Are Straight Pipes Bad?

[duckkiller0010]

i am thinkin of buyin a 01 gmc sierra it has true dual straight pipes but with cats. Is this bad for the engine i heard straights arent good for your truck or is it just no cats is bad?

[mudseeker]

straight pipes mean you have no cats. if they claim they are high flow cats, take another look. a buddy at school ordered a high flow cat and received a small piece of regular exhaust pipe. i never knew regular pipe could be considered a cat.

straight pipes replace your cats and are bad for emissions.

[72'CaminoKid]

nowadays most people that have no mufflers claim they have "striaght pipes" but true straight pipes means a straight piece of pipe replacing the cat. and no cat on newer trucks is bad for emmisions but not on some older vehicles. now, if you have cats but no mufflers, it should be fine. just gonna be loud

[1979_4x4_Plow]

catalytic converters will muffle the sound and act as a slight muffler. to have a better sound from the exhaust, get a "X" pipe or "H" pipe. it helps balance the sound

[keithr0005005]

straight pipes with cats sound like s**t in my opinion. just loud and obnoxious. the only vehicles that sound good with straights are those that are worked and tuned properly. stock motors sound like poop.

[chevyman89]

in my opinion if you want the pop and crack of a straight pipe go with glass pack mufflers or something like that

[1979_4x4_Plow]

i plan on running an H pipe on one of my cars i have along with headers and a high flow muffler... gonna have a deep tone to it. H pipe or X pipe will balance the tone out

[duckkiller0010]

it has cats but is it bad for the engine. The guy has had it redone 3 times to get it to sound right its got a really deep rumble that sounds really good

[junior3382]

here is a bit of info for you. Yes, the cats and mufflers are there for noise reduction and for emmisions, but there is a balance too. Your motor needs a certain amount of back pressure. The cats and mufflers provide this. With out them, yes it will be loud, and in some cases abnoxious...lol, but you lose the resistance. Now most guys will say ... "COOL"... but here is the draw back. The motor is tuned from each end. With out the standard back pressure, you will eventually burn out your exhaust valves in the heads and will need to rebuild the top end of your motor. Yes, the sound is cool, the temperary gain in power is fun too, but in then end, the matinence will kill you. Not to mention most states and areas are federally regulated for emissions anyways, and it will not pass with straight pipes.

[72'CaminoKid]

if it has the cats it should be fine. i dont believe there are any sensors after the mufflers (or lack of them or your case) that will effect how the engine runs.