Hi all,
this is my first posting altho' it's not my first time here. Just to share my experience with the SS muffler on my 318 valvetronic.
After weeks of reading up related posts and a few calls to FK and JC, I took the plunge on the SS from JC. Asthetics wise, it's awesome. The twin 80mm tips tapered nicely along the bodykit line beautifully. The embossment of the SS brand on the tips adds to its street credibility. While it looks very sporty from the rear, the shiny stainless steel box and the come-and-get-me twinpipes are screaming for TP's attention. Of course, it's LTA approved but nonetheless, I've to prepare myself to be pulled over.
Sadly, the greeting that I get from the SS when I ignite the car everytime has a "cheapo exhaust" sound. It sounds like a choked fart, with a few occasional "coughing" and rapidly setlle into a low hum. 330i and M3 sound much better with their stock exhaust when they ignite their cars.(I was drooling at my colleagues' 330 and M3 exhaust sounds when they start their cars. Looks like I got to park further away from them now.)
The design of the muffler is quite good it project much of the noise backwards and not reasonating in the cabin, just like a Tubi. I can hear that the bassy note is outside the car, not at my backseats but I must add that the humming will creep into the cabin when you are at 30-50% throttle and your autobox is "rubberband-ing". ie. In D mode and under 3.5k rpm, your rpm acts like a CVT where it doesnt move but the car is accelerating. During this time, the humming will drown out any quality audio from your ICE. From 3.5k rpm to redline, the engine noise actually drown the SS, hence it sounds like stock exhaust in this range.
As for power gain, my butt didnt feel any gain at all at any rpm but psychologically, I feel the low end loss as what many would feel. Maybe it's true that low end will lose a little torque but the mind factor plays a part too. I'm trying to be as objective as possible. When I move off normally from a standstill, I can hear the SS started to growl like any sporty exhaust. However, I would associate such sporty growl with a visual effect of fast acceleration but my car accelerates as per normal. As expectations fall short (due to the SS's snarl), the initial feel is, "oh, loss of low end ... ". I have not done any before-and-after scientific tests but my gut feel is, no significant gain in power, not even the high end. It climbs as slowly as before! : )
Conclusion : like some of you has said, it's a cosmetic mod. SS has a sporty snarl but a toothless one. In fact, it puts me in a potentially humiliating situation where my car is screaming with the SS but I cant pull away from the quiet 1.6 civic (ES5) at my rear. Well, I failed to do it before and now I won't want to try it.
For those who are still contemplating on the exhaust mod, I hope this helps. Cheers.
this is my first posting altho' it's not my first time here. Just to share my experience with the SS muffler on my 318 valvetronic.
After weeks of reading up related posts and a few calls to FK and JC, I took the plunge on the SS from JC. Asthetics wise, it's awesome. The twin 80mm tips tapered nicely along the bodykit line beautifully. The embossment of the SS brand on the tips adds to its street credibility. While it looks very sporty from the rear, the shiny stainless steel box and the come-and-get-me twinpipes are screaming for TP's attention. Of course, it's LTA approved but nonetheless, I've to prepare myself to be pulled over.
Sadly, the greeting that I get from the SS when I ignite the car everytime has a "cheapo exhaust" sound. It sounds like a choked fart, with a few occasional "coughing" and rapidly setlle into a low hum. 330i and M3 sound much better with their stock exhaust when they ignite their cars.(I was drooling at my colleagues' 330 and M3 exhaust sounds when they start their cars. Looks like I got to park further away from them now.)
The design of the muffler is quite good it project much of the noise backwards and not reasonating in the cabin, just like a Tubi. I can hear that the bassy note is outside the car, not at my backseats but I must add that the humming will creep into the cabin when you are at 30-50% throttle and your autobox is "rubberband-ing". ie. In D mode and under 3.5k rpm, your rpm acts like a CVT where it doesnt move but the car is accelerating. During this time, the humming will drown out any quality audio from your ICE. From 3.5k rpm to redline, the engine noise actually drown the SS, hence it sounds like stock exhaust in this range.
As for power gain, my butt didnt feel any gain at all at any rpm but psychologically, I feel the low end loss as what many would feel. Maybe it's true that low end will lose a little torque but the mind factor plays a part too. I'm trying to be as objective as possible. When I move off normally from a standstill, I can hear the SS started to growl like any sporty exhaust. However, I would associate such sporty growl with a visual effect of fast acceleration but my car accelerates as per normal. As expectations fall short (due to the SS's snarl), the initial feel is, "oh, loss of low end ... ". I have not done any before-and-after scientific tests but my gut feel is, no significant gain in power, not even the high end. It climbs as slowly as before! : )
Conclusion : like some of you has said, it's a cosmetic mod. SS has a sporty snarl but a toothless one. In fact, it puts me in a potentially humiliating situation where my car is screaming with the SS but I cant pull away from the quiet 1.6 civic (ES5) at my rear. Well, I failed to do it before and now I won't want to try it.
For those who are still contemplating on the exhaust mod, I hope this helps. Cheers.
