B7 S4 to B7 RS4. Downpipe Questions

[burdoogo]

Picked up the RS last weekend, and I couldn't be happier! I've had an S4 since 2012, and last week I found an RS4 and bought the car within the week.

I love the upgraded interior and the increased road feel. The torque up top is absolutely insane. My S4 has a good amount of mods, and I plan to do the same type of mods with the RS4.

On my S4, I had catless downpipes with a Labree exhaust and it was really loud--almost too loud. Do any of you guys run the catted JHM fullback? If so, how's the noise? Would piggies be better? Would there be a huge performance loss going piggies instead of downpipes? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Pics from the night I bought her:

[JEdRS4]

Nice pick-up. Misano is a great color. I run piggies and jhm resonated cat-back. It's just the right amount of loud and sounds great. No doubt full-back is a nicer set-up. Gains are from 2.6" to 2.75" downpipe. Reason I went piggies is price and oem cats are quality.

[burdoogo]

Nice pick-up. Misano is a great color. I run piggies and jhm resonated cat-back. It's just the right amount of loud and sounds great. No doubt full-back is a nicer set-up. Gains are from 2.6" to 2.75" downpipe. Reason I went piggies is price and oem cats are quality.

I love the color. Can't wait to clean the salt from the snow storm, and get her waxed. She's in Virginia for now, and I'm planning to ship her out soon.

I'm really tempted to get the catted and resonated fullback, but scared of the noise and drone. The catless downpipes on my S4 made a huge difference in low end torque. That, plus the exhaust and tune really woke up the car. Hoping to do that soon with the RS.

JHM, you guys will be seeing me around! I'm in the Bay Area.

[badbluers4]

No drone if you go resonated. Do it!!

[badbluers4]

Jed, I don't think the stock DP's are that big. I don't remember and I know they neck down, but I think it's more like 2.2 or something like that.

[EUROSWAGR]

OP, also take into consideration the RS4 pretty much comes with headers from the factory so the sound is more refined with the addition of DPs and exhaust.

I know a few guys specifically that had S4s with 2.5" catless full backs that say their RS4 JHM full exhaust with cats is a lot quieter.

You should really try to meet up with someone to hear a system in person.

[WinterRunner]

I run JHM piggies with an ECS h-pipe and stock piping for the rest, though I did plug the muffler vacuum lines. It sounds really great, esp. at start-up!

[noob5]

I run JHM piggies with an ECS h-pipe and stock piping for the rest, though I did plug the muffler vacuum lines. It sounds really great, esp. at start-up!

I run a set up similar to this except with milltek downpipes and hf cats. I love how it sounds especially with the vac lines plugged (golf T mod).

[burdoogo]

OP, also take into consideration the RS4 pretty much comes with headers from the factory so the sound is more refined with the addition of DPs and exhaust.

I know a few guys specifically that had S4s with 2.5" catless full backs that say their RS4 JHM full exhaust with cats is a lot quieter.

You should really try to meet up with someone to hear a system in person.

Oh, I didn't know that. Definitely good info! I think I'll end up getting the catted downpipes with resonated exhaust. I'm sure with the headers, the drone will be very minimal if there's any at all.

[EUROSWAGR]

Oh, I didn't know that. Definitely good info! I think I'll end up getting the catted downpipes with resonated exhaust. I'm sure with the headers, the drone will be very minimal if there's any at all.

I've never really heard of anyone complain of drone. If you are close to the JHM guys, I'd take a ride out there and have them give you a ride.

[Mdiau]

Nice where about in VA, I'm in Williamsburg

[burdoogo]

Nice where about in VA, I'm in Williamsburg

Nice man. I'm in Chantilly, VA, so a little far from you haha.

[Gareth_oau]

drone and volume is a very personal subjective thing.

I'm running a full non-res milltek system with 100 cell downpipes.

The only time i notice any drone is if I try accelerating in 6th gear from under 2000rpm. If I dont use the gearbox correctly, the drone serves me right.

here's a gopro vid of mine running around the block, there's WOT at 4m40s, 5m40s, 8m40s and 9m25s.




but do your homework as there are half a dozen or so exhausts on the market and you will no doubt choose a different one to mine or other people's tastes.

[Gareth_oau]

No drone if you go resonated. Do it!!

resonated is quite a bit quieter than non-res. it depends how loud you want it.

i went for non-res as I wanted it to sound a lot louder than stock - I certainly didnt want to invest $$$ in an aftermarket exhaust that didnt sound that much different to OEM.

[jaehoppa]

how does jhm resonated compare to stock in terms of loudness both inside and outside. considering the exhaust but haven't decided on res or non-res

[tadhgbrosnan]

I've had a B5 S4, B6 S4, and now this car. Ran aggressive aftermarket exhausts on each. My observation is that the catback is responsible for the in cabin resonance/ drone that occurs after the installation of an aftermarket exhaust.

On the B5 2.7T engine, steady drone occurred around 2800-3K rpm and was particularly annoying at highway cruising speeds. The 4.2 V8 engines w/ aftermarket catbacks suffer from a low RPM boominess between 1500-2K rpm. It's not a constant drone like the 2.7T but it IS very noticeable compared to the very refined sound of the stock exhaust on both the V8 S4 & RS4. Anyone who says that in-cabin resonance doesn't occur is wrong. Some people have more tolerance for it than others but it DOES occur, regardless. Around town, you get caught in 3rd while slowing down for a stop sign or something....you will be subjected to a dose of booming resonance that will make your head explode.

On my B6 S4, I went stock exhaust>Labree catback> Labree fullback>Labree catback. The downpipes seemed to amplify the best attributes of the exhaust. That low-rpm boom was unchanged but the good sounds were raised up to Level 11. When I removed the downpipes right before I sold the car, I was shocked at how much more noticeable the resonance was.

[BIG_blu]

how does jhm resonated compare to stock in terms of loudness both inside and outside. considering the exhaust but haven't decided on res or non-res

I'm interested in this as well. Planning on getting JHM DP's with cats and resonated exhaust this spring.

[thgem72]

I had JHM down pipes coupled to JHM resonated cat back and as indicated above it DOES drone around 1,800-2,000 RPM. I went with another cat back (GMG) that improved on this but didn't solve the issue. An unlicensed 16 yr. old did when she totaled my car.

[Datadatum]

^ Ouch! Hope you were ok.

I don't drive much below 2000 rpm. Just starts and stops. Never cruising.

[thgem72]

Fortunately everyone was and the car held up phenomenally well. It was completely driveable despite having sustained front and rear damage totaling (no pun intended) close to $25k.

The JHM setup was otherwise great. I can't speak to cat back sans down pipe.