Review of ARH Full System
11-25-17, 09:08 AM
#1
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Review of ARH Full System
Hello all,
Roughly two month ago, I was on a quest to find headers for my 2015 Lexus RCF (paired with the Borla). Of course, at that time I only considered the three main options: PPE, Sikky, and Novel (not really, could not justify pricing). Since one of my buddy in the Houston area has a Sikky/Borla combo and it does sounds amazing, I wanted to do something different so I ultimately ruled out Sikky. PPE had a great option and one of the more popular choices at CL, but pricing for the equal lengths were a bit more than I wanted to pay for headers. I heard of a new header manufacturer getting into the RCF market, American Racing Headers (ARH) but they just released their 3" headers and at the time there were not much reviews. They are very popular with the domestic crowd and I have heard that they made great product. So, I reached out to Nick from ARH to learn a little bit more. Exactly one month ago, I was able to work with Nick to get the ARH Full System delivered to me (Headers and full cat-back). While I really enjoyed the Borla system, the headers were 3" so I wanted to try ARH full system throughout. I figured if I wanted to, I can just swap the Borla axleback on later instead of the ARH if I wanted the old sound.
Received the product in a timely manner from Nick. He was great to work with and very professional and enthusiastic about his product. His claims were 3" headers were beneficial and was going to get better gains (dyno results later). To me, of course every owner will try to sell their product so I took his claims with a grain of salt but was excited to give it a shot. The long tube headers looked great and I was excited to get it installed. Their exhaust is connected via clamps therefore I had the options of going with high flow cats, cat delete, resonators and resonators delete.
My initial reactions:
Quality: The headers looked great and seem like they were made with quality materials. Since they are longtubes, they look much bigger than the Sikky that my friend has. Being longtube headers, you can see the long tubes stick out from under the car which was pretty cool. The exhausts were all connected via clamps and I was worried of exhaust leaks, but there were none and it came out great. Being connected via clamps gave me the options to go with different setups (catted vs catless and resonated vs res delete). I originally went with High Flow Cats and Resonators. After a few minutes of driving, decided that resonator delete was the way to go and it was not a hard process to swap it out.
Speed: It felt quicker up top compared to my Borla. I was estimating probably 15-20whp gain just judging from my butt dyno (actual dyno results further down).
Sound: Just a disclaimer, sound is subjective. My Borla was already pretty loud so I was in love with that setup. When I got the ARH headers installed with cats and resonators, it seems muted and very quiet. After a few minutes of driving, the resonators came off and it sounded much better (although I still prefer it louder like the Borla system).
Dyno: Prior to installation, got the car to a dyno shop and put down 404 WHP and 347 FT/LBS as a baseline with the Borla exhaust. When I got it dyno it after the headers were installed, I had high flow cats on and it dynoed at 432WHP (+28whp) and 384 FT/LBS (+37 ft/lbs). I was impressed by the numbers since I was expecting less. Threw in a drop in filter and the max was 436WHP and 390 FT/LBS. Just for comparison purposes my friend with his Sikky RCF dynoed on the same day (Borla/Sikky Headers/Drop in Filter/E85 Blend) made 438WHP and 389 FT/LBS of torque. In my honest opinion, the E85 blend didn't do anything and these headers were almost identical in numbers.
Final Opinion: I believe headers are all somewhat similar. Just different sounds/material used/sizes. Be sure to do your research before making your decisions. I ultimately took off the ARH exhaust and went with a custom X pipe and 3 inch piping up to the Borla axleback. Now I have no cats and no resonators, and boy is it loud. Might be too loud. I will post videos and sound clips later.
If anyone have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Harold
Roughly two month ago, I was on a quest to find headers for my 2015 Lexus RCF (paired with the Borla). Of course, at that time I only considered the three main options: PPE, Sikky, and Novel (not really, could not justify pricing). Since one of my buddy in the Houston area has a Sikky/Borla combo and it does sounds amazing, I wanted to do something different so I ultimately ruled out Sikky. PPE had a great option and one of the more popular choices at CL, but pricing for the equal lengths were a bit more than I wanted to pay for headers. I heard of a new header manufacturer getting into the RCF market, American Racing Headers (ARH) but they just released their 3" headers and at the time there were not much reviews. They are very popular with the domestic crowd and I have heard that they made great product. So, I reached out to Nick from ARH to learn a little bit more. Exactly one month ago, I was able to work with Nick to get the ARH Full System delivered to me (Headers and full cat-back). While I really enjoyed the Borla system, the headers were 3" so I wanted to try ARH full system throughout. I figured if I wanted to, I can just swap the Borla axleback on later instead of the ARH if I wanted the old sound.
Received the product in a timely manner from Nick. He was great to work with and very professional and enthusiastic about his product. His claims were 3" headers were beneficial and was going to get better gains (dyno results later). To me, of course every owner will try to sell their product so I took his claims with a grain of salt but was excited to give it a shot. The long tube headers looked great and I was excited to get it installed. Their exhaust is connected via clamps therefore I had the options of going with high flow cats, cat delete, resonators and resonators delete.
My initial reactions:
Quality: The headers looked great and seem like they were made with quality materials. Since they are longtubes, they look much bigger than the Sikky that my friend has. Being longtube headers, you can see the long tubes stick out from under the car which was pretty cool. The exhausts were all connected via clamps and I was worried of exhaust leaks, but there were none and it came out great. Being connected via clamps gave me the options to go with different setups (catted vs catless and resonated vs res delete). I originally went with High Flow Cats and Resonators. After a few minutes of driving, decided that resonator delete was the way to go and it was not a hard process to swap it out.
Speed: It felt quicker up top compared to my Borla. I was estimating probably 15-20whp gain just judging from my butt dyno (actual dyno results further down).
Sound: Just a disclaimer, sound is subjective. My Borla was already pretty loud so I was in love with that setup. When I got the ARH headers installed with cats and resonators, it seems muted and very quiet. After a few minutes of driving, the resonators came off and it sounded much better (although I still prefer it louder like the Borla system).
Dyno: Prior to installation, got the car to a dyno shop and put down 404 WHP and 347 FT/LBS as a baseline with the Borla exhaust. When I got it dyno it after the headers were installed, I had high flow cats on and it dynoed at 432WHP (+28whp) and 384 FT/LBS (+37 ft/lbs). I was impressed by the numbers since I was expecting less. Threw in a drop in filter and the max was 436WHP and 390 FT/LBS. Just for comparison purposes my friend with his Sikky RCF dynoed on the same day (Borla/Sikky Headers/Drop in Filter/E85 Blend) made 438WHP and 389 FT/LBS of torque. In my honest opinion, the E85 blend didn't do anything and these headers were almost identical in numbers.
Final Opinion: I believe headers are all somewhat similar. Just different sounds/material used/sizes. Be sure to do your research before making your decisions. I ultimately took off the ARH exhaust and went with a custom X pipe and 3 inch piping up to the Borla axleback. Now I have no cats and no resonators, and boy is it loud. Might be too loud. I will post videos and sound clips later.
If anyone have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Harold
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Lexura1414 (11-25-17)
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finny76 (11-25-17)
11-25-17, 01:41 PM
#3
Great review harold i had a few questions. did you install this yourself or a shop? and can you mention cost for install?
Also, are getting more power in the lower RPM range or did it just give you top more end power?
Any check engine light?
airlaird
Also, are getting more power in the lower RPM range or did it just give you top more end power?
Any check engine light?
airlaird
11-26-17, 07:50 AM
#5
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
As far as power - it seems to be across the powerband. I'll try to find my dynosheet and post it above.
There was a check engline light. I don't think there is any ways around that.
GOT8SPD, I tried it without resonators but with cats and it sounded fine just not as loud as my old Borla. If you like a more mellow tone, I think it would sound good. PRobably sound better without cats too.
11-27-17, 12:37 PM
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Just a couple of questions for you, so your friend with the SIKKY equipped car was tuned and running E85 but made the same power as your untuned pump gas setup? Thats pretty significant! Since the long tubes really change the airflow characteristics the car would pick up much more from a tune I'm sure. Subscribed for updates!
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11-27-17, 01:12 PM
#8
Just a couple of questions for you, so your friend with the SIKKY equipped car was tuned and running E85 but made the same power as your untuned pump gas setup? Thats pretty significant! Since the long tubes really change the airflow characteristics the car would pick up much more from a tune I'm sure. Subscribed for updates!
11-27-17, 01:13 PM
#9
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Just a couple of questions for you, so your friend with the SIKKY equipped car was tuned and running E85 but made the same power as your untuned pump gas setup? Thats pretty significant! Since the long tubes really change the airflow characteristics the car would pick up much more from a tune I'm sure. Subscribed for updates!
Just to clear up some confusion, headers will almost guarantee a check engine light. The only way to remove it is via a tune which should theoretically increase power too.
ARH claims to have a "Green Cat" that will prevent a check engine light but I cannot vouch for that since I did not have that installed. The cats that came with the system still had a check engine light but apparently those Green Cats are more efficient.
Last edited by IMCHIA; 11-27-17 at 01:26 PM.
11-27-17, 02:08 PM
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Oh, thats a bit misleading since you said it was E85 above. Okay. With the E30 setup, did he have to do any conversion? Usually Flex fuel upgrade entails a sensor / harness addition and custom tuning to allow the engine to operate correctly for the new fuel. It's unheard of to just blindly add E30 mix to the tank with no tuning. I'm sure It definitely contributed to the power over 93 or else why would he even attempt to run E30? I'm just very curious as to how to do this conversion.
PS: Where did you find E30 in Houston? I lived there for quite a few years (2011-2017) and never saw anything under E85!?
Still running the ARH headers all the way to the O2 sensors then running a custom X pipe and Borla axleback. Since there is no resonators, it's really loud. I will be welding on a pair of resonators soon.
Wait why was the ARH X-pipe replaced? That bolts straight up to the Borla cat-back with zero modification? What would the advantage be to replacing the ARH pipe because it would have already been cat-less and resonator-less? Sorry for so many questions, I just want to understand the benefits. How was the custom x-pipe different?
He is not tuned and I don't believe E85 blend (E30) made any difference. We might get tuned in the near future though.
Just to clear up some confusion, headers will almost guarantee a check engine light. The only way to remove it is via a tune which should theoretically increase power too.
ARH claims to have a "Green Cat" that will prevent a check engine light but I cannot vouch for that since I did not have that installed. The cats that came with the system still had a check engine light but apparently those Green Cats are more efficient.
Wait why was the ARH X-pipe replaced? That bolts straight up to the Borla cat-back with zero modification? What would the advantage be to replacing the ARH pipe because it would have already been cat-less and resonator-less? Sorry for so many questions, I just want to understand the benefits. How was the custom x-pipe different?
He is not tuned and I don't believe E85 blend (E30) made any difference. We might get tuned in the near future though.
Just to clear up some confusion, headers will almost guarantee a check engine light. The only way to remove it is via a tune which should theoretically increase power too.
ARH claims to have a "Green Cat" that will prevent a check engine light but I cannot vouch for that since I did not have that installed. The cats that came with the system still had a check engine light but apparently those Green Cats are more efficient.
PS: Where did you find E30 in Houston? I lived there for quite a few years (2011-2017) and never saw anything under E85!?
11-27-17, 02:22 PM
#11
I had it installed by a buddy at a shop so install was a bit cheaper than normal. But I think usually it's around 700-800 dollars for headers install due to number of hours.
As far as power - it seems to be across the powerband. I'll try to find my dynosheet and post it above.
There was a check engline light. I don't think there is any ways around that.
GOT8SPD, I tried it without resonators but with cats and it sounded fine just not as loud as my old Borla. If you like a more mellow tone, I think it would sound good. PRobably sound better without cats too.
As far as power - it seems to be across the powerband. I'll try to find my dynosheet and post it above.
There was a check engline light. I don't think there is any ways around that.
GOT8SPD, I tried it without resonators but with cats and it sounded fine just not as loud as my old Borla. If you like a more mellow tone, I think it would sound good. PRobably sound better without cats too.
11-27-17, 02:23 PM
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I am just hoping it sounds aggressive enough without any cats or resonators. I can get a super good deal 2650 for whole system shipped.. just wanna make sure it's what I want. I have sound clips and sounds great but volume/sound is hard to tell with smartphone videos.. also would I run into any issues with CEL with no primary cats?
11-27-17, 02:48 PM
#13
I'm just wondering if it's going to be aggressive sounding enough or if I am better off going with just arh headers and borla exhaust? I know IMCHIA preferred the borla but he had the cats still... does removing the cats really add any more aggression to the sound?
11-27-17, 06:24 PM
#14
11-27-17, 06:47 PM
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A on O2 spacer you mean? Meh that hardly ever works. Maybe on an early 2000's Japanese car but anything these days will catch on quick as its constantly looking at bank 1 / bank 2 long and short term fuel trims pre and post cat while comparing. It's quite complicated.