The car’s exhaust pipes are the parts to be frequently repaired. Whether because of a car accident or being worn out: there’re plenty of reasons, but ultimately, a driver has to repair it.
As a rule, a chunk of an exhaust pipe needs to be replaced in this situation, and overall, there’re only two ways to fix a new one instead of a damaged exhaust component: exhaust clamps and exhaust welding.
Which of the two is preferable – and why don’t I replace the whole exhaust pipe? We’ll try to look into this issue and help you make an informed decision.
Contents
Overview of exhaust clamps
Exhaust clamps are utilized to join and fix sections of an exhaust pipe together. This conjunction is tight and the materials they’re made of must have tensile strength and heat-resistant properties.
There are three main types of exhaust clamps: band clamps, U-bolt clamps, and V-band clamps.
Band clamp
This kind of clamp is regarded by many to be a useful type of exhaust clamp.
It has rounded or round straps. Band clamping is a more versatile tool compared in usability and size with all others.
Band clamp has a simple design, these kind of exhaust clamps may easily be adjusted to exhaust pipes of any size. The better heat-proof properties are extremely important for exhaust clamps.
Exhaust U-bolt clamp
A widespread type of exhaust clamp, the U-bolt clamp can reasonably be pointed out as the best choice. It can be easily adjusted to any kind of exhaust system, including an automotive muffler.
U-bolt clamps have a toothed brace, which tightens and holds clamp exhaust pipes’ parts supporting the squeeze-fastened hex nut.
V-band exhaust clamps
Exhaust clamps of this type consist of three pieces: the two braces are fixed at the ends of pipes aimed for conjunction, and the third one called the ‘collar’ is squeezed around the joint. The collar has a V-shape, which gives the exhaust clamp its name. It also has an additional fixing element – a groove with a projection.
Exhaust clamps’ major merit
The exhaust clamp gives greater flexibility when changing the components inside a vehicle or replacing the exhaust. Besides being removable the slat will not affect the metal components of the machine, unlike welding. In contrast, the welding process takes away the freedom for changing components in machines: you are stuck in the same place because the process is permanent.
What is exhaust welding? Welding methods
Welding is the process of creating undetectable conjunctions of two metals.
An electric arc heats the two metals to their melting point mixing the material of welded parts with filler metal.
The power supply for the arc is provided through the cable from the DC power source or rectifier. Techniques and types of welding we’ll describe below:
TIG Welding
The abbreviation TIG stands for Tungsten inert gas. The most significant feature of TIG is the usage of a non-consumable tungsten electrode. The TIG welding process runs with an inert gas supply.
A DC power is put on the welding machine to form an arc between the electrode and the workpiece surface. A welder holds a tungsten electrode with the holder. Together with the DC power supply gas supply is activated.
Workpiece takes the positive end of the DC supply and the tungsten electrode – the negative one, and the arc appears when they come into contact.
Inert gas – like argon or helium – is supplied while the arc is melting metals of the workpiece and forms some kind of protective dome around the welding area.
It prevents chemical processes running in the heating zone from interacting with the air since adverse oxidation will worsen the future joint quality.
MIG welding
Metal Inert Gas, or MIG welding tackles, in general, the same tasks as TIG, but has some crucial differences. First of all, electrodes utilized in MIG welding are consumable (so-called bare electrodes), unlike those in TIG welding.
The negative end of DC power goes to the workpiece (a cathode), and the positive one is connected to the welding torch. A bare electrode is supplied to the welding torch from the wire reel through the drive roll.
Stick welding
Another type of welding is shielded metal arc welding (also known as stick welding). It utilizes consumable electrodes as MIG welding but the electrode comprises two metals: a filler metal rod covered with flux material.
It doesn’t require an auxiliary gas supply, having a flux coat melting and covering the conjunction with a protective layer.
A stick welding process requires the workpiece to be fixed on a metal table since the workpiece and the table are to be connected in a circuit with the positive end of the DC power supply. The last one is connected to the table with a gripper and a cable.
The negative end of the DC power supply is connected to the coated electrode with a cable, so that when a welder touches the workpiece the circuit closes, giving rise to the arc.
AC power supply can be used for the welding process as well – it lets the welder switch the polarity if needed. A rectifier delivers the same options.
Flux-cored arc welding
This type of welding is quite similar to stick welding, with the only significant distinction – it utilizes a kind of reversed electrodes.
The electrodes are consumable, comprising two metals, however unlike the rod-shaped electrodes for stick welding flux is not a coat, but is inside of them. So, a consumable electrode for flux-cored arc welding is tubular wires with a flux core inside.
There are two subcategories of flux-core arc welding: self-shielded and gas-shielded.
The first one implies the melted flux to be the only protection for the conjunction and the last one demands an auxiliary inert gas supply.
The main difference between these two types of welding is in their application: self-shielded welding is perfect to withstand windy outdoor conditions.
The gas-shield flux core arc welding is more sensible to the wind gasps but produces some kind of slag support, convenient for vertical joints.
Exhaust clamps vs welding: differences
Exhaust clamps make detachable conjunction and exhaust welding produces undetectable junctions, and that’s the main difference between these two.
Functions of exhaust clamps and welding
Although exhaust clamps hold two pieces of a pipe altogether tightly, welding ensures a bit more solid joint.
Exhaust clamps hold the parts due to friction force, which can vary depending on heating and cooling cycles, whereas welding joins two parts’ materials forming a whole single one.
What does it mean in practice?
Undetachable conjunction will complicate your access to the muffler if needed. It doesn’t mean that changing the muffler parts becomes impossible but will make it harder. That’s why exhaust clamps are preferable from this perspective.
In a comparison of exhaust clamps and welding, exhaust clamps are the better choice for DIY as well since welding needs special skills. Not to mention that welding may be dangerous for a layman, but the quality of the conjunction strongly depends on the welding skill.
A professional welder may opt for welding in some cases, but a layman won’t obtain much profit from it.
Costs
If you don’t have welding equipment and don’t have enough skills to make a fine conjunction, comparing exhaust clamps and welding, exhaust clamps are a significantly less expensive choice.
An average price of an exhaust U-bolt clamp, which is the most frequently used type of exhaust clamp is from 10$ to 20$. An exhaust band clamp price is almost the same, although one can find a band clamp of a certain brand for 30$ and more.
What should I use? Exhaust clamps vs welding
No matter what you’re going to do: to change a damaged part of an exhaust pipe or to completely replace it, we strongly recommend you use an exhaust clamp.
The fact is that unless you’re a professional welder, there’s no reason for you to use welding since it doesn’t have enough benefits to stand out somehow. The only exception here is utilizing such types of exhaust clamps (like some V-band exhaust clamps), that require welding as a finishing step.
An exhaust pipe is relatively rare to be replaced entirely, and typically, only certain pieces are removed and replaced.
Thus, in the exhaust clamps vs welding issue, exhaust clamps have more merits.
So, comparing exhaust clamps and welding, we consider U-bolt exhaust clamps to be the best choice for exhaust system tailpipe repair, as it is the most common and easy way. Among its drawbacks, we can distinguish its shape with lots of nooks, that tend to stuff with dirt, and thus provoke rust.
Summary
If you’ve managed to do everything right, it’s no big difference, in what kind of joint to utilize. But ceteris paribus exhaust clamps seem to be a better choice. They form a detachable conjunction, are robust enough to let the exhaust system keep on functioning, prevent exhaust leaks, and aren’t costly.
Of course, welding has also significant benefits, such as greater durability, but it requires more effort in general, not ending up in a result way better than exhaust clamps do.
FAQ
Is it better to weld or clamp the exhaust?
Exhaust welded provides more of the same strong bond to your pipe. Comparing exhaust clamps and welding, we see the disadvantage of welding is it requires specialized knowledge. If there is not an adequate amount of resources available then you must seek professional help. Whereas exhaust clamps are affordable and easy to use.
Are exhaust band clamps good?
Some aftermarket exhaust systems employ such exhaust clamps and manufacturers have used them. The exhaust band clamp isn’t bad, it can be used in securing and connecting pipes. If you did everything right installing exhaust clamps, nothing will cause problems.
Can exhaust clamps fall off?
Unlike welding, the screws that hold the pipes will fall apart and the pipe might fall out. Once this section is loose, it is possible to hand it to the truck.
Read More: Understanding Different Welding Joint Types