I am going to change my exhaust but don't know the difference of which is better. Is mandrel better than crush bend or visa versa? I was also looking at buying a magnaflow system already done and installing myself. The cost is the same. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Gene

 

honestly, crush bends will be fine

but if the p[rice is the same and the mandrel beds put the exit where you want then go for it

 

Crush bent as in all crinkled on the inside?

At the very least, I would go with press bent/smooth bent. Mandrel bent is obviously going to be the best, but it's a bit more expensive than smooth/press bent. I would never have crush bent pipes on anything I own after that whole "Midas incident."

 

i agree.

 

Mandrel bent is better than crush bent, if that's what you were wondering.

Mandrel bent pipes stay the same inside diameter at bends, they don't restrict to a smaller inside diameter at bends like a crush bent system would.

 

unless you dyno it you wont tell a difference,

 

Smooth bent is where it is at for good looks, performance, and value price.

 

even then you won't notice, unless your boosted or running cams and ported heads. with stock NA trucks and cars, exhaust doesn't do much of anything but **** off the neighbors. now don't know if this is true or not but i've heard the mandrel bent exhausts sound better. i guess it makes sense but when it comes down to it, it's up to the guy paying the bill.

P.S. Magnapack muffles are the sh..

 

Crush/Smooth bent is the same thing. Crimped is the cheap restrictive bends.

Full mandrel is not needed unless supercharged, or if the exhaust is 2.25" duals.

 

Gentlemen thank you for the advice. Sorry for the late response.

Gene

 

^ So what is the verdict?

 

Yea, our trucks honestly don't need Mandrel. I've had both, and they feel the exact same to me. Mandrel obviously looks better, but if you have to push 300.3242 instead of 300 horses - then mandrel is for you.

 

^ Exactly. Don't worry about!

 

or if your the person who does things right the first time-funny how guys will spend close to $40 k on a truck to be cheap in other areas

 

You are usually doubling the pipe area as many go from a single to dual pipe setup on the part being replaced. Back in the old days, those 400 plus cubic inch super cars (now called "muscle cars") like the GTOs, SSs, Fairlane GTAs, GS-Xs, Torino Super Cobra-Jets, RoadRunners, GTXs, Charger RTs, SuperBees, and the Super Bird even etc .... they made good power with 1-7/8 or 2" tail pipes after the mufflers, usually 2-1/4 or 2-1/2" head pipes (exhaust gas hotter, larger volume, so bigger pipes ahead of mufflers) .... and there were no "smooth unreduced mandrel bends" on any of them.

Some were smooth crush bends, some were wrinkled crush bends, but all bends like over axles and etc had a reduced diameter through the bend. Pipe size being the same, there's not a person here who can feel the difference or who will see a difference in two identical exhaust systems on their truck with the only difference being the style of bend ..... as long as the pipe bend isn't totally botched and the pipe "crushed" flat in a kink.

By the way, my guy here has always done smooth bends with just a little crush inside, he tries to use a larger radius if possible. Just his style.