I am ready to upgrade the sound on my 997.1 C4S. I dont have the PSE and my car sounds a little weak. My wife says it sounds cheap. I am looking for more of a growl, not necessarily loud as it is a DD. I have read many posts, but am not sure what I need. Do I need Cats, Gundo Hack.......? What brand? I know I need to listen to them, so any Portland guys feel free to chime in. I also do not want to spend a fortune (yeah like that is possible with a p-car)

 

One thing you may find is that most people like to feel that the exhaust they chose is the best . It's understandable that you want a bit more growl. Keep in mind that the absolute worst thing in my opinion is exhaust drone . It's a resonating sound that appears as endless at around 2500 PRM . Also keep in mind that as you watch videos on youtube of cars they are usually zooming around rather than just cruizing at 2500 RPM . You do bring up that it's a daily driver .

The hardest part with exhausts is picking one when you might like more than one . Lastly .. I have absoutely no qualms about taking an exhaust off my car if I didn't like it .

So my taste went like this .

On my 997.1 at that time (2007) --I narrowed it down to two exhausts AWE and TUbi. I wish i had a chance to see or hear FVD because i absolutely love it on my 997.2 (i have quiet version and it still has a great note) .

In terms of price , fitment, and performance AWE really has a great exhaust .
So does Tubi and I was blown away by the raspy sound it's polished look.
Neither exhaust have a shred of drone .

As for all the other exhausts .. I don't know .

 

Awe...................:d

 

Do I have to get new cats to change the tone or can I just go with new mufflers?

 

The mufflers are the component which will make the sound .
Headers/cats/sofware/intake etc = peformance

How far do you want to go with this ?

 

Ha ha. The slippery slope

 

Either go big bucks or economical. Europipe loud the most expensive or Speed Tech dual cans the least expensive. There appears to be no significant performance improve between the least expensive and the most expensive. The Europipe looks and weighs as much as a stock part. The RUF is a modified stock part. Everything else is lighter and louder. Cross flow models (x pipes) seem to have the best sound. Built correctly 100 cell cats should pass smog as well as 200 cell cats (ie same over surface area). Some componet systems, like Fabspeed and others, allow you to change between open pipes, cat/no cat, muffler or no muffler. Drone seems to be everyones issue depending on how sensitive your are to it. You tube sound clips are not reliable, so go listen to stuff in person.

 

Do the Gundo Hack and see if that meets your needs. If it does then you've saved a bunch of $$$. If not, sell your modded stock cans and go aftermarket.

 

A+, particularly on a car that's several years old.

 

fab speed sounds great

 

I put a set of sport cats on my 996 and I really liked the sound. I chose to go no further on that car. It had a nice sound on cold start and then quieted down as a lot of systems do. During normal driving it had a little deeper tone and livened up as the rpm's increased. No drone!

The absolute best thing is to hear the exhaust that you think you want to buy on another car. I put an exhaust on my NSX, drove home and right back to the dealer to have it removed. That exhaust had great reviews by several owners.

 

personally I would opt for an exhaust that allows you to turn it on and off. I have the PSE, and for my needs, it's quite good. ie sounds beefy when I want it to and no drone. I also really like the new innotech exhaust which has valves that can be turned on and off at will.
GL!

 

i agree, especially if you don't have a chance to hear the exhaust in person. i think it's insane to spend $1200 (or much more) on an exhaust you've heard on video only.

 

LOL - especially slippery slope... and a bell you can't un-ring

But, the good news is w/ a coupe you likely won't hit the point where the exhaust is just "too loud". So...

If you live near a P-dealer... tell the service mgr what you are thinking about and if he can call you when cars come in for service that w/ various systems. Even small dealers will have plenty of cars w/ aftermkt exhausts (it's quite a big demographic mkt looking for them).

Then once you find a sound you like (maybe too loud or soft but like tone) , I recommend piecing it into place. This will not only help you fine tune the system to your liking but also ease your wife into it (mine said the same thing when I first brought it up... now she likes the Fabspeed system).

Start w/ the cans and let them settle for 500-100 miles and see how you like. Want it a little more throaty, then add headers. Try it for 1000 miles and if you want it louder still and pretty much all it, drop in aftermkt cats (or cat deletes if you can). One suggestion however would be to stick w/ one vendor (Fabspeed, AWE, Sharkworks, Tubi, etc.) from start to finish.

Good luck and watch your step

 

Love the Tubi on my 06 997 C2S. Sounds great and not overbearing for DD.