What exhaust do YOU have?
 

I've owned my little Scion for a little more than a year and I'm starting to get serious about a mild tune. I'm pretty set on a Unichip, not looking for arguments for or against, it's just a good fit for me. My only current performance mod is a TRD cold-air intake.

My question is what should I do with my exhaust, if anything? I'm a career metal fabricator so it pains me to buy anything that's not made from good stainless, or has sloppy MIG welds or is heavy. I've seen photos of our stock header and it just kills me knowing that's under there. I TIG welded a motorbike exhaust a few years ago from the thinnest stainless I could find, and it looked and sounded beautiful. So quality is super important or I will just be pissed.

Unfortunately I can't exactly weigh and examine every system out there so I'm looking for your impressions. In addition, I don't want to make my little Scion sound like a big wet Honda Civic fart. The TRD exhaust sounds great to me, but my understanding is that it provides little to no performance gain. I also like the sound of the UEL headers, but I've heard that they can have adverse long-term effects on our motors. Not sure if that's a real thing or just forum-speak.

So basically the more I read the more I feel like I don't know. I'm going to wind up just leaving my stock exhaust on my car if I can't find something that is well made, light-weight, free-flowing and has enough silencers to keep it to a low rumble above idle.

Leaning toward the TRD exhaust system.

Leaning toward Tomei, JDL or HKS headers.

I am COMPLETELY ignorant on which cats and mufflers these manufacturers are using. Or if they are replaceable parts.

Everything I'm asking for is basically in the exhaust compilations already, but I know there are things being done that no one has reviewed yet. I'm looking for some firsthand reviews and suggestions based on my criteria.

Thanks! :-)

You want high quality, light weight components huh? Tomei for the downpipe and cat back. JDL for their superb headers. Be warned though, the lighter the exhaust system, the louder the vibrations and noise levels will be inside your cabin.

jdl header, perrin overpipe, fullblown dual exhaust. amazing quality. I cant comment on sound since im turbo. its quiet and has no drone.

FT86 SF UEL Catted Header Stock Overpipe, stock front pipe, TRD Cat back exhaust.
No drone, all vroom -- nice UEL sound when idle.

if you want good quality get the TRD exhaust and a good set of headers. i personally like the thicker exhaust piping of the trd. loved it on my last car.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kllQEFWr4Jg"]Frs with borla uel header and trd muffler - YouTube[/ame]

what it sounds like :P

In before tuning arguments start!

As to the question I am all stock at present. I plan to eventually run a Perrin resonated cat back, Nameless hermoltz catted front pipe and at this stage either a Tomei EL or a JDL EL header.

I will have the same set up but with a Nameless EL in this weekend. i'll try to post some sound clips up on youtube.