believe Cadillac used to do this back in the '60's, but I'm not positive.

A friend of mine has done this with every car he has owned and you'd be amazed at how much water drains out of a muffler.

I just had aluminized muffler, pipes and resonator installed on the '91 and plan to try it. 

[Steve Passmore]

The problem here is that cars don't start to warm up till at least an hour's of driving, and seeing as the longest average drive the car would take per useage would be 5 miles there, and 5 miles back, with a few stops in between.



Bruce.

I knew your islands were small Bruce but that's ridiculous.