I've heard the Ark idling, and it's noticeably louder than my Invidia (RWD).

The thing to note about exhausts is that measuring sound without engine load (i.e. parked) is not an entirely accurate procedure. It also does not take into account resonance and ultimately drone.

 

I want an exhaust that requires no modification to fit an X sedan.

So it looks like the Tanabe is the quietest exhaust that fits my car?

 

I am putting on FI exhaust next week, I'll let you know if it's too loud.

 

in general, i feel my ark is very loud, a lot louder than stock. and i felt mislead with the videos ive heard of it. again these are all subjective opinions of mine and my only baseline is hearing stock exhaust and then my ark. never heard any other exhausts in person

 

That's exactly why I started this thread, I want to avoid that situation. What exhaust would you get if you had to buy one today?

Even within this thread, opinions are all over the place about the same exhausts.

 

the ark is the loudest of all the options listed here...

 

So ARK is the loudest, and Invidia doesn't fit the X without modification. So what do we have left for options?

Stillen, Fast Intention, Tanabe?

 

I think the consensus is

Loud: ARK and Stillen
Quiet: Invidia and FI
Quietest: Tanabe axle back

 

I've narrowed my selection down to the Greddy Spectrum Elite and the Tanabe.

I'm leaning towards the Greddy because I'm having a hard time dealing with that 'rocket booster' look of the Tanabe...

Since the Greddy is a mid-pipe back exhaust, I believe it will fit my X, but need to confirm that as well, but a vendor here said it would. Can anyone confirm?

I also need to confirm that I can polish off that burnt blue look off the exhaust tip and make sure the Greddy is not obnoxiously loud. I've read that the blue can be polished off, but would like to confirm it can be done on the Greddy.

I'll start a new thread about that if i can't find an answer.

Thanks to all for the great feedback!

 

I wish the Tanabe had removable tips.

 

Greddy is 91db, stock is 86db. I remember seeing Tanabe's rating somewhere, but I don't recall what it was. At least that's another option...

 

I think Tanabe is 93db. Or not to exceed 93db.

 

Just looked up the price, $1375 for a mid-pipe back
Might be better off getting an Invidia & mod the y-pipe?

 

I haven't heard the Greddy for the new g but a friend of mine did have a greddy axle back for his first gen g35 coupe and it sounded really nice. It was surprisingly quiet and barely any drone in the cabin. Tanabe sounds very nice as well not as quiet as invidia but a lot more quiet then then stillen, fast intentions, and ark. But one problem is that its only a axle back. If you don't really care for performance gain and just want a nice throaty sound, I would recommend the tanabe. And its the cheapest out of all of the systems.

 

I don't know much about exhaust so I might be wrong, but doesn't Tanabe also offer Y-pipe, which makes it equivalent to the Greddy mid-pipe back system?