2024 Mustang GT: X-Pipe and H-Pipe Comparison Yields Surprising Results Over Last Gen

Did Ford make the X-Pipe and H-Pipe irrelevant for the new Mustang GT? S650 dyno numbers reveal a surprising difference versus an S550 exhaust.

Adding an X-Pipe or an H-Pipe to your Mustang GT is one of the first and most common modifications owners do. They provide an improvement in sound compared to the stock setup. And as an added benefit they provide more power as well. Who doesn’t want more power and sound on their Mustang GT. The debate has never really been about adding one of these pipes and the benefits compared to the cost make adding one a no-brainer. The debate has always been about which is better. You want the best sound, and you want the most power. With the 2024 Mustang GT the Ford engineers made the decision tougher than ever.

A video on the Steeda YouTube channel was posted recently that compares the X-Pipe with the H-Pipe on a 2024 Mustang GT. The pipes are compared with a decibel meter app to see which setup offers the best sound over stock. And then the pipes are installed on the car and tested on the dyno to see which one will get you the most power. The results are a bit surprising. It seems that Ford improved the Coyote engine as well as the exhaust flow on the S650 Mustang that power gains are nearly nonexistent with either setup.

Baseline

The car being tested is a 2024 Mustang GT with the 10-speed automatic transmission and the Active Exhaust option. The car has been fully broken in with about 1,500 miles on the odometer. The first half of the video is all about the sound. And sound is a personal thing. If you like the traditional American V-8 rumble the H-Pipe will enhance that for you. The X-Pipe gives a bit more of a raspy, European car sound. But the stock Active Exhaust in the new Mustang is no slouch either. You can hear a difference when the pipes are installed but it is not as dramatic as you might have expected.

Horsepower

Sound is nice, but we all want power to go with it. And this is a bit of a good news/bad news situation when talking about the 2024 Mustang GT and the X-Pipe and H-Pipe options. On the dyno, the difference between stock and the two aftermarket pipes was less than three horsepower. So, the good news is if you don’t want to upgrade, you really aren’t missing out on power when you already have an active-valve equipped GT. The bad news is, if you do upgrade, you aren’t gaining much. On a 486 horsepower, 3,900-pound car you will never notice three horsepower.

However, on the preivous generation S550, Steed demonstrated that you could pick up as much as ten horsepower with their X-Pipe. With the Active Exhaust option on the new Mustang GT Ford has basically eliminated the need for an aftermarket pipe if your primary goal is more power.

Power Characteristics

On the S550 and older cars the X-Pipe gives more horsepower at the top of the rev range in exchange for less torque down low. The H-Pipe sacrifices some power up top to give you more torque down low. With the new S650, you are making the decision to go with an X-Pipe or H-Pipe purely based on the sound you like best. However, if you have a non-Active Exhaust car you may see power gains that are more consistent with the S550 and older cars. Regardless, it appears as though Ford worked hard to squeeze out as much power as they could from the 2024 models and left very little on the table.

Join the Mustang Forums now!