Advantages of a catback?

[ChromeLlama]

Hey guys,
I'd like to replace the stock muffler in my 1.4T. I'm thinking about the Flowmaster dBX Series muffler. What are the advantages of a catback set up as opposed to just swapping out the stock muffler with a dBX muffler?
Thanks for your help!

 

[UltimaSanctus]

With a replacement muffler you may get a bit more noise but not much help in airflow. After the resonator the sonics have about a 1.5" pipe which is god awful. A catback will be much less restrictive due to a 2.5" pipe (for the zzp kit). This will give a slight boost in power and less turbo lag on a stock tune and room for improvement with a tune

 

[RMinNJ]

I would say its mostly noise/sound with my ZZP..however.. mine eliminated the second cat which if you look inside it looks quite restrictive.. I drove the stock tune with my ZZP for some time and I felt it added a ever slight bump from stock. I enjoy my exhaust noise quite a bit but may get a resonator. I was looking for exhaust sound when I picked up the ZZP used as I felt the factory exhaust was completely silent.

 

[ChromeLlama]

Great, thanks for the info!

 

[ChromeLlama]

So, I just got off the phone with my local muffler shop. They said that installing just the dBX muffler was not an option because it would mean that the cat would have to me eliminated, which they explained they cannot do by California law. So, I guess catback is my only option if I want to go with the dBX.

 

[2014 Blue RS]

They cannot remove it. BUT if you put it on yourself (not hard) and just clamp on it and drove it to a shop to do the welds, it would be perfectly legal for them to do that.

Then again, if you're worried about smog tests it may be better to stick with a cat back set up anyway.

 

[nickalltogether]

I just removed the rear muffler. Here's a video of how it sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEsdAtPhE4w

In person the sound is quite good, and not too loud in my opinion except on cold start for a few seconds. Down the highway there is little or no drone.

Setup:

- BNR Catless downpipe (probably why you can hear the turbo so prominently)
- Factory midpipe, 2nd cat, and center resonator
- 2.25" piping from the resonator to the tip, done by the exhaust shop. The bends aren't mandrel, but still worked out to be bigger than stock for that section.

I think I have $180 in it? I know the stainless tip was pretty pricey from the exhaust shop, but he had it in stock and I didn't have to wait for it to be ordered. I'm pretty happy for the money and can't imagine a performance improvement from doing any more to it.

 

[ChromeLlama]

I like the way that sounds!