2015-2022 Ford F-150 Exhaust Upgrade Guide

As an F-150 owner, there are many different modifications to choose from to make your truck an extension of your personality. You can upgrade your lighting, suspension, wheels, engine, and exhaust to make your truck stand out from the crowd. When upgrading your exhaust, you not only get a great new sound for your F-150, but you also get more power and performance. Let’s take a look at our F-150 exhaust upgrade guide to give you a better idea of what you can expect when upgrading your exhaust.

How Upgrading Your Exhaust Improves Power & Performance

Swapping out your restrictive factory exhaust for a more free flowing exhaust system will allow your engine to breathe easier, freeing up some extra horsepower. From the factory, your exhaust system was designed with the daily driver in mind. This means your OEM exhaust system had some room for improvement for those who wanted to squeeze out some extra horsepower and torque. You can upgrade your exhaust manifolds, midpipe, and cat-back exhaust system to increase the performance of your F-150. 

Upgrading F-150 Exhaust Manifolds/Headers

The exhaust manifolds on your truck bolt to your cylinder heads and move exhaust to your midpipe. The OEM manifolds are quite restrictive when it comes to performance as they were designed to work with your factory exhaust system. Aftermarket exhaust manifolds are called headers and are usually made from wider diameter, smoother tubing for a less restrictive exhaust flow. These headers are a bolt-on installation, but due to the location, they may require professional installation. Depending on the year of your F-150, your catalytic converters may or may not be installed on the header.

Upgrading F-150 Midpipes

Coming off the headers is the midpipe, or the exhaust system between the headers and the cat-back exhaust system. The midpipe usually includes catalytic converters (depending on the year) and an H or X design for an even flow of exhaust. From the factory, these midpipes are not optimized and are made from a smaller diameter tubing. Aftermarket midpipes feature larger diameter tubing, an optimized crossover, and sometime high-flow cats.

Upgrading F-150 Cat-Back Exhaust Systems

The cat-back on your truck refers to the part of your exhaust system from the end of the midpipe to the exhaust tip. This includes the lead pipes, muffler, and tips on most F-150 exhaust systems. This is the most popular upgrade when it comes to exhaust as you have many different cat-back exhaust systems to choose from and it is the first step when upgrading your full exhaust system.

F-150 Exhaust Upgrades From Deviate Dezigns

If you are ready to give your F-150 a much needed exhaust upgrade, shop Deviate Dezign’s wide selection of F-150 exhaust kits. Deviate Dezigns offers high-quality exhaust kits for F-150 trucks from the largest names in the industry. Choose form Magnaflow, Corsa, Borla, Gibson, aFe, and much more. Got questions about your F-150 or need help building out your exhaust system? Contact our industry-leading customer service team to get the answers to your questions.