Aftermarket Exhaust Question / Opinions
 

I purchased a used Boxster S several years back, it came with an already installed B&B catback system. The purchase included the stock S exhaust also. While I do enjoy the throatier growl and absolutely love the burble when letting off the gas, the occassional drone seems to be annoying me a little more with every passing year. From what I can gather the B&B is one of the nicer aftermarket units and is somewhat tame soundwise compared to others out there. My Question:

How many, if any, of you guys have switch your exhausts back to stock from something aftermarket? :cheers:

I'm guessing the number is low, I ended up throwing out a stock 986 unit.

I have run aftermarket exhaust on just about every BMW I have had as I enjoy the sound. While I can't really answer your question, I have found B&B to be among the louder exhausts in the BMW arena - not sure how that translates to Porsches or specifically to Boxsters. Also as exhausts get older, they can get louder. In any event, if you decide to remove your B&B, I would be interested in buying it for my Boxster S.

Vince

I replaced the OE muffler on my 2.7 with a Stebro Sport muffler several years ago. I liked it initially but grew to hate the drone and decided to get rid of it. I had already sold the OE muffler so that wasn't an option. I ended up going with a completely new aftermarket system (headers, mid pipes, and muffler) and was satisfied.

If I had kept the OE muffler I would have considered reinstalling it. The negatives would have been having to lift it (weight) to put it back on and the lack of any sound (the reason I took it off in the first place).

I have the Fabspeed (+headers). Very very loud at 6,000+ RPM. Between 3-4K RPM the drone is pretty bad but with the top down, especially with city driving, it's not an issue. With top up on the highway it's awful.... but not nearly as bad as when I installed a Racing Beat exhaust on a previous Miata. That cabin is as loud as you can get without adding yet another high decibel soundtrack. One time on the long drive to a track we actually wore our audio headgear to drown out the sound. That must have looked funny viewed from another car.
If the drone gets too bad you migh consider welding the OEM muffler to the rest of the BB setup.

Since this is my second Box I've been doing a fair amount of research on this. After all the discussions about drone and too loud vs. too quiet I have ordered the Fister muffler modified. It will be about 3 weeks before it is complete and installed but all the feedback on this is great and no drone. The cost is good and I can still do a secondary cat. bypass if it's still not loud enough.

The clips on YouTube are consistent and seem to have a good volume and tone. We'll see.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was most curious to hear from anyone (if anyone has done it) who switched back to stock from aftermarket. My guess is that it will seem too quiet from what I'm used to, the drone is truly minimal but with the top up and between 2600 to 2800 rpms it's there. Any more relevant comments would be appreciated.

I had a complete B&B system on my 3.6 conversion, drove me nuts, installed a Cayman S instead and for me it was a good choice. You could hear the car coming from a mile away with the B&B and the drone below 3100 rpm was super annoying.

Consider a PSE. The factory unit has all the lovely noise with no drone. Of course you must sell your first born to be able to afford it. :)

FD Motorsports now sells a "pedro" version of the PSE for pretty cheap. You don't have the on-off switch, but you still elminate the drone and keep the volume at high revs. You can get it ceramic coated as well. Darin at FD is really good to work with. Tell him Mike from Lexington told you to call:
986 Sport Muffler

No affiliation.....yada yada

Holy Thread Resurrection Batman!!!!!!!

I heard a Boxster a few weeks back with the FD Motorsports exhaust MTS referred to in the post above, now THAT is what these cars should of sounded like from the factory, absolutely no drone either.

I dealt with Darin at FD earlier this year and bought his Stage 2 mufflers for my 993 then afterwards got a full suspension set-up from them; GREAT people to deal with, great product and IMO a fair price. No affiliation, just wanted to pass on the info.