Dual in/ Dual Out Muffler vs Two Mufflers and X-Pipe

My father is looking to upgrade the exhaust on his 2013 Ram Sport with the factory duals. He has determined that he wants true duals given the future performance mods that he has planned. He has narrowed it down to the two options listed below.

Option #1: Run dual 2.25 or 2.5 Stainless Steel pipe after the cats into a DI/DO 18" Magnaflow muffler, utilize the factory tailpipes, and add 5" x 18" long exhaust tips

Option #2: Run dual 2.25 or 2.5 Stainless Steel pipes after the cats into a Magnaflow X-Pipe, continue running the pipes into 2 SI/SO out 18" Magnaflow mufflers, utilize the factory tailpipes, and add 5" x 18" long exhaust tips


His local exhaust shop can do Option 2 for only $125 more than Option 1 so cost isn't a big factor.

Please offer input as to which option will serve my old man the best. If Matt from Moe's Performance wants to chime in that would be much appreciated!

I forgot to add in the last post the link to the exhaust tips my old man will be using. They are 2.5" inlet, 5" outlet, 18" long 304SS exhaust tips. They are single walled and have a rolled edge and retail for $59.95 each. Plus they don't require an adaptor like the MBRP tips!

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Po...rs=10007731011&ie=UTF8&qid=1471654624&sr=8-12

I think most dual in dual out mufflers that are a straight through design have an internal x pipe. Meaning either set up will net basically the same final result.


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Personally I have the dual in dual out and since it comes with an X pipe built inside it, it will sound better than straight pipes.

I guess what is comes down to is whether having the x-pipe right after the cats is more beneficial then having it further away inside of the DI/DO muffler.

I may have to invest in a set of those tips. First ones I've seen that don't need an adaptor

Yeah they are pretty slick. My dad always liked the bolt on ones from Moe's but just wished they were a bit longer like the MBRP ones. This is the best of both worlds in my opinion.

In all honesty, true duals do not perform a quality single 3" setup on these trucks. My own ram went 12.04 @ 111mph still running through a single exhaust. When I switched to true duals, I actually lost .5mph in the 1/4.

I would just go with a quality longtube setup that comes with a mandrel bent 3" stainless Y-pipe and call it good. This will show much better power gains than trying to build a dual exhaust setup using the stock manifolds, and is competely clamp on.

Thanks for the input. I think the reason why my father wants the true duals is that he plans to build his truck up as street and strip vehicle. I know he said he has plans to pull the engine out once the truck is out of warranty and put forged internals, heads, cam, and possibly a supercharger. I guess he is just using the old hod rodder's mentality of adding true duals to everything. I'll pass along your advice and see what he thinks.

As long as a single in to dual out is sized right you will see no performance gain between a dual in dual out, the only benefit really is sound and maybe helping with flow when installing a x-pipe in the right location. But to be honest without installing a system that is a mirror of itself one side to the other you will not see that gain as much or at all and its really more for balance and efficiency

Well my father called and talked to a tech at Magnaflow about his planned mods and asked what type of exhaust would be best for his application.

The tech told him if you are sticking to basic bolt on mods he would only need a catback and no performance gains would come from going to a true dual setup. He did however say that some customers will build true duals for better sound and if the system is designed correctly there should be little to no loss in power over a catback.

The tech continued to say that if you are planning on more extensive mods, like my father is, then he should use a Magnaflow custom builder kit and make a true dual setup with x pipe right after the cats. He said that while a true dual system with equal pipes is the best setup, it isn't possible with these 4th Gen trucks and that a non-equal length set up would still provide gains over a catback.