amirza786
Senior Member
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- Northern California
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- 2022 Polestar 2, 2010 Lexus IS 350 Sport
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I have seen a lot of questions recently from people on this forum asking about what type of exhaust they should install, should they do a muffler/resonator delete, etc. I cannot answer the questions on the muffler/resonator delete, but since I am one of those who installed a performance exhaust, I can speak on this from my experience. Instead of asking what type of exhaust should I install, I think the question should be "should I install a performance exhaust". If you go thru the many blog posts, youtube videos, and look at all the companies that specialize in quieting down "loud exhausts", you will realize the following:
90 percent of those that install performance exhausts:
1. Install straight pipe or performance exhaust to make the car louder & throw away stock exhaust
2. Install mufflers, resonators etc. to make the car quiet again
3. Regret throwing away the stock exhaust
Before I go on, let me give the pros of performance exhaust systems:
They look much better than the stock exhaust
You get a slight performance boost over the OEM (this is explained by Engineering Explained)
The sound is much more aggressive over the OEM exhaust
Cons:
Performance Exhausts can cost between $800 and $1500
They can be loud under hard RPM's
They are very loud on cold start-up
They drone at certain rpms and at highway speeds
If they are not Cat-Back (Catless) they are not street legal in some states like mine
Your neighbors may hate you
After installing my aFe Takeda 3" Stainless Steel Performance exhaust, I was happy, although being $800 poorer. The sound was more aggressive, it looked better than the OEM HDMI exhaust tip, and it was only a little louder than the OEM exhaust. What more can I want? I didn't have a place to store the old exhaust as my wife did not want it the garage (she uses it for other storage), so I sold it for $300. Everything was great, and then I got on the freeway. After 60 mph, it began to drone. And the drone was very annoying. I took a trip from Northern Cal to Southern Cal (360 miles), and the drone for 7 hours at 80 mph was very annoying. Although I got used to the sound doing my everyday commute, my wife hated it. She no longer wanted for me to use my car when we went places because she said it was to loud and gave her a headache.
So like the 90 percent of people who wanted to go back to a quieter ride but got rid of the OEM exhaust, I began doing research on how to "quiet a loud exhaust". I was finally able to do it, but at the cost of adding a Glasspack and then resonator ($69 for the resonator and $50 for the install) to get it almost OEM quiet. Now it's quiet on the freeway when cruising and gives a low grumble when going hard, but at the cost of voiding the warranty from aFe.
So if you were to ask me is it worth getting a Performance exhaust? My answer to you is if you like it loud and don't mind the annoying droning sound when cruising on the highway and don't have a problem shelling out at least $800, than go for it. But there is going to be a point, and if you watch all the youtube videos on "dronning" even the most hardcore performance enthusiast gets tired of it and will look for ways to get rid of it. If you like things more quiet, than my advice is stay with the OEM exhaust which is well designed, and does not have the drone performance exhausts have and put your money in some other worthwhile mods such as Ktuner or perhaps a Performance Intercooler
90 percent of those that install performance exhausts:
1. Install straight pipe or performance exhaust to make the car louder & throw away stock exhaust
2. Install mufflers, resonators etc. to make the car quiet again
3. Regret throwing away the stock exhaust
Before I go on, let me give the pros of performance exhaust systems:
They look much better than the stock exhaust
You get a slight performance boost over the OEM (this is explained by Engineering Explained)
The sound is much more aggressive over the OEM exhaust
Cons:
Performance Exhausts can cost between $800 and $1500
They can be loud under hard RPM's
They are very loud on cold start-up
They drone at certain rpms and at highway speeds
If they are not Cat-Back (Catless) they are not street legal in some states like mine
Your neighbors may hate you
After installing my aFe Takeda 3" Stainless Steel Performance exhaust, I was happy, although being $800 poorer. The sound was more aggressive, it looked better than the OEM HDMI exhaust tip, and it was only a little louder than the OEM exhaust. What more can I want? I didn't have a place to store the old exhaust as my wife did not want it the garage (she uses it for other storage), so I sold it for $300. Everything was great, and then I got on the freeway. After 60 mph, it began to drone. And the drone was very annoying. I took a trip from Northern Cal to Southern Cal (360 miles), and the drone for 7 hours at 80 mph was very annoying. Although I got used to the sound doing my everyday commute, my wife hated it. She no longer wanted for me to use my car when we went places because she said it was to loud and gave her a headache.
So like the 90 percent of people who wanted to go back to a quieter ride but got rid of the OEM exhaust, I began doing research on how to "quiet a loud exhaust". I was finally able to do it, but at the cost of adding a Glasspack and then resonator ($69 for the resonator and $50 for the install) to get it almost OEM quiet. Now it's quiet on the freeway when cruising and gives a low grumble when going hard, but at the cost of voiding the warranty from aFe.
So if you were to ask me is it worth getting a Performance exhaust? My answer to you is if you like it loud and don't mind the annoying droning sound when cruising on the highway and don't have a problem shelling out at least $800, than go for it. But there is going to be a point, and if you watch all the youtube videos on "dronning" even the most hardcore performance enthusiast gets tired of it and will look for ways to get rid of it. If you like things more quiet, than my advice is stay with the OEM exhaust which is well designed, and does not have the drone performance exhausts have and put your money in some other worthwhile mods such as Ktuner or perhaps a Performance Intercooler
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