So I'll start off with a little background of this situation.

A week or two after I picked up my '08 TL, I decided to remove the mid muffler. I did this to get a small amount of sound for a pretty cheap amount of money ($20 to be exact). After leaving the shop, it sounded great. Like others have said, it sounded like a G35 with it's deep growl between 2k & 3k RPMs.

Moving forward to today, I took my Dynomax 24235 resonator to the shop to get it installed to complete my Stage 3 exhaust. At the shop, two of the mechanics kept telling me I wouldn't hear any difference in sound (they also said this when I removed the mid muffler). I argued that I've heard this exhaust in person (which I haven't) and online (which I have). Moving forward about 20 minutes later, the guy comes back with my keys, dropping them on the counter. I asked why he kept telling me it wouldn't change the sound when it's my money and I've heard it before. He explained to me that they do it as a warning so people don't get mad when they first hear it. Then he moved on asking why I would get exhaust done if it's only for sound and not performance (so apparently no one else does this). I told him I didn't feel the need to spend $800 in a custom catback on a car with 180k miles.

So I leave and get back into my car to do it's first start up. I could immediately tell a difference in sound as it fired up. I leave the lot and going down the street I hear such a tragic and awful sound. My V6 Acura sounded like a I4 civic with a huge fart can on the back. I kept driving, thinking it would change a bit. I attempted to like the sound but just couldn't come into agreement with it. In 1st & 2nd gear between 2-3k it sounded awful (kinda raspy?). Once I got into 4th and 5th it sounded how I wanted it to. And from taking off at idle, I hear more of this awful sound.

Overall, I'm not sure what to do now. Whether I take it to a shop and see if it was welded properly, or just to get the stock resonator back and go with a custom catback. Has anyone else had a problem like this or just suggest something?


tl:dr my stage 3 exhaust sounds like a civic with a bad muffler. what 2 do.

 

any time you mess with the exhaust, its an experimentation. no one knows what it'll sound like....

now, its up to you to either, experiment more! or revert back....

Def. check to see if all the welds are tight!!! an exhaust leak will make your car sound horrible

 

What the hell is a "stage 3" exhaust?

 

undo it.

 

Post a video! Lets hear this awful stage 3!!

 

The car will sound different from and cold start till it warms up.

exhaust leak or wrong resonator to use. Use this one instead
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-24215

I have stock jpipe, 3rd cat delete, no resonator, mid muffler delete

and it SOUNDS FREAKING AWESOME!!!

 

I still don't know what a stage 3 exhaust is, for the TL.

 

lmgtfy: https://www.google.com/search?q=stag...hrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Google is your friend


https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/removing-resonator-stock-exhaust-summary-post-1-1811-a-589747/

 

 

LOL mine is direct from the beginning of the source

 

quit spoonfeeding !

 

Ya when you alter any portion of the exhaust you will throw everything off. Exhaust systems in every car was developed through years of research with correct placement of resonators, mufflers, and sizes of those to reduce drone and provide maximum comfort.

When you cut it up, well you have to experiment with different resonator sizes and positions until your tube looks like a banged up macaroni cheese

 

I got her fixed!

So the exhaust shop I went to today thought it would be nice to not weld it all the way on. That being said, there was a leak causing it to sound like a high school kid's civic that just met autozone for the first time.

So after arriving to work, I just couldn't resist thinking about how shitty the car sounded. What made it worst was that I forgot to pick up my old parts, meaning I may have to live up to this sound for a bit longer. Me being pretty pissed, I took it back to the same company, but a different store location.
I asked them how much to check for an exhaust leak and they said it'd be free. They put it up on the lift and immediately I see them looking at the new resonator I had welded on. It was about three of four of them just touching it and looking around at it. After this, I was pretty sure that the other location had fucked up.

One of the techs came inside to talk to me and the first thing out of his mouth was "who welded this for you?". I told him it was the same company and right then he knew which store had done it (there are three in my area). I was shocked that he knew so I assume that they've had issues at that location before. A few minutes later after them revving my car for what I considered a lengthy time, they took it off the lift and rolled it outside for me. They told me it was just the resonator not welded on properly and that it should be fixed now.

Driving it for about 30 minutes now and it sounds pretty good. I may have expected a bit more but I'll give it some time to break in. I wanted to get a video of how it sounded but I was at work and my camera was dead. I didn't want to drive the car home with it sounding so horrid.


tl;dr - shop didnt weld it right. took it to the same shop, different location and it now purrs like a gtr (im kidding. it sounds nothing like a gtr. please dont bitch @ me).

 

Glad to hear it's fixed. I have a stage 3 also with a Magnaflow resonator instead of Dynomax, and it sounds sweet to me. I was surprised you said it sounded raspy...

i was going to post a sound clip for comparison but I guess I don't need to now. At first startup it has a deeper sound and slightly louder idle. It is quiet at neutral throttle, but when you floor it there is a nice mellow growl. No drone or rasp at all...

 

Post some sound clips to save a trip to youtube!