Which is recommended by the masses in here to hold the parts of my exhaust together: V-bands or flanges and gaskets?

My exhaust needs some work and I want to replace the cheap clamps I have on there now while I'm at it. I'm kind of leaning toward the V-bands but they are a lot more expensive so if anybody can give me a good reason to go with the flanges I'll gladly keep some of my money.

 

V-bands would be my choice, but I'm too cheap. The 3-bolt 3" collector flanges and gaskets come up on eBay for dirt cheap if you're patient. For example I picked up two copper gaskets and four flanges for $24 delivered to do my magnaflow muffler install and didn't use but half of it. Ended up putting the other copper gasket at the cat/downpipe.

The advantage of vbands is adjustability, simple install/deinstall, and good seal. That said, I've never had any issues with my flanges.

 

are we talking about down pipe to the turbo? Or down pipe to cat, to the rest of the system? After watching a few cars at Laguna Seca having to re-tighten there flanges after a run I would recomend V-band for the turbo to down pipe. but for the rest of the system I would use slip fit with a preformed band clamp. We use these in the trucking industry all the time without fail. I have used them on my Mustang, TR4, 240Z, etc. Then you don't have to weld on flanges, buy expensive V-clamps, or worry about gaskets.

 

What kind of tool do you need to produce a slip fit on your pipes? I tried the impact gun spreader on the 16ga steel and it couldn't do it at 90cfm. Otherwise you're buying and welding slip fits.

 

I'm talking about the downpipe to cat connection, and the cat to axle-back connection. I built my exhaust in three parts.

 

V-bands is what I would recommend.

 

Once you go V-band you never go back.