Stainless 316 and above, can be used in cooling towers with anti-oxidant, and on exhaust systems, simply because it doesn’t corrode like mild steel – once corrosion sets in (on mild steel), it allows increased deterioration, leading to perforation
Exhaust gasses inherently have a high moisture content, which lends itself to corrosion in mild steel – “wrapping” the exhaust only serves to attack mild steel both from the outside, and the inside as well
Given that a minimum thickness of steel is advisable for weight issues, it comes as no surprise that the TW exhaust is particularly vulnerable
With stainless (316), the thickness is often less, resulting in more noise from the internal pipe itself (not from the end of the pipe)
A few years ago, I had a quote for a new exhaust system for my car, in mild steel as per the manufacturer – I found someone who could do the exhaust in stainless, for exactly the same price. The difference was in how long it would last for, and in the case of mild steel it was around 40k miles, whereas in the stainless example, it came with a lifetime guarantee – no contest
What I can’t get my head around, is why on earth anyone would want to “wrap” their exhaust in the first place, except to possibly make it look like it needs a bandage because there was something wrong with it to begin with ……