Given the choice - stainless or aluminized??????

 

Good question....I am likewise interested in the responses. Would also like to hear from anyone with SLP loudmouths who has added the Bassani X-pipe and cats.....how is the overall noise level compared to just the loudmouths with stock pipes/cats?

And...any additional resonnance around 2,000 RPM?

 

If you have the cash go with the stainless. It's stronger, supposedly lasts longer and it has a lifetime warranty.

 

i think stainless sounds a little different too. Ever noticed how your exhaust sounds a little louder when you first turn on the car, and it sounds a little quieter after its been driven a while? It's because the pipes heat up, and change the sound (less sound waves relfected as the pipes are a little more pliable at the molecular level). I'm pretty sure it takes more heat to make stainlelss get really hot.....so the stainless will sound more like when u first start the car all the time. did any of that make sense?

 

But doesnt steel hold heat longer than aluminum.

 

yes, but it wont get as hot as the aluminum

 

What you are saying is that aluminum can hold more energy at a given moment in time than steel but that it dissipates that energy more quickly than steel? Any mechanical engineers on here want to verify this? I am not about to crack my old thermodynamics textbook to check!

 

i was thinking more along chemistry stuff, with specific heats and all...it was a flat out guess that the more heat something can hold, the longer it will take to get rid of that heat.

 

i wasnt thinking that aluminum displaced the heat faster, just that because of its specific heat, its going to have a higher temperature than stainless steel - so it takes less heat or energy added to it to make its temperature rise.

 

well thermodynamics is a part of chemisty.... any experts?

 

Newbie here, but guys, it's not aluminum exhaust. It's steel with an aluminum coating. The reason for the aluminizing is to prevent oxidation (rust). What it comes down to is where you live. If they salt the roads you'd better get the stainless or your pipes won't last as long as you'd like.