Ideal Street Legal Exhaust

A6 All/ S6 All
#41

Ok cool . glad it might have been able to help.

Honestly. here is my thoughts on the exhaust. If your going to spend money to modify the exhaust just to pull the res section out. Your never going to be happy as there are so many crinks and bends that make the OEM exhaust restrictive and sound wise too tame,

If you can afford it I would suggest the JHM exhaust as its a really nice piece with no drone and a great tone. Lots of the issues you might run into building your own exhaust have already been worked out. But still if y ou can build your own exhaust or have one built it makes sense to spend the money on something your going to really want than to spend money trying to modify the exhaust to be better but still not what you really want.

#42

Yeah, I am slowly realizing that. 1800 for the JHM was already steeper than I wanted to pay (I know JHM knows their stuff though and it’s a more than worth it product) but now that its like 2200, I just cant justify that in my mind at the moment haha. I always intended to do the JHM work in one lump. Exhaust, Intake spacers, lightweight pully, etc…

If I could find a decent shop here in the detroit area that could do a 2.75 or 3" cat back (preferably X-Pipe) that’d be perfect but it’s all about cost. If it’s gonna cost me $1500+ for a custom fab, then I might as well buy the JHM, but if I can find someone in the $1000 (or even less ;D) range, that to me is worth it for the time being as I save up to do a JHM splurge in the future.
We shall see though…

#43

Maybe JHM will do better pricing for members here, you are supporting th v10 cause is a way. At a high quality shop a proper exhaust with nice welds resonates and performance mufflers is $900-1200+ from my experience in euro v8 and v10 cars. You can of course go wild with different types of mufflers etc and cost will go up. Shop around you might be surprised in the quotes. Where are you located, I can give you a referral to one of my shops if your truly going that direction, but I’d ether you save up and get the JHM exhaust I think you will be happier. Although ~$1k in Savings is nothing to scoff at

#44

If they can get it down to $1750-2000, then that would be awesome.

#45

Full custom in quality 304 Stainless is not cheap if you are going custom made.
This is the system i built for myself, cut and welded my own X pipe, 2.5 to 3" expansion cones right off the headers.
V bands are also like $40+ a pop too.
Ran out of money which I am still using stock muffs, eventually get some nice stainless straight through muffs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFBla3J9x1s

#46

Second on the cost of materials. I know the JHM exhaust sounds expensive but when you start buying things like Vbands bends hangers mufflers, tips and good solid grade tube its a lot of money.

#47

I hear what you’re saying but I guess I was just more looking at it from the point of being a temporary thing. Not a custom system that will last 10 michigan winters. I was just looking for a cheap temp way to let the car breathe better in the intermediate time until the JHM parts are all bought. I don’t need titanium and top end stainless steel. I figure if it was made with cheaper materials, that’s fine as my goal is to have the JHM within 2 years when I can do an all out, full on JHM build.

With all the information above though, I think I will just stick with my setup now and wait it out. 8)

#48

^best way to do it. just wait, save up. no point going cheap on materials because it will still be expensive with time and materials, but whats the point of spending money and labor twice if the system rusts out in 2 years.
buy nice or pay twice…i have learned that on my own skin time and time again…

#49

Yeah and I do get that. I just figured if I was gonna spend 4-5 grand in a couple years, if I could get something done for like the ± 700ish range or something, that’d be a worth it thing. But alas, I will make do til I can splurge on all the JHM stuff I can handle :wink:

#50

Overall I think this is the best approach. 700 dollars is best saved and spent on say the JHM exhaust or even other maintenance parts.