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They are all good,it just boils down too personal taste on sound and some have highway drone,some don't.I got a screaming good deal on slightly used Corsa touring,,and I love them. Absolutely quiet on the highway,nice growl normal through the gears,pretty nice howl WOT.
Last edited by itzza427; May 28, 2008 at 12:00 AM.
I agree, it depends on your personal preference. I didn't like the high pitch at WOT from Corsas, I preferred deeper sound of Granatelli (can hear on their website), also liked GHL (which you can hear on LS1sounds.com). I bought the Granatellis a couple weeks ago ($575 shipped), best bang for the buck compared to other prices, plus they sound great IMO!
Interior noise isn't bad, mostly VERY quiet at cruising speeds, but I have a crap 2.73 gear so its always at low RPMs cruising. First thing I did was hit the highway and found very low cabin noise. No drone while cruising, but maybe a second of drone when car is getting ready to shift into 2nd gear at normal driving. FYI ~ loosen rear sway bar to ease getting old exhaust out of car
They asre all good,it just boils down too personal taste on sound and some have highway drone,some don't.I got a screaming good deal on slightly used Corsa touring,,and I love them. Absolutely quiet on the highway,nice growl normal through the gears,pretty nice howl WOT.
From: Norman Oklahoma - The Only State in the Union with no Blue Counties!
Originally Posted by itzza427
They asre all good,it just boils down too personal taste on sound and some have highway drone,some don't.I got a screaming good deal on slightly used Corsa touring,,and I love them. Absolutely quiet on the highway,nice growl normal through the gears,pretty nice howl WOT.
Add long tube headers and x-pipe and the Corsa Touring is still dead quiet in the car on the highway,,,,but ROAR under hard right foot action!
I agree, it depends on your personal preference. I didn't like the high pitch at WOT from Corsas, I preferred deeper sound of Granatelli (can hear on their website), also liked GHL (which you can hear on LS1sounds.com). I bought the Granatellis a couple weeks ago ($575 shipped), best bang for the buck compared to other prices, plus they sound great IMO!
I probably spent more time than anybody researching all the different aftermarket exhausts and pricing them. There was just something about each one that turned me off or was a complete deal breaker (drone = complete deal breaker for me). I wanted a relatively mild, but nice low V8 type sound at idle, mild sound at cruise, and a nice healthy V8 sound at WOT without being so loud as to attract a lot of attention. I too didn't like the pitch of the Corsas, too much like a Formula or Indy car to me. I settled on the GHL Bullets, which are the mildest of the GHL line, and are similar to the Borla Stingers but slightly milder and without the drone. I shopped around a lot and found them for $900 shipped which is a good deal for them.
The Granatellis by all accounts are a great bang for the buck, usually about $550 shipped. Biggest complaint I've seen about them are the clamps that ship with them. Everybody says to toss them and use something else. Aside from that, everybody seems to be pretty pleased with the sound and workmanship. I can't speak to the Bassanis, that was probably the only exhaust I really didn't look into.
I have the Bassani exhaust.Very low note. Sounds very mean. I am thinking on selling them and going to a quiet system shoot me a PM if you are interested.
To answer your question,, an X pipe will smooth out the sound out, MAY quiet it down a small amount,and is supposed to enhance torque a tiny bit. With most cat backs and the stock H pipe you usually get a bit of crackle and popping when the revs get low on deceleration, and this is usually eliminated or greatly reduced with an X pipe. some like the popping some don't. With the Corsa touring on my car it's not bad anyhow and I kinda like it.With the car cutting a 13 flat 110 at the end of my first time out I'm in no rush to get an X pipe at this time! Haven't ruled it out though!!
I was having this same issue last summer when I was getting my exhaust (personally I went with Borla Stingers) but I found the best way to figure out what you want is to find someone with each one of the exhausts that you want and listen to them, if possible get a ride in the car to hear the interior resonence. Because you can listen to sound clip after sound clip online but you will not get the same experience you will in person.
Next comes the kind of sound you want. As itzza427 said if you want a smooth sound then get an X pipe to go with it the only problem with that is it supresses the sound a tiny bit. Personally, I kind of like the gargling noise you get when you turn it on or decelerate. But it all comes down to personal preferance. If you want to get the X pipe I know that some of the brands have a little combo.
Another thing you might want to look at are long pipes.
Granatelli is great on sound, poor on fit and finish. My left side tips are off and can't be adjusted right because when the tab was welded on to hold the tips even it wasn't done right at the factory apparently. So even if I get the left and right sides at the same height (getting them to stay is another issue with the ****ty clamps) the left side is still just a tiny hair "off".
Most probably wouldn't notice it but I do. Sound wise they are awesome. But when the funds allow I'll replace them with Bullets or GHL's probably.
I listen to every system I could find when I was looking for an exhaust system, and after all the smoke cleared I went with the Bassani system. I have three C5's and all three support the Bassani's. I run their complete system on my 2004 coup (Headers, cats and X-pipe all the way back), on my 2001 I have their system from the X-pipe back, and on my 1998 coup I have a custom built 3" system from the cats back. I even put a set up on my 2003 Expedition... Great sound and no drone.