What's the difference between Mandrel Bending and Crush Bending. I'm getting my Cat-Back system done by a local exhaust shop so I'm guessing it's gonna be crush bending... would this assumption be correct? Is it worth it to pay the extra for a Cat-Back system from a manufacturer in order to get the mandrel bent piping? What are HP and sound differences?

Thanks

 

googled and found this ...

"Consider a straight plastic straw that you might use to drink soda out of a bottle. If the straw is completely straight, it's very easy to draw the liquid out of the bottle, as there are no restrictions to the flow of soda. However, lets say you decide to bend the straw 90 degrees into an "L" shape. Now, drinking from the straw will be very difficult, as the opening at the straw's elbow will have changed from a circle to a very narrow slit. This is exactly how the pipes in your car's intake and exhaust system work. Air is drawn through pipes, which, when "press bent," become very restrictive to the flow of air.

Mandrel bending is the solution to this problem. Mandrel bending works much like the flexible straws that you can buy in a grocery store. When the straw is bent, a flexible section of the straw expands to maintain the round opening no matter how much of an angle the straw is bent at. When an exhaust or downpipe is manufactured with mandrel bends, the steel is allowed to stretch on the outside of the bend and compress on the inside of the bend, maintaining the nominal pipe diameter."

 

Ok, think about this we can all agree an exhuast makes about 3-5hp with I/H. Please tell me how mandrel bending is going to make a noticeable difference on a car making 130-145 hp when your already upgrading to bigger pipe.

I'm not saying mandrel bent pipe is bad, but if you really want it buy a name brand cat-back.

 

a poorly bent crush bend exhaust that is say 2.25" before its bent can be as narrow as 1-7/8" at a porrly done bend....meaning you might as well have stayed stock, afterall the exhaust is only as good as the narrowest point.

 

True and I guess that would be true for these people that get hack jobs done at Meineke or Midas. I personally have got my stuff done at a custom exhaust shop which does great work. If you go to a shop that specializes in custom exhuast work I think you'll be very happy.

 

true...i know that the one exhaust i got custom bent was very well done for crush bent as well. same with my gf, but too often people dont know the diff between good job and ****.