okay i'm new to the whole aftermarket exhaust and i just got home from a 12 mile spirited drive with a few WOT runs and when i turned the car off the whole exhaust was ticking quite loud. is this normal or what?

also the way that my uncle secured the tip so that it wasn't hanging so low has made it so that the tip and muff only move with a very strong push or pull. is this okay or should i loosen some of the clamps? will it being tight cause any problems down the road? like breaking welds or am i gonna be fine?

 

its the metal shrinking

 

imma spare u what i could say here but yes as chevysssc said, it is the metal shrinking.

heat expands, cold contracts. so as it cools down, tick, tick-tick, tick, , , tick, tick. lol

 

alright, well sorry for asking such a nub question. i just wanted to make sure it was ookay. but on to the second question. if the tip is secured tightly is that a problem?

 

its fine, i have i owned 3 cars and the cobalt is the only one that does that. Also none of my other buddies cars do it. It is common on our cars but not on all cars

 

I think it could be the cat "cooling down". My old 2.4 used to do this. From my experience, it's ok.

 

def wasn't the cat. lol. sounded like resonator, that pre-axle twist and the muff. i put my ear near the side skirt and listened. so metal shrinkage sounds feasible


but really. someone must know whether or not i'm gonna break something by having the tip secured tight. like you can barely move the muffler at all. will it cause any damage?!

 

anyone know if the exhaust is gonna get damaged from being so tight?

 

Why would it get damaged from being so tight? If it was overtightened, it would bend the metal, but unless your using an impact gun, or are the Incredible Hulk, that probably is not gona happen.

I also don't understand how having the "tip" secured very tight can result in the muffler not moving much. The tip has nothing to do with how the muffler is attached to the car. Its not like the muffler is supposed to wag back and forth as you drive down the road anway.

 

i wrote the post wrong. lol. the muffler itself is secured to the hangers on the car itself. i.e. if you try to move the muffler USING the tip the whole rear end of my car actually shakes. someone said that if the muffler can't move easily it can cause stress on the system itself. is that true. like should i loosen it or not worry about it?

 

I thought that the hangers for the muffler and the exhaust were by rubber mounts. They should allow the system to move as necessary. Did you bolt the muffler directly to the chassie???

There is a metal stud that welded to the body and then there should be a metal stud welded to the exhaust system. You use the rubber bushing between the two studs so that the system can move if necessary.

 

see that's the thing. my uncle used band clamps to hold the exhaust in place cause its the corsa off a ss/sc so it was hanging low and wagged back and forth. now it's on fairly tight. if its too tight will that pose a problem. cause if we left it the way it was it would hang like 3 inches from the hole in the rear and was able to move a ton side to side with almost no force.

 

My exhaust does it almost every time I park it. They're right about the metal expanding and contracting. A lot of people don't realize exactly how hot your exhaust can get. It causes the metal to expand, especially if you've just commuted a long way, or been driving WOT. When you park it, the cooling makes it tick like that.

 

It is the cat. The cat is the hottest component in your exhaust, and will frequently tick when cooling down. Every GM or Ford my family has ever owned has made this sound (theyve all been big trucks/SUVs too)

 

its normal for GM products my Cobalt doesnt do this but my ex's does as does my moms 05 malibou its nothing to worry about

 

so i'm guessing my exhaust won't break itself being secured too tight to the hangers?

 

haha no nothing will break its just the metal cooling down. normal GM thing

 

I love how no one but me is actually mentioning the second question, they just keep repeting the answer to the first one. I think the same answer repeated 10 times is still the same answer people

I doubt that what he did will damage the catback, but it might wear the flexpipe out faster because its now the only part that will move. If he only did this for the hanger at the muffler, I would not worry, but if he did this for all the hangers (I think there are 3 or 4 on the catback), it might wear the flexpipe faster.

 

THANK YOU, i can't believe i had to ask to many times. lol.

yeah its only at the muffler and the reason he did was because its the Corsa off a s/c so it was sticking out and hanging like ****. there're 2 hangers at the muffler and i think one farther up. he told me to let it set itself for a week and see how tight it is now. so i just wanted to know how much damage it would do. if any.

so prob just my flexpipe right? and i have a 2.2 with auto so as far as i can deduce the engine shouldn't move that much. it hasn't got much power and the auto's shifts are lazy at most. what do you think?

 

The engine will move more than you think, mostly because of the mushey motor mounts / tranny mounts. Thats why anyone trying to reduce wheel hop usually puts in solid mounts. That is also the reason that the torque dampener is made for our cars.

If its just the two at the muffler, I would not worry about it though.

 

phew. thank god. thanks for your help man.