This is what happens over time to one of these exhaust systems. I don't even know how that one tip was holding on but it was more than hopes and dreams.
Taking off the exhaust that is on my gf's car and going to install the Roush system.
The stock system is stainless steel for a reason.
Aluminized steel is cheap for a reason. It's coated mild steel that has a short life.
Theres a reason they are so cheap, salt will eat that type of metal alive. They sell three different version too but the price keeps going up. I bet if you ceracoat or even painted it i would last a little longer.
This is why I posted this. Thankfully I didn't pay for it. My last one had one of the SS ones and was never an issue. It's rotting from the inside out so it's going to look okay longer but still crumble into dust even when coated.
Cheap steel does that. They're not using something like 304 which is very corrosion resistant compared to the cheap stuff.
I also checked their site and they say this one is for dry conditions lol. Also a 3y warranty vs lifetime on the others. The mid is t409 which still isn't great and the top end is 304. The good stuff is expensive for a reason.
Metals are a black box to a lot of people but luckily I work with them every day so I know a lot of their properties and what is good at what and all that. 100% recommend a 304 system if not 316. Titanium is overpriced and does nothing for you while being more failure prone because it doesn't take heat cycling as well as 300 series. It also costs a lot more. It's biggest strength is strength to weight ratio which is irrelevant for a road car exhaust. Serious tracking maybe if the weight matters to the ounce and the money doesn't.
I don't think anyone makes a 316 exhaust. The interesting part about the Roush exhaust is that muffler is 304 while the rest of the exhaust is 409. Yeah. Titanium is great but the heat cycles cause oxygen absorbtion just like in tig welding without proper gas coverage, which makes it harder and hardness increases brittleness. Also, the y-pipe looks like this inside. But thankfully some time in a welding booth and it went away.
316 is probably limited to high end car exhausts or custom systems tbh. I just rec those 2 any time I see the topic because you don't want the mess of a worse steel that'll corrode away and a lot of people still glaze titanium too much. 316 also gets you closer to that sound since it can also be thinner too but without the downsides.
I don't mess with welding but I see a lot of stuff for high heat application and all sorts of things. Stuff like inconel is God tier but it's heavy and doesn't work well for something like this due to that and most don't know about it since it's limited to mostly aero and spacey stuff like turbines and reactors.
I been dealing with this stuff for a very long time. Anything other than some form of SS for an exhaust is bad and having it on a turbo car at all is worse. Inconel would be absolutely amazing for a turbo header but welds like a gummy bears and it's expensive. Inconel exhaust valves are there for a reason. Titanium and SS require total gas coverage of the weld because oxygen absorbtion when heated to a pre-plastic state. Being that I am not a fan of excess pie cuts, buying an exhaust was the better choice since where I am now doesn't have a hydraulic tube bender.
What do you do that brings you around this stuff?
Not a fan of pie cuts either just because in my mind points of failure regardless what it is. I don't do fab or know anyone in it so that's limited for me haha. I just work on the heat treating side of things so I see a lot of it. The super steels are pretty pricey because it can't really be processed with anything else along with everything else that goes into them too and each one is like an entire day
I'm actually tempted to replace some of my hardware with better stuff too. My clamps are all rusty and I've already replaced my tips due to cracking and the bolts on those rusted and just tore apart lol
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u/Iheartbaconz 17 ST1 1d ago
Theres a reason they are so cheap, salt will eat that type of metal alive. They sell three different version too but the price keeps going up. I bet if you ceracoat or even painted it i would last a little longer.