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I modified my stock exhaust. Cost is about $10 if you can weld. Opinions vary, but I like the sound. Not having any drone is the biggest bonus. Here's a clip. I get on the gas a little at about 1:06.
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-
'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
I have had two different aftermarket catbacks:
- on the 2000 I had, I used a B&B Route 66 system. Sound was better than the stock system without being overly loud. The look of the quad oval exhaust tips was very good but the problem I had was the drone and popping when decelerating. I solved the noise issues by installing an x-pipe.
- on my current car, an 03, I have a Corsa Indy Pace Car system installed. I love the sound, even at idle, and when you push down on the pedal, it really wakes up and screams at full throttle. The look, fit and finish is excellent. No drone or popping from the exhaust.
My recommendation is to go to some Corvette events and check out what others are running on their cars. Nothing like hearing a system in person. I would bet that the owners would be more than willing to start the car up and give it a few revvs if you asked. I know I would.
I have corsa. As others will tell you they do an excellent job tuning out the drone when making these systems. I have a corsa xtreme on my corvette. A corsa system on my ram 1500 and when I used to have a Camaro I had a corsa on that as well. Clearly I'm sold on their products
If I had to do it again I may have gotten the corsa sport with the tiger shark tips instead of the xtreme. After headers and cam it can be a bit much sometimes. But still nowhere near as obnoxious as some other combinations can be.
Borla Stinger original. Drones a little about 2,700 rpms with a light load such as going up slight hills. Simply downshift, or accelerate and it's gone. Sorry no videos at this time.
Friend has the Corsa, it's too high pitched for me, but because of this tuning out of the low frequency sound waves that give the Borla it's deep growl, it doesn't have drone as others have mentioned. There's always a trade-off.
In my opinion if you want your C5 to have more of a deep muscular sound you will want to go with Borla Stingers, B&B Bullets or Magnaflow Performance Series systems. I have the Magnaflows along with Kooks Long Tube Headers with hi flow cats on my C5 and to me its the closest sound to an old school mucsle car without being too loud. I have a manual trans so drone is not an issue. Magnaflow has the least drone of the three if you have an automatic transmission. I have had the Stingers and they sound great too. I never had Bullets which are the loudest of the three but any time I hear them it makes me want to get a set. There are many sound clips of every exhaust system / header set-up out there and few if any of the sound clips sound at all like the exhaust in person, especially with headers. You will have to hear them in person to decide.
I have that Magnaflow catback with X Pipe package that runs just under 2k new. No drone even with long tubes. Sounds amazing. No desire at all to go to anything else. I have not heard anything deeper at idle.
I hate raspy and cackly exhausts. When I bought my car, it came equipped with ARH 1 3/4" headers, a 2.5" x-pipe, and a Corsa Xtreme cat-back. I thought it sounded like garbage. Corsas sound like old glasspacks to me, especially when lifting off the throttle. All that fluttery cackling drove me nuts. I wanted that deep bass tone, like a big-block car running Flowmasters. Well, I managed to get really close. I sold my entire exhaust system and replaced it with Kooks 1 7/8" headers, a Kooks 3" x-pipe with Vibrant resonators added, and an LG Motorsports "Big 3" cat-back. Holy bass! My car goes "thumpity-thumpity-thumpity" at idle, roars at full throttle, and doesn't cackle or flutter when lifting. I took a couple cell phone videos, but they sounded bad. The phone microphone just couldn't record the bass. I need to take a video with a real video camera.
My car had an X-pipe and Borla Stinger set-up on it when I bought it. The X-pipe is slightly odd looking-like it's stamped from two pieces of sheet stainless steel that are welded together and is stamped with what appears to be a West Coast Corvettes logo. It has a nice relatively deep rumble at idle that isn't too loud but it sounds pretty good at WOT. The cold air kit helps the sound, too. When letting off the gas it burbles and pops a little, but I like that.
I got a set of Z06 Titaniums with 11K miles on them and I am very happy with them...
I have a Z06 CE with the TI exhaust. I'm going to leave it alone. Any of the aftermarket catback are only incremental in performance gain and sound is so subject. I feel it would be a throw of the dice and the stock sounds great at WOT.
I have GHL Bullets on mine. Nice deep tone, slight drone. When I added the XS Power headers it sounded like a nascar starting up. Loved the way it sounded.
I have a Z06 CE with the TI exhaust. I'm going to leave it alone. Any of the aftermarket catback are only incremental in performance gain and sound is so subject. I feel it would be a throw of the dice and the stock sounds great at WOT.
I've had Ti's, GHL Bullets, and Corsa Extreme. They all sound good in my opinion. Each one has its own unique sound. Here is a short clip of the GHL Bullets...it was taken with a cell phone, so sound quality is not great.
Who has it ? And what brand do you use. Video would be great along with feedback.
thanks Tim
There are counteless videos with sound showing the Corsa Xtreme but none of them do it justice. It's the best exhaust IMO because it screams when you step on it and it's silent on the highway. Best of both worlds and if you want that this is the only way to go.
07-04-2018, 06:43 PM
Catback exhaust
...and all that loud crap gives me a headache
