Brand name exhaust Vs Custom Exhaust

It's just the way the pipe is bent and the construction of the muffler

IIRC, mandrel bent is better than crush bend because it keeps the same diameter throughout the pipe

then it's your pick on the muffler to see how it sounds

other than that, I don't like to pay for name brand exhaust

What are you looking for, noise or performance?

Performance: Aftermarket downpipe and a good stage 2 tune are the best bang for buck power upgrades you will ever make on this car. Buy a name brand in this case as fit and flow is critical, and a thin pipe will get very hot... hot enough to melt stuff in the engine bay. The rest of the system is not a restriction until you go beyond stage 2, and changing it out will not get you any noticeable gain in performance.

Noise: Just swap the rear mufflers for whatever you like. Or search on 'hogzaust'.

1. Replace downpipe only. Look at stage 2 tunes for your car. Healthy increase in power and very good increase in torque.

2. TBE. Your butt-dyno will not notice anything. On the rollers you might see a couple of hp, but far short of stage 2.

Oh, one more thing. I don't know if your car would have had one installed, but if you have a cat in the up-pipe, delete the damn thing whatever else you decide to do with the exhaust system.

Thanks fahr_side. I might go for the DP and get them to tune the car.

 

I will have to check the UP but Im guessing the JDMs have a cat there too.

Im not sure we can remove it and still pass the certification checks, unless they dont notice.

Most techs don't know the car that well to catch you out. Either gut your UP or buy an OEM pipe without a cat in it, from a later LGT / WRX or any STi. With all the stock heatshields in place it's hard to tell it's catted or not unless you know exactly what you're looking for.

Also want to mention that while the same midpipe and cans will typically sound louder with unequal-length headers (because of the off-beat rumble), many exhaust systems exhibit droning at particular speeds with the equal-length header. One good reason to keep the stock midpipe is that the resonator is tuned very well to prevent that droning.

Exhaust shops here can mandrel bend steel tube to fit.

I'm going to highly doubt that. Mandrel benders are big and expensive. Make sure you know the difference between that and a crush bend.