| Foobar |
01-11-2013 11:56 AM |
Thoughts on replacing my GReddy Evo 3 with a Perrin Non-Resonated Catback
As some of you knew from following my posts, I've had the GReddy Evo 3 on my car since it came out and I absolutely love the deep throaty exhaust note which is almost like a roaring rumble. With the silencers on, it's very tame - too tame for my tastes. With the silencers off, it really gives a new dimension to driving fun.
Unfortunately, with the silencers off, it has a slight drone between 3-4K RPM. I say slight but your mileage will definitely vary. Different People respond in different ways to harmonic resonance. My wife can't even tell it's there, I get a mild headache, and my 8 year old daughter gets physically sick. In normal day to day driving, you'll never notice it, but 3K RPM on the 6MT is right at 67MPH so this at prolonged highway driving, it will annoy you if you're sensitive to it.
I looked around and decided that the non-resonated Perrin would still give me that deep sound that I enjoy without the drone. I waited until a decent sale (Black Friday @ FT86SpeedFactory) and got it for a great price (cheaper than my Evo 3 actually). Unfortunately, this thing was in big demand and Perrin was backed up. It was estimated that I might get it before Christmas, but then it got re-estimated towards the end of the year, and then once more at January 21. I was almost tempted to cancel the order since the Evo 3 had tamed down a bit after some use and carbon buildup, but I figured since I had already waited over a month, I'd just wait it out. To my surprise, it arrived yesterday.
I went ahead and swapped it out this morning and took it for a test drive. Here are my first impressions: The fit and finish of this thing is fantastic. I don't think I need to reiterate this as everyone here pretty much agrees that Perrin fabricates some nice stuff. They are ahead of the curve in this regard and I will continue to buy their stuff (I already have quite a few of their products on my car). At start up, the sound was a lot quieter than I was used to with the Evo 3. I dare say it was almost too quiet. I haven't heard the stock exhaust in a while, but I almost felt like it was that quiet. A quick stomp on the gas and the sound woke up and really came to life. Still nothing like the Evo 3 though. I checked for leaks, made sure everything was fitting properly and I went ahead and took it for a drive. Again, my immediate thought was that the car was almost too quiet for my tastes. I heard some folks complain of a slight drone, or a raspy tone coming from the Perrin - I just don't see that. You guys are either way too sensitive to sound, or something's not hooked up right, because this thing just purrs. I can't even imagine what the resonated version would sound like - must be completely silent!
In any event, I hopped on to the parkway, took it up to 80MPH and there is absolutely no drone whatsoever. There was some kind of vibration type noise at around 5K RPM, so I'll have to check everything again after things settle and retorque everything. There might be something loose or not fitting exactly right.
Edit: I re-torqued everything after about 50 miles of driving and I lost the 5K vibration. Must've been exhaust leaking through a loose gasket.
Bottom line, it fits perfectly in the rear bumper cut outs, it looks fantastic, it is completely drone-free, and it still has a nice "bite" to the sound. I am definitely keeping it, but I wish it had more of the deep growl that the Evo 3 had.
A perfect system, in my opinion, would be the Evo 3's deep growl with the Perrin's fit and finish and drone-free construction.
Thanks to Jeremy at FT-86 SpeedFactory and to Chris & Jeff at Perrin.
|
