Is Straight Pipe Bad For Your Engine?
Straight pipes become a modern trend, and many vehicle owners decide to install them by removing the catalytic converters.
Yet, there is a controversy, a straight pipe is bad for the engine, and it’s not worth installing. Following that, we determined whether is a straight pipe bad for your engine or not.
We have listed some pros and cons of the straight pipe so you understand what brings the straight pipe to a vehicle.
Is Straight Pipe Bad For Your Engine?
Installing a straight pipe brings lots of benefits and drawbacks for a vehicle. Considering all those pros and cons, a straight pipe is bad for a vehicle as it can damage the engine.
It also increases the flow of exhaust gas, so the engine can’t perform.
What is a straight pipe on a car?
A plain metal pipe that runs from the exhaust manifold through the tailpipe is known as a straight pipe. Even it doesn’t include any muffler, resonator, or catalytic converter.
The vehicle owner uses this pipe to increase the engine sound and boost performance.
A few advantages of a straight pipe on a car
Horsepower Gain
A straight pipe reduces the level of back pressure from the engine and lets the exhaust gases build.
Hence, it creates better oxygen flow in the exhaust to improve its performance and fuel economy. This way, the engine produces extra horsepower.
Motoring pleasure
A catalytic converter or resonator produces unencumbered noise from the engine and eats up extra power.
Since straight pipes don’t have these functions, they let the engine use full horsepower and ensure a better driving experience.
Better Fuel Economy
A straight pipe removes the backpressure in the exhaust. So, the engine doesn’t need to work hard to drive the exhaust out of the manifold. This way, straight pipes offer better fuel economy.
Produce authentic sound of the engine
Straight pipe exhaust may be lauded, but it still produces the original sound of the engine.
You will find this benefit appealing, especially on the race track. It also eliminates the necessity of changing muffler bearings, as it doesn’t have any.
An Installation Kit Is Universally Available
Custom exhaust tubing kits are available that help installs a straight pipe on most vehicles. Yet, you must make sure the diameter of the pipe is compatible with your car’s make and model.
Some disadvantages of straight piping on a vehicle
High Emissions
Some straight pipes aren’t legal on some highways and streets. So you will have to bypass the catalytic convertor and the pollution control before using the straight pipe on such a road.
As a result, the vehicle’s emissions will be increased. Your car will pollute the environment more than usual.
Louder Than Stock Exhaust
Since straight pipes don’t have any muffler or resonator, they produce a louder noise than the stock exhaust.
To control the noise level, you must either install a sound dampener or a muffler on your vehicle.
No heat dissipation
A catalytic converter is used to remove the extra heat from the exhaust.
Since straight pipes don’t have this function, your vehicle can get overheated. Without the dissipation of excess heat, the engine can also get damaged.
Lack Of Flexibility With This Design
You have to tune the car to the straight pipe design if you want to change the vehicle’s system. This approach won’t give you lots of opportunities to compromise either.
For example, a small pipe will cut down on tons of power in the low-end torque.
Considering the undercarriage design of the vehicle, you may also need to do lots of extra work to ensure the least impact on resistance and airflow while driving.
Subtracting items from the current setup of the car lowers its power curve, which robs the performance.
It will cause the vehicle to make a loud noise while hardly boosting the vehicle’s overall performance.
It means a few extra horsepowers won’t provide a better acceleration profile, and you may even notice a drop.
Can Produce Irritating Noise From The Cabin
Installing a straight pipe on your truck or car can make its cabin so loud that it can harm your hearing. It’s not surprising that the system can produce over 100 dB due to using a straight pipe.
It can limit the running time of the engine. In this case, wearing a set of earplugs can come in handy in lowering the risk of hearing damage due to noise exposure frequently.
To reduce this disadvantageous impact, you can also keep the windows closed. But it will be problematic during summer days, especially if you don’t use an A/C or don’t have one.
Expensive to install into a vehicle
Installing a straight pipe exhaust in the vehicle is absolutely expensive compared to the result it will bring.
To make space for a new straight pipe, most vehicles need to change their whole exhaust structure completely.
If you customize your top brand’s vehicle for those pipes, then it will cost around $1,000.
Thus, many vehicle owners choose a custom option. If you don’t tune the car yourself, this cost will hurt you more.
And the final cost can reach up to $3,000 to finish the work completely, excluding the labor cost.
FAQs
Should You Straight Pipe Your Car?
Installing straight pipes may bring lots of advantages, but it’s not recommended to use them if you often drive on the road.
The reason is that straight pipes generally don’t have any catalytic converters.
And it’s banned in some places to drive a vehicle without catalytic converters.
The reason is that the vehicle fails emissions tests without this function.
Plus, installing straight pipes in a car isn’t inexpensive and requires lots of hard work.
Does Straight Pipe Affect The Engine?
Yes, straight pipes have a great impact on the vehicle’s engine.
It boosts exhaust gas velocity, which lowers the engine performance to fewer than 2,000 or 2,500 RPM. Thus, the vehicle cannot reach the stoplight quickly.
Which Is Better: A Straight Pipe Or A Muffler?
Straight pipes ensure better flow than mufflers. This feature also improves the fuel mileage and the vehicle’s performance.
Conversely, high-quality performance mufflers offer the same quality of flow and sometimes batter.
Final words
In a short engine, a pipe is bad for your engine. It may increase horsepower and offer a superior driving experience.
But it’s still loud, expensive to install, and increases the exhaust gas flow. More importantly, it doesn’t have catalytic converters, and you can drive a vehicle without this function in some states.
Overall, installing such an inflexible design on your vehicle won’t be a wise decision.
