I think I may have made a mistake

After pondering for a long time, I decided to finally take the plunge and upgrade my exhaust.

The standard one was looking a little sorry for itself and needed to be replaced by something louder and shinier.

I must have been looking at the options available for a good 4-5 months before opting on a 4.5inch Jap Slash backbox and new centre section from
Cobra Sports.

I have a 2.0 GX (non-turbo) and from the videos and reviews as well as some common sense I was able to establish that by leaving the CATs in place along with the standard Equal-Length Headers sports are fitted with I could expect an improved tone, maybe not as much burble as you could naturally get with UEL headers, but improved
none the less.

To add a 'widdle bit' of volume I opted for a non-resonated centre pipe

Well- don't I feel silly.

The outcome- IS LUDICROUSLY LOUD!!

When it was initially fired up I thought to myself that I was pretty impressed with how good it sounded.
So much better than I had expected from a N/A engine with standard 'everything-else'..and I can honestly say I left the garage with the biggest grin on my face I've had since I first
bought the car.

That grin soon turned into shame!

I only went for a buzz round the area and by the time I got back I can honestly say I felt so embarressed!

I love the sound of Imprezas, its always been what has drawn me to them the most. Im sure I'm talking to the converted when I say that no
other car in the world can make a burble that beautiful!
But THIS little ***** cat, has turned into an over-enthusiastic Lion in comparrison to how she was a whole 2 hours ago!

Dont get me wrong, the burble is there, considerably more pronounced than I could have hoped for and I LOVE it- but its the sheer volume that I have a problem with!

Iv gone from blending in to sticking out like a sore thumb and the evil looks I got were shocking!

So, what are my options?

Do I sit tight and hope to high heaven I just get used to it? That the only reason I think it sounds too loud is because I've just come from a system that was pretty much silent?

Do I change the centre section for one with a resonator? It seems like an obvious choice but will it make too much difference?
I like my new found burble, I dont want to lose it again

Or do I buy a bung and compromise the aesthetics a little?

Either way, I think I might have to do something because I can see myself attracting unwanted attension from the police and making a few enemies neighbour wise.

That and I just feel rather silly

 

NA Scoobs struggle to get the signature burble due to the headers, they just seem to get louder and no quicker. Back to standard and save for your turbo model you never know the cobra system may even fit onto that!

 

you could fit a centre pipe with a res box in or fit a bung to the back box to help reduce the noise

 

Loud exhausts only impress boys, and everyone else hates you.

Hope you kept the standard one, even if it looks dodgy, if it doesn't leak I'd refit it and recoup as much of your recent exhaust expenditure that you can, hopefully some of it will fit turbos so you can have a decent market for selling it.

Subaru exhausts are quite robust, whilst not stainless, my 2003 Legacy is still on its original exhaust.

 

I had a cat back cobra exhaust for my 05 wrx and it was too loud for me.tried changing center and backbox.The backbox was the main culprit for the ott noise,I now have the cobra center with a ninja back box and the sound is spot on,more refined,The cobra box used to sound like there was a helicopter chasing me

 

Really? The backbox was the problem... nips

I was hoping it would be the lack of resonator that was the issue tbh. I was willing to pay out for one and attempt to sell the other centre section at a loss on eBay or something.

Hmmmm...alas I don't have the old system any more. I only live in a small flat and I had nowhere to keep it..plus I wasn't expecting there to be an issue in the first place.

I think my current course of action will be to live with it until pay day and then weigh up my options then.

We all make mistakes I guess. I don't like the idea of driving around making an un-necessary amount of noise and I don't want to be labelled a nuisance. But at the same time, the old standard sports exhaust made it sound like a tractor and I don't think I would want to go back to that.
I'm going to have this car for a few more years yet so I would like to be able to enjoy it even if it is just a sport.

At least when I do get a turbo (which will happen one of these days), I wont have to mess about with this stuff! It'll be all done already! lol

I could try a bung first as its a cheaper option I suppose. If it doesn't work at least I haven't spent a lot trying it.


Anyhu, thanks for the suggestions guys. I will make some decisions come the end of the month but I would say that this current set-up will probably have to go as its just not me!

 

I have a cobra cat back with second de-cat pipe and its mega loud.

My mate had a cobra cat back to on his hawk but mine is far louder. Set off quite a few car alarms in multistories just crawling by cars

 

The previous owner to me put unequal headers, cobra decat/resonated/backbox on my non-turbo. Needless to say my car is very loud above 4krpm. The burble sound is only at the lows 1/2krpm, as soon as it's over 3 it changes.

Drive sensibly it's not too bad, it hasn't made me deaf yet. Anything fast paced, engaged idiot mode.

 

Its the long motorway drives that got to me a bit on my sti,80 mph and we were shouting to each other so we could hear what we were saying lol,happy days.

Mine was a full 3 inch decat from turbo and 5 inch slash jap style back box and was very loud indeed,in winter when cold starting and choke on, my misses used to cringe at me because of neighbours ! Its sold now and im starting to miss it now !

 

Full 3 inch cobra system here, this was it a few nights ago when a mate took it round a carpark, not exactly flat out before the goody two shoes bark!
It is rather loud but when it was standard a couple of years back it was silent and I hated it.

http://static.photobucket.com/player...710_230700.mp4

 

"rather loud" ?

 

You love it. Think marky does too now.

 

I'm probably one of the very few people that ran a full decat with a factory backbox.

 

That sounds awful

 

Another, everyone has their own tastes I suppose.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rrent=revs.mp4

 

Exhausts never sound like they do on mobile camera , sounds class in real life (albeit on the loud side) I put clips of mine up and sounds nothing like it.

 

Well, I have an update on the situation

Last night I got the boyfriend to take it round the block when he got back from work. I was relieved to hear that is nowhere near as loud as I had first thought it was from the outside. No louder than any other Impreza I've heard and I would say the neighbours Bugeye is still louder so I don't feel so concious and stupid any more.

However, I drove it to work today which is a 30 minute commute and I can honestly say the cabin drone in the lower gears is hideous!

Once you get to 40 and anything above on dual carriageways it settles down and is fine.
Its setting off from traffic lights, junctions, traffic jams and anything around the 20-30 mph mark.
I am a sensible driver and was trying to be a delicate as I could!
I STILL have a headache from it!

So I think its fair to say I should look at changing the centre section to one with a resonator.
I'm hoping this will reduce the drone considerably as the actual volume of the exhaust from the outside is fine.
Its louder on the inside than it is on the outside!

Damn you Subaru and your lack of sound proofing! haha!

 

I have a miltek full de cat with resonated centre section on my type r and the drone is awful.

On my wrx i have the prodrive back box, quiet around town but when you give it beans it screams, and i would suggest you go for one of those or a bung as suggested earlier.

 

Aha! Cabin drone!

I ran a Magnex backbox for a short time and had to get rid of it becuase of the drone in the cabin. I have to say from being in/driving other scoobs, the majority of aftermarket backboxes on scoobs drone when cruising.

Alternative is you could apply soundproofing on the boot floor/spare wheel well. Bloody expensive though. Also look at the exhaust mounts, maybe softer/rubber mounts may help. I know from other cars that the yellow/blue aftermarket poly mounts transmit alot more noise into the cabin.

 

So how do you get round the issue in your type R? Ear plugs? lol
I'm tempted to buy some today just because I'm dreading the trip home tonight.

A Prodrive back box wouldn't fit my car would it? Sport bores are only 2.25 so the piping wouldn't line up properly without welding or some form of customising (I should imagine so anyway)

Would a bung technically reduce cabin drone? I thought they were designed to reduce the over all output with regards to outside noise (again, I'm just guessing here so if anyone can advise me please feel free )
I'v seen a few before and after videos with bungs but I cant say they appear to make much difference, but I suppose that goes back to an earlier point made by CharlySkunkWeed- that videos never sound the same as real life, hence why I'm in this mess! lol

The only reason I'm thinking of trying out a resonated centre section was that its main selling feature is 'reduced cabin drone' a feature I am beginning to wish I'd gone for!
The only reason I didnt was because I thought 'Meh, its a sport-how loud could it be?'
What an idiot

 

How expensive are we talking? Its something I'm considering...either that or fixing egg boxes to carpet! lol

 

Funny thing is , i was 2 days away from buying a Cobra after doing what u did , watching all the videos.Then a guy local was selling a 1year old Milltec for the same price and i bought it instead.

 

Its a big job to do it properly -labourwise. Also some of the products can be expensive if you go for specific brands.

Essentially you need to do two different things...stop the resonance which is parts of the car vibrating in harmony with the exhaust (making it sound louder inside), and dampening any existing noise that does makes its way into the cabin. This requires two different types of product.

To stop resonance/vibration, which is anywhere where there is thin metal that sounds hollow when you tap it with something solid - i.e spare wheel well. You need to stick a Butyl type material to it. This stuff is an **** to work with and apply (I'll say that now), it'll peal, or not adhere right if not done proporly. A cheap alternative to dynamat is self-adhesive butyl flash-banding which is typically used for roofing. If you go to a automotive bodyshop and beg, they maybe able to supply you with some stuff that they get wholesale.

To further reduce/dampen noise you also need a foam type padding, which is anything soft and spongy. The thicker the better. Lining on top of the butyl or using it underneath the boot carpeting (floor and sides) will help. Some types of accoustic rated carpet underlay will probably be your most cost-effective bet here.

The biggest problem is finding where the noise is entering into the car and what is vibrating in sympathy. In a perfect world you'd cover everything metal with butyl/dynamat...the boot lid, under the seats, even the roof (behind the trim not on top ) etc. That would also help cure the road noise from noisy tyres too.

Off-the-shelf brands specifically for this are Dynadeck or Dynapad. Which is accoustic foam, and Dynamat which is butyl sheeting. Those are the top brands (and most expensive: Its a few hundred quid for enough sheet to do a pair of doors ), but there are lots of alternatives that use similar materials that'll more than likely do the job cheaper. Some automotive based, some for other things. Your're best scouting some UK based car audio forums to find what works well.

 

Videos are very misleading! You have absolutely no idea of what you are getting. Like I mentioned at the beginning, I have been looking into this for months, I wanted to make sure I made the right choice.
From the videos I found I was under the impression that I would end up with something that didn't really burble much, that to achieve a burble I would need to change the headers and that it would be quiet unless you put your foot down.

The reality is I have ended up with something that burbles a considerable amount, (making me wonder if the previous owner has fitted UEL headers on already and I just hadnt noticed) which is great and something that is a perfect volume outside the car which is also great but an unbearable amount of volume inside which sucks! Rendering the whole thing a fail!

This was meant to be a birthday present to myself. Some birthday present eh? Tinnitus.

 

Thank you Ali-B

That was very detailed and informative.

I now understand how it can be viewed as expensive, like you mentioned, without knowing where exactly the noise is entering the car from you could soon find yourself running up a huge bill desperately fitting sections of this stuff throughout the whole cabin in a bid to dampen the sound.

Maybe I'll just have to admit defeat on this one. I made an expensive mistake and ill just have to learn from it.

I just called the garage and thank fully they still have the old system so tonight I will weigh up my options.

If the centre section from my old system will fit and still accommodate the Cobra back box then I might be on to a winner. I still have an inkling that the centre pipe is to blame here.

Worst case scenario I just put my old system on and sell the new one.

So, any Sport owners who like insane noise levels, a sickly feeling and don't really care if they lose their hearing, watch this space- this fantastically annoying system could be on sale shortly

 

Like i said in an earlier post,the main culprit is the back box(theres a reason there called silencers)A resonated center wont change it much.I know from experiance.You could try changing the center section but i would put money you would regret it.Your call i suppose.

 

Fair enough, but the clip sounds like a cheap nasty fart box

 

it's really not that bad.
You can get bulk packs of a product called "silent Coat" which is equivalent to Dynamat but has enough to do a decent job on a car for about £80 with targeted application.
You can also get tubs of stuff called "spectrum" which is a heavy neoprene based paint that mass load panels to reduce resonance and that can be found for £50 a tub.
Neither are hardto work with. Proper acoustic damping products which are sticky backed are easy to work with and don't have the (horrible) drawbacks fo flashing tape. Bitumen flashing tape has always been a cowboy methind of sound deadening cars. Avoid.

But that doesn't change the fact that you've changed your exhaust to make it louder, only to then have to add weight to insulate the car to make it quieter! Solve the problem not the symptom - switch the exaust or parts of it back until you're happy.

 

Get a universal silencer for the mid section about £40 and then a bung for the rear box if that's not enough , the reason it's so noisey is that it's n/a ,turbos have a massive silencing effect

 

It will always sound rubbish on a PC/laptop/mobile , try headphones or speaker system to get the deep base. Though mic on cameras wont pickup the best.