You must be among the numerous car person who loves the sound of an impressive-sounding car despite its loudness. If your ride’s exhaust system doesn’t seem loud enough to meet your preferences, a few modifications are waiting for you.
It’s possible to increase the volume and depth of your exhaust system so that you can genuinely hear natural power dwelling inside your car’s engine. Do you wish to launch flames out of the exhaust? Set off vehicle alarms when idling at a cold start? With enough rattles, bangs, and booms, you could even create the soundtrack for an ongoing combat zone in your calm neighborhood.
Whatever it is, it’ll be enjoyable to discover the modifications you need to make your exhaust louder. Keep reading to learn how to make your exhaust sound more louder, and enjoy the volume and depth you’ve dreamed of. There are a few points to explore, and you need to pay close attention to ensure that you handle things correctly.
- DISCLAIMER: NOISE REGULATIONS
Before proceeding with these modifications, you should examine if they are a feasible option. You’re undoubtedly aware of this, but there are restrictions on how loud your automobile can be. If you do not have an adequate muffler to silence your exhaust system, you may get into trouble with the authorities.
How Is Engine Sound Produced?
As we begin, it’s necessary to learn how automobiles produce sound. You know, your car generates power via combustion, which occurs when air and fuel are mixed in the combustion chamber. These combustions are little explosions that create sound waves that move down the car’s exhaust system and out the exhaust tips.
As these sound waves travel through the exhaust system, they pass through the resonators and mufflers designed to suppress the exhaust gases, exhaust pressure, and yes! The sound waves. So you see, for the car fans, including myself, there is something about the engine sound output that makes a car so hot and attractive.
A silent automobile is preferable for most people. This is why automobile makers make every effort to minimize noise. If you desire to make your exhaust sound louder, but mainly on a budget, you must adjust or replace the parts responsible for the engine’s quietness. These components are resonators, exhaust pipes, and mufflers.
Keep on reading, and let’s take a look at some of the affordable and expensive methods to boost your sweet ride’s sound.
Mods To Make Your Exhaust Louder
Whatever the reasons for your desire for a louder exhaust sound, there is good news for you, despite some of the non-street legal mods due to not only the exhaust fumes but, of course, the noise. There are also numerous legal techniques to increase the volume of your car sound.
Note: The prices stated below on each mod may vary depending on your location, car make and model, and the expert you hire to take care of the job.
Aftermarket Exhaust System

Cost: $300 to $1,200
Installing an aftermarket system in your automobile is one of the simplest methods to increase your vehicle’s exhaust sound. The purpose of an aftermarket system is to enhance the airflow in the exhaust system.
Typically, the car’s factory exhausts are pretty restrictive; this is why most vehicle owners choose an aftermarket system as their first modification. This makes the system blow unrestricted exhaust gas flows, which improve the engine’s breathing to achieve performance and horsepower improvement.
The main disadvantage to this strategy is that you’re sacrificing little quality. As you may know, manufacturers invest a significant amount of time and resources to create their exhausts. It’s challenging to get that kind of dependability in an aftermarket unit.
Muffler Delete
Cost: $50 to $250
Muffler delete is the process of removing your stock muffler from the car’s exhaust system. This entails disconnecting the muffler from your exhaust and then welding a new exhaust system piping to substitute the muffler.
It’s one of the most inexpensive and straightforward do-it-yourself projects to increase your car’s sound volume. Your automobile will sound substantially loud and extra aggressive. However, you must verify if it is legal in your location. Certain places require that your car have at least one sound dampening device.
Straight Pipe
Cost: $500 to $1000
A straight pipe exhaust system requires the removal of most of your exhaust system components, such as the stock muffler, resonator, and catalytic converter. Apart from making your exhaust sound louder, straight pipes remove most exhaust system restrictions. You’re likely to notice a boost in performance when switching from stock exhaust to a straight pipe exhaust system.
A straight exhaust pipe configuration of turbocharged automobiles makes the turbo spool considerably to achieve a louder exhaust. However, it would be best never to forget that cars need proper tuning to use a straight exhaust pipe mod efficiently. Deleting the catalytic converter in certain areas is illegal, so research your local noise regulations.
Cat Delete
Cost: $50 to $300 (tune not included)
The CAT or Catalytic Converter delete. a.k.a. “downpipe.”
The catalytic converter’s duty is straightforward: it reduces the hazardous emissions produced by your automobile. However, it considerably decreases the sound level of your car.
Drivers bypass this restriction by using a downpipe. As a result, they insanely boost the loudness of your turbo. The downpipe is uninsulated, unlike the CAT, which reduces both torque and performance.
However, as you may think, this eliminates the CAT. As a result, it could be classified exclusively for off-road usage in most places. This is against the law in most areas, which means that if your jurisdiction requires a passing emission test result, you probably won’t get it.
Open Headers
Cost: Free if you DIY
Open headers are among the loudest and obnoxious methods on our list, yet they’re also a completely free mod. Headers, generally referred to as the exhaust manifold, are the very first component of the exhaust system to connect from the engine.
Usually, the rest of the exhaust parts are connected to the rear of the header but removing the resonator, CAT, exhaust pipe, and muffler leaves an open header.
Do not do this, except you are well aware of the probable implications. If your headers flow beneath the car, the hot exhaust fumes may cause significant parts like brake lines to burn and melt. This might potentially result in the starting of a fire. Typically, extra modifications are necessary for open headers to function correctly.
Catback Exhaust
Cost: $300 to $1,200
As previously said, aftermarket exhaust is a simple technique to make your exhaust sound louder. If forced to pick one right now, we’d go for the catback exhaust. This is the typical mode for the majority of drivers.
Not only is it suitable for making the exhaust louder, but it’s also a fantastic option if you desire a distinctive look. Because catback exhausts are often made of stainless steel, you won’t have to stress about corrosion or some other toxic substance.
Upgrading the Exhaust Tip
Cost: $10 to $15
After doing some research, we learned that increasing your exhaust sound is pretty costly. However, not everyone wants to pay $500 to slightly alter their vehicle’s sound. Thus, one inexpensive option to increase the exhaust volume is to purchase a sound amplifying exhaust tip.
If you’re unfamiliar with exhaust tips, they’re just a piece of steel attached to the exhaust. While exhaust tips won’t boost your horsepower, they’ll significantly improve the exhaust sound. And they’re not as costly as an aftermarket exhaust system.
Muffler Upgrade
Cost: $75 to $300
The muffler is another component that you can modify to get the crazy aggressive sound you’re dreaming of. Have you ever seen the medium-sized box beneath your car? That is, that’s your muffler. That box is in charge of reducing the noise generated by the exhaust.
This is the opposite of what you desire if you wish to make your automobile sound more powerful. However, not all mufflers eliminate sound waves. Numerous aftermarket mufflers are intended to achieve the exact opposite. For instance, one of the trendy muffler types is the straight type.
Drill Holes in Your Muffler
Cost: Free if you DIY
Many folks tweak their mufflers using a power drill to provide a little more sound. Conduct research on forums for your car’s make and model to see whether there is a popular technique for drilling a hole that produces a pleasant sound.
Turbochargers
Cost: Starts at $400
Are you prepared to make the neighbors dislike you and get the attention of a slew of jealous dudes? Install a turbocharger, and all of those qualities will be yours.
However, in all seriousness, installing a turbocharger is a costly but straightforward approach to improve your automobile’s sound. Turbochargers are used to boost the performance and horsepower of your engine. This is accomplished by introducing extra air into the engine’s combustion chamber.
Cold Air Intake

Cost: $30 to $300
If you’ve ever researched how to increase the volume of an exhaust system, you’ve almost certainly come upon the cold air intake. While the standard cold air intake may serve most people, it does not credit your vehicle. For example, it is pretty restrictive, and even with a turbocharger, you won’t get much out of it.
Indeed, if you add a turbocharger, you must improve your cold air intake. Thus, the vehicle’s sound will be considerably more menacing. The issue is, high-performance cold air intake is intended to maximize the quantity of air delivered to the engine.
Conclusion
If you’ve been curious about how to make an exhaust louder, this guide will almost certainly have quenched your curiosity. Although several methods improve the vehicle’s sound, our recommendation is to get a brand-new exhaust.
Although it is pretty expensive but still less expensive than a turbocharger upgrade, additionally, you will not have to bother about violating any laws since all prominent companies ensure that their goods adhere to legal guidelines. Best of Luck!
FAQs
Is making exhaust louder illegal?
If you risk changing your vehicle’s sound, you break the law. Interfering with or eliminating the muffler could land you significant legal problems. That is because exhaust modification might result in an exhaust leak. On top of that, your vehicle won’t pass a safety inspection. If you’re unfamiliar with these leaks, they’re highly harmful. They may occur suddenly, putting you, the people, and cars around you in danger.
Can A Loud Exhaust Get Me Pulled Over?
Yes. If an officer believes the exhaust is excessively loud, he has the authority to stop you. In that case, an officer might pull you over because; the exhaust is excessively loud or excessive emissions are coming out of your car.