aluminum or stainless

[soofle616]

So after digging around for a better way to get my new exhaust put together I've come to the current conclusion that the best way to get it done is to but a pile of pre-bent sections and just build the damn thing piece by piece. But of course nothing in my life is easy so now I have a new dilemma, do I use stainless steel or aluminum sections? I've got a basic outline of the pros and cons of each below. Thoughts?

stainless pros:
matches the parts of the exhaust that will not be replaced
durable
easily welded (so I can probably tack it myself)
readily available

cons:
heavy
more expensive (from what I've seen so far)

aluminum pros:
light weight
less expensive (from what I've seen)

cons:
does not match remaining parts so they will probably be replaced as well (potentially eliminating any cost benefit)
less durable
difficult to weld (would have to find a way to keep it all together until its welded)
not as readily available

[Sheppo]

I've never seen an aluminum exhaust system. Would it hold up? can YOU tig weld? I say stainless. It's aint too heavy not like you're talking a car system. get some nice thin wall Stainless.

[soofle616]

Nope, I definitely can NOT TIG weld. I have no intentions of trying to weld the whole system myself but since there is going to be some trial and error to get everything to fit I figure a couple quick tack welds shouldn't be that difficult to hold things in place while I bring it to someone who can weld it properly. I suppose another option would be to use rubber couplings to hold things together but that only works for straight sections, if I have hold a bend in place that might become a problem.

[Evil_Weasel]

the obviose answer is titanium.

[catch2otwo]

id do stainless. Al is kinda soft. not sure how your exhaust is laid out but it wouldn't take much to put a knick in it if it were aluminum. a little rock kicked up or from your boot. stainless is much more durable.

[richw]

I don't think you can have aluminum before the can lest it be a
shiny grey puddle on the ground melt 1100 degrees

[Cerberus]

definite no to aluminum.
no one makes aluminum exhaust systems (that i know of) and there's a reason for that.
i'm not an engineer but there's no good reason to using Al that out weight the lack of strength, and excessive conduction of heat, not to mention a fairly high coefficient of thermal expansion..

[soofle616]

cool, stainless it is.