coololddude
Member
For me, the MAIN reason for a aftermarket exhaust is the SOUND.
Exhaust - let's talk about this one!
- Thread starter Silver Ecstasy
- Start date
i have an HKS paired with a Stainless works catted DP and i get nothing but compliments from everybody around here, its a subi/evo mix of sound.
as for how loud it is compared to stock, outside the car the exhaust is loud at WOT, very moderate cruising, and close to same as stock when at idle.
As for inside the car the exhaust is quieter at idle, quieter when cruising and braking, and about the same as stock at WOT.
as for how loud it is compared to stock, outside the car the exhaust is loud at WOT, very moderate cruising, and close to same as stock when at idle.
As for inside the car the exhaust is quieter at idle, quieter when cruising and braking, and about the same as stock at WOT.
i got a turbo-xs dp & rp with a magnaflow cat-back.. sounds great, loud when u want it, low when u want it,, as to power, i have the turbo back a cobb sri nd a forge bpv, nd my car made 300whp and 350wtrq on a stage 1 map, gotta get my fueling done b4 i can run stage2..
Silver Ecstasy
Member
- :
- 11 MS3 Sport
2.5" with two resonators and a muffler and a 4" tip.
I think a lot of the reason why the stock exhaust can be sorta drony is because of the resonators. And once you chop that out with aftermarket, it actually gets a lil quieter.
mazdaspeed32007
Member
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- Mazdaspeed3
i def dont agree. i had a custom set up with no resonators and the thing was a beast. after i put back on the stock cbe it aquired a nice performance drone without the cabin noise and raspy kind of sound with no resonators
Silver Ecstasy
Member
- :
- 11 MS3 Sport
Then why do people say the aftermarket exhausts can be even quieter than stock?
mazdaspeed32007
Member
- :
- Mazdaspeed3
only 1 did that ive seen and the aftermarket has resonators. he said he wanted to make it louder by removing the resonator. the stock resonators produce a certain tone under certain throttle positions, rmps, air flow....his aftermarket exhaust has different resonators with different sounds. obviously quieter. if you made a custom exhaust like me without the resonators then you would have a loud exhaust. if i aded a resonator i would probably end up with a very unique exhaust sound that nobody has because my set up would be different than other exhausts. thats why each brand has its "signature" sounds.
BrianFiebig
Member
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- 08 SPEED 3
Personally, I think the stock exhaust is sufficient in terms of sound, remember, the Gods determined that the car should be a sleeper. Loud, buzzy, droney sounding exhausts are for 17 year old kids who dont know shyt about shyt with their hats on sideways. In a Speed3, if you hear that sound, it should do two things, make you smile in anticipation of an epic pounding if the knucklehead tries anything, and you genetically encoded chase response.
As stated, the car lives and dies by the blower. The downpipe is the key. There are plenty of catted downpipes out there (for those of us who live in EPA emissions control areas) that are perfectly legal, thou it is unfortunate that we have to pay nearly as much for just the downpipe as everyone else can get a full turboback. To go CP-E full turbo back is pushing $1400 for us, tho stainlessworks, turbo xs, and a few others are cheaper, it isnt by much, a full quarter of the price is the damn cat.
Honestly, the cheapest way to increase performance via the exhaust and still pass inspection may just be the old tried and true exhaust mod: drop the down pipe, CAREFULLY remove the O2 sensors, and jam a drain snake or piece of rebar into the cat a few hundred times to bust up the guts, shake them out, and reinstall. Restriction eliminated, no CELs (tho the computer will likely go apeshyt for a while trying to adjust itself) and it only cost you a few hours of time.
As stated, the car lives and dies by the blower. The downpipe is the key. There are plenty of catted downpipes out there (for those of us who live in EPA emissions control areas) that are perfectly legal, thou it is unfortunate that we have to pay nearly as much for just the downpipe as everyone else can get a full turboback. To go CP-E full turbo back is pushing $1400 for us, tho stainlessworks, turbo xs, and a few others are cheaper, it isnt by much, a full quarter of the price is the damn cat.
Honestly, the cheapest way to increase performance via the exhaust and still pass inspection may just be the old tried and true exhaust mod: drop the down pipe, CAREFULLY remove the O2 sensors, and jam a drain snake or piece of rebar into the cat a few hundred times to bust up the guts, shake them out, and reinstall. Restriction eliminated, no CELs (tho the computer will likely go apeshyt for a while trying to adjust itself) and it only cost you a few hours of time.
Gettin the resonator removed tomorrow after dropping off my job application, I'll let you know how it sounds with the turbo xs stealthback
I am ready for some more racquet lol.tomorrow im going to try and get my last resonator on my car removed! Im trying to think if it would help my car at all if I got 3 inch piping from the cat back? I have a race pipe installed so I think if i got 3 inch piping back from that it would compliment it?...
having a custom 3 inch pipe made from the cat-back is most likely going to cost just as much as a cat-back and not include a muffler. after the muffler it will cost more than an aftermarket cat-back most likely, not very cost effective.
Brian, you must have an exhaust that has 50 miles on it, because my stock exhaust was droany as hell on the highway, and by far quiet inside the car. My aftermarket exhaust is quieter inside the car, and eliminated the droan you say is "for 17 year old kids who dont know shyt about shyt with their hats on sideways." Buying a can or a muffler for 50 bucks and installing it is not the same as buying a decent quality aftermarket exhaust system.
Brian, you must have an exhaust that has 50 miles on it, because my stock exhaust was droany as hell on the highway, and by far quiet inside the car. My aftermarket exhaust is quieter inside the car, and eliminated the droan you say is "for 17 year old kids who dont know shyt about shyt with their hats on sideways." Buying a can or a muffler for 50 bucks and installing it is not the same as buying a decent quality aftermarket exhaust system.
Silver Ecstasy
Member
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- 11 MS3 Sport
you will not be able to use that muffler with the 3 inch piping, if you do you might as well of not wasted the money because the muffler will act as a bottle neck. so no, you will not gain anything.
now if you use NO muffler and use just a straight through design, it will be the most efficient for the turbo and yes, you will gain from it.
You can have 10 inch piping and no muffler at all and not make more power until you do something about the highly restrictive DP and first cat.
I hear you when you say you have the race pipe. That eliminates the second cat and that will help. But the system from the second cat back, even though it is 2.5 inside diameter and even with the resos and the muffler, will flow more than our K04 turbo will put out. It is an extremely free flowing design with straight through resos and muffler and will flow 300 whp or better without restriction.
Look at my sig. That is a catless 3 inch DP/RP into the stock CBE. I ADDED a 3i nch reso in the middle of the RP to control drone and I'm running 13.4 second quarters at 107 on stock tires and rims.
Making the cat back larger or removing resos or mufflers will not help you make power as long as you have the K04 turbo's limitation on exhaust flow and the really restricive neck in the stock DP and its first cat.
If you have to live with the stock DP/cat changes downstream will never flow better than that bottle neck.
