Do Exhaust Tips Improve Sound?

Do Exhaust Tips Improve Sound?

Whether exhaust tips alone can change the sound of a car depends largely on the components used. Going from a 1.5-inch diameter tip to a 4-inch tip can make the exhaust note deeper but far less so than simply buying a new muffler. There are a number of factors to take into consideration, such as intended effects, budget and additional modifications.

Buying Factors
Though the main part of the exhaust note is determined by the mufflers, resonators, catalytic converter and pipe diameter, there are a few factors that affect sound at the tip. Tip size actually has very little to do with sound, unless you go to a much larger or smaller diameter. Smaller diameter pipe will restrict the engine, slowing the exhaust stream and decreasing engine noise, and a larger diameter tip will make the engine louder only if the original tip was a restriction.

Down-turned tips, particularly those that dump underneath the car, can deepen the exhaust note by bouncing sound off the ground and using the undercarriage as a resonator. The ground will absorb much of the annoying high-frequency sound from smaller displacement engines.

The only way to significantly affect exhaust register is with a tunable tip, such as those manufactured by SuperTrapp. These tips (originally designed for ATVs and dirt bikes) use conical or disc-shaped inserts to both alter the wavelength characteristics of the escaping exhaust and suppress the flames emitted by very short exhaust systems. These tips allow the user to tune the exhaust note slightly by inserting or removing disc spacers that act as a secondary muffler. This is the most effective option for exhaust note tuning, but considering the fact that they cost 10 times what the average tip does, it may be cheaper to just purchase a new muffler.

Length
On applications where it is possible to do so, like motorcycles and ATVs, lengthening the pipe by as little as 6 inches can drastically affect exhaust note. Doing so gives high frequency waves more opportunity to cancel out, allowing the long, low frequency waves to escape.

Installation
When installing tips with any kind of kick-out, try experimenting with the position before you settle on one. Tips designed for round tubing can easily be rotated by loosening the retaining screws and turning them. As stated, many engines sound better with down-turned tips, but try rotating the tips so they face outward, upward, and even inward to see what it sounds like.

After each adjustment, walk around the car while a friend revs the engine.

Turned-out tips will be much louder from the sides, and inward turned tips will move the sound dispersion further back so that it's only really loud when one is standing next to the rear bumper. If you desire an increase or decrease in sound, try rotating the tips so that they're at a 45-degree angle to the ground.

How to Make Your Exhaust Sound Deep on a V-6

How to Make Your Exhaust Sound Deep on a V-6

The size of your V-6 engine is the greatest single influence on exhaust resonance. The volume of space the engine displaces determines the actual volume of the exhaust gas output which passes through the exhaust system. The muffler type, muffler design, exhaust pipe design and construction, and attached aftermarket tips will all contribute to the exhaust sound profile produced by any V-6 engine. In terms of modifications, replacing the muffler will allow for the greatest change in sound resonance, followed by the exhaust pipe design and size. Exhaust tips are typically used to amplify or dampen the exhaust sound output.

Things You'll Need

Muffler

Exhaust pipes

Exhaust tip

Hacksaw

Muffler Replacement

Inspect the existing muffler to determine if it is a stock or performance muffler. Stock mufflers, installed and often branded by the manufacturer, commonly compromise performance to reduce sound output and costs. Replacement of the stock mufflers may allow significantly more exhaust gas to pass through the system in the same amount of time. More volume will typically deepen the tone of the exhaust.

Select a muffler which will both increase gas throughput and have resonator chambers. To deepen the sound of the V-6 exhaust select a muffler design that allows both minimal exhaust restriction as well as resonating chambers to allow the pulses of the exhaust to collide. Collision of the sound waves and exhaust gas will deepen the tone of the exhaust. Performance exhausts also allow more volume to pass through the exhaust system which may also increase the performance output of your V-6.

Install the muffler. To ensure exhaust gases do not escape the exhaust sytem, nearly all muffler designs require welding around the input and output connections. Local muffler shops typically install pre-purchased mufflers for a nominal charge. Local muffler shops also will provide recommendations for tone and performance and may have performance mufflers available for immediate installation.

Exhaust Pipe Size and Design

Determine if your exhaust pipes are stock. Stock exhaust pipes, as with the muffler, compromise some performance and sound to reduce the costs. Increasing the exhaust pipe diameter by one-half to one-full inch results in an increase of the exhaust throughput of the engine. The tone of the exhaust will generally deepen as the volume of exhaust increases.

Install a dual-exhaust.True dual exhaust systems have one exhaust pipe for each of the V-6 engine's manifolds. Replacing a single pipe exhaust system with a dual pipe system will reduce back-pressure to increase the total gas throughput of the exhaust.

Install a cross-over pipe or a dual-in/dual-out muffler design to allow each side of the dual exhaust to counter-balance the pulsing flow of the other. The result of a flow-balanced dual exhaust with larger pipes will be a deeper more mellow tone.

Exhaust Tips

Measure the diameter of the tailpipe. Place a tape measure over the end of the tailpipe to determine, in inches, the greatest width of the pipe. This will be used to determine what size exhaust tip to purchase.

Select an exhaust tip. Exhaust tips that are flared, dual-walled, beveled or increase in diameter from tailpipe to tip will all amplify the sound of the exhaust to varying degrees. Resonated exhaust tips contain a sound dampening material, such as fiberglass, which will reduce the sound output at the tailpipe. Resonated tips can reduce the volume of the exhaust without sacrificing the tone.

Cut off several inches of the existing tailpipe. Select the length of the cut based on the amount of tailpipe required for removal. Be sure to allow some tailpipe to remain as a means of attaching the exhaust tip. Use a hacksaw to cut through the steel.

Install the exhaust tip according to manufacturer instructions. Exhaust tips may be secured with clamps, screws, bolts or welds. Welds are the strongest connection type and may be directly welded to the cut end of the tailpipe. Clamp-on, screw-on and bolt-on exhaust tips slide over the existing tailpipe and are secured with tension to the pipe.