[BoxerRumble]

Hi,

Bought a Blue BRZ and want to work on it.

The car appears to have CBE, CAI. PO says that while under the car, since the stock overpipe and frontpipe (with cat) are a little rusty (and restrictive), I may want to get new ones at the same time. I get the restrictive thing - when we removed his silencers, the whole car felt more powerful and responsive!

Other than during an ownership change, there is no inspection or smog, so I was originally thinking of getting a catless frontpipe.

I also like noise / sound, but I do not want to attract attention from cops or get complaints from neighbors, so I am thinking get something that does not make things louder than they already are.

I also learned what drone is recently. I test-drove a BRZ with an Injen exhaust (no drone), a GReddy (very drony), and this Nvidia I am told can be slightly drony at certain speeds.

After researching this the last few days and watching nonstop Youtube videos, it looks like the HKS Dual Resonated Front Pipe keeps noise reasonable and retains and/or augments the subie rumble nicely (and I really like the subie rumble - it sounds very similar to my former 911). The HKS is also reasonably priced. However, it doesn't have a cat.

It would be nice to have a high-flow cat (HFC) because if a cop happened to look under the car I think they can see the cat. (The headers cannot be seen with the panel covering them I am told). Also, if we ever do get smog tests back, or I move to US state with smog tests, I am told an HFC alone even with the Tomei headers could probably get me through an emissions test.

On the other hand, if a cop or someone is looking under a car, it seems those resonators look like HFCs, so would they be able to tell the difference? Or if I give the car to my son later on, and I don't want to swap out parts again, could a mechanic quickly spot the difference between a cat and resonator?

So I guess my question is: does HKS make a resonated HFK also? I was looking at the Nvidia HKS front pipe and it is quite expensive and I'm worried that it is also loud. Other decent choices appear to be from Perrin, JDL, and Berk -but I think the Berk is loud, even with a cat, no?

On the overpipe, I was trying to find a good quality one at a reasonable price. Nvidia, Tomai, Motiv seem a little expensive, but the Gruppe-S one seems pretty reasonable and high quality as well.

Last but not least, do I want to get a combined frontpipe / overpipe? I read about Nameless makes one - are they a good quality? In Canada I also found this other combo for about $550 US, but, but no idea on loudness/quality:
FT86MS Front Over-Pipe Combo (w/ 3" diam, 1 Resonator, 1 non-EPA CAT)