Whether you want your car to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion, there is an easy and cost-effective way to do that. I am talking about car mufflers. A car muffler is designed to adjust the tone and the pitch of the exhaust according to your personal preference. Although the job description of a muffler is noise reduction, most people use it to get that high performance sound, basically anything from a low growl to an ear splitting roar depending on the muffler itself.
The ideal car muffle should deliver just the right sound to match your vehicle’s appearance and performance without crating too much back-pressure and reduce its power. Depending on the design, mufflers use a combination of various baffles, one or multiple chambers, perforated tubes, or sound deadening materials to achieve this effect. By configurating these components in different ways, manufacturers can create muffles that produce different exhaust tones. So, in order to get the perfect car muffler, there are certain things you should have in mind before you go shopping.
First of all you need to get the right fit no matter what kind of car muffler you choose. If you have a single exhaust you need a single inlet on the muffler and if you are merging a dual exhaust you should get a dual-inlet muffler. Next, you need to get inlet or outlet diameters that will match your exhaust diameter. And finally check how much room you have available for your muffler. Make sure the dimensions of the mufflers provide proper clearance under your vehicle.
As far as the style of the muffler is concerned, there are three basic types: the flow-through muffler, glasspack muffler, and the chambered muffler. If you want to unleash the full potential of your truck or SUV, than the flow-through muffler is the way to go. It allows the exhaust gasses to move without resistance and to let your vehicle move the gas as easily as possible while maintaining that aggressive and pleasant tone. This type of mufflers is usually smaller in size since the main focus is performance instead of noise reduction. Glasspack mufflers are actually modified flow-through mufflers with a bit more growl. They usually fiberglass or steel wool wrapped around the internal tube in order to remove some of the harshness from the sound. Chambered muffler on the other hand, feature multiple chambers that are specifically designed to create a tone that is sure to get everyone’s attention as you drive around.
Finally, consider the construction of the muffler. A quality muffler must be tough enough to withstand high pressure exhaust gasses, be able to withstand impact from debris, and be resistant to corrosion. The materials that can do all that include aluminized steel as a cheaper option and stainless steel which offer superior durability, but is also more expensive.