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MK7 Golf R Exhaust Mod Experiences

Rodcollier1

Ready to race!
Location
Atlanta
I've been doing a lot of tinkering and wasting money on my exhaust system over the past several months and I thought I'd share my experience.

After adding a JB4 and intake I wanted more and decided I'd start working on the exhaust as the target mod.

1) Removed resonator for $70 at local muffler shop
HUGE mistake IMO, I highly discourage anyone doing this. I hated the sound in drive thrus and driving through my company parking garage each day and how the drone noise in the cabin increased significantly and at very specific RPM's - 2.5K and 3.1K.

2) Added Neuspeed downpipe + cat-back
A local shop doing the install too easily persuaded me into buying a Neuspeed downpipe rather than the brand I had selected. Since the loss of the resonator was still bothering me I also saw Neuspeed had a cat-back exhaust with a resonator and marketing claims on their website as "carefully designed to have minimal drone inside the cabin" .. perfect I thought - order away $$$...

On my way home after the install I was only thinking of how embarrassing this was going to be with work colleagues in the car on lunch hour, and was also worried my neighbors were going to come over to my house bitching. The drone I had at 2.5K and 3.1K w/o the factory resonator was now extremely annoying inside the cabin and that RPM range was unavoidable. I took it on a highway trip for 2 hours and actually developed a headache and couldn't find a way to enjoy the sound system any longer.

3) Add another resonator to kill this drone?
I liked the looks of the neuspeed system and with all the $$ I spent I was trying to keep it so I did some research on drone removal and found a Vibrant 3" Ultra Quiet resonator #1142 that looked good and had really great reviews. Order away $$$ ... took it into a muffler shop and had them weld it into place. No such luck, more wasteful dollars down the drain.

4) Can i insulate that drone away?
Using my stereo upgrade experiences I decided to buy a XXXL roll of Focal B.A.M. and insulated my hatchback door, hatch floor area, and all four doors to better insulate the car. Nope!

5) This thing has to come off !
I took it back to the shop that talked me into the Neuspeed. We decided to put the stock exhaust back on and Neuspeed was nice enough to provide a midpipe to work with the stock system.

MUCH better I thought after a few days of driving, however, that damn cheap sounding drone at 2.5k-3k RPM was still there, just not anything as loud as with the Neuspeed cat-back.

6) Where is that stock resonator?
I grabbed the stock resonator out of storage the next Saturday I had free and off to the muffler shop I went. After another $80 to put the stock resonator back on I was blasting down the road thinking YES! I had a little downpipe attitude in the exhaust system noise but the drone noise in my cabin was complete GONE.

I've also been fighting with downpipe rattles since day 1 of putting the Neuspeed system on. I've bent the heat shields as much as I can out of the way around the firewall and the ones separating drive shafts and exhaust pipes but I still have a rattle when letting out the clutch from a stop or going downhill slowly in 2nd gear. Going to try an engine mount insert to limit the engine movement.

Lessons learned

A) never underestimate the R&D that the factory engineers have put into the exhaust system created for a car ... and if you remove components make sure you save them in case you want to put them back on

B) never believe the marketing hype on a performance parts website, you will have no recourse from their lies

C) don't let a shop that has a favorable relationship with a parts supplier/distributor persuade you away from a brand you have researched as providing good results from other forum members
 

Bdurrell

Ready to race!
Location
Florida
Car(s)
2019 Z06
Well written. VW knows that their exhaust system is pretty spot on. I chuckle every time someone "wants a louder system" and removes the stock resonator. The pricing at usually over a thousand dollars for a gain of 5 hp and more noise baffles the mind.
My APR Stage 1 Golf R is quick and stealthy.....especially with the front and rear "R" badges removed.
I do remember that in my younger years, I ran Hooker headers with cherry bomb mufflers bolted directly to them...on my brand new 1971 Nova SS...with no other exhaust pipes.

I was 22 at the time.....sure have learned a bunch since then.....;)
 

A3SBQ

Ready to race!
Location
Norway
Thanks for sharing. I was planning to go the same route by cutting away the oem resonator. This post made me think twice about it.
Thanks
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
I have to admit that I haven't read the whole OP, but I just wanted to comment on one thing:

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine...vtKkVHt6rxpia2GvG7URAS858KEu0zHnm4aAj8D8P8HAQ

Genuine VAG part for your Golf R or S3. It's what I have on my car, and while it does add some drone in some situations, for my taste it's totally livable. Thats what this is, your taste and threshold/tolerance for drone is in question. If you can't take any increase in that category, aftermarket exhausts or exhaust mods are not for you.

Edit to clarify, I don't have a downpipe currently, so all things being equal, my car will be significantly quieter than yours because of the stock DP and dense catalyst.
 

Firstboost

Go Kart Champion
Location
East Bay Area
You should try having a catless DP and an AWE catback lol. I am actually going to be installing a resonator in my exhaust stream to keep it down a little bit. You menitoned the resonator didn't offer the noise you were looking for, but how much did it quiet the exhaust down? I cna't imagine it had NO effect.

Just looking at the OE catback you can tell a lot of thought was put into keeping it quiet.
 

Labbatt33

Ready to race!
Location
Buffalo
I had the same rattle after I installed my Neuspeed DP. I rotated the rear section of the DPso it's further away from the drive shaft and it's completely gone.

FWIW I had the S3 resonator delete pipe and got tired of the drone as well. I swapped it for the BCS resonator delete which has a drone tube and the drone is virtually gone.
 

Scottmk7

Ready to race!
So is all of this really just a result of the Neuspeed dp, would we see the same problems with an awe or apr dp?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
I had the same rattle after I installed my Neuspeed DP. I rotated the rear section of the DPso it's further away from the drive shaft and it's completely gone.

FWIW I had the S3 resonator delete pipe and got tired of the drone as well. I swapped it for the BCS resonator delete which has a drone tube and the drone is virtually gone.

That BCS pipe is a cool piece of kit, but is it a middle ground between stock resonator and the S3 bit? Or did it just quiet it down to stock levels again?
 

flipflp

Autocross Newbie
Location
PNW
Car(s)
'16 Golf R DSG
So is all of this really just a result of the Neuspeed dp, would we see the same problems with an awe or apr dp?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Generally, thats just the nature of an aftermarket downpipe, there will be added noise. Factors include type of catalyst, density (cell count), resonator down stream, etc.

The OEM DP is smaller in diameter and has a very dense (I think 800+ cell) catalyst. Most aftermarket DPs are 200 cell, tops. That makes the OEM cat quite a good muffler actually.
 

A3SBQ

Ready to race!
Location
Norway
Hi guys.
What is the BCS resonater/pipe?
 

tonipepperoni77

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Mass
i and many other have never had any drone with the s3 resonator delete with stock dock pipe or resonated downpipe even at 3.5k cruising. cattless is a whole different story
 
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