Aftermarket exhaust parts and the engine. However, the pipes do "ring" with the exhaust pulses and increase underhood noise. Headers can be ceramic coated to reduce the heat radiated in the engine compartment, and to increase the temperature of the pipes which increases the velocity of the exhaust gases. Terminology: Catalytic converters are necessary to reduce emissions but create back pressure due to the exhaust gases being forced through a catalyst, and therefore decrease high-end engine power. Many modern catalytic converters only produce 1-3 psi of back pressure, though this restriction worsens further with use. Hi-flow catalytic converters can replace the standard units
Exhaust system tandem with smog abatement legislation rendered lake pipes, as a bona fide performance prerequisite, obsolete. No meaningful performance gain to be had for contemporary vehicles, lake pipes persist into the 21st century as a superfluous, retrograde aesthetic, usually chrome plated with various options, allowing the driver to control whether exhaust gas is routed the standard exhaust system, or through lake pipes, which are commonly fashioned by laker caps which, affixed by fasteners at the terminal end of exhaust tips, serve to (1) "cap" the exhaust system when not in use, and/or (2) signal authorities that the presence of lake pipes