Making your pickup truck louder is a feature that many truck drivers desire when they want others to notice. There are ways to go about making your truck louder and what the more legal options are.
How do you make your pickup truck louder? Pickup trucks are made to be customized. There are several ways in which you can make you pickup truck louder that include:
- Changing your exhaust system
- Using a muffler tip
- Switching up the air intake system
There is a slew of other accessories and parts that will help you make your pickup truck louder. Right now, you just have to learn which parts and systems will work best for you and your pickup truck.
What Helps Your Pickup Truck Become Louder?
When you make any new modifications to your vehicle, you want to be sure that you do enough research for what you want. Using quality parts and accessories will help with your pickup truck’s performance and noise level. Some parts are lighter and are able to give you more horsepower, while others can offer your engine better efficiency.
There are many ways you can make your pickup truck louder. You will have to narrow down which method is best for you. There are some aftermarket parts and accessories that can help in this process. They are sometimes even better than the parts that you would purchase from the same brand as your vehicle.
The ways in which you can make your pickup truck louder are:
- The Exhaust System
- Mufflers
- Turbocharging
- Air Intakes
- Combo Mods
1. The Exhaust System
The point of an exhaust system is to push away any gases that are of no use to your truck. The exhaust system is meant to keep your vehicle quiet and slow down the transmission of pollutants from your truck.
Now, there are ways to get the exhaust system louder, that includes:
- Headers: Headers can give the exhaust a way of moving out of the engine cylinders much more easily. You have two choices of either using a short or a long tube. The short tube gives you better sound, but the long tube brings in some horsepower.
- Different types of exhausts: There are single side exhausts, dual rear exhausts, and dual side exhausts. They each produce a different level of sound.
- Mid-Pipes: This part of the exhaust system stays between the catalytic converter and the rear muffler hence the name, mid-pipes. They widen your exhaust to get more sound out. There is an X-pipe and an H-pipe that give off different sounds from one another.
- Cat-backs: A cat-back exhaust system will replace your existing exhaust system. This exhaust system is louder and weighs less as the resonator on certain systems may be completely removed. The sound quality will also become better with this system.
- Removal of the entire exhaust system: Because the entire system was designed to make your vehicle quiet, if you remove the entire system, your vehicle will be louder than ever.
Cat-back exhaust systems may start to become a favorite of yours, as they deliver the same sound, if not louder than removing your whole exhaust system.
2. Mufflers
The mufflers are just one part of the entire exhaust system. This part helps to reduce the noise of your engine. So, if you wanted to, you could drill holes into your muffler to get a louder sound. It is recommended that you make 10 to 15 ½ inch holes throughout your muffler to have a bigger sound.
However, you can also purchase a new muffler that makes your noise deeper. The wider the hole on the muffler is the louder sound you will get.
Keeping the muffler you have now is doable for you to get a louder sound. By screwing a muffler tip to your pickup truck’s muffler tailpipe, you can save some time and money.
There are glass pack and laminar mufflers that deliver performance to your truck as well. The glass pack muffler lets the air coming from your exhaust travel straight through the middle of the muffler. This additionally delivers more horsepower.
3. Turbocharging
This option is less popular to make your truck louder since the term, ‘turbocharging’ means turbo. Turbocharging your truck gives you more of a rugged sound. This process happens when the impeller and the gas pumps use the turbine wheels to transport air. This air is then held together and released at one time for boost pressure.
Because the air can get to high temperatures during this process, it is suggested that you think about using synthetic oil instead. The synthetic oil is made up of a compound of different chemicals that make it a better handler of hot temperatures.
Forced Induction can also be a part of this category. Forced induction is meant to push more into your engine cylinders. Doing this will increase your engine’s air intakes, which gives you more power.
Having the choice of either turbocharging or a forced induction done should result in you making sure that your engine is capable of producing that much power.
4. Air Intakes
If you are looking for minimal sound above the norm, then air intakes are your best bet. There are cold air intakes and short ram intakes. They both allow for more horsepower and can deliver a bit of a louder sound, but nothing significant.
5. Combo Mods
This choice leaves you open to so many options. You must remember that you do not have to choose just one modification to your pickup truck to make it louder. You are able to change the entire exhaust system and still add air intakes. The sky is the limit.
Your best option would be to combine some of these efforts together to create a louder sound for the pickup truck. By doing this you can receive the maximum amount of noise that you would like without worrying if a certain method will not deliver the sound level you require.
With these different options to pick and choose from or either combine, the money can start to add up. So, just how much will all of these modifications cost?
What Are the Costs?
Modifying your pickup truck will cost you a pretty penny, so expect the numbers to start reaching in the hundreds fairly quickly. Unless you are cutting costs by doing the labor yourself, you will have to account for a mechanic.
With labor costs, it truly depends on the parts and accessories you wish to add to your pickup truck. Some parts are easy enough to where it may cost you $100 to pay a mechanic. Then there are other times where a part needs more care and that can range from $300 and up.
If you choose to remove the entire exhaust system, then you will not have to worry about anything other than labor costs. With a cat-back or axle-back exhaust system, it can run you approx. $300 to $2000.
As far as parts go, mufflers will be more on the expensive side, ranging from $80 to approx. $450+. These prices only account for high-performance mufflers. Exhaust tips are on the cheaper side as they can clock in at about $20 to $200. However, they are more than likely going to come in a single pack. So, if you need more than one, the price can start to jump.
While having a mechanic contribute to your modifications makes everything easier, sometimes you want to cut costs where you can. Learning how to do it yourself can set you up for future modifications.
Can I Make My Pickup Truck Louder Myself?
When you are able to do something yourself, there is a bit more pride in your work. Not to mention, you would be saving much more money by installing the modifications yourself. There are the few modifications that you can perform by yourself:
- Drilling holes into the muffler
- Removing the entire exhaust system
- Use exhaust tips
1. Drilling Holes into Muffler
Again, the most cost-effective way to make you pickup truck louder, is to drill those ½ inch holes into your muffler. The only things you will have to pay for if you do not have them already, are the:
- Drill
- Drill Bit
- Jack
When you are drilling the holes yourself, you are able to control where you want the holes to be and how many. Drill holes that are closer to the where the tailpipes are joined together for a louder sound.
The steps to drill holes into your muffler are as follows:
- Have the drill, drill bits, and jack ready.
- Use the jack to lift your truck enough for you to get under and to safely see the entirety of your muffler.
- You can now drill the holes into your muffler. You only want to drill about 10 to 15 holes in your muffler at max.
- After every 3 holes, you will want to test out the sound, as each hole makes your truck increasingly louder.
It is important to note that although drilling holes is essentially free, it’s not the best thing to do for your truc.k. Holes in the muffler can make your fuel economy suffer and increase the pollution into the environment. Perform at your own risk!
2. Removing the Entire Exhaust System
This idea may seem overwhelming, but you are able to do so without being a professional. All you need to do is take your time. Now, this is another option that will cost a great deal less than others, as you are removing instead of adding.
When you remove the whole exhaust system, your pickup truck will be as loud as it can possibly be. It may not be the best option if you live around a lot of neighbors and law enforcement.
Here are the instructions on how to take out the entire exhaust system:
- Once you have your truck in the designated area where you want to work on it, lift the truck with a jack and hold it with jack stands.
- You want to be able to safely see everything when you are lying down on your back.
- At this time, you want to cut off the battery which stops the power to the car. You can also cut power from the starter motor that sits next to the exhaust system.
- To loosen any screws, use something like WD40 to help with the process. It is recommended that you let the chemicals sit for approx. an hour before trying to remove anything.
- As you look at the entire system, you will notice clamps and hangers along the entirety of the system. Take them apart.
- You can now grab onto the tubes to twist and pull them. This will also take out the secondary exhaust and mufflers.
- The oxygen sensors and catalytic converter head pipe bolts are now ready to be removed in that order.
- The exhaust manifolds are a heavy part. Take your time with removing the bolts.
Keep in mind that removing your exhaust system maybe illegal in your state due to your truck being TOO loud.
3. Use Exhaust Tips
Exhaust tips won’t exactly make your truck roar like a lion but it will noticeably increase overall sound. Unlike the mods above, this DIY mod isn’t free but is still inexpensive. Most exhaust tips come in three choices:
- Stainless Steel
- Titanium
- Chrome
Both the stainless steel and titanium exhaust tips can fight off corrosion. However, when your pickup truck is running, the tips do turn blue. Stainless steel tips work well against other weather elements. The chrome exhaust tips give you more glam as they are clearer and shinier than the other two.
Besides drilling holes into your mufflers, this is the next easiest step, as you are just screwing on the tips to the back of your truck. What you have to do include:
- Making sure that the very end of your exhaust system is cleaned. You do not want to put a new part onto a dirty pipe.
- You can then place the exhaust tip on the tailpipe, but only as a guide for now.
- You are going to measure out how much of the tip you want to cut off.
- Next, cut the extra pieces off the tip if you need to and place the exhaust tip back on and screw it tightly.
Just remember that if your exhaust tips are not giving your desired sound volume, you can always add another modification to your vehicle than just this one.
The smaller your tips are the more higher the pitch. If you choose a wider exhaust tip, you will have a deeper resonating sound. In the end, it’s up to you to decide what kind of sound you’re going for.
How Loud Can My Truck Be?
Whether you have been on the receiving end or not, the sound of a loud pickup truck can be too loud at times. If you do drag races, the noise from the exhaust is a welcomed noise, but in a residential area it is usually not.
Muffler are meant to dampen loud noises that vehicles have the potential to produce. Be that as it may, there are no national laws that tell owners how loud their vehicle must be. All the same, there are some cities and states that have a certain laws that limit your vehicle to produce a certain sound decibel. For example:
- Georgia: There must be an exhaust system on your vehicle at all times.
- Colorado: There can be no modification of your vehicle’s exhaust system whatsoever.
- Montana: The maximum decibel level for your vehicle is 95 decibels.
- Texas: Your vehicle must have a muffler that stops any loud or strange noises.
There are some places that have a ordinance with loud noises after a certain time frame. If you are caught with an excessively loud vehicle after a certain time, you will be unfortunately fined.
We have all seen some vehicles create backfires. Backfires are small explosions that happen when there is fuel that has not been burnt yet. The hot air from the exhaust system will burn that fuel and then there is a small flame and a popping sound. This will land you in more trouble as backfires are illegal.
With your newly modified pickup truck, take precautions where you can. If you know a neighborhood you drive through has a noise ordinance, drive specifically with that in mind.
While others love the noise of an engine or the loud sounds of the exhaust, does that noise become harmful over time?
Is the Noise From A Loud Truck Harmful?
We sometimes take our hearing for granted. When we are exposed to loud noises for a prolonged period of time on a daily basis, it can lead to a hearing problem down the road.
Decibels are how we understand the loudness of noise. Most local laws tell vehicle owners not to go above 95 decibels. A motorcycle revving up is about equal to 95 decibels. After 50 minutes of listening to 95 decibels, you would then begin to experience hearing loss.
Since there are billions of people on this earth, each one of us perceives loudness differently. Some may think a sound is too loud while others may think it is not loud enough. Just know that if you exposed to anything at or above 85 decibels for a prolonged period of time, you will begin to lose your hearing.
If you’re thinking of different ways to accessorize your truck or make it more functional, consider checking out my recommended accessories page. I spent a good amount of time picking out mods that can be useful for most pickup trucks.