Exhaust loudness list
Unfortunately this type of list is very difficult to make. It all depends on what certain individuals consider loud or quiet and what the can remember it sounded like when they heard it. Not to mention the supporting mods one car has such as Downpipe, exh manifold, turbo, high flow cat , test pipe and also important the brand used for each. Different thickness of exhaust tubing and designs may change the sound slightly .
For what its worth here are all the exhausts I had from personal experience. Please note for my taste, if its 1 db louder than stock its too loud. Just to give you an idea. Also dont be fooled with video clips. They dont capture the exhaust dynamic / loudness of an exhaust unless you can compare to OEM in the same video clip. Otherwise turn the volume down on your PC and that side exit straight through muffler is as loud as OEM.
Scale of 0-10 (0 is OEM TBE and 10 is just o2 housing dumping to atmosphere) From what I remember here is the list:
Buchur Full 3” TBE with 6” center magnaflow muffler in place of the cat and with dynomax VT muffler in the rear. This was the quietest system I had. Sound quality wise it kind of sounded like a tractor though. It had a flapper inside the muffler that would open and close. Normal driving it was closed, WOT or partial boost the exhaust pressure would push it open. WOT it was actually not that loud sounded like a quiet wastegate opening, if that makes sense. Stock like quiet normal diriving but like I said sounded like a quiet tractor. (1 scale)
Buschur 7” Magnaflow muffler rear with 6” magnaflow center quietest of them all as a full straight through turbo back exhaust. Louder than stock still, but for complete 3” straight flow through this was the quietest I had as a straight flow through exhaust without any flapper system that opens and closes. (2 scale)
Cobb- Quieter than the Tenabe as a full TBE but not stock quiet. But gets a little louder over time as maybe internal sound deadening materials burn up ? (3 scale)
Tanabe Touring - Quiet and pretty much perfect as a Catback with oem downipipe and cat. But it gets louder for my taste when completed as a full catlesss turboback. Also its not completely 3” . It tapers inside the muffler. (As TBE 4 Scale , as catback 1 or 2 scale)
Buschur Bullet mid muffler and custom Vibrant Oval muffler rear. As full TBE it was not even close to as quiet as I wanted to get. It was still on the loud side. (5 Scale)
RRE stealth - I dont know why people call this a quiet exhaust. It was not really that quiet at all. It looked oem like because its painted flat/matte black but it was not quiet as TBE. (6 scale)
Jun BL - Loud about a 9 scale. Excellent quality and build but loud TBE .
I think I’m missing a couple things I may have had or done. I did run 3” Works midpipe exhaust piping mated to the oem muffler with 3” downpipe and catless midmuffler. It became a little louder than oem but not too bad. It just had a lot more Bass to it. But inside the car it was kind of perfect. WOT was great as well, nice and quiet.
I also tried another 5 or so downpipes as well, but thats a different story.
Eventually I learned that unless you engineer and invent your own super muffler, nothing else exists thats a straight flow through 3” muffler that will make a catless system exactly OEM quiet. But you can make a system that has a electric or Boost Actuated cutout that mates before a restrictive muffler with only purpose to keep it quiet. Only problem is I want to be quiet when I WOT as well.
For what its worth here are all the exhausts I had from personal experience. Please note for my taste, if its 1 db louder than stock its too loud. Just to give you an idea. Also dont be fooled with video clips. They dont capture the exhaust dynamic / loudness of an exhaust unless you can compare to OEM in the same video clip. Otherwise turn the volume down on your PC and that side exit straight through muffler is as loud as OEM.
Scale of 0-10 (0 is OEM TBE and 10 is just o2 housing dumping to atmosphere) From what I remember here is the list:
Buchur Full 3” TBE with 6” center magnaflow muffler in place of the cat and with dynomax VT muffler in the rear. This was the quietest system I had. Sound quality wise it kind of sounded like a tractor though. It had a flapper inside the muffler that would open and close. Normal driving it was closed, WOT or partial boost the exhaust pressure would push it open. WOT it was actually not that loud sounded like a quiet wastegate opening, if that makes sense. Stock like quiet normal diriving but like I said sounded like a quiet tractor. (1 scale)
Buschur 7” Magnaflow muffler rear with 6” magnaflow center quietest of them all as a full straight through turbo back exhaust. Louder than stock still, but for complete 3” straight flow through this was the quietest I had as a straight flow through exhaust without any flapper system that opens and closes. (2 scale)
Cobb- Quieter than the Tenabe as a full TBE but not stock quiet. But gets a little louder over time as maybe internal sound deadening materials burn up ? (3 scale)
Tanabe Touring - Quiet and pretty much perfect as a Catback with oem downipipe and cat. But it gets louder for my taste when completed as a full catlesss turboback. Also its not completely 3” . It tapers inside the muffler. (As TBE 4 Scale , as catback 1 or 2 scale)
Buschur Bullet mid muffler and custom Vibrant Oval muffler rear. As full TBE it was not even close to as quiet as I wanted to get. It was still on the loud side. (5 Scale)
RRE stealth - I dont know why people call this a quiet exhaust. It was not really that quiet at all. It looked oem like because its painted flat/matte black but it was not quiet as TBE. (6 scale)
Jun BL - Loud about a 9 scale. Excellent quality and build but loud TBE .
I think I’m missing a couple things I may have had or done. I did run 3” Works midpipe exhaust piping mated to the oem muffler with 3” downpipe and catless midmuffler. It became a little louder than oem but not too bad. It just had a lot more Bass to it. But inside the car it was kind of perfect. WOT was great as well, nice and quiet.
I also tried another 5 or so downpipes as well, but thats a different story.
Eventually I learned that unless you engineer and invent your own super muffler, nothing else exists thats a straight flow through 3” muffler that will make a catless system exactly OEM quiet. But you can make a system that has a electric or Boost Actuated cutout that mates before a restrictive muffler with only purpose to keep it quiet. Only problem is I want to be quiet when I WOT as well.
oh, and instead of using buschur's 7" magnaflow, I had them fit this:
a little larger, still confirmed fit under there & jdm rear.
this is what I got in my quest for quietness - except I have a cat instead of a mid-muffler. which would you guys say is quieter between cat & mid muffler? as well as a resonator for that matter?
oh, and instead of using buschur's 7" magnaflow, I had them fit this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XQJZ3Y/
a little larger, still confirmed fit under there & jdm rear.
oh, and instead of using buschur's 7" magnaflow, I had them fit this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XQJZ3Y/
a little larger, still confirmed fit under there & jdm rear.
Resonators in my opinion are too small to make a significant sound dynamic (loudness) impact compared to a muffler as it has way less sound suppressing material inside. They might make more of a difference in the sound/tone of the exhaust compared to how much they will quiet it down.
In my case it was the other way around. The Cobb I bought brand new, the RRE i bought used. Perhaps the RRE had worn down from usage and the sound suppressing material was burnt up and not as effective as new. Also this is assuming your Cobb didnt have an exhaust leak. Some if not most had an issue with the welds cracking/splitting on the resonator portion. Mine did and I had it welded over.
A lot of people run and love this exhaust, including e_kobz and I. It's very streetable and not restrictive at all. It also doesn't have the cylinder muffler look that police are attracted to. If you shine a flashlight through the exhaust tip, it looks like a true 3" exhaust all the way, but i'm skeptical.
If I remember tonight, i'll take pictures and a precise measurement of the inside of muffler portion since we already know the piping is 3". Unless anyone can find a datasheet and save me the trouble haha. According to their website the pipe Diameter is 80mm and the tip is 100mm. They usually list whenever there is a taper.
If I remember tonight, i'll take pictures and a precise measurement of the inside of muffler portion since we already know the piping is 3". Unless anyone can find a datasheet and save me the trouble haha. According to their website the pipe Diameter is 80mm and the tip is 100mm. They usually list whenever there is a taper.
I know this is very subjective, but I'd have to disagree with the RRE exhaust not being quiet and I have an aftermarket downpipe as well. I've been approached by DSMers and current/former evo owners that thought it was stock both in sound and appearance. I only saved 5lbs over the stock cb if I remember right.
I will agree that the Tanabe Medallion cb exhaust I had seemed to be a tad bit quieter and had a very nice tapered muffler tip and good tone to it, but did neck down under 3" by the cat.
The 3" Buschur Racing cb was gnarly and loud which I didn't mind at the time and was very easy to install because of how light it was.
I will agree that the Tanabe Medallion cb exhaust I had seemed to be a tad bit quieter and had a very nice tapered muffler tip and good tone to it, but did neck down under 3" by the cat.
The 3" Buschur Racing cb was gnarly and loud which I didn't mind at the time and was very easy to install because of how light it was.
Honestly I dont know. Perhaps the high flow cat is quieter because its more restrictive than a 3” straight through muffler. But also may depend on the muffler size as well.
Resonators in my opinion are too small to make a significant sound dynamic (loudness) impact compared to a muffler as it has way less sound suppressing material inside. They might make more of a difference in the sound/tone of the exhaust compared to how much they will quiet it down.
In my case it was the other way around. The Cobb I bought brand new, the RRE i bought used. Perhaps the RRE had worn down from usage and the sound suppressing material was burnt up and not as effective as new. Also this is assuming your Cobb didnt have an exhaust leak. Some if not most had an issue with the welds cracking/splitting on the resonator portion. Mine did and I had it welded over.
Resonators in my opinion are too small to make a significant sound dynamic (loudness) impact compared to a muffler as it has way less sound suppressing material inside. They might make more of a difference in the sound/tone of the exhaust compared to how much they will quiet it down.
In my case it was the other way around. The Cobb I bought brand new, the RRE i bought used. Perhaps the RRE had worn down from usage and the sound suppressing material was burnt up and not as effective as new. Also this is assuming your Cobb didnt have an exhaust leak. Some if not most had an issue with the welds cracking/splitting on the resonator portion. Mine did and I had it welded over.
So my setup would be the mil.spec 200 cel cat, that resonator somewhere in the middle, and the can magnaflow I have. I think that will be fairly quiet, my evo's already quieter than most.
This is the resonator I was looking at, pretty good reviews - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001806YE2/ obviously not to be used by itself
So my setup would be the mil.spec 200 cel cat, that resonator somewhere in the middle, and the can magnaflow I have. I think that will be fairly quiet, my evo's already quieter than most.
So my setup would be the mil.spec 200 cel cat, that resonator somewhere in the middle, and the can magnaflow I have. I think that will be fairly quiet, my evo's already quieter than most.
any thoughts on what the ideal mounting point of this item would be? right in the middle between the cat and the muffler, closer to the muffler, closer to the cat?
FYI I think I'm going to get this part. my guess is, more than muffling the sound overall, it probably reduces "auxiliary" sounds - i.e., drone, other noise due to excessive turbulence/vibration, etc, but not reduce "sound-sound" on a strict decibel level unless the car has a lot of quakes. hopefully it does quiet things down regardless - I like a quiet car.
any thoughts on what the ideal mounting point of this item would be? right in the middle between the cat and the muffler, closer to the muffler, closer to the cat?
any thoughts on what the ideal mounting point of this item would be? right in the middle between the cat and the muffler, closer to the muffler, closer to the cat?
Let us know what you find out or how it sounds.
i'll take a look next week, thanks!
FWIW I have to imagine this will clear. it is ovular in shape, so the "height" is only 4.5", so 0.75" closer to the body of the car.
http://www.streettunedmotorsports.co..._resonator.htm
Regardless, I will definitely make sure this fits
FWIW I have to imagine this will clear. it is ovular in shape, so the "height" is only 4.5", so 0.75" closer to the body of the car.
http://www.streettunedmotorsports.co..._resonator.htm
Regardless, I will definitely make sure this fits
Last edited by kyoo; Jun 19, 2017 at 11:56 AM.
juuuust fyi: i bought this guy:
to at least somewhat standardize the sound coming out of the car. unless you guys find a reliable way to measure this it's completely subjective. cheap enough (was $12 when i bought it). i'll hold 6" in front of the wheel at idle & highway cruising, as well as 6" behind the exhaust to see what kind of readings I get. I'll repeat the same holding all else equal except adding the resonator I purchased.
to at least somewhat standardize the sound coming out of the car. unless you guys find a reliable way to measure this it's completely subjective. cheap enough (was $12 when i bought it). i'll hold 6" in front of the wheel at idle & highway cruising, as well as 6" behind the exhaust to see what kind of readings I get. I'll repeat the same holding all else equal except adding the resonator I purchased.
juuuust fyi: i bought this guy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AHK8WUW/
to at least somewhat standardize the sound coming out of the car. unless you guys find a reliable way to measure this it's completely subjective. cheap enough (was $12 when i bought it). i'll hold 6" in front of the wheel at idle & highway cruising, as well as 6" behind the exhaust to see what kind of readings I get. I'll repeat the same holding all else equal except adding the resonator I purchased.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AHK8WUW/
to at least somewhat standardize the sound coming out of the car. unless you guys find a reliable way to measure this it's completely subjective. cheap enough (was $12 when i bought it). i'll hold 6" in front of the wheel at idle & highway cruising, as well as 6" behind the exhaust to see what kind of readings I get. I'll repeat the same holding all else equal except adding the resonator I purchased.
My current setup from the previous owner is extremely LOUD! I'm running the FP black with vband SS housing , MAP vband 3" o2 downpipe , fp cast manifold and ported. The rest of the exhaust is a non resonated testpipe and some eBay catback looks to be either Megan or generic.
I bought buschur SD muffler cat back portion and also a 4" Magnaflow muffler to put in place of the test pipe. Unfortunately I have not had any time yet to install them yet. I know it's not going to be nearly as quiet as I want, but I'm curious what it will sound like. Next I'm thinking of getting a boost actuated cutoff , drilling a hole to allow the motor to breath and install it inline with the exhaust (not as a cutoff dump style).
Boost actuated Cutoff :
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Boost-Activate...%257Ciid%253A1
thanks - I remember seeing your name in continued quietness quests, I think we're on a fairly similar page.
buschur is who I went with for my muffler, shipped him a bigger magnaflow, the biggest I thought would fit there. I used to run a 6" magnaflow where the test pipe/cat goes, a 6" will fit fine, just FYI. I'm running a 200 cel mil.spec cat there now but I can't comment on which is quieter because the setups were on different cars.
I'm just looking for some standardization when we talk about loudness. I am also going to compare the decibel reader I got with my phone and see how they compare.
buschur is who I went with for my muffler, shipped him a bigger magnaflow, the biggest I thought would fit there. I used to run a 6" magnaflow where the test pipe/cat goes, a 6" will fit fine, just FYI. I'm running a 200 cel mil.spec cat there now but I can't comment on which is quieter because the setups were on different cars.
I'm just looking for some standardization when we talk about loudness. I am also going to compare the decibel reader I got with my phone and see how they compare.
