I've had a pretty bad exhaust leak on my 1995 avenger (2.5 v6) so finally decided to try and do something about it. All the leaks were coming from what I thought was just a wierd flex pipe, there is 2 of them, one about 6 inches towards the front of the cat and about 16" or so long, and another in the middle downpipe about 3 inches long. there was about a million holes in them, so i took them off and just put in regular exhaust flexpipe, even though its not on a bend i got it anyways.

Once i got the old "flexpipe" off i noticed there is like a screen or baffle along the walls of it, not through the middle just looks like a metal circular air filter. put about 20 miles with those off and it made the car quieter.

Does that original flexpipe do anything special (ie. more back pressure but i thought most of that comes fromt he cat.) and should i order a replacement for or was it just a sound thing?

ty