TRD Exhaust Reviews?
 

Hey folks - wondering if there are any reviews floating around for the TRD Exhaust. I'm considering it, but the $1K price tag seems a little steep.

you only buying trd exhaust for the d-shaped tips

Just buy the tips.... I'm honestly not too impressed with the TRD Exhaust, one for being too expensive, haven't seen any gains whatsoever for it with a full system. It's deep and quiet, which I understand is suitable for many, but it is highly overpriced for a catback. Better off getting a Perrin or Nameless with proven performance (mainly on headerback systems more than catback).

If you don't care about performance too much and just love TRD that much, go for it. All about what makes you happy in the long run.

So I take it that you guys think something like the Greddy Evo3 would be a better option? I see it's about $200 cheaper too.

It drones a lot at 3k rpm from what I've seen from multiple users. If you don't mind the drone, it's one of the bigger 2.75" piping systems.

It also has silencers in it that make it pretty quiet which are interchangeable.

I have the TRD and love it, sounds great and the tips look good too. I got my car with the exhaust so i dont know how the stock exhaust sounds or how the car felt with it but i love it.

Go onto Amazon and buy the Borla cat back for $700. Much better deal and a great sound. You'll thank me later! :)

If I could rate satisfaction on exhausts I've seen on these forums, the following brands I see come up quite often:

1. Perrin
2. Nameless
3. Nvidia N1 and Q300
4. Borla
5. TRD

By no means is this a best list, but more of a popular topic list. There's still some being developed as well. My personal flavor are both Perrin and Nameless but I will most likely end up going with the Nameless headerback due to the price and weight of the system, precision engineering, and the sound.

I have TRD and I love it.

Pros
1. Not too loud but sounds just right. (At least for me)
2. Built quality is one of the best.
3. No drone and no issues whatsoever.
4. Forget about warranty and legal issues. (Technically, at least in WA, all aftermarket exhausts are illegal unless they are manufactured and installed by factory OEM.

Cons
1. Pricey compared to other exhausts.
2. No info on HP gains (I think it is very minimal) and there are other exhausts with substantial HP gains (Ex: Greddy Evo3)
3. Maybe too quiet for someone's taste.
4. Not everyone is a fan of D shaped tip.

IMO, exhaust with an up side down D shape, square/rectangular or oval ... is a turn off. Car need a big size diameter pipes :) lol

I just had this exhaust installed today. I wasn't looking for loudest or most powerful when I was thinking exhaust, I just wanted something that gave me a little more of both when compared to stock. Stay classy and go OEM, this thing is a gem.

TRD exhaust
 

I have had it installed for months now and I'm still very happy with it. Look you are adding exhaust to a car that at stock won't improve it dramatically no matter whose you decide. I personally really like the D tips so that's just preference but the sound is great as well! It has just enough tone to notice but not get annoying. If you are planning for FI this may not be the exhaust for you, though I still plan to get a supercharger that is more on the modest side (even if I have to redo the exhaust). It also provides peace of mind that I can call up my dealership if there is a problem and they will take care of it also the quality is unquestioned. Yes the price is steep but I'm the type of person that will buy what I want no matter the cost so save $200 now regret it later or not, many of the other brands are very good as well (at least from what I hear). My point is don't listen to people that hate it for various personal reasons and just get what you like and trust because you'll be the one that has to look and listen to it for as long as you have the car.

Sooo where do you get the tips at? I have been looking a while now

:bow::bow:

Just curious, anyone know what happens to the stock exhaust bits when the dealer installs the trd? I forgot to ask.

They probably toss them unless you request to keep it most likely. Just look on the classified section, no one wants the stock system.

They told me, they will give it to me when they will deliver the car.

for all the popular exhaust systems mentioned, are they all bolt ons? Or do they require any welding and cutting involved?

I assume so; it's the easiest swap I've ever done. I put on a Borla the last time I changed oil, and I had the job done before the oil was completely drained.

I picked up the Magnaflow. Straight bolt on, and the easiest cat back I've ever done. The stock system came out in one piece within 5 minutes of putting the car on stands. Nice.

The TRD has little to no gain... Lots of exhausts add a good amount of power. Perrins had their resonated and non resonated dyno'd and did the best out of all the ones on the market. It was around 10 whp and if you get a header back you can expect more.

TRD's I remmeber reading that the exhaust is just for sound like the STI exhaust and was dyno'd and had no gains at all. 10 WHP is a big difference whether you like it or not. Why even get an exhaust that costs 1k if your not getting anything besides a change of sound. You might as well just get a Megan Exhaust if you care about sound/looks. Or just change your tips.

TRD Exhaust Reviews?
 

I think you'r wrong because i never see any dyno with the TRD exhaust yet.

And if you look the shape compare to the Perrin, it's pretty similar and surelly remove some back pressure and increase a little bit the flow. The TRD is more direct to the rear muffler.

I do not see why the TRD exhaust can't produce more HP. I plane to doing a dyno run when i will get it. We will see.

The size of the piping isn't even known on the TRD. It could be 2.1" just like the stock system. It is highly overpriced, and for what is offered aftermarket out there... much better alternative options for price/performance.

I'm putting on my Motiv front pipe with HFC this weekend so I'll measure the diameter when I get under there... The design of the TRD exhaust is very similar to Perrin so unless the diameter is different I don't understand why I wouldn't get similar performance. The Perrin exhaust doesn't save enough weight compared to TRD to make up the difference in performance. Yes the TRD does cost a lot for cat back exhaust but for me it's been worth it. I don't care what people choose, I just wanted to give my opinion so people can make their own decision while people are constantly trying to convince others that their thought process is the best. I'm not a perfessional racer so saving every little bit of weight wasn't my concern, just design and looks. Besides unless everything else on your car is maximized for weight loss you have a lot left to do..

So guys what IYO is the closest sounding aftermarket to the trd d exhaust? Cat back only.
Don't want it too loud at all but growl when you pound on her.
New here also, hello everyone, thanks for having me.

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Welcome to the forum and the FR-S!

Your question relies on the subjective opinion of someone who has heard the TRD and others that sound similar.

I have the Magnaflow which you can buy from JRP here in Canada. It has a nice deep sound at low RPMs like the factory should have sounded and the deep part tapers off above ~3000 revs so there's no drone. The tips are double walled and look top quality.

I read on the forums and a customer that got the TRD exhaust that their was little to no gain when he had the shop who installed it dyno the exhaust. Its been said around these forums already and I am sure a lot of members wouldnt be commenting the same thing that the exhaust is just for sound/looks if that werent true. Its been said a bunch of times since it released.

Dont you think TRD would of posted what it would gain if it did get anything. The STI cat back/TRD exhaust are both just for looks/sound.

Funny .... I've been reading in the ECU section where Visconti opined that catback systems add little to no HP gains based on his dynos. Not sure what he said about the headerback systems.

Adding a front pipe to the exhaust (especially a non-catted one) should add power.

TRD USA exhaust
 

According to TRD USA(1-800-688-5912), their cat-back exhaust uses the same stock diameter tubing and if there is any hp/tq gains they don't know. For an MSRP of $1100, i will have to pass.

Well if that's true that does kind of suck... I thought it would at least be 2.5" but I'll still measure it to confirm. Sad news if true, I like the look and sound but I don't think anything below 2.5" is worth the $950 I paid.

Spoken like a true Ricer-at-heart.

lol

Yes, welcome to the forum.
I agree with what wbradley has to say. I also have the Magnaflow, and like it. It has a nice deep tone without being loud. I'll add that it has a nice subtle burble and grrrrr when you get off the gas, or pull a downshift. I'm about an hour away from you in Prince Edward County. If you want to hear it for yourself, let me know.

Axlebacks and catbacks don't make hardly any HP/TQ. The header, OP, and Front pipe are super restrictive. Simply just running the stock catback with an OP front pipe replacement yields pretty significant gains.

I don't know if Visconti was referring to just axlebacks/catbacks or headerbacks, but full exhaust systems have proven to increase performance for many years across several cars. The FR-S/BRZ is no different.

If that were the case, everyone would be running stock exhausts at the track and road courses, wouldn't they? I'm no engineer, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out better flow, bigger piping, and non restrictive bends yields power gains when an engine can breathe better.

Not necessarily. You have to consider the exhaust may be optimized for this
2.0L engine and that unless you make significant changes to the amount of air going into the engine (ie turbo, supercharger, or very well designed intake with cams etc) there is only so much gas the exhaust has to get rid of.

I went out and measured my TRD exhaust today (O.D.)... So the axel back portion is 2.5" (8in circumference) but the mid pipe seemed to be smaller. I measure the diameter with measuring tape so not extremely accurate but when I held it up it appeared to be 2.5" but the circumference is only ~7in so hard to understand that math. I have read that changing the mid pipe doesn't translate to gains at least stock but I'm sure with forced induction you may want larger diameter.

Remember you don't need to have the system shipped, saves you $

If you are leaving the rest of the exhaust (headers, over, front, cats) stock, sound and looks are definitely priority over "performance gains", which are honestly so small you won't feel them.

Has anyone here done this? I'm curious to see how that turned out.

I'm curious as well. Can you buy the TRD tips by themselves? If I could, I'd buy those or just the muffler portion.