HKS Hi-Power Spec-L CBE (Ti-tips) and HKS dual resonated front pipe review

[Pointmutation]

HKS Hi-Power Spec-L dual canister titanium tips cat-back exhaust and HKS dual resonated front pipe review.

TL;DR-- HKS CBE + stock everything else = drone city + power up top (verified with my butt dyno. Lol). HKS CBE + DRFP = nice sound + power up top (butt dyno).
(Do TL;DR's go at the top or bottom of a post? I always thought it odd to put it at the end. Lol.)

Exhaust review note: I've listened to mainly non-bassy music most of my life so my low frequency hearing isn't fried from years of blasting songs heavy on the bass in my ears like my other half does. I think this matters in my review of the exhaust droning since it seems everybody is different on tolerability to drone, hearing ability, and their views of whether something 'doesn't really' drone or not. anyways...

On to the review...



Added just the HKS Hi-Power Spec-L cat-back exhaust w/ dual titanium tips about a month or so ago... Well, as for style, it is a dual cannon fart can style. So either you love the look or you hate it. I love it.

93hz drone frequency...


The drone.... Usage-wise, I live in Honolulu and am mainly in town driving. Lots of traffic lights, not a lot of open roads like mainland guys have it. Also, max speed on the freeways in town without fear of getting tagged is at most 60 in the 50mph zones, less in the speed traps though (west side guys always drive faster though since speed limits are higher on that side of the island). Drone city at 2.5-3.5k rpm. I typically drive around town and accelerate quickly while shifting around 3.5k rpm. But with just the CBE, it was horrible. Pretty much unbearable. The harder I'd accel, the more unbearable it was. I've read comments about the HKS Hi-power spec L not having drone, well, with stock everything else and my driving style and ears, yeah it does and it sucked. Headache inducing, ear popping drone. Had to change up my drive style and shift like a granny at ~2k rpm or less. Shifting like a granny around town, the sound is fine, not much droning. Cruising around 2k was ok, but cruising at higher speeds sucked. And long uphills on load were so painful so I'd pretty much live in 2nd gear just to stay over 4k and out of the drone rpm range. Gas mileage took a hit because of this. I'd also skip gears to either stay above or stay below that drone rpm range. And downhill engine braking was also horribly filled with drone, so I had to stop that and either throw it in the highest gear possible for the speed and hope it didn't hit the 2.5k mark (i.e.: no engine braking for me) or just keep the clutch pushed in and coast it downhill. For anybody who knows Oahu, I have to drive the Likelike hwy and Pali hwy to get to work and back home so droning on especially these extended uphills/downhills can last for quite a while depending on how slow the guys in front of you are driving. The other half barely noticed this drone though. Overall, me having to drive like a granny just to avoid hearing the drone really sucked.

Overall review of loudness of CBE + stock everything else... I don't know, all I heard was drone. Haha. Seriously, what little I could hear over the drone sounded fine though.

Butt dyno says the car felt like it had more power especially up top at >6k rpms, so that was nice, but drone city to get there.

HKS dual resonated Front Pipe



Anyways, fast forward to a couple weeks afterwards and I install the HKS dual resonated front pipe. Wow, night and day difference on the drone. It went from regularly unbearable and always there sucking the fun out of driving this car to sometimes there but bearable when there and at worst (long uphills/downhills on load), borderline bearable. Definitely not unbearable anymore. Now I can shift around 3-3.5k around town and not cringe at the drone. The drone is still there when driving through that rpm range but loudness is less and the duration shorter, so the tolerability is considerably better.

FYI, this isn't just a case of my ears getting used to the CBE drone as there was a significant and noticeable night and day difference in sound immediately after changing the stock FP with the DRFP.

Sound spec on accel...


The 93hz drone peak can still be heard (mainly on uphill load) but it happens much less frequently now and less irritatingly so...



Loudness of CBE + dual resonated FP... On load, noticeable louder than stock but not obnoxious. Getting the revs up high on WOT sounds great. I actually want more exhaust volume now (but not drone volume. Lol). Basically, with the addition of the DRFP, outside exhaust loudness increased while inside drone loudness decreased and rpm range of the drone seems to have narrowed too. Tone sounds good to me, like a sporty car should sound. CBE+DRFP warm idle seems quieter than when I just had the CBE. Warm idle of CBE + DRFP is not much more noticeable than stock was too. Cold starts are definitely louder than just the CBE was. After starting the car I immediately leave my garage so I don't piss off the neighbors sleeping with the cold starts echoing against the walls. One thing I noticed though, I do hear crickets a little more inside the car now. Maybe it's echoing though the FP at a frequency I notice more now?? But whatevers, crickets = 86 life. Haha. Now I'm wondering what it'll sound like with headers...

[eggroll]

Any sound clips of just the cbe? I've always wanted to get the exact cbe, but it would be the farthest that i will go as far as exhaust set up


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[chaoskaze]

Noob question. What are you using to measure the drones. O..O
I would love to do a test like yours for mine...

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[Pointmutation]

Originally Posted by eggroll

Any sound clips of just the cbe? I've always wanted to get the exact cbe, but it would be the farthest that i will go as far as exhaust set up

I haven't gotten around to recording any sound clips yet. Need to wait for a day off where I can meet up with my friend to hold my camera for me while I rev it up.

I really want to make a cold start idle video clip but my neighbors in my complex need to all be out of their houses which is hard since the one who complains and watches everything is almost always home and a couple others are shift workers that I don't wanna be a jerk to. Lol. Hopefully one day the timing is right and I can make a cold start idle video though. For cold starts I will always immediately start moving and go right after I start the car. Next day off I'll see if I can record that at least.

[Pointmutation]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

Noob question. What are you using to measure the drones. O..O
I would love to do a test like yours for mine...

I use a sound analyzer app on my android head unit with an external mic. Can't remember he name of the app right now, I'll go check when I get to my car later.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by Pointmutation

I use a sound analyzer app on my android head unit with an external mic. Can't remember he name of the app right now, I'll go check when I get to my car later.

Thank you! Would love to hear more info from you.


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[Pointmutation]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

Thank you! Would love to hear more info from you.

The app I use is called Advaced Spectrum Analyzer Pro. Free on the Google Play store. I like it because I could run it and glance over when the drone was happening and pinpoint exactly what frequency the drone was happening on. And this seems more accurate than just using RPMs to determine the drone frequency. Plus this let me see the spectrum before and after to see if my changes actually changed in the exhaust noise for the better or if it was some placebo effect only in my head.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by Pointmutation

The app I use is called Advaced Spectrum Analyzer Pro. Free on the Google Play store. I like it because I could run it and glance over when the drone was happening and pinpoint exactly what frequency the drone was happening on. And this seems more accurate than just using RPMs to determine the drone frequency. Plus this let me see the spectrum before and after to see if my changes actually changed in the exhaust noise for the better or if it was some placebo effect only in my head.

Thank you for sharing! Cant wait to try it out once I get back home.


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[Albertogt86]

Hi, i have the same problem, but with the front pipe Hks is louder than the oem, i try with baffle cones, but it is'nt enough, drone kills this beautiful exhoust.