MILLTEK ROAD+ Valved Catback Exhaust Sound Comparison and thoughts

[notorious9i6]

Went for the 3 TIP, VALVED, Exhaust. No regrets on the sound. make sure to get the ROAD + (1 resonator)



1 resonator seems to be the goldilocks for our cars. Not too raspy, deep tone, and the most important to me... NO DRONE.


I wanted something that in sport plus mode, i can hear the exhaust but in comfort, OEM. Well... I found it.

Sponsored

 

[Nivek2slick]

Nice

 

[dockleryxk]

Thanks for putting this together!

I’ve only recently got a daily, so I dailied my Integra with non res for about 7-8 months. It’s been totally fine, no drone, but once I do turbo and downpipe here soon, I’m going to get the same setup as you.

 

[notorious9i6]

Wow good to hear about your setup. I’m on the stock dp in this video and don’t plan on upgrading. Let me know how it goes!

 

[LunaticSM]

Wow good to hear about your setup. I’m on the stock dp in this video and don’t plan on upgrading. Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for the vid. Curious why you're sticking with stock DP when you're modding so many other parts of your car. Seems like high flow DP produces some of the best gains of any mod.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Sounds pretty good!

I hate how much milltek charges for a slip fit exhaust .

Do you know what size the outlet for the exhaust tips is? Are they all the same size?

 

[notorious9i6]

that outlets are the same size, i can measure for that for you sometime this week

 

[notorious9i6]

Thanks for the vid. Curious why you're sticking with stock DP when you're modding so many other parts of your car. Seems like high flow DP produces some of the best gains of any mod.

Hope it helped!

The only dp that i'm interested in is the TSP DP and you can't ship that to California. The long waits, price, the work arounds i have to do to get it, and the potential check engine line just doesn't seem worth while. Also, not as much as a deal breaker but since it's a suppose to be my "family car" I wanted to make sure the fumes aren't too stinky.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

that outlets are the same size, i can measure for that for you sometime this week

Yeah I'm really curious what the size of the clamped area is (the pipe outlet/tip inlet). I'd love to get some resonated tips onto an exhaust.

 

[optronix]

Hope it helped!

The only dp that i'm interested in is the TSP DP and you can't ship that to California. The long waits, price, the work arounds i have to do to get it, and the potential check engine line just doesn't seem worth while. Also, not as much as a deal breaker but since it's a suppose to be my "family car" I wanted to make sure the fumes aren't too stinky.

Exactly. Ends don't justify the means... I personally don't understand why so many people are extensively modding and tuning these cars. Stinky fumes and CELs aside, adding significantly more power to a front-wheel drive car that's about at capacity already without overwhelming the front tires doesn't make sense to me unless you're going to primarily drag race- which also doesn't make sense to me why you'd choose an ITS for that use case.

But to each their own. I guess 450 whp in one of these with all the supporting suspension/chassis/braking mods to make it a potent time-attack car would be pretty interesting... although driving it on the road after all that would be pretty hilarious.

As for the Milltek Road+, I'm going to plug @Zygrene again (if you're on this board and not following his channel, you're doing yourself a disservice), because he just recently got this exact same exhaust on his car.

After watching his latest video, I'm not entirely convinced it's loud enough. I know I'm in the market for one of the "milder" exhausts, but I just expected it to be much more noticeable on track- which is also one of the primary reasons I'm even interested in an exhaust in the first place- with a helmet on and the wind noise from having the windows down it is actually quite difficult to hear the engine on a racetrack.

Going back and forth with his old videos with the stock exhaust you absolutely can hear a difference- just not as pronounced as I was hoping for.

stock exhaust:

milltek road+:

Would the Apex'i be louder while still maintaining a valve to keep it from being obnoxious when I don't want it to be? I'm leaning strongly in that direction.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Exactly. Ends don't justify the means... I personally don't understand why so many people are extensively modding and tuning these cars. Stinky fumes and CELs aside, adding significantly more power to a front-wheel drive car that's about at capacity already without overwhelming the front tires doesn't make sense to me unless you're going to primarily drag race- which also doesn't make sense to me why you'd choose an ITS for that use case.

But to each their own. I guess 450 whp in one of these with all the supporting suspension/chassis/braking mods to make it a potent time-attack car would be pretty interesting... although driving it on the road after all that would be pretty hilarious.

As for the Milltek Road+, I'm going to plug @Zygrene again (if you're on this board and not following his channel, you're doing yourself a disservice), because he just recently got this exact same exhaust on his car.

After watching his latest video, I'm not entirely convinced it's loud enough. I know I'm in the market for one of the "milder" exhausts, but I just expected it to be much more noticeable on track- which is also one of the primary reasons I'm even interested in an exhaust in the first place- with a helmet on and the wind noise from having the windows down it is actually quite difficult to hear the engine on a racetrack.

Going back and forth with his old videos with the stock exhaust you absolutely can hear a difference- just not as pronounced as I was hoping for.

stock exhaust:

milltek road+:

Would the Apex'i be louder while still maintaining a valve to keep it from being obnoxious when I don't want it to be? I'm leaning strongly in that direction.

How much louder can a stock car with a cat back get than a straight through design? That's essentially what you get with the mbrp and milltek once the valve opens. Even the stock exhaust you can chop out the center muffler and you'd only be left with the resonator.

Larger pipe isn't really necessary and would reduce exhaust gas velocity so the tinny part of the engine note would come out more and probably reduced volume vs stock with no muffler/res. Lht performance has some good videos around this. Their recommendation is to skip full exhaust and just chop out the center muffler. This is despite the fact they spent a bunch of time and money designing a full Ti 3" exhaust with a center valve and large mufflers.

On track though, to overcome window noise you need a lot of volume, especially since you're "driving away" from the sound. 90dB is pretty much the minimum to overcome helmet head. 100dB is where wind and helmet are easily overcome and you hear what the car is doing in detail. 103dB is where most track noise ordinances (for those tracks with ordinances) come into play. This is all measured at 50ft away and wot. You won't get that kind of volume out of this car without removing muffler, resonator, and any downpipe restriction because the turbo and cat drown a lot of noise (and drone) out.

 

[notorious9i6]

I could be mistaken, but I believe the Apexi exhaust should be quieter due to its muffler design, even when the valve is fully open. On the other hand, the Milltek system is essentially a straight-pipe catback with only a single resonator (which can even be ordered without).

As with most turbocharged vehicles, upgrading the downpipe might be the key if you’re looking to increase the exhaust volume.

With the windows down, the exhaust is more audible on the street, but it doesn’t overpower the intake noises—instead, it complements them, creating a rather pleasing symphony.

Do I wish it were louder? Not at all, as my car is set up for street driving. What’s particularly impressive is the significant difference between the modes with this exhaust, making it incredibly versatile.

However, I understand @Zygrene's point about the helmet muffling even more sound. The exhaust is only a notch or two louder than stock.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

However, I understand @Zygrene's point about the helmet muffling even more sound. The exhaust is only a notch or two louder than stock.

Thing is, if you want to hear exactly what the car is doing on track, you do this by removing sound deadening, interior panels, rubber bushings, and anything else providing any insulation.

In my other vehicle at any given point on track I can hear both fuel pumps whining, every vibration the metal bushings transmit, the tick of the valves, the turnover of the cam timing, the minute vibrations in the crank when it exceeds 7500 rpm, the violent vibrations from the crank and single mass flywheel when it crosses 8k rpm, and the chatter from the diff locking and unlocking all over the actual exhaust. The exhaust is basically straight out from engine to rear muffler, except for some resonators and it blows 105dB at 50ft. It's nowhere near quiet, but I can still hear tire and wind roar too.

Getting the exhaust this loud to overcome everything makes it basically unreasonable for driving on the street. I wouldn't recommend it, and in fact I'd recommend wearing earplugs in the car, even with a helmet on to protect your hearing (which starts getting damaged around 85dB).

 

[optronix]

Yeah, maybe I'm looking too much into it. It definitely seems louder than stock, which is already on the upper end of tolerable on the road anyway. I don't spend enough time on a racetrack to justify going much louder than that... and I see how the Milltek's design should imply its loudness.

I still like the Apex'i though. Something about the overall look of the thing looks like a cut above from a quality perspective- even though I'll never see it outside of the tips, which are polarizing in their own way. And the sound clips from YouTube can only go so far, but it's the best sounding exhaust to my ears I've come across.

It'll be a game time decision.

 

[Negitoro7]

Yeah, maybe I'm looking too much into it. It definitely seems louder than stock, which is already on the upper end of tolerable on the road anyway. I don't spend enough time on a racetrack to justify going much louder than that... and I see how the Milltek's design should imply its loudness.

I still like the Apex'i though. Something about the overall look of the thing looks like a cut above from a quality perspective- even though I'll never see it outside of the tips, which are polarizing in their own way. And the sound clips from YouTube can only go so far, but it's the best sounding exhaust to my ears I've come across.

It'll be a game time decision.

I’ve had my Apexi on for what seems like a month now, and it’s really damn-near perfect for me of an upgrade from the aesthetics, to the rowdiness in Sport+ mode, to how much refinement it retains on the highway in Comfort mode.

In Comfort mode around town, I can “lay low” sound-wise for the most part, with a hint of grunt to signify that there may be an aftermarket exhaust lurking under there.

I’m an old school JDM fanboy at heart, so the burnt titanium tips really speak to me. Currently deciding which burnt titanium shift knob to get too.

Sponsored