Does Straight Pipe Waste More Gas?

One of the things that stand as the most fascinating ones for the motorists out there, lately, is the straight pipe exhaust, especially for the few ones who are obsessed with finding ways to enhance the performance of their vehicle. This article focuses on answering the question — Does Straight Pipe Waste More Gas? — and giving more details about straight pipe.

Does Straight Pipe Waste More Gas?

A straight pipe alone won’t do much, but it shouldn’t hurt fuel economy either unless your foot gets heavier.

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Straight Pipe Exhaust System

Speaking of a straight pipe exhaust system, its superior performance — amidst other standard exhausts — is the leading reason why a lot of vehicle owners go after it, as it provides minimal backpressure. Now, let’s keep aside the fact that it depicts supreme performance, you have to know that it’s just a, starting from the head, straight pipe. If you have the intention of making use of a straight pipe exhaust on your vehicle, you’re reading the right article.

This article will ensure you’re in the know of some of the important things — things that any vehicle owner who plans on using a straight pipe exhaust system should know.

The Purpose Of Straight Pipe Exhaust System

We can’t say that it’s not crystal clear that the enhancement of performance is the major reason most of the motorists include a straight pipe exhaust system to their vehicle. As the people who made these exhaust, made them primarily for racing cars, they have zero restrictions of gas flow — as the goal is to maximize the performance of the vehicle.

They’re simply straight pipes which starts right from the header right up and straight to the back with the absence of any muffled or catalytic converter — giving the vehicle the freedom to get to its maximum potential. Vehicle enthusiasts out there also include the straight pipe exhaust to the car they drive in order to start using something different for a change — different from the standard monotonous exhaust system. Having established that fact, you as well need to know that different motorists make use of the exhaust for several purposes.

Pros & Cons Of Straight Pipe Exhaust

Before you go ahead to use a straight pipe exhaust to replace a standard exhaust system, it’s necessary that you first weigh the cons and pros of the replacement in order to ensure you’re in the know of what you’re getting. However, this isn’t anything difficult. Why? It’s because both are crystal clear.

Pros Of Straight Pipe Exhaust

1. Overall Performance Increased

The fact that it comes with the potential of significantly increasing the overall performance of a vehicle stands as the leading reason why many vehicle owners opt for buying the straight pipe exhaust. In addition, they’re quite popular in the racing world [racing cars] — used for just the same reason.

The design of the exhaust system makes it easy for them system to swiftly maximize the backpressure exerted on the engine and as a result, allowing the free flow of exhaust gases. This is give an end result where the engine’s functionality will be optimal without not even a single hurdle. The horsepower and torque are greatly increased because of no hindrances — as the entire engine is fully allowed to perform without interruption. Most times, the fuel economy, too, will experience an improvement, in this way.

2. Aesthetically Appealing

For a lot of motorists, the appearance of a vehicle has an importance equal to that of its performance. As a result, they go for anything that promises to cause an improvement in the vehicle’s aesthetic visual appearance. One component that’s important is the straight pipe exhaust as its uniqueness is observable and it’ll give your car an outstanding appearance in the crowd, owing to its pleasing outlook, its aesthetically pleasing outlook.

More, straight pipe systems give the car a much sporty look, and this look can be very much enhanced even by the setup of a double pipe. You also can get many with multiple color patterns and also, an appealing chrome fish. This chrome fish has the potential of creating a look that’s much more attractive.

3. Brings Out The True Sound Of The Engine

Some people are of the opinion that the exhaust is, to a loud extent, noisy, while others think it’s simply perfect, bringing out the engine’s true sound. If you own a vehicle that has a powerful engine, just like a muscle car, you can enjoy the original, initial sound — using this exhaust system.

This will connect directly with the end top of the engine, and doesn’t — just like the muffler or catalytic converter — pass through the other parts. Thus, you don’t have anything that’s capable of suppressing the sound. What does this mean? It means that what you’ll hear is the exact sound made by your engine — with the same pitch. Aside from experiencing the true feel the engine sound gives, there’s also an extra advantage of ensuring that it’s super noticeable whenever there’s any form of issue from the changes in the sound.

Here’s another advantage: there’s really no need to see to the replacement of mufflers every time, and other components in order to ensure that the sounds are suppressed.

4. Vehicle Weight Profile Reduced

The straight pipe exhaust system allows to decrease the vehicle’s weight profile. This simply means that the car will be able to move in an even faster manner, in terms of speed. Things such as mufflers and catalytic converters are removed — including cutting the very metal that’s used in manufacturing the exhaust as it’s only one straight pipe that is needed. Hence, what the vehicle weighs reduces automatically.

For a few motorists, the couple of pounds which this would make you save may, to some, not be significant but anyone who’s experienced will tell you that you achieve fuel economy not only with increased speed but also with reduced weight. For those of you who have vehicles that run a little heavy — and try to figure out ways of decreasing its weight — it makes so much sense getting a straight pipe exhaust.

Cons Of Straight Pipe Exhaust System

1. Excessively Loud

The extra noise that emanates from the exhaust system is less likely to be something many motorists would like, as the noise that can be tagged as “deafening” which the exhaust creates can make driving in many authorities illegal. This restricts you from making use of the car at other places — with exception of the “racing tracks.”

Using a standard straight pipe exhaust system, a 100 decibel sound racing mark can be surpassed without hassle, as there’s not a single sound dampening mechanics or mufflers, giving out the noise the engine created. For people who are inside the car, it can be quite unpleasant hearing the sound of the exhaust — if you’re not putting on earplugs. There’s something you can do to keep out some of the noise though: close the windows.

2. Increased Emissions

No single thing holds back that a straight pipe exhaust system produces, because of the catalytic converter’s absence. Therefore, when you make use of it inside the car, there’ll be increased emissions which aren’t only against the law but also quite harmful to the entire environment. When you have a catalytic converter inside the system, the various harmful gases produced as a result of the burning fuel are converted to gases that are less harmful — thus, if there’s an absence of catalytic converter, you’re releasing a couple of toxic fumes to the environment.

Another disadvantage of this very system is that when you carry out an emission test on your car, it’s very much likely to fail.

3. Expensive To Install

It’s quite expensive to get a straight pipe exhaust system, so it’s necessary for you to make up your mind when it comes to getting it for the car you drive. In many cases, the vehicle requires a total revamp of its exhaust structure in order to find a way to accommodate the new pipes, and if you make use of top-end pipes, you’ll spend a little less than $1,000 on only the pipes.

If you find the need to buy the installation kit and parts only, and you plan on performing the installation yourself, then get prepared to spend thousands of dollars before you even complete the process.

4. Can Make The Vehicle Harder To Sell

If you have plans on reselling the car you drive, in the future, a great idea would be to erase the thought of changing your standard one. It’s illegal to setup the straight pipe exhaust system in a lot of places — you may have to take out the entire thing in order to sell the vehicle. Even if you come in contact with someone who doesn’t have any issue with the setup, it is highly probable that they will offer you less money for it as they will eventually have to replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Are Straight Pipes Legal?

The law does not specifically answer how loud a motorized vehicle can be, but it does say that a vehicle must have a good working muffler that prevents “excessive or unusual noise.” So any cutouts or bypasses, straight pipes or rusted-out mufflers and exhaust with holes are all illegal.

Does Straight Pipe Waste More Gas – Conclusion

As a recap of the response we gave to the question — Does Straight Pipe Waste More Gas? — we stated that:

A straight pipe alone won’t do much, but it shouldn’t hurt fuel economy either unless your foot gets heavier.

Thanks for reading.