Do Stainless Steel Mufflers Sound Different Than Galvanized?

[Jon S]

Just curious what you guys have found switching.  I'm seeking to retain the quiet original sound on my 1958.  I've heard the sainless sound more "hollow."

Jon

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

From my experience with them I don't recommend it.

Stainless Steel mufflers can sound "boomy", hollow-like and louder. They in
no way sound as quiet as the original ones.  I had a set on my '55 Eldorado
and tore them off and replaced with an aluminized set.  The original ones had
asbestos wraps on many models and these were VERY quiet.

There is one supplier in FL who's stainless systems are especially loud.  He
will tell you that "they will carbon up and quiet down".  Total BS.  They
simply don't have enough baffles in their construction.  I wasted $1,200 on
a set of these.

I'm happy with mine now -- you can barely hear it at idle and that's as it should
be.

Mike

[Scot Minesinger]

I installed the aluminized exhaust on my 1970 Caddy in 2005, 8 years and 31k miles later they still look new, as obviously they get driven in the rain maybe twice a year.  No worries about durability.  No reason to go stainless.

[TJ Hopland]

I have regular on my 73 Eldo.  Its 20 years old now and about 40,000 miles.  In the first 10 years it got in the rain quite often and most of those miles but never snow or salt.  I would not say it looks new but its far from a rusty mess.  I think some of the welds are rusted but overall its still pretty clean. 

I have seen and worked on stainless on other peoples cars and it always seems like there is some part of the system that still rusts.  My opinion is its just more expensive and a little harder to work with.   No idea on the sound question but it does seem like there are very few of us that want quiet in an exhaust system so its difficult to find such a thing anymore.   

[bcroe]

I changed to 304 SS exhausts because I was fed up with the labor & cost of
replacing exhaust systems.  Twice the cost; the first time you DON'T have to
replace it, its paid for.  Some may do 40,000 miles in 20 years, but I do it in 2. 

The SS isn't entirely maintenance free.  Hangers still wear out.  Since SS doesn't
immediately rust into a solid glob, pipes need to be inspected to be sure they don't
slowly work their way apart. 

Use really big mufflers & resonators, and even a good flowing system will be quiet. 
I could only somewhat hear my duals (with crossover) at full throttle, the carb
made more noise.  Yes SS has a bit more "tinny" sound to it; you need to be
listening for it.  I almost never do exhaust work any more; your results may vary.

Bruce Roe

[P W Allen CLC# 20193]

I put the stainless mufflers on my 53 from that Florida supplier  . They did sound a little tinny but I didn't install the resonators at first. The car was too loud for my taste, so I purchased a pair of aluminized resonators from Classic Exhaust and installed them. A world of difference. The tinny sound from the mufflers seemed to go away after that. The system has been on the car for 10 years now. Still looks new. Classic exhaust also helped me out with the special exhaust pipes that are used on the 53's with Dynaflow. The Florida supplier sent the wrong pipes and wouldn't make good for it  !

[Jon S]

Thanks guys for the feedback and a couple of PMs.  I think I'll stick with the aluminized ones since I'm happy with the current tone and they have lasted 35 years.

Jon