Thanks. I haven't read up on them much but I've seen that you need a tune with HFC's? How would HFC's affect drone and rasp?

 

Nope. You will see a performance bump with the high-flow cats, regardless. But getting your car tuned will optimize performance with whatever you have going on.


More likely if the cats aren't resonated, or you don't have long resonators in your catback. Either way, the trade-off for bolt-on power is added NVH. That's the way it works.

 

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss6psAdwvqM"]#1[ /url] minus the space on the closing tag.

 

I go through this thread maybe every day and I have no idea what exhaust to get for my G sedan.

Looking at the ARK CBE but I've seen posts on how the drone is annoying on it and youtube vids all sound different even on the same CBE.

 

I ran Fast Intentions with 18" resonators on my G Sedan and loved it! Drove it from OH to NC and didn't have trouble with drone. I now run Fast Intentions on my Z, without resonators, because I simply love the sound! Drone is there, but it really doesn't bother me.

In the end, it really just depends on what you're looking for, how much you're willing to pay, and what you're willing to put up with in terms of sound. Are there any G Sedan owners with CBE's near you? You may want to meet up and experience it in person.

 

ShuuraRG touched the key component there marky. You have to determine what you can handle. What others call awful, un-godly drone may not be that bad for you. For example, I've been reading for over a year about how awful the drone was with a muffler delete. Well, needed to have my front passenger side axle replaced and told the shop to chop the mufflers for me while they were at it. Have to say, it's not that bad and is waaaay over - exaggerated on the forums IMO. Yes, there's a bit of drone but I drive 100+ miles daily and I'm fine with it.

That said, I have a 7AT and there's a considerable amount of drone while in "D" vs driving 'manually'. The 7AT's desire to get to the highest gear drops those RPMS and it can boom inside the cabin. I found that by keeping the car one gear lower than it desired, RPMs above 2k, you can all but cancel out 90% of the drone.

My advice, throw out the $100 bucks and get the muffler delete. Use that as a gauge for what exhaust you want to go with. Better to spend the $100 and make a calculated guess on an exhaust vs taking people's word for it.

 

I had Tanabe, Motordyne, and now I have Ark and it is by far my favorite of the three. I don't have any drone, but I do have in-cabin noise. Anyone who tells you any catback exhaust (except for maybe FI) is "like stock" when not pushing it is full of sh*t. Like RMB and others have said, its purely subjective. The youtube videos of the Ark don't do it justice at all, and neither did the Motordyne videos. Your best bet is finding someone local to let you hear it in person.

 

For me I went a custom route and did 2.5" all the way through, total price of system was 650. Love the way it sounds now and I'll do a new video and post it soon.

Now have the following

FI non resonated HFC's
Magnaflow 11386 2.5" X-Pipe
TC SPORTLINE Mufflers with specs of

MUFFLER TIP: 3.5"
INLET: 2.5"
TANK LENGTH: 12"
TOTAL LENGTH: 19.75"

Sound clip below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zbZgjhoCtvOr3CMd2

 

Looking for some advice...I've got a '13 x sedan and want to do some exhaust work. Just looking to get a little more sound than what the stock setup provides. With the budget I have set I can either go for an axle-back or high flow cats. Right now I am leaning toward hfc's for the potential performance benefit and I'd prefer the exhaust tips to remain stock (not a huge fan of some of the aftermarket tips).

My question to you is...does anyone know what the expected lifespan is on a set of high flow cats (berk, stillen, etc.)? I drive my G a lot, at least 2,500 miles/month, and don't want to have to replace the cats in two years after I install them. Can I expect a set of hfc's to have the same lifespan as the stock cats?

 

I would say that cat life depends on the fuel you use and how hard you drive your G. I have a HFC on my turbo Optima and its been in place for at least three years and I haven't had any issues with it. i just put a set on my G that were used for at least 15k and they still looked new.

 

In attempt to get an exotic sound out of my G for cheap, I removed the mufflers and increased the piping ID to 2.5" from the OEM resonators. Unfortunately, I am experiencing a ridiculous amount of drone (1500-3000RPM).

Lesson learned. Don't be cheap and understand more than you think you should.

So after doing some more research, I am thinking of replacing the oem resonators with Vibrant ultra quiet (#1141) and then later on adding chambered mufflers where the oem mufflers were. My hope is that the vibrant resonator will eliminate a lot of the drone, while providing a deeper tone.

In my specific circumstance, is replacing the oem resonator the best solution for removing the drone while deepening the tone? Or would swapping the oem resonators with aftermarket mufflers also provide the same or better results?

My goal is to eliminate as much drone as possible, while maintaining a deep low tone and to minimize the introduction of adverse sounds such as rasp.

Greatly appreciate any feedback or advice on which direction to go.

 

Resonators = change resonance

Mufflers = muffle/baffle sound

Get some Magnaflow 3 chambered mufflers. 2.5 piping until the Y-pipe. Keep stock Y.

See what you got after that. then add resonators if you want to tame things down.

 

@RMB5190 Thank you, I will do some research on those mufflers (MagnaFlow XL 3 chamber Mufflers #13236)
as well as 2 vs 3 chambers. I just want to verify that I am understanding you correctly. Are you suggesting to replace the oem resonators with the magnaflow 3 chambers, or keep the oem resonators and install the magnaflows where the oem mufflers used to be?

***After seeing a picture of the actual mufflers and realizing how big they are, I'm assuming you meant to keep the oem resonators and add the magnaflow mufflers in the stock position.

Sorry for the redundancy, but will the addition of this muffler have much of an affect on eliminating drone or is it just going to primarily affect the tone? My understanding is that the resonator is the most important part in controlling drone, but at the same time I've heard various set ups with mufflers in place of resonators that don't exhibit any drone.

 

Lol yes, in place of the stock muffler location.

Resonators control rasp more than anything. Mufflers affect the drone. Check out a muffler delete vs resonator delete. Muffler delete usually results in a deep/boomy sound (can confirm) resonator delete results in a rougher/raspier sound.

The 3 chamber mufflers will give you that exotic and aggressive note while dropping the boomy-ness of your current exhaust note. If you want to got louder/more aggressive from there, I'd run 2.5 pipe the rest of the way to the Y-pipe; deleting the stock resonators. If you want to tweak it from there, or have unwanted rasp, add the Vibrant resonators. Figure this should run you around $500 for Mufflers, stock tips (re-used), 2.5 piping (resonator delete) to the stock Y.

 

afrayedknot have you heard other setups before in real life?

My ark drones pretty badly 1.5 to 2k.

My car with oem IPL exhaust also droned. But slightly less.

I just want to make sure your expectations are in the correct place.

I think RMB's suggest is good.