Anyone use an add-on resonator to quiet a loud exhaust, like the ones from Vibrant Performance? What is the impact on noise level, sound quality, or performance? I am considering one to quiet my 3-inch cat-back. My wife and kid are getting headaches! I still have the factory cat and downpipe. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

i added a resonator is it did nothing. the exhaust was still loud as hell
the only way to get a free flowing quite 3" exhaust is to get rid of the stupid rice round mufflers that most of the cat backs come with

you need to get a large straight through oval muffler and it will be super quite
i have this one on my turbo integra with 3" turbo back exhaust with no cat and its super quite http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/3-C-C...spagenameZWD1V

the problem with the evo is that most ppl run very small 6" diamater round mufflers with only a 14 inch body

the bigger the muffler the more quite it will be

 

A buddy of mine added a 3"resonated test pipe to his 3" downpipe with a 3" hKS catback exhaust and it lowered the sound and tone of the exhaust greatly. At the time I had the same setup but with a straight 3" test pipe and it was too loud then I made the switch!

 

Riceball, it's not a ricey exhaust, it's actually a Borla. But I take your point well - it's hard to end up with a quiet system when you start with a loud muffler. Problem is, I like the sound quality of the system enough to try to save it if that is possible. Also, I'm not sure how large a muffler fits under the Evo. The stock muffler was pretty small.

If the consensus is tht a quieter muffler is the only way to go, then I may have no choice. More than one member here has mentioned Magnaflow for building quiet mufflers. I'd like to add a downpipe and HFC some day, and I know that's going to add MORE volume. I'll never do it if it's too loud. So I'm looking for the quietest thing out there.

Charger, you found a BIG improvement with one resonator added? That is encouraging. Who manufactured the resonator you refer to, and was it a bottle style (looks like a bulge in the pipe) or can style (looks like a little round muffler)?
Dimensions would be helpful, too.

If anyone wants to comment on what other systems would be quieter than the Borla, I'd like that feedback, too. My main concern is this exhaust is too loud under load or during high speed highway driving when fifth gear rpm's get up to 3.5k or higher. At 2.5k on the highway it's not too bad, but past that, it's too loud.

Thanks!

 

I'm in the same position as many of you, I need a more quiet exhaust. I'm thinking about having the stock axleback modified to bolt on to the AMS TBE I've got. Or I may look into getting a magnaflow exhaust or perrin.

 

from my experience, adding resonators, even 3" core w/ 12" lenght, did NOT quiet down the noise! I had two of them, still did nothing. I think it actually made it louder. On some cars, like my Eclipse GST, it did get rid of resonance but no effect on our evos.

Look into magnaflow mufflers sized 7" core x 18" lenght. I think it's the same one that Buschur uses. A vendor quoted me $50 shipped. Of course, you'll have to spend another $150 getting welded at your muffler shop.

GL and let us know how it turns out...

 

Have not made any changes to the exhaust yet. Put some Dynamat in the trunk instead. Helped a little.....

 

I know there is huge backlash against them, but I'd be curious to see if a dual muffler or single larger muffler would do anything to reduce noise, yet keep the flow going.

Something 'like' :



or...



My logic being that if you get a muffler that is designed to work with and handle the exhaust of a V6 or V8, and you can line it up with the evo catback, surely it would be considerablly quieter?

 

I made a "Muffled Resonated Test-Pipe" when I removed my cat. FWIW the car did not get louder after removing the cat and replacing it.

I used a dynomax Bullet Race Muffler and had 2 flanges welded on it and bolted it up in place of the cat. It's 3" straight through with a half inch of fiberglass surrounding via perforated tube.

Not quite a resonator and not quite a muffler and not quite a test pipe, I think it fit the bill nicely. YMMV.

 

Is the car loud inside the cabin or just loud inside & out?

if it's just annoying inside, you might want to line your trunk/spare tire area with carpet padding. go to a carpet seller & get their highest density padding.

I made a 3" exhaust w/a hi-flow cat, 12" resonator located before the rear diff utilizing a maganflow 14x8x5 muffler = loud cabin noise & ok outside noise.

I sold it! To loud for me inside the car.

I then made another exhaust: 3" hiflow cat, 2 18" dyno max sillencers & a 18"x7" themal muffler + I added the carpet padding.

To me, the car is much quieter inside & out. Especially inside

Strangly enough, my decibel measurements that i took dont reflect how much quieter the exhaust note became?

However, my car is soo much quieter, inside & out.

No dyno numbers, but there was as much of of a power gain with my new set-up than with my previous set-up. The guy who i sold the exhaust to did pick up 28whp over his stock system.

 

Wow, you have the stock cat in place and the exhaust is still to loud? What catback do you have?

I know our catback with the Magnaflow and a stock cat is VERY quiet. As a matter of fact even our Bullet muffler is quiet with the stock cat. We use the Magnaflow muffler on the BR330 and BR350 cars. It's quiet enough for the dealership and brand new cars.

 

Where/how did you do the decibel measurements?

 

^ with a hand held db meter that the company i work for owns.

 

i have a custom 3'' catback. when i had the 14'' magnaflow muffler, i added on a 3 freaking feet perforated 3'' resonator...it was considerably quieter but still too loud for me on the highway....got the 18'' magnaflow muffler now, with the resonator the car basically sounds stock, except lower..

in my experience muffler is most important, but having resonators will help too. i had a 12'' resonator on the 14'' muffler before i slapped on the 3 feet resonator, and the 12'' resonator did nothing...

conclusion: quiet muffler + a sh*tload of resonator....hard to quiet down full 3'' TBE IMHO.

 

David,
It's a Borla catback. At idle and low load/low rpms, it is like stock. The volume is only bothersome when I'm cruising on the highway above 3000 rpms. Around town, momentary acceleration is not as loud or as annoying since it is intermittant. A lot of tuner car drivers would probably be satisfied with it, but I really want the interior as quiet as possible for family road trips. I don't mind if it's a little loud outside the car!
If you don't mind sharing, which Magnaflow muffler do you use?

I put 5.25 pounds of Dynamat Extreme in the trunk and that did help a little. I am considering doing the doors (probably about 10 pounds of material for that) and maybe adding Dynapad (removable!) to the trunk.

Anyone with any feedback on the Dynamat strategy?