Wow, I wish my car sounded like that.

 

My dealer just installed a Larini "Sports Rear Box" on a Vantage and gave me a test ride... what a sweet sound! I am probably going to have to ignore the market losses and have one installed!

 

obsessed - have you heard the QuickSilver actually on a car, you get 3 choices of volume ! I have not heard the Larini on an actual car ... there was a write up from a guy in England on the AMOC site ... he seemed kinda just OK w/ his Larini. Not sure how the prices compare - QS might be a little less?

 

Michael - I have heard the middle QS system - fairly similar - hard to tell as not side by side or same day as the Larini - my aural memory isn't that good. I was quoted $3200 plus 3 hours labor for the Larini, how's that compare? How is yours for daily driving? I know I will love the Larini sound on the track - not as sure about on a long trip. It is quiet until you accelerate... Didn't get to take it on the highway.

 

Call/email HZ at RSC for a quote - I think he has some in stock - they seem to go quickly. I have had the LOUD and Medium installed on my car w/ new 200 cell cats - stock are 600 and are bound to make some difference in sound emitted - I am installing the "Quiet" on my car today. The LOUD was over the top (more track than street IMHO) - the medium is nice - probably even more mellow on a 600 cell car - but still a little loud for me if taken on a several hour road trip - I am getting old !!! Don't get me wrong, the medium and quiet are probably more to user taste and what you prefer - one has 3" vs 4.5" of baffle material. I think both have a better sound and this includes volume as opposed to an "open" stock exhaust. I will know more later today in reference to medium and quiet versions ... BTW did not take 3 hrs to remove/install ... maybe they are charging for "cool down" time? My shop does it in maybe an hour (not a dealer)... and do not charge me as the car sits to chill ... so quote may be a little to high on install time/cost ...

 

Michael

Thanks. I believe I will be billed actual time excluding cool down and lunch breaks, but will check.

Your moving from loud to medium and now to quiet gives me pause. I love the sound but have wondered whether it will be liveable off the track around home and on long trips.

 

obsessed - OK just drove back from the shop - moving from medium to quiet is a big difference - just 3" to 4.5" baffling - at least what I am told is the only difference. Remove and replace - 1 hour. Talked w/ shop owner and he said cats do make a big difference in sound, again I have the 200 cell aftermarket set. He fired up a CLK Black Series AMG 63 w/ modded cats and stock exhaust - big difference. Sorry I do not have a comparison between 200 & 600 cell cats - but IMHO - if I had stock cats I would start w/ medium - for more street type of sound yet bigger than stock or if a more aggressive sound is wanted then go w/ the loud. I think the quiet would be too quiet for 600 cell cars. For 200 cell cats I think I would recommend moving down one step in each case. I could only recommend loud system w/ 200 cell cats if you were a track junky, or maybe a N24 owner ! Hope this makes sense and helps ... I also should add that none of the three QuickSilver exhausts from RSC have an interior resonance, rattle or cheap sound like some companies have put out for P-cars. All 3 were well made, much lighter than stock and put a smile on my face ... I am not 100% but I believe RSC had the quiet version made for 200 cell cars ... I have not read about another company offering 3 QS versions. Then again I usually only look at the pictures ...

Anyone have any further questions feel free to ask ...

 

Michael - thanks again, your sharing your experiences is very helpful.

I drove a 2009 with paddle shifters and the Larini Sport Box today on highway and back roads. I love the Larini sound - much better than than uncorked/fuse 22 pull sound. I am going to go for it tomorrow before going to track for a 3-weekend. If RSC was local to me I probably would follow your lead but being 1000 miles away I am more comfortable going with a similar quality product available and serviced locally (not that I expect any service issues with the exhaust).

On a separate note the additional power in the 2009 is very noticeable! The paddle shifters were great going up and down through the gears once underway - but I found the start from a dead stop unpredictable. It was a bit unnerving to step on the gas to "pop" across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic while making a left turn only to have the car hesitate and then launch just as I decided there wasn't enough space left to cross traffic. In automatic "drive" mode every time I tried to simply accelerate on the highway it would downshift... The paddles in the manual shift mode would be great on the track - they even blip the throttle for you when you downshift. I would have to get used to timing the throttle to cross street traffic from a stop though...

I have to admit I am not a fan of the new interior consloe control panel - too newfangled - could be from a Toyota or Mazda - I like the simple elegance of my crystal start button, I guess I too am getting old... The lust for a new 2009 came and went - I'll settle for the new exhaust and Carbotech track pads for now.

 

obsessed - I agree about the new dash - I like the "old" one much better. I am sure the 2009 power is nice but it really does need 475 + HP to get up and move, the car can certainly handle the additional power. I will test drive a 4.7 in November but will probably stick w/ my '07 - until a used V12 Vantage comes around !!! Enjoy the exhaust - especially at the track - and please keep us posted on the Carbotech pads (my stock ones are about gone too). I am interested how they perform on the track and then if they "squeel" a few days after when driving on the street. Also I did put on a brake duct kit to help get more air to the front rotors - helped a lot at Sebring.

 

Michael - I have had the Carbotech pads on for a week and a half. Highway and street use only so far - will be at 3-day track weekend this weekend so can provide additional input next week. Based on highway "testing" and street use so far the AX-8 mid-level track pads seem to have great and smooth "bite". The Aston mechanic who installed them (who also works on a race team) commented that they seemed to have noticeably better bite and stopping power than the stock pads. I had the AM antisqeal shims installed but still get modest noise with light braking - but for me it is not enough noise that I am going to change out to street pads until the NE track season is over - more occasional sqeeks and chirps than squeal.

Below I am copying more info I posted on the AMOC site about my efforts to upgrade the pads. (I was also interested in going to floating rotors like on the N24 but haven't solved that riddle yet - Aston UK told my dealer the N24 has stock rotors - not the case on the one I saw in NJ or the one that Aston had on display at the dealership on Saturday.)

From AMOC Post:

Street pads -I have read on other sites that the car comes with Pagid pads - that seems consistent with info from Aston and the fact that the N24 comes with Pagid RS-29 compound racing pads.
Track pads - Agree that track pads are always noisy. I was simply sharing the fact that I installed the AM anti-squeal shims on track pads and they did reduce the noise but did not eliminate it. Still the noise level is now down to the point that I am satisfied leaving the track pads on during the track season here in the NE and plan to only swap back to street pads only once the track season is over.
Track pads - Additional info for those considering upgrading from stock pads - After starting to run my V8 Vantage on the track, I soon found I was going through pads after 3-4 days on the track. I was introduced to a race mechanic by a friend at one of the tracks I was running on and he advised," Ideally you should use street pads on the street and track pads on the track. Expert level drivers, who run a car both on the street and the track, tend to swap out their pads for each track event and go back to street pads when leaving the track. However, beginner and intermediate level drivers often find they can use mid-level track pads for both the track and the street, if they don’t mind a bit more noise and brake dust for street use. You should look into Carbotech and Pagid pads. They both make great pads, from street to full race compounds.”
So, I set out to order upgraded pads from Pagid, who seems to be the stock pad supplier for Aston. I soon found none of the shops or web-sites listed pads in a size to fit the car. A couple opined that since the brakes are Brembo, they probably had pads that would fit but they would need to see the old pads to match to new pads since the car wasn’t listed. I tried corresponding with Aston and my dealer called Aston UK, we were both told Aston couldn’t provide such information because “the car is only certified with the stock pads”. I called Brembo and was told their “agreement with Aston does not permit us to provide information on alternate fitments”. I was surprised how difficult Aston was making it to make my car safer for track use…
I decided to check out Carbotech. Turns out you deal with them directly by web or phone. I spoke to both Danny and Mike Jr. who advised they had had other V8 Vantage customers who had sent their pads in for identification and Carbotech could now make pads in any of their compounds for the car (and other Astons by the way). I ordered a set of AX-8 compound pads – which are their mid-level pads. They arrived in a few days and fit perfectly – but were not notched to accept the car’s pad wear sensors. I called Mike Jr. about that and he explained they don’t normally notch track or race pads for the sensors as on the track you want as much braking surface as possible. Made sense to me, so I had the sensor wires tied off out of the way with plastic wire ties. Mike Jr. also told me that if I wanted to use the sensors with street pads, send him my old pads and they would copy the pad notch shape, remove the old compound and remake the pads with the compound of my choice, notched to match the original pads and accept the sensors – sounded good to me. After I had the track pads installed, I shipped the old pads to Carbotech to have new street pads made in their Bobcat 1521 compound.

I have been pleased with the performance of the AX-8 pads. I will be switching to the Bobcat street pads in a few weeks when the 2008 track season ends here in the NE.

I also learned the Carbotech pads are quite a bit cheaper than getting the stock pads through Aston – not why I bought them but nice side benefit. If you are interested, the Aston page on Carbotech’s site is here: http://ctbrakes.com/pads/ashtonmartin.htm

 

Great write-up ... thanks for sharing !!!

 

Michael - You are welcome! I have certainly appreciated the info you have shared on various topics.

 

Update

Track pads - I now have a few track days experience with the Carbotech AX-8 pads. http://ctbrakes.com/pads/ashtonmartin.htm I found the track performance to be very good – lots of stopping power and smooth with good modulation (ability to adjust braking level by increasing or decreasing pedal pressure). I experienced no fade during my 20-30 minute intermediate level track sessions with PCA running NJ Motorsports Thunderbolt track, a 2.25 mile track with 14 turns – so lots of braking http://www.njmotorsportspark.com/tracks.html. Top speed at the end of the long straight was 130+ mph and I was able to brake as late as, or later than, the 911s and M3s – only a Lotus Elise was going deeper into the corners before braking (that car weighs barely 2,000 pounds). I did not get passed all weekend, so I was driving and braking pretty aggressively for this level. Inspection following the track sessions showed very little pad wear compared to what I had experienced with the stock pads – looks like the AX-8 pads will hold up for several track weekends. I did not notice any change in the AX-8 pad noise level since using on track – still get some squeaks and chirps and an occasional squeal during light braking – still not enough that I will change them out until track season is over.

Street pads - Carbotech made up the Bobcat street pads on my old backing plates and got them back to me in about 1 week. When I got the pads back they looked like new – clean, repainted and with the new Bobcat 1521 compound notched to accept the AM sensors. My current plan is to stick with Carbotech for track and street pads – I have been pleased with their product and service, and it turns out their pads are very competitively priced compared to Pagid pads from the dealer or elsewhere.

Pagid - Since I had the stock pads out of the car, however, I did measure and inspect them. They were stamped “Pagid 4-2-2”. This designation is not listed on Pagid’s site but a few sites selling Pagid pads list “4-2-1/4-2-2” so presumably 4-2-2 is a variant of 4-2-1, which is described on Pagid’s site essentially as a high performance street pad. I compared my pad shapes and measurements to online drawings. I found a site - Velocitysport.com - that lists pads under Aston DB-9 2004 that measure the same as the Vantage pads and are available in various Pagid compounds: Front - U2487 and Rear – U1408. (For some reason they show the 4-2-2 compound, the stock compound on my Vantage, for the rear pads but not the front – may be worth a call to see if they can supply 4-2-2 fronts if you are interested.) So, if you want to stick with Pagid these links may be helpful:
Pagid compound characteristics: http://www.braketechnology.com/racecharacteristics.html
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Pagid pads at Velocity Sport: http://www.velocityspot.com/servlet/the-Pagid-Race-Pads-cln-Aston-Martin/Categories[/font]

 

obsessed - even better info, I'll be calling next week to swap over and try the Carbotech. Thanks ... if folks want some additional cooling, the brake cooling kit I had designed is going to be offered as a kit (any shop or dealer can install) by RSC. I found it made a nice difference in cooling at Sebring w/ stock pads. Now combine w/ the Carbotech pads you have tried - I think we have found a superior combo for track days and the V8V !

 

sorry for bringing an old thread back, but i just wanted to let you know that my Tubi exhaust is for sale in the parts for sale section.