Review: Tanabe Medalion Touring for Protege5

[Sveivo]

These things are sweet! Did you get yours on eBay?

 

[Sveivo]

does a catback system getbetter gains than an axleback?

Supposedly, but on this car the effect will be minimal.

 

[P-Funk!]

Any performance gain? or just a nicer sound?

 

[Kansei]

There's really no way to misalign things on the RB system. It has two bolts at each joint and there's really no screwing that up. There are other people that have said it rattles against their car so it's not just me.

HOWEVER, I think I have fixed the problem. Getting the Kartboy hangers on required a little bit of lithium grease to aid in popping them onto the stock mounts. When I was done I went back and wiped the excess grease off, but you can never really get it all. Anyway, I got some very small hose clamps, centered up the exhaust, and now I don't have any problems. The way the exhaust is bent there is a pretty close clearance tolerance above the rear axle. When the system slid to the right on the hangers it was just enough to come into contact with the part of the car body that angled down to the right just near that area. I've driven for a day now with no problems, and you can't see the hose clamps at all.

You can easily misalign the racing beat catback, hence why there is an order to which you are supposed to tighten the bolts. The bolt holes in the flanges on the exhaust are much bigger than needed, allowing for some fine adjustments.

But yeah, there's no way that racing beat could have designed their system around crappy stock exhaust hangers that allow a ton of motion.. They should either put a warning about that or include new exhaust hangers (does kartboy even make them anymore? I bought mine years ago so I dunno).

 

[Kansei]

Wow just saw the pics, that's very nice looking. I wonder if I could swap the axleback portion of my racing beat with that, the racing beat cat-back's axleback portion looks to be cut at about the same point as the stock one.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

No performance gains..just nicer sound

Not from ebay..just a local tuner shop


PS: Yes my Mazdaspeed axle-back will be for sale as soon as I clean/wash it. I'll make a new thread on it.

 

[Kansei]

Any idea what size piping inlet it has? My exhaust is all pretty much 2.5" so I'd like to keep it that way

I really love my racing beat, I just don't like the way the tip looks from the back at all.. it's way too Saab/Volvo for my little hot hatch

 

[CTt3P5]

Very nice....fits the bumper cutout perfect.

 

[silverpro5]

Not from ebay..just a local tuner shop

How much did you get it for? Online I'm seeing it in the $380 range...

 

[Kansei]

How much did you get it for? Online I'm seeing it in the $380 range...

Yeah on Tanabe-USAs web site, I saw a suggested retail of $420 and then I remembered that was just for a muffler. I swear my buddy got his tanabe cat-back dual exhaust for like 600ish, and that's quite a bit more piping than a single muffler.. weird.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Any idea what size piping inlet it has? My exhaust is all pretty much 2.5" so I'd like to keep it that way

I really love my racing beat, I just don't like the way the tip looks from the back at all.. it's way too Saab/Volvo for my little hot hatch

2.25 inlet

 

[Shasta]

I think the Tanabe fits great on the P5, looks great. I'll have to try and locate a dealer in my area.

 

[Sveivo]

Friggin' expensive but friggin' sweet

 

[Tasty]

You can easily misalign the racing beat catback, hence why there is an order to which you are supposed to tighten the bolts. The bolt holes in the flanges on the exhaust are much bigger than needed, allowing for some fine adjustments.

But yeah, there's no way that racing beat could have designed their system around crappy stock exhaust hangers that allow a ton of motion.. They should either put a warning about that or include new exhaust hangers (does kartboy even make them anymore? I bought mine years ago so I dunno).

I found the "adjustment" window to be minimal at best. Anyway, the hose clamps have cured all signs of rattling. It just needed to not be allowed to slide to the right. Yes Kartboy still makes exhaust hangers. I just got mine about a week ago. VERY NIIICE (Borat).

 

[Shasta]

I found the "adjustment" window to be minimal at best. Anyway, the hose clamps have cured all signs of rattling. It just needed to not be allowed to slide to the right. Yes Kartboy still makes exhaust hangers. I just got mine about a week ago. VERY NIIICE (Borat).

Glad you got that all fixed up ,both look like fantastic exhausts and either one will fit my bill since I'm looking for a cooler sound without that annoying drone.

 

[Shasta]

So how are you liking that new exhaust now that you have had it a couple of weeks.

 

[Sveivo]

I bet he loves it a whole lot. This exhaust is money. But this is only speculation (peep)

 

[redpr5]

id like to hear it

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Sorry guys for the late update! LOL

Well it has gotten a tiny bit louder in the cold morning. But when warmed up, it's pretty quiet. I would say tiny bit louder than RB catback. When opened up WOT, the tone sounds almost the same. Deep growl.

Inside the cabin, the car is quiet enough not to miss normal conversations between the backseat and front. I can cruise 100km/h in 4th gear at around 3200rpm and it's silent.

In the city, it's audible, but not as audible as the Mazdaspeed axle back which I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about.

In the parkade..I have been unsuccessful in setting off car alarms so that's a good test of the amount of vibration and sound eminating from the exhaust

At WOT, the car feels more responsive now. I can feel the exhaust flow more freely than the old one. I can actually feel the exhaust pulses flow out of the tip. Maybe it's all in my head but I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about.

My brother says he can't hear me pull up to the house anymore. And I dont' wake anybody up when coming home late haha.

I swear I will post clips...this Sunday.


Oh and price was 500 CAD flat from a local shop.

 

[arcane73]

subbin for noise!