I just got my car back from Speed Element yesterday. I got a new o2 housing, LICP, and this new catback. My first impressions. The car was quiet when they turned it on. Under normal driving conditions on the street, it's fairly quiet. Not the quietest exhaust out there especially with a catless TBE, but not bad at all. During freeway driving, I noticed that it seems just as loud as my Helix TBE was (slight dronage). It seems to be of equal volume under freeway driving and especially under WOT as my Helix. The only difference between the Tanabe and my Helix is that the Tanabe is a deeper and smoother tone, while the Helix is a loud, deep, and somewhat raspy tone. The overall fit and finish of the exhaust is beautiful. Sits centered in the bumper cutout. Performance wise, my car feels the same.. Only difference I've felt is that I have a bit more low end torque and increased spool. But I give credit for that to the LICP and o2 housing. I seemed to have lost a tiny bit of top end... possibly from the resonator and the slight taper at where the piping meets the testpipe. It could possibly be that the muffler is a bit more restrictive than my old Helix fart can.

Pros: Looks great, is pretty quiet under normal driving, and it fits great.

Cons: It still drones on the freeway, it's not THAT quiet, only a bit quieter than a Helix (freeway, WOT). At idle it's almost as quiet as stock. I'm sure it could be quieter with a HFC, but I dont feel like sacraficing any more performance. lol.

Overall: I'll give it a 8/10. I dont believe I'm too fond of the tone of the car. It seems as if it's so deep that it's almost irritating because even under normal driving, it seems as if it drones a tiny bit, but in a different kind of way (Dont really know how to explain it). Chances are, once I get a JDM rear bumper, I'm going to switch to a Greddy TI. I say this, only because this exhaust already sticks out a tad bit on the stock bumper. With a JDM rear, it's going to stick out much further and look sort of awkward. Personally, because I'm a ricer, I like the sound of the Helix better. Especially since they both seem to be about the same volume on the freeway and WOT. Under normal driving, I'm quite pleased with the volume, it's quiet enough to the point where I dont think I'll be harassed for it, but it's loud enough to be noticed if that's what you like. I like the look of this exhaust. After a little black paintjob to the muffler section, it should look exactly as I want it to (black muffler, chrome tip). Overall, I am pleased with this exhaust. I believe if you're looking for a quiet and stealthy, yet good looking exhaust, but dont want it to be as quiet as stock or just dont want it to be TOO quiet, this is a great choice. It's a very nice compromise of sound (tone/volume), looks, and performance. Keep in mind, I'm running this exhaust with a catless TBE, so with a HFC, I'm sure it's much quieter.

BTW: No way in hell is this exhuast 93db. Maybe with a stock Evo with just this catback. But there's no way it's 93db with a TBE.

 

XXX

 

I M DEBATEING BETWEEN GREDDY SP2 ................OR ...........TANABE TOURING MEDALION

WHICH ONE IS QUIETER?
AND BETTER QUALITY?

THANKS~







Tanabe Touring Medalion *$539.69*


The elegant, well defined appearance of MEDALION TOURING is mature, and matches the artistry of a tastefully built, highly tuned machine.

Using the all new 'continuous strand' ADVANTEX packing material technology, MEDALION TOURING acheives extremely high levels of exhaust system efficiency, while maintaining a street driveable, extremely low frequency and deep tone that is well under 93db for discreet sports driving.

 

Anyone have dyno results using this exhaust?

My mods are

K&N drop-in
Forge MBC
Helix 3" DP
3" resonated TP
Tanabe Touring Medalion cat-back
Walbro 255
HPF LICP

92 octane, 23psi

I hit 266whp/258tq on Dyno Dynamics, tuner was able to run lots of timing with no knock but it just wasn't picking up any more power. The boost curve was pretty much the same as other 9's so I don't think theres a boost leak but I haven't actually tested yet.

Seems like I'm missing around 15whp up top, think it might be this cat-back. Just wondering what other peoples experience has been. It does sound excellent, exactly what I was looking for in that dept.

edit: graphs

 

You have a test pipe in California? Good luck with that...

That's a nice exhaust though.Thanks for the review.