Loudest reasonably-priced exhaust setup with minimal rasp and tolerable drone?

[thefleshrocket]

I installed the ECS X-pipe on my '15 S4. I took it out for a drive before installing the axle-back part of the exhaust. It's droney in the low-end, somewhat raspy in the mid-range, but sounds epic from 5-7.5K RPM. So then I reinstalled the stock axle back, and my smile turned upside down. MUCH quieter everywhere except that the mid-range rasp is a lot more noticeable. I promptly removed the axle back and have been driving around for the last couple of days with it sitting on the floor in my garage. Not something to be proud of, but at least I smile when I twist the 3.0T to the far end of the tach.

I'm actually okay with the level of loud that comes from the ECS X-pipe with the missing aft section, though I'd be okay with it being a little quieter. Even the rasp is mostly tolerable, but that's because the rest of the exhaust tones are loud enough that they kind of override the rasp. I would like to dial back the drone a bit, too. It's not intolerable, though.

I am trying to figure out what the best solution is. The thing that would make me the saddest would be to spend a grand or more on exhaust only to have it be too quiet, so preserving sound volume is paramount.

I was thinking about the Polo Performance exhaust but then I found JoeKayo's vids, linked in this thread https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...-lt-1000-miles, in which he basically said he was selling it because of the rasp. Now, that said, his car had headers and no cats, so maybe his experience isn't representative of what someone with stock headers and cats would experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8f9hhw8RBg

Additionally, JoeKay's exhaust was starting to show corrosion after ~1K miles, and turns out that Polo Performance uses T409, not the heartier T304.

I was thinking about the AWE track edition, which seems to be reasonably priced at ~$1045, but the description says "This system will produce a louder tone in the mid range." which makes me worry that it'll be raspy or droney. https://www.awe-tuning.com/awe-b85s4-track-edition

The AWE touring edition description claims "civility when idling and at part throttle cruising, while also producing a war-cry wail when full throttle is applied" but at $1495, it's on the high side of pricey and I worry that it'll be too quiet. https://www.awe-tuning.com/awe-tunin...ystems#tab-180

And, I've heard complaints about the tips on the AWE exhausts being junk. Then there's the downpipes.. which are $650-$850. I assume the non-resonated downpipes would add volume if the touring edition was too quiet, but add those and I'd be north of $2K for exhaust, which is just too much to justify spending.

So, what exhaust or combination of parts will keep my exhaust loud but stifle the rasp and dial back the drone? I know there are other threads about this but they're either a million pages long or.. hundreds of thousands of pages long.

[ndirish1994]

AWE track is definitely droney. I personally don't mind it, but if you're the least bit annoyed by drone I wouldn't recommend it. The polished tips are hard to keep clean and the finish deteriorates pretty quickly if you don't keep them clean.

[vinniem3]

How much would a Full Borla Exhaust Kit cost? I mean, you're quoting prices over $1500, so I'd think you could always just use a Borla setup?? (In which your post states that you wanted to keep cost down)....so I get that part 👍. I'm using a non Cat setup (for now...Cali Law would have my ass!), but I intend to get Cats back on (Old Cats went Bad!). Anyway, it's a race pipe from Manifolds down to the stock mufflers (which I'd like to change out for an RS7 style Dual Tips), and a Flowmaster Dual in-Out Resonator in the middle. Sounds pretty good but I'd like a "Deeper" tone like the current muscle cars (Dodge, Ford, Chevy). Don't think it's possible from a 3.0 S/C engine.
I mean the SRT, etc is Supercharged and it has a mean rumble!

[B18b1ex]

I installed the ECS X-pipe on my '15 S4. I took it out for a drive before installing the axle-back part of the exhaust. It's droney in the low-end, somewhat raspy in the mid-range, but sounds epic from 5-7.5K RPM. So then I reinstalled the stock axle back, and my smile turned upside down. MUCH quieter everywhere except that the mid-range rasp is a lot more noticeable. I promptly removed the axle back and have been driving around for the last couple of days with it sitting on the floor in my garage. Not something to be proud of, but at least I smile when I twist the 3.0T to the far end of the tach.

I'm actually okay with the level of loud that comes from the ECS X-pipe with the missing aft section, though I'd be okay with it being a little quieter. Even the rasp is mostly tolerable, but that's because the rest of the exhaust tones are loud enough that they kind of override the rasp. I would like to dial back the drone a bit, too. It's not intolerable, though.

I am trying to figure out what the best solution is. The thing that would make me the saddest would be to spend a grand or more on exhaust only to have it be too quiet, so preserving sound volume is paramount.

I was thinking about the Polo Performance exhaust but then I found JoeKayo's vids, linked in this thread https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...-lt-1000-miles, in which he basically said he was selling it because of the rasp. Now, that said, his car had headers and no cats, so maybe his experience isn't representative of what someone with stock headers and cats would experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8f9hhw8RBg

Additionally, JoeKay's exhaust was starting to show corrosion after ~1K miles, and turns out that Polo Performance uses T409, not the heartier T304.

I was thinking about the AWE track edition, which seems to be reasonably priced at ~$1045, but the description says "This system will produce a louder tone in the mid range." which makes me worry that it'll be raspy or droney. https://www.awe-tuning.com/awe-b85s4-track-edition

The AWE touring edition description claims "civility when idling and at part throttle cruising, while also producing a war-cry wail when full throttle is applied" but at $1495, it's on the high side of pricey and I worry that it'll be too quiet. https://www.awe-tuning.com/awe-tunin...ystems#tab-180

And, I've heard complaints about the tips on the AWE exhausts being junk. Then there's the downpipes.. which are $650-$850. I assume the non-resonated downpipes would add volume if the touring edition was too quiet, but add those and I'd be north of $2K for exhaust, which is just too much to justify spending.

So, what exhaust or combination of parts will keep my exhaust loud but stifle the rasp and dial back the drone? I know there are other threads about this but they're either a million pages long or.. hundreds of thousands of pages long.

If you have a good exhaust person build your own! Mandrel bent piping, two magnaflow 12-14” resonators, two single in dual out quality mufflers and four tips or two single in single out and one to two tips! You can probably get them to do down pipes as well for the cost of one of those a systems. Since you deal with snow you may need stainless but certainly not that ultra shinny stuff none sees and everyone pays a premium for.


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[KRp220]

its going to be tough to find a combo thats both loud and doesn;t drone as they seem to go hand in hand, to an extent
AWE touring with non res downpipes would be my first suggestion. you can pick up a used touring system for around $1000 and have the stock downpipe resonators removed by a muffler shop for under $200
there are usually plenty of people selling the track section if the touring section isn't loud enough for you

[MSq5]

I do not know if this will work for us, but on other platforms with very open free-flowing exhausts, including catless, when drone or rasp was an issue I killed rasp and drone with Vibrant UltraQuiet straight through resonators. They are a true straight through design. No added restriction. Volume stays pretty much the same but they tune out the nastiness.

When I eventually go catless, I intend to see if I can find a place. They have a dual in dual out muffler that is made the same way, same straight through design, same materials as the resos. That might work. 2.5” inlets, 2.25” on the outlets.

Just a thought. I honestly don’t know if they fit. I do know they have been extremely effective when I’ve used them.

[B18b1ex]

Just a thought. I honestly don’t know if they fit. I do know they have been extremely effective when I’ve used them.

I have two of these after my xpipe and before the tunnel support bar. Makes a world of difference!





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[BigKeshy]

IIRC, there was a thread posted recently that discussed reducing rasp by using exhaust heat wrap around test pipes. So you may be able to mitigate rasp by trying that method if you find a system you're otherwise happy with.

I have AWE res DPs on my Track exhaust to kill the rasp. The system is plenty loud (especially when getting on it). There is drone from 2.5K-3K rpm (cruising in 6th gear between 70-80mph). I've also seen someone have an exhaust shop weld a J-pipe resonator on the axle-back portion of the Track exhaust to combat that drone. They claimed it mitigated most of the highway drone (take that for what you will).

Here's a sound clip series I made a while ago for another member: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JrL...ew?usp=sharing (pro-tip, use good quality headphones when listening to get the as close to the "truest" experience as possible)

The video was taken from the driver's seat with a iPhone, microphone oriented towards the driver's side window. The full set up is Stock cats > AWE Resonated DPs > AWE 102mm Track Cat-back

I hope this helps!

[Silver Streakin]

AWE Track and resonated downpipes here too.

I added the downpipes. It definitely improves the sound.

I don't mind the drone. It's not that bad with the DPs. The video above is DSG and with my manual ...I'd say the drone is earlier RPMs and starts at 60-65 because I have one section of highway where it's a slight incline in a 55. The only point in my commute that I hear it. Get above and it's gone.

I love how it snaps off the exhaust note between 1-2 and 2-3. People always look around for the car making this exhaust note. It's almost super car sounding. It's at 2:18-19 of that video. The manual trans snaps off the noise. and then it hits that 2:18-19 sound again after the shift. The DSG doesn't do this. It sounds like it blends it out.

[thefleshrocket]

AWE Track and resonated downpipes here too.

I added the downpipes. It definitely improves the sound.

When you say that the downpipes improve the sound, how do they do so?

[Silver Streakin]

When you say that the downpipes improve the sound, how do they do so?

I just saw this...

The resonated downpipes with the Track exhaust lessens that obnoxious-ness when you get beyond around 2500 while normal driving rowing the gears. Track only, I felt like I had to shift quickly because it would get loud fast and not a good loud. Now it's deeper.

Listen to the video above and compare it to Track only on YouTube. I'm not sure why it's not more popular combo. I guess the loud crowd wants it even louder with the non res DPs.

[Krusty]

Search for X pipe mod.

[waxxonMTL]

I had full awe touring with DP, shop removed the DP in lieu of 2 other resonator (I would guess Vibrant or magnaflow bottle-type) and I found the sound is less refined/exotic. It sound more like cheap JDM who do muffler-delete in hope for sound at cheap price. So, mixing any muffler just to copy a design won't work as well as buying the real deal. AWE might be pricy, but they sure found the magic combination of muffler/resonator to make this engine sounds ''unique''. I hate sounding like any other car that has muffler-delete. Just sound cheap.

My point is you gotta pay for a nice sound that compliments a luxury 60k MSRP car. I'm too busy right now, but I'm looking at ways to revert what the shop did and go back to the AWE resonator DP.

[peterpark0]

I have the APR exhaust (made by corsa)

I broke it so then I removed the first set of resonators. All I have is the the middle muffler and rear mufflers.

It's DEF A LOT louder on startup and WOT. But for daily driving and highway cursing it's quiet with no drone.



I think having a X pipe early in the exhaust helps with the drone. As for the rasp, there's no way of getting around that.

[SconnieRoadie]

Check out the Polo exhaust: https://polo-performance.com/product...-exhaust-08-16

There are also vids on the youtubes so you can listen to it. Dunno why no one has mentioned this, reasonably priced, SS, and has the j pipe for tuning out drone.

Would be getting this myself but my budget recently tightened significantly :(

Regards,

Sconnie

[YogiDatBear]

You can always go the custom route. A tried and true one on here is replacing the baby resonators with the Magnaflow 11385 resonated x pipe. deleting the suitcase (rear) resonator, and leaving the stock mufflers. People tend to be happy there.

I plan on going with the magnaflow resonated X pipe up front, replacing the suitcase resonator with the 034 motorsport x-pipe and finishing it off with two borla ProXS 14" in place of the mufflers.