Hey guys I tried searching here and on google and ran into other forums with this question. I have 2016 IS350 Fsport, I was looking at another thread yesterday of a bunch of people that did the delete on their 350 and really liked the sound of it. Now ive run into an issue since the car is a lease I know I cant cut and weld anything if i plan on returning the car (which I dont think ill do) but in case i do return it, I wanted to know if anyone who has done this have simply unbolted the mufflers and had an exhaust shop weld flanges to the pipes they will put on the car instead of cutting and re welding. That way I can always bolt the stock mufflers back on or take them off as I please. I currently have a little over 2 years left with the car, I might keep it or I might trade it in for a GS considering my wife and I are planning to start a family, its either a GS or keep my IS and get her an SUV lol.

Anyway, if anyone has any input on this it would be great!

Thank you guys!

 

I think you should do it the right way and get an axle-back which you can unbolt and swap at the end of your lease. I leased my car as well and this is the route that I went with.

 

Axel back's don't have the same effect as the muffler delete. Tbh in all of the axel back videos, it sounds almost identical to stock. Besides the Ark exhaust, the muffler delete seems to be the best way to get a throaty growl.

 

I just installed Invidia's Q300 axle-back last week and there was a significant amount of noise difference compared to stock. The difference was night and day and it definitely doesn't sound anywhere close to stock. I was quite skeptical after listening to sound clips, whether it would change the tone of my exhaust to what I want it to. TBH I am very content with the note....coming from a previous G37 owner with a HFC, and axle back. I agree with what you said regarding the muffler delete but OP's main concern was whether the muffler delete would complicate issues with his lease. Therefore, to prevent any future complications he should just do it the "right" way and get a bolt on axle-back. If getting a muffler delete didn't require me to weld and cut, I would've considered it too.

 

Yeah I just figured that he wanted the muffler delete because the axle backs in the sound clips don't sound different. Glad to hear you say that there's a significant difference though. I really wish the videos supported it. I definitely agree with you though that going axle back is the right way as I wouldn't want to cut my stock exhaust either. I'm gunna reconsider getting an axle back myself now that you said it really does sound different. Any chance you can post a video yourself? A lot of the videos show the sound when the car hits the rev limiter, but in actuality, I feel its better to compare the sound at the low to mid rpms.

 

Yeah, I'll try to work out a sound clip in the next few days, probably this weekend. But the difference is huge and I'm probably going to leave it like this until my lease is up. It is noticeably louder and it makes me grin every time I accelerate away from a red light. Super content with it and I'm sure you will too with the axle-back. I've read that Tanabe's axle-back is super quiet so steer away from that if you want more noise.