I had a shop install it just cause i didnt wanna scratch it up and im a big guy so under the car was kinda claustrophobic, haha... they charged me like $40 and for some reason they said that the bracket on the right side bracket needed to be heated and bent a little for the tip to have better centered clearance, and that sounded kinda fishy to me since everyone was raving about the perfect fit...Do u guys think anything is up? Maybe I should have another shop look at it or something. The guys said it should be fine but after bumpy road driving they said to keep an eye out for if the tip falls outta centered positioning from the bracket trying to move back to original position from where they bent it. I don't know!


So far I love the sound. I hear the smoke it emits is normal, you can smell it too by the way so that should go away and once the sound calms down a bit it will be perfect. I am hoping 1-2 weeks will break her in. I love how it overpowers my intake now so I have that perfect 70% exhaust and 30% throttle body noise ratio back. Before with stock exhaust, my JWT pop charger was too overpowering and throaty. Now the combo is PERFECT!!!

I will post videos of my Tanabe Exhaust and JWT+Tanabe drive-bys soon! Keep your eyes peeled!

 

how does it compare to stock? ... idling? full throttle? regular driving?

any raspy ness or droning?

 

It's deeper and more muscular than stock. mature...refined...a bit loud at the very beginning I hear but should break in to perfect...just crusin with the windows up is MINIMAL extra noise....crusin with windows down is almost no noise. VERY pleasing to the ears. for me the mature, sophisticated tone is more practical than the louder Borla/GReddy, especially cause I plan on leaving my mods at just springs, intake, exhaust for a couple years and just chillin. If you plan on taking your mods to a higher level you may want a catback.

Idling - sounds like a slightly deeper rumble than stock, VERY subtle change.
Full Throttle - I havent all out launched her yet but in spirited driving the noise was VERY refined. It's got that classy tone, no rasp.
Regular driving - just a subtle increase in depth and bass and a deeper hum than stock.

Videos - Coming soon!!!

 

Very interested to see the video. I have the Tanabe and am getting the JWT
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Detriot, are you copying me?

 

Haha nope cause im not doing HFC's. Just JWT & Tanabe rear section for now!!!!

 

Bumping this old thread rather than creating a new one. I just installed mine tonight. The only snag was rounding off one of the 4 nuts that holds on the OEM exhaust. Oops! Thank God for bolt-outs. It was about a 25 minute install form start to finish including getting the rounded nut off.

As far as quality of the fit and finish of the part, it's superb. Beautiful finish. Pretty welds. It's a shame it has to go under the car. When installed the driver side on my unit is about 1/4" or so off center. You have to be really **** about stuff like I am and look really closely to even see it. That much could be attributed to the hanger being slightly bent from shipping or installation (twice as mine is slightly "broken in" by a previous owner) so I won't knock Tanabe about that.

The sound is deeper and throatier as everyone else has said. There is absolutely no rasp or rattly sound whatsoever. Adolescent rice lovers need not apply. The sound and start up and idle is similar to stock except ever so slightly deeper. However to disagree with some reviews, it is indeed louder than stock while driving. Noticeably. Not obnoxiously loud, but louder nonetheless. Cruising it's not a lot louder but slightly louder. Accelerating is moderately louder and deeper than stock up to about 5K RPM. From 5K up to red line, it's not as deep and rumbling but has a very smooth, almost exotic sound that's not much louder than stock. No drone in 6th up to about 80 MPH or so. Above 80 there is noticeably more cabin noise than stock but not so much so as to be extremely irritating. It's there but it's not too bad IMO.

WOT is a treat. When you're at WOT you're not really concerned about keeping it quiet anyway, right? That's when this thing lets the beast out of the cage. I can only describe the symphony it produces as "The Exhilaration of Acceleration". Automotive music to my ears. Definitely louder than stock. The neighbors will notice.

Overall, the words that come to my mind to describe the sound are refined, smooth, throaty, powerful, and slightly exotic.

Now to get my Berk HFC's installed and decide on whether I want to spend more for the Tanabe Y that looks pretty, buy one from Exhaust Depot that's just as functional but costs less, or go a local guy who'll probably fab and install it for me for under $200... Hmm...

 

^Nice write up. Since you already have the Tanabe on, could you by by any chance make a before/after video with the HFCs? I have the Tanabe but not sure how the exhaust note would change with HFCs
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Bruin, I won't lie - I'm very likely just too damn lazy. That and I own no camcorder at the moment because I "donated" mine to a friend who's out of the country for a while. I have the ability to take short video clips with my digital camera, but I don't know if the quality of the sound will be any good. I'll try to get some.

 

No worries, if no video, I'd trust your verbal description. But anything would be much appreciated.
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Are there any gains from the Tanabe? I havent seen any dyno charts yet. Also, where did you guys get it from?

 

I also have a Tanabe Medallion, which I just put on a few days ago. Black Betty is 100% dead on in the review. I also agree with the points that Black Betty disagreed with others on, which was the difference in sound compared to stock. In my opinion, there is a significant difference between this and stock.

I have to tell you guys, I was really dumbfounded seeing reports from people who were indicating that the Tanabe Medallion wasn't really much louder than stock. You've got to be kidding me.... It is definitely louder than stock, in all ranges, ESPECIALLY before break in, where it hasn't toned down. At first, I was seriously beginning to think that this was still too loud for my tastes in general, but I allowed it about 200+ miles of mixed driving to tone down to a better refined sound. I'm happy to report that this _after_ allowing this exhaust to break in does NOT significantly compromise the driving experience with skull jarring, deep, heavy over-drone that seems like a feature on other exhausts.

Before purchasing the Tanabe Medallion, I watched the videos that the fellas here were cool enough to post to get an idea of what it looked and sounded like on the car. They generally sound pretty decent, but what you miss in the video is just how deep the tone really is and how much resonance you hear in the cabin with the medallion that you got very little of with stock.

Idle is a much meatier, deep tone at first until the car warms up and then it settles down to a little deeper purr, which is similar behavior to stock, but a it settles to a little more pronounced idle.

The 1-2 shift can no longer be dismissed by your ears and people around you like the stock setup. Now you hear and feel it significantly more than you ever did on stock. Now, I'm not the attention magnet type, so less of this is more to me, but give me a little... You know what I mean? Anyway, I think this is pretty balanced with more bias to the loud end of the spectrum. I like it because it's not overdone.

Cruising in 2nd or 3rd with RPMs at around 2500-2800 or so seem to make it drop into its heaviest tones and this seems to be where you get more deep cabin tone (lower volume after break in). When I'm out of that RPM range (above it), it gets much quieter and seems to transition into that higher pitched, primal-like sound as you excellerate, and that's when the real fun begins. Some of the best notes come from this setup after that point and as you accelerate to redline. That's where you get to hear the best that the exhaust has to offer and I agree that it has an exotic note to it.

So, if you're looking to tastefully restore some of the aggressive tone that Nissan engineered out of the G37 without taking too much luxury out of your luxury sports ride, this just might be what you are looking for.


P.S. nope, I didn't make any videos because I knew I didn't have anything that could capture they way this exhaust really sounds, so I didn't even try it. Also a note to those that were concerned about the smoking of the exhaust... That's not unusual for new exhausts because there is commonly a very thin application of an anti corrosive agent or an oil that burns off as the exhaust is used for the first time.

Alright, there's my 2 cents... and let me toss in a plug for Andy of HPAuto who I ordered the Tanabe Medallion from. Andy is great to work with and is very responsive to inquiries and is good with timely resolution of concerns. Thanks again Andy.

 

I agree 100 percent with Black Betty and icel0rd.

I was wondering if it was "too loud" under load. I've put about 1000 miles on them now. I'm not one to attract too much attention to myself while driving, so the louder 2000 to 2500 RPM exhaust note is almost too loud for me in the car, but I'm getting accustomed to it now.

 

That pretty much sums it up. I REALLY liked the sound before break in and do somewhat miss it. It still sounds pretty close accelerating but the deceleration sound has greatly decreased. It's probably more noticable on the AT vs Manual, the AT trasmission generally keeps RPM low, which is why I find myself using manual more often when I want to hear it.

The difference between stock is significant,so much so it seems as with stock the sound I was hearing was from the engine and now I can actually hear the exhaust, and as mentioned a very low tone indeed.