( I did not want to thread jack another Thread about different exhausts in relation to drone, so I made this one.)

Via Mr. Webster himself,



Droning-v.intr. To make a continuous low dull humming sound: 'Somewhere an electric fan droned without end'.

I need help understanding everyones perception of drone. Drone to me is the sound that can be heard in the cabin that an exhaust system makes. Gains on our cars are minimal from any exhaust, only real difference is the acoustics aspect. My question is why pay for an exhaust like the Tanabe, that can barely be heard to avoid "drone" when "drone" is the ONLY real characteristic difference an aftermarket exhaust has to offer for our cars for the money you pay.

I read sometimes that members say they have a Catback(ie Invidia mid-pipe paired with a tanabe exhaust.) and it doesn't drone. Or even a F-Sport paired with an Invidia mid-pipe, and members saying it doesn't drone that bad. I've had this setup before and my mom would tell me that my dog would start barking because she can hear me coming when I first turn down my street which is 1/4 mile away from my house. How does it drone be classified as not bad at that point.

 

whats up, im not sure what are you trying to say, but the drone went down after installing the my car (only had tanabe)

 

The gains are minimal... if you check the same dictionary you'll find that's not the same definition as non-existent.

About 7 rwhp. Which is about a 3% gain on the 350. Not great... but more than any intake, and really more than anything at all besides headers, nitrous, or a supercharger.

To me, I want gains worth the cost, that don't make the car offensive in some other way.

The Joe Z or F-sport intakes are excellent in this regard... they don't make the car sound obnoxious, and they add about 5 rwhp. The Joe Z is better in the bang/buck dept and it's what I'd have if I hadn't gotten an insane deal on my F-sport intake. The Joe Z is like $125 for 5 hp... that's $25 per hp. A massive bargain on the 2IS.

The Tanabe exhaust gives you 7 hp for 600-700 new... still more than I think is worth it, but at least it doesn't make the car sound obnoxiously loud. I bought mine used for $400, dropping the cost to about $57/hp. While it's slightly louder than stock it's not by much, and I can comfortably have conversations both on the phone and with other passengers in a normal speaking voice. As I said, I didn't buy a Lexus to have a loud car.

For folks who want louder exhausts, they're certainly out there... but if I'd wanted something that set off car alarms I'd have kept my 500 hp Impala.

The full exhausts that are $1500 give you about 10 hp... or $150 per hp. That's nuts in my book. Plus they're illegal in all 50 states. So those are out to me. But for folks who want every last hp regardless of cost, yet somehow don't want an IS-F, there's not a lot of other options.

Midpipes are awful bang/buck to my mind, several hundred bucks for maybe 1-2 hp, and illegal... so I don't bother with em. Some folks like the change in sound they produce, others don't.

PPE headers are pretty good bang/buck too, but again there's the illegal thing stopping me (and the more significant potential impact to warranty than just intake/exahust).

A supercharger, if you can piece one together, puts you back in the $100/hp or more category, and makes little sense compared to just getting an IS-F.

Nitrous is the remaining bang/buck leader, but there's legal issues there too if you leave it hooked up all the time, and if you don't it's just dead weight in the car the rest of the time... (this leaves out the risk to the motor if done wrong too).


So really, if you want +legal hp... an axle-back and an intake are all you've got... and bang/buck wise they're not awful if you make good choices, or want a louder car for some of the exhaust options.


But to get back to your point- louder exhaust does automatically mean drone. Drone is not just "the noise an exhaust makes" it's an annoying constant....well... drone... inside the cabin, usually at a given rpm or in a small rpm range. It's entirely possible to have a "loud" exhaust that doesn't drone in the rpm range the car spends much time in.

The Impala I mention for example was loud even at idle. I could idle through a parking lot and set off overly sensitive car alarms... but the cabin didn't have any drone inside it doing this. (unless the car alarm made a droning noise )

 

Wow, another good read, Kurtz. Thank you.

 

would you say the greddy se or hks hi power have drone?

 

if you wanna reduce drone in your car you can always dynamat your trunk, too. i'm considering doing this

 

Any CAN like exhaust will sound best, but DRONE the most(ie, HKS hi power, and megan drift spec). But the good thing about these exhausts are that they have silencers and baffles available that make the exhaust sound close to stock when it comes to drone. Therefor, you can have the exhaust roar when you feel like it, and quiet when you want.

 

It only drones when you are lugging the car using high gears @ low revs going up inclines or accelerating.

 

I see what youre saying, MiiK350... but actual exhaust drone is rather annoying (coming from larger engine experience than the little is250). Although i dont have aftermarket on my 2IS, other cars I've had had some substantial exhaust drone... just that low rev, constant deep exhaust tone. True, the 2IS has limited options, performance being negligible, but if any 2IS has the typical BAD exhaust drone, I would not be interested (never heard any in person... sadly. It's my biggest hold-up )