Q300 cb w catless uel vs borla type s w catted uel
 

I’m looking for the subie rumble, not obnoxious loud at part throttle, minimal drone, and able to drive at 75-80mph on hwy not regretting my choice. I’ve heard both these setups online and I’m kind of torn in between the two. Eventually it will be tuned and I will be starting with catback first then header/tune. I’ll have the cold start rpm reduced.

Q300 catted uel sounded too quiet and catless with borla type s will be too loud.

Any first hand experience with either setup to give me advice? (Not messing with fp or op)

My brother has gruppe-S UEL, stock FP with Borla S type.

Not terrible on terms of volume. Bit louder than mine. Personally not a fan of Q300 for long term use, the Fiberglass packing in the muffler is known to heat cycle and hollow out.

https://youtu.be/tWN4Vqvgnt0?si=xnX50irxIpIriMsi

A catless header will add quite a bit of noise. I have a afe el header. I had to neuter it when the cat went bad. It was noticeably louder. The rest of my system is a 2.5" Nameless over/mid pipe and a Borla (Touring?)axle back. I get a nice sound, not a subbie rumble, but not obnoxiously loud.

I run a Gruppe-S (catless ) UEL header through a resonated (no cat) front pipe and stock axle-back. It is quite loud when accelerating but quiet when cruising without drone.
I would not change the axle-back as the total volume would be obnoxious. Also a header and front-pipe with a tune are the only proven power adders. Axle-backs yield zero hp gains.
IM0, do your header first then front-pipe. Unless you crave only noise.

I forgot that my over/mid pipe has a Helmholtz resonator. It looks funny as heck but it probably helps the tone.

Here's a clip of my car's sound from in the cabin. The clicking noise self resolved. Gremlins.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lZL...aYx6hZn7z&ca=1

Great point! Thank you

The only way to get rumble is with a UEL. Keeping the stock FP with cat will help noise. The Q300 is quiet, for a while, the packing seems to blow out of them. The CSG cat back is a good option. I run the nameless ultra quiet track pipe on my track car, it’s not that bad with catless header and 3” front pipe with high flow cat.

I don't have any direct sound input here. However I can share my own plan.

I have the Borla Type-S catback now and enjoy more subtle exhausts. It gives it more bass, but it's not overkill at all with the stock header and front pipe.

Given your options, we probably fall in the same boat in terms of our volume preference. I don't think the Borla catback would be too loud with a catless header. Certainly going catless up there is going to be louder, but if you keep the stock front pipe, it should generally keep volume and rasp in check. Front pipes only add 2-3whp, maybe - and that's almost within the noise for dyno readings. They probably offer some gains though, but nothing like the header.

If you're really concerned with sound, possibly look into catted headers. They'll be a bit louder than stock, but probably half of a catless setup. Plus the gains are generally still there. Might be a few less whp here and there. Catless headers do cost more though. It's an option. They're generally less popular dude to the price and most people want volume. Sometimes you can find good used deals locally.

I don't think you'll regret a catless header and the Borla catback. Borla does a good job at keeping volume down and are one of the best ones in terms of rasp/drone.