Milltek exhaust is deafening...
 

Good morning all. I'm trying to decide what to do about my exhaust situation.

The previous owner of this car fitted a non-resonated Milltek exhaust. While I think the quality of the system is great, it is so loud that I think it could only reasonably be used as a track exhaust. I wear my noise cancelling headphones when I am in it just to cut the noise enough to be bearable. (I'm not some weenie either as I just sold a WRX with Nameless muffler delete and ride a Harley with an open exhaust...both of them are just fine). The PO also told me there was a header installed but I haven't dug deeply enough into the car to figure out for sure. It seems like people on here say the Milltek is the exhaust of choice. Does the resonator make that much difference? I appreciate your thoughts.

Perfect timing; I await thoughts on this same issue. I had a resonated Milltek installed on my R53 last year and have been disappointed with how tame it is. My header is stock. Bought the straight pipe from Milltek and am about to install it, but may reconsider if the consensus is that it will be too loud.

Are you in SoCal?
...and I just logged in from a computer and see you are in Virginia. Probably won't work to meet up with you and put both cars side by side.

Wonder if there is someone in SoCal with a resonated Milltek that would like to meet up and compare cars side by side?

I would love to see how this turns out. I haven't bought my exhaust yet, and am on the fence whether to go resonated or not.

Sounds like you two should swap midpipes...

Washington is a bit of a hike from me as well or I would offer to let you check out my car before you purchase. If the resonator makes a huge difference, I will probably purchase that section of pipe...otherwise, I will be selling this one and getting something else.

If it’s as loud as you say, it’s not just
the resonator and something else
is wrong with the exhaust, either a
leak or hole somewhere or maybe
the PO gutted the muffler innards.
A catless header could increase the
volume somewhat as well, so look
and see what’s there while you’re
at it.
Resonated Milltek exhausts on an R53
are not very loud, and non-resonated
ones are just mild to moderately
louder.

I've been selling Milltek exhaust for the last 16yrs and not had anyone ever say a Milltek was too loud or even close to unbearable. So either the car has a header or something is wrong.

If you can bend up the heatshield under the coolant tank and post a pic of the exh header we can tell you what it is and help solve your issue. A resonator will help, but if it's an aftermarket header it won't help as much.

I have a resonated Milltek in SoCal...

But also have RMW Header/Cam/Cylinder Head, so not really a accurate comparison.

I will say though, I've never heard anyone complain the Milltek is too loud...resonated or non. My guess is your car has a header and is catless. These cars are loud without cats

Maybe a cracked or broken pre-cat weld on the stock manifold like in the following thread? https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-manifold.html

Ditto.....