Plan for spring is muffler upgrade. Want more growl and power. Anybody had both that can comment sound difference?

I've heard clips but not in person. I want a nice rumble at idle and growl at wot.

Thoughts?

 

The muffler/2nd cat delete is the cheapest route by far, but if you want dyno proven gains go for a cat back exhaust. Borla is good but in my opinion Joe Z is of better quality, and it sounds better too.

 

Not sure you're going to get a growl at WOT with no muffler/cat delete. It's more of a raspy race car sound at the high end. Not sure about the power gains, but I get a lot of attention and the "thumbs up" from ALL SORTS of car guys.

 

I guess I can do muffler cat delete for 100-200 if don't like it. Take off and go Borla later.

Is cat/muff delete livable as a daily?

 

My Borla cat back arrives tomorrow and I am getting it installed on Tuesday, I almost did the muffler/cat delete but it would be way too loud for me on daily basis. I will update on Tuesday what I think of Borla

 

Can't speak for daily, since mine isn't... but man does it turn heads. It's livable on road trips, since if you are cruising on level ground it barely makes noise, only on slight inclines. And primarily at 2k RPM's. If the RPM's sit higher or lower than 2k, you're solid. Oh and expect your MPG to decrease significantly, you'll be shifting higher just to hear the exhaust, and downshifting when coming to stop...... more often.

I would say the muffler/cat delete is similar to the QES track exhaust from ISS Forged, but more tame at low RPM's. Doesn't make as much noise down low. There will be performance gains, just haven't dynoed yet. Common sense says that if you remove restrictive parts of the exhaust, there's less back pressure, in other words more power.

 

i've had the borla cat back for about 7 months now and i think it's pretty quiet/tame. w/ the windows rolled up, sometimes i hardly notice it, which my wife loves. i've contemplated removing the middle resonator for more sound but i'm worried about the excess drone that will produce.

 

I showed my wife the different video clips of the exhaust options and she thought they were all too loud, funny thing is she thinks the stock exhaust on my car is too loud. The Borla was the only one she thinks she can live with so I went that route. If it is too quiet for me when I get it installed next week then I will sell it and go with Joe Z and live with an angry wife

 

tell your wife to drive her own car

if she thinks the stock exhaust is loud, her hearing is too sensitive as is.

 

I would go with the Borla over a muffler+cat delete. That way if you decide to sell the car, you will have an original exhaust in hand. Plus, I don't like just a pipe behind our fake tips; I rather have a muffler.

 

I've had the muffler delete (only) for the last 6 months and it got annoying as a daily driver especially with all the hills that I deal with in Seattle. My gf got annoyed of it real quick and soon started to bug me as well, so I put my stock mufflers back on new years day and loving it quiet again. Plus it was only $50 to put it back to stock, can't really beat that.

However, I did like it a lot for the first couple months. It sounded awesome at startup and got plenty of compliments.

Now, I feel that it's a little too quiet and the road noise is just as annoying hahaha. I'm still considering the borla catback and was waiting for the ISS DES axleback that they mentioned a couple months ago but have heard no updates about it...

 

Haha yes, she drove my car to work for a couple days while I was having her IS 350 serviced and detailed. She hated my car so much, she said she had windows down and a guy in a Mustang saw pulled up next to her and wanted to race and kept talking to her. She couldn't wait to give my car back to me

 

A female with a 350?!? Not 250?!
That's rarer than the ISF!

If money is a factor I think the cat/muffler delete will not disappoint.
Like VJ said, it will drone at 2k rpms primarily.

Personally I'd wait and opt for a catback
My car has thr ISS QES & always turns heads and is simply more fun to drive.

It's all a matter of $$

 

Has anybody done a in car audio? I'd like to hear from drivers seat. Windows up start up, cruise and wot etc.

 

Can't be that rare, even my mom has a 350! Mostly due to me pushing her to get one instead of a 250.