Salt and rust questions related to exhaust??? (Pics Inside)

Nick95GT · Dec 10, 2009

So when i was searching for exhausts and purchased a catback last year i decided to spend a little extra money for a magnaflow magnapack catback because it both sounded great and looked great. Plus its all stainless steel including the polished stainless steal tips and im just wondering if it will still rust from salt??? i havent drivin in the winter with this exhaust setup yet but i love the look of the 3.5in polished stainless tips and really dont want them to get any surface rust at all!!! they still get dirty pretty easily even know i only live a few hundred feet down a dirt road but i clean them and polish them with turtlewax's chrome polish reguraly because i need them to stay shiny!!!

will i be alright?...

duff daddy · Dec 11, 2009

there are different grades of stainless, depending on what grade then yes they should stay relitivly stainless...

Petek · Dec 11, 2009

go underneath your car with a magnet, if the magnet sticks firmly, they will probably rust eventually.

Pennywise2 · Dec 11, 2009

You should regularly get under your mustang with a pressure washer and
wash away the salt and debris from your exhaust and the bottom
of your mustang.After with a towel wipe your exhaust and the bottom
of your mustang clean.If you leave the salt on the bottom of your
mustang it will rust the bottom of your car badly.This is why you should
have a winter beater lol.

Twista · Dec 11, 2009

Might want to re-align your passenger side tip. Looks like it might melt and mold into the bumper soon.

sexy car though. What size rear tires

Nick95GT · Dec 11, 2009

Twista said:
Might want to re-align your passenger side tip. Looks like it might melt and mold into the bumper soon.

sexy car though. What size rear tires

yeah i know i still havent had the chance to get under the car and heat up the passenger side piping so i can bend it a little...the driver side piping from the midpipe back fit perfectly but the passenger side didnt. i had a lot of issues with it but got it to work for now. but yeah i gotta fix that and then fix one of my side markers that still blinkes but wont stay lit with headlights on.

and there 18x9 and 18x10 rear saleens. needs to be lowered badly also

MustangChris · Dec 11, 2009

Duff Daddy said:
there are different grades of stainless, depending on what grade then yes they should stay relitivly stainless...

+1

medical stainless (what they use for high-quality body peircings, and fake hips) should never rust.... ever... but then your tips would cost an arm and a leg... lol. From what i understand, scientists dont even understand why medical-grade stainless is so resistant.

another example is in the aviation world. they use a quality higher than our cars use, but lower than the medical world.

my stainless tips rust at the welds where the hanging-brakets are attached. this will probably be where yours rust as well.

From wikipedia:
"Stainless steels have sufficient amounts of chromium present so that a passive film of chromium oxide forms which prevents further surface corrosion and blocks corrosion from spreading into the metal's internal structure."

so the tips themselvs should be pretty durrable, but just wash tehm every once in a while and keep your eye on them...

to wash stainless, i suggest going to Ace Hardware and getting Stainless Grill cleaner and rub your tips down with that... ALWAYS go WITH the grain. also, keep whatever product you buy off your paint. im very careful when i do mine...

Pete k said:
go underneath your car with a magnet, if the magnet sticks firmly, they will probably rust eventually.

+1

stainless will STILL rust eventually... depending on the quality it will simply take logner.

Petek · Dec 11, 2009

Just do the magnet test lol. im curious to know now. a magnet wont stick to high quality SS ie 304, because there is no carbon present in the material, as you go down to lower and lower grades of stainless a magnet will stick to it stronger, because they use more carbon. THAT said. im doubtful, your exhaust will get rusty. Ive worked with a lot of different kinds of stainless and i have never seen stainless Rust through. i have seen stainless get rust specked, but thats easily taken care of with a sos pad. im pretty sure you will not ever have to worry about your exhaust pipes AT ALL.

MustangChris · Dec 11, 2009

Pete k said:
Just do the magnet test lol. im curious to know now. a magnet wont stick to high quality SS ie 304, because there is no carbon present in the material, as you go down to lower and lower grades of stainless a magnet will stick to it stronger, because they use more carbon. THAT said. im doubtful, your exhaust will get rusty. Ive worked with a lot of different kinds of stainless and i have never seen stainless Rust through. i have seen stainless get rust specked, but thats easily taken care of with a sos pad. im pretty sure you will not ever have to worry about your exhaust pipes AT ALL.

im sure it depends on the strength of teh magnet too... i have a sub-woofer magent and it will pull the lead out of a chinese barbie-doll...