Hello everyone,

I am sure there a lot of posts here about exhausts etc and reviews, but maybe someone can point me to the one specific dealing with my question.

I am looking for a fairly budget friendly cat back or axle back system that sounds fairly stock during normal (slow) driving, however sounds much louder and better than stock when really pushing the car at WOT. (don't want to go with the muffler delete option)

Would appreciate some advise and/or info about specific post here on the forums.

(BTW this is for AWD model)

Thank you

 

I have tanabe axle back... honestly its very close to stock.... not much louder at WOT.. but pairs well with the gen 3 intake

 

tbulsara,

If the tanabe axle back is very close to stock why even bother with it? Not just a waste of money? ....

 

It kinda is. If i were to do it over again i would go a different route.

And it's only axle back.

You could just replace the resonators with a set of vibrant 12" ones. Thats what i have with my tanabes and it sounds good.

 

Top speed y back or axle back if high have the coupe, coupe one is 300 ish, sedan 550 and call it a day! Sounds great and mean when accelerating

 

Yup. Top Speed Y Pipe Back sounds like just what you are looking for. I have it, and it is quite when cruising, but gets much louder under hard acceleration.

 

What you're describing is an OEM catback matched to a pair of high-flow cats. It's stealthy, and has the added benefit of being a a genuine power mod.

 

But what route would you go.... Resonated or non-resonated cats with OEM exhaust.. That's the question....

 

If you're going to keep the OEM catback, then go with non-resonated cats.

If you're going to eventually replace the OEM catback, then get resonated cats, and future-proof against potential rasp.

Resonated cats + OEM catback is virtually the same as OEM. Just a hint of something not quite normal going on to the ear, although certainly a power mod. There's a more sinister growl under load, but that's about it.

 

Would that and a muffler delete add a little more volume?

 

Do any of the cat-back systems give much performance advantage, or is it mostly about sound? I plan on doing HFCs and intake, would my performance or mpg be improved with a cat-back?

 

A muffler delete would add a LOT more volume, no matter what else you do.

When putting a system together in your head, it's easy to think of the exhaust in abstract terms, so I get why you might think it's a viable option to replace your cats and delete your mufflers, while retaining the rest of the OEM setup.

But the reality is, once you get the car on the lift and start analyzing things, you'll realize what a POS the OEM exhaust is. At that point, you'll start visualizing how much better things would be without it.

 

This is the route I plan on going with -- after the winter... I'll go with the Fast Intentions RHFC's since the diameter is 2.25" for the sedan... I'll keep my somewhat 'stock' catback (everything is stock except for larger piping from the resonators to the mufflers) and eventually experiment with swapping out the y pipe or mids....

I'll be sure to post videos of the set up once completed. I'll be giving Tony another call at FI to finally get my car dialed in -- he and I met about getting my M35 custom fitted with one of his catbacks but I went a different route a fews years back. I can't wait for the spring

....darn mod bug!