Good video, but I had seen a similar one a while back. I hear ya about the drone. I personally was going to buy the borla touring catback system and since I have a 6 speed, thought I would not have a problem with drone. Another forum member told me he had the borla touring exhaust on his 6 speed RT and had drone. Unacceptable to me.
I do not know if the drone would apply to the S-type or the ATAK in my car. These 2 catbacks are more aggressive than what I am looking for. Plus I want to add shorty headers and high flow mids, so things will get a little louder later.
So, at this point I have opted out of buying the borla touring exhaust and will go with the flowmaster as I am sure I won't have any drone with the force II system. Love the borla sound, but I would like to have seen some more detail explanation (or assurance) from borla that any drone problem has been corrected and was not going to be a problem on my car.
They haven't been on in a week. Last Activity: 06-13-2013 05:27 PM
Their product is great! If you don't want drone, then turn off you MDS if you have an automatic, if you have a manual then IDK. My ATAK is great since I turned off my MDS 4cylinder crap mode. I would have bought a scoobydoo if I wanted a 4cyl.
I got the Xpipe S version for my manual trans 2012 Yellow Jacket. I think you get what you like and that will always be the right catback for you. I had a 2010 R/T before and put a Corsa on that....liked it just fine. Just like the look and sound of the Borla for my 392 YJ.
As for Borla service, I have to disagree based on my experience. I had a local shop install the exhaust and when we ran into questions, an email and phone exchange began with no delay and pictures were exchanged, etc. Borla was so accommodating that the actually paid out of their pocket 2 hours labor to the shop directly without being asked to compensate us for having to head and bend a small section of pipe. That's absolutely true.
Thanks for posting the comparo video. Nice to see the quality microphones and visual of where they are placed. So much of the youtube stuff is done with the internal mic on a smartphone or camcorder, so you really don't get an accurate sound impression.
I will definitely put Borla on my list of options.
BTW, I had a Borla cat-back on me '88 Merkur XR4Ti form '89-'97 and drove it about 130,000 miles. The Borla sounded great, improved the turbo response, and was totally trouble free for 8 years. It also impressed the buy who bought it, so maybe I got some of that investment back.
Danner,
Glad you enjoyed our product in the past; what a cool eclectic car that Merkur XR4Ti was. I did a double-take the one & only time I saw it in person. Proof that Bob Lutz has been running in this game & succeeding for quite some time now!
You're very welcome; we wouldn't be in business if we didn't enjoy sharing our passion of modifying cars, trucks, & dedicated race rigs!! We pride ourselves on showcasing our superior sound, performance gains, looks, and craftsmanship backed by our million-mile warranty. Recording sound & video with constant outside factors like: wind noise, debris, suspension components flexing, and tire noise always present a challenge. We continue to invest in purpose-built sound/video equipment, and are very glad it shows! Thanks for the feedback
Some claim these systems "drone" but I believe that they may be confusing loud with true drone. These are single muffler systems, with no resonators and they can be loud. But every person I've seen REMOVE these systems have replaced them with muffler and resonator systems, and if you plan to change the exhaust in front of any cat-back on the R/T with either shortys and cats or LTs and cats/catless it is going to get LOUDER so you may look for a system that verges on too quiet on stock just a heads up. As far as true drone goes, I ask the question in reverse to yours, it has got to be the easiest sound to record/reproduce so why has no one ever recorded drone? If its drone at 2-2.2K as I've seen stated why the heck are you cruising at that RPM? Again I have ATAX, never heard drone and I know drone when it sets up it will really make you feel like there's a bowl/helmet of sound on your head!
I thought about that recently. What if it isnt "drone" and it is infact the sound of the exhaust system. I mean we buy the ATAK for sound quality and loudness. Well louder is just that..... louder. But then we blame resonation on drone.
I dont care if it is drone or just the loudness... I love the sound of my car!
Not a worry Randy, glad to help! And we've taken your & other members' comments to heart, discussed them our Creative Director, and will do our best to include in-cabin, highway cruising shots on our upcoming videos. Thanks for the feedback!
I have SRT shorty headers, Solo midpipes with hi-flow cats, and an SRT ATAK on my R/T now and it sounds great. I was just wondering if Borla offered headers and midpipes woth cats, so I could be All Borla All The Time?
Hi Ed,
Thanks for your interest in our products! Our long-tube headers (part# 17256, fit 2009-2012 Challenger R/T) are built for maximum performance and do not include catalytic converters. These are not-street legal as they do remove your factory cats. Our customers who choose to include aftermarket cats usually weld them in right after the header collects into a single pipe. You'll need two 2.5" cats. Hope that gives you another option. Thanks & happy motoring!
I watched the video and it sold me on the ATAK system.
I have a 2013 R/T Auto with the Borla ATAK cat back installed. The engine also has the Mopar CAI. I love the look from the back of the system so I really want to keep it, but it isn't sitting well with me so far.
I've had the exhaust on about 3 weeks, 600-700 miles, now, and it drones very badly about 1,900 - 2,400 RPMs. It makes little difference if I am in MDS mode, or Auto-stick mode. Sure it has mellowed a little bit now the engine computer has adjusted to the airflow change, but it has not been able to adjust enough to get rid of the drone.
I can rev through that range in Park, and the sound is glorious, and when I am gunning it and I am above the dreaded drone range, the sound is fantastic. But the drone is right in the normal day to day driving sweet spot, and this car is a daily driver too.
I have a few options as I can see.
1. Remove the system and replace with the stock.
2. Find something else that I can add into the system that removes the drone, it may reduce a little of the overall loudness, but would be a fair trade for no drone.
3. Buy another system from another manufacturer and continue to roll the dice.
4. Try the other ideas that are floating around the forum to improve the sound of the stock system with less drone than what I have now.
My preferred option would be to retain the Borla, but to add something, perhaps a small resonance chamber to retain the Borla sound without the drone. Any suggestions on what I can do to reduce drone?
The only sound I don't like is the sound of MDS at highway speeds. I drive with the autostick more often now. I intend some day to experiment with putting something in the corners of the trunk to see if that helps but to be honest I don't have a problem with my current setup.
Where I find the drone most obnoxious is when I am sitting on the freeway in traffic, maybe about 60mph, so about 2000rpm, and I want to accelerate a little to move into a gap. As I ask the engine to do a little more work in that rev range, the drone and vibration in the cabin is dreadful.
Makes no difference if I am in MDS, or Autostick.
Just looking for things that I can try to eliminate it. I'm not into adding things into the trunk, that in my opinion is masking the problem. I'd rather solve it.
On the bright side, if I can't resolve it, there may be a lightly used Borla ATAK for sale in the Houston area in a couple of months. :laugh:
Get Zoomers. You will get all the glorious muscle car sound and feel and have zero drone. I have a 6 speed, but I have never heard of an automatic person complain of drone with this system.
There is a difference between a loud exhaust and cabin drone.
I am happy with a loud exhaust sound. I've had loud exhausts before. However, I am not too impressed with a exhaust that generates significant cabin drone, so much so that you can feel the structure of the car vibrate with the resonance that the exhaust is creating.
As I said, it doesn't do it when revving in park or neutral, but when in gear and there is load on the engine. My purpose of posting in this thread is to see if there are any suggestions from Borla on what some options might be to eliminate the drone that their system is amplifying through my car.
This first quote from the Borla website is simply not true for me.
"Cruising along at freeway speeds delivers a nice, ear-pleasing tone without any annoying drone."
However, this quote from the same website is completely true.
"Mash your foot to the floor and you’ll unleash a torrent of sound that will have you smiling all the way to redline."
I'd just like to find out if Borla have any suggestions on what I might be able to do to the system to eliminate the drone, like the website indicated it would be like.
I don't have an exhaust, so I don't have a dog in this fight, but if you don't like the ATAK, why not get the S-Type or Touring, from the comparison video/sound clips, it sounds like it's a little more tame, and might fit the bill for what your looking for.
Maybe the ATAK is more than what you are looking for and you need something a little less, obnoxious.
Again, as I stated I don't have an exhaust, nor do I plan on getting one anytime soon, but if I do, i'm looking at either the Corsa Sport or the Borla S-Type, because the ATAK just seems like overkill, or I may go with the Zoomers, because I don't see that many complaints about drone with that exhaust system, or I just may replace the resonators with a smaller muffler, like the Borla 40358 or 40665...
I hear a loud exhaust note often, but it isn't drone, it's a loud exhaust. A drone is overpowering, not just fully enveloping. I hear a drone only when I hit a certain rpm range in a certain gear. I hear a loud exhaust-note-fills-the-cabin fairly often but that isn't drone. Changing the size and or shape of the chamber causing the resonance will change the frequency at which the sound wave will resonate. Fold down the rear seats, or change the shape of the corners on the trunk, or something. They won't switch out just the mufflers for you so you are either going to have to live with what you have or replace it with something you can live with, or experiment with a few tweaks to see if things improve.
They won't switch out just the mufflers for you so you are either going to have to live with what you have or replace it with something you can live with, or experiment with a few tweaks to see if things improve.
I thought we were on the same page for a second there.
Actually loud on the outside and the inside is what I'd like, and it works just like that in the many cars and aftermarket cat-backs I've experienced.
What I have is loud on the outside, loud on the inside, and an extra bonus feature - drone. Which as you mentioned can be overpowering. I know the difference between a loud exhaust note and an obnoxious, overpowering resonance created by the exhaust system.
We don't need to keep going round this particular circle.
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