I learned something yesterday that I always thought was different.

My car has been making rattling sounds when it's idling at a certain frequency, or certain RPM which causes the car to rumble at a certain frequency. I took it to the shop I go to and they quickly discovered it was the muffler. A baffle is clearly loose and vibrating inside. (hit it and you can hear it rattling). The muffler is an 80 series Flowmaster.

Now, while looking at the same tips in the store which are on my car (2 foot long, 3 1/2" chrome plated). it seemed these 3 1/2 tips are larger than mine from what I can remember. I was able to put my fist complete in it while still being able to have the inner wall touching my fist.

I looked at a 3" one and that seemed to be my size.. but wait! When I bought the tips (Approx 2 years ago) The label on both tips said 3 1/2" so i've always said they were 3 1/2" (Frides says that as well). Looked at the 4" one and DAMN.. WOW.. HUGE!

Went to the car and was NOT able to put my fist in it like I could with the 3 1/2". So my 2 tips had the WRONG size labels. (damn!).

Basically this is my question..

I obviously need to get a new flowmaster put in, and then I would like to purchase either the 3 1/2" or 4" 2 foot long exhaust tips.

I always was told (or so I thought) that going anything beyond 3 1/2" would be more harmful than good.. This is partly true (in the way I was thinking).. I asked the mechanics there (who are VERY good "buddies" there.. give me deals, high priority, great people) and they said that the exhaust would be more harmful than good if you went to over 3 1/2" (ie. 4") IF you plan on having the ENTIRE exhaust system that size.. They said that if you just want to put 3 1/2" - 4" exhaust TIPS on the end of your exhaust that it would not have a negative effects on the backpressure (which is why they said it would be more harmful than good) since the exhaust system is NOT 4"; only the end tips that come from the muffler.

So basically they said that what I want to do by installing larger 2' long 3 1/2 - 4" wide tips (from the muffler out) would simply deepen and louden (is that a word? ) the SOUND of the car, won't increase HP, and won't decrease hp.. just for sound and visualization.

In otherwords, if I were to completely enlarge the entire exhaust system to 4" then that would decrease backpressure, thus decreasing hp and torque and making them more troublesome than they are worth.

My questions are the following:

1. Is this true? (Please explain)
2. Anyone here have 3 1/2" or 4"?
3. Those who have either 3 1/2" - 4", did you hear a difference from switching from (?) to (?) ? Was it worth it in your opinion? (better or no?)
4. The tips, are they short one like 9" or 12" long, or the long 24" (2 feet)
5. Have any pictures of your car with your 3 1/2" or 4" muffler tips?

Thanks for your help.

 

Perhaps I am wrong. Seeing how I have have a picture of what that would look like, I'm only guessing.. Perhaps 3 1/2 would be the choice.

 

I have 3.5" slash-cut tips and they look great. I think that the 4" is a bit much...

 

UPDATE:

Went out and bought a new Muffler, and this time 3 1/2" 22" long tips. WOW.. I am sure they will look great.

I bought the 3 1/2" tips and they also had my 3" and the 4".. The 4" are so large, you could literally hide a SHOE in it!! Or a grape fruit.. hehe

I will be taking pics of the tips on the car when it's installed next weekend. Unfortuntely they are closed shop now and are not open tomorrow (Sunday) so I have to wait a whole week.

Would you believe there was ANOTHER incorrect label on one of the 3 1/2 tips? There were 3 left. 2 that were completely sealed with wrapping and said 3 1/2" X 22"... the 3rd had a label saying "2 1/4" X 22" Geez..

 

4" tips are more fitting for a truck, not a Camaro. I would stick with 3" or 3.5". I have 3" slash-cut polished tips on my Flowmaster.

 

I ran a 4" single out slash cut chrome tip on my 93 and it looked and sounded killer behind the 4" cat back and LTs.

 

Curious, did you happen to have any pics to see what the 4" looks like on the car?

 

3.5 inch is definantly the biggest you should go. and go with a slash cut they look the best.

 

No sorry I don't, but it does look really nice. I had the top edge of the tip dead even with the lip of the bumper. Looked and sounded damn nice.