Hello,
I am in the process of trying to decide which exhaust system to purchase for my 991 C2S.

I have heard hundreds of exhausts youtube videos but the best way for me to decide is to hear them in person.

I am currently looking at the AWE, Kline, retrofitting the PSE.

I'll meet you anywhere in Chicago

Thanks!!

 

How about Fabspeed? Very nice construction and sound. I was at the Kline factory in Romania Nice but $$$

 

I am from upstate NY, I spent a year researching exhaust systems.
Although YouTube videos are not done well, there is nothing better than Tubi style mufflers.
Do your homework, almost 80% of headers and cat pipes are mfg in Southeast Asia.
Call Sam at "bydesignauto", he is a sponsor. Great help for headers and cats.
If you want I will send a quality video of my car , not in a garage, those sound bits are not indicative of real sound.

 

Thank you very much, I would be interested in meeting up at your convenience. PM me a good time and place.

 

I am glad I am not the only one who feels like purchasing an exhaust is a black box. I appreciate the offer to help! The Tubi gets great reviews👍

 

I love my PSE, but if you want a bit more, have heard nothing but great things about Tubi.

Contact this guy -- Tom

tomp@championmotorsport.com

 

I think one of the things you want to ask yourself is "What do I want out of the exhaust?" There are lots of different pipes, and various sound levels. You are not going to get any noticeable real power world gains from any of them as a cat-back system without doing further mods. You will get a lighter weight from stock of about 20 to 30 lb and perhaps 1 % power gain (if that). So you are basically buying for sound, not 10th's of a second to 100 mph. Even with sound there are variables. Do you want a sharp bark all the time? A guttural low tone? A high pitch horsepower rasp? Lots of volume to rattle windows or more subdued and civil? And what is your budget? You can spend $ 1K to $ 10K, there's quite a range.

On a 991 C2S you have a pair of side mufflers nested in the fender wells, and a central muffler. It is not one continuous loop, rather after the cat, the gases go into the center muffler and are split so that half travel to the side mufflers and exit to the outer tips left/right and half stay in the center pipe and exit to the inner tips left/right. The control valves which are standard on the S models only, control only the center section gases and not the ones to the side mufflers.

Any automotive engineer will tell you that the only way to dampen sound via a muffler is to have a run of pipe and someplace to collect it and baffle it (the muffler itself) before exiting the car. On front engine cars, its easy - there's lots of room to run pipe and muffler. On a rear engine car like the 911, its difficult because the exhaust exits right near the engine, hence the three mufflers on the cars to dampen the noise and resonance (i.e., drone). While making cool exhaust noises is lots of fun when going through the gears, it can be very annoying at a 2,800 rpm steady state run on the interstate for a couple hours where you can't enjoy your stereo or talk on your bluetooth phone. So its not so much about what they sound like running up the gears, its what does it do at cruise? When the fun is done, the 2,200 to 3,200 rpm range is where you live, make sure the exhaust you pick is satisfactory at those rpms with mild throttle input.

The least expensive exhausts for our cars replace the center muffler with a X pipe design and keep the stock two side Porsche mufflers. Half the sound is now going through a straight pipe out the back, and half through the factory mufflers. But - you have removed the center dampening chamber and now you are going to get some drone. How much is tolerable depends on what you want and can live with, they will be boomier than a full replacement exhaust, that's a given.

When you move to full systems like the Tubi and Akropovic, you are keeping the chambers and replacing all three mufflers. And it will be more costly. Tubi $ 4,500, Akro $ 9,000. But you are getting an integrated exhaust that will be reasonably quiet with no drone under 3K rpm and open up to give you a racer-like wail at higher rpms and that's really the best of both worlds.

You will never get a real feel off a You Tube Video because they can't capture the cabin resonance. For that you have to get a ride in a car that already has a system installed. Myself I tried an AWE Switchpath on my car for a day - it was not for me and they did take it back and refund my purchase price. Some people like the bark of the AWE, for me it was far too loud. I wanted to buy the Akro, but $ 9K was too much so I went with the Italian Tubi as it has a great reputation as a Ferrari aftermarket system. I am pleased as can be with it as it does everything I want a pipe system to do, and is calm and quiet when I need it to be to make a phone call or doing a long distance trip in the car (or my wife is talking non-stop in the right seat). Its beautifully crafted - as is the Akrapovic. Some of the simple X-pipes have some shoddy, less than Porsche-like welds. Pretty much you get what you pay for as in most things. one of these are particularly difficult to install and can be done easily with simple hand tools.

Here's my Tubi right before installation, compared with the factory pipe on my C2S:





And this the AWE Switchpath which was on only for a day:



BTW, anyone in the Wash DC area that wants a demo of the Tubi, I'll be glad to give you a ride in my car....

Duane

 

^^^ +1

 

Very well said. Could not agree more with the overall explanation. I heard great things about the Tubi also. I went with the Kline. I received it a few weeks ago but have been in China twice since I got it on business. Weather here is cooperating here finally so it goes on this weekend. I'll post some vids once it's on. I am a big Europipe fan having had 3 of their exhausts prior. They do not make a 991 NA exhaust and I really liked what Felix had to say about his product. I'll post after its on.

 

The last couple of post are right on the money!!
The Tubi at idle makes less noise than my Suburban (stock exhaust).
There is a little bit of rumble, that sounds great taking off from stop at city driving.
If you the situation arrives and you can accelerate through the gears at WOT, there is nothing like it, it sounds like a BEAST!!
I would like to share with you and the other folks who might be looking to do the same.
I purchase a pair of SS polished headers, equal length primary tubes 1 5/8" diameter.
They had the 2 1/2" collector, which is just what I wanted for my needs and tune.
I purchased these headers from a well known performance shop in England.
The night mare began.
The headers arrived, 1 primary tube had been pieced together on each side, the welds on the collector flange and 1/4" splatter.
I was livid, The photo on the website had been photo shopped to remove the welded two piece primary tubes.
It took two months to get my money back, and I was still out shipping from across the ocean.
This put me in the investigation mode.
I had enlarged every image available for headers for a 996, there were over 20 brand names.
Now, I took those same images and grouped them by collector design, cylinder head flange and tube configuration.
Low and behold, there were only about 6 or 7 different headers, some polished some not.
I sent inquires to every brand requesting the same information from each one.
Primary tube diameter, collector diameter and country of MFG.
It was very disappointing.
It is one thing to buy a pair of headers for $150 and know they are made in Taiwan, but it is another when you are duped, by misleading terms like german steel or european brand names that cost nearly $1800 for the same header, with a different logo attached.
I am not going to name any brand names, that is not my intent to bad mouth anyone.
But do your homework!!
I know from my short time owning a Porsche and doing mods, that there are very good people out there, and very honest.

 

NYoutftr,
What are your thoughts on Cargraphic headers?
They seem to be the only semi-long tube design and they claim 100% made in Germany.

 

Very nice construction and sound.

 

BINGO !!
They were second choice, the only reason I did not go with them was Sam at bydesignauto gave me a fantastic price on Kline, very close same specs, cargraphic were polished which I liked, but the deal was too good on Kline.
You should decide what the end result of your project will be.
If you track the car, you maybe wanting a larger primary tube like 1 3/4 - 1 7/8.
MY car is set up for DD and some auto cross, I wanted 1 5/8" to help with low end torque.
Cargraphic, also appears not to hang too low, which I also considered if you encounter a pot hole in the road.
Good luck, I will be doing a video, both inside the car and out after my Tune is installed.
David

 

I live in Milwaukee and make it down to Racine Kenosha and Chicago periodically. I have the AWE switchpath. It is awesome. Quiet when you want it and loud when you want it.

Great exhaust.

Marc

 

Marc, thanks for the post. I have sent you a PM.