WhyW

Yeah ok so I'm sitting here stuck on a bus next to a snoring sleeping Korean man with the heater cranked up to temperatures only seen on the surface of the sun for the next two hours, and it seems I'm the only one sweating profusely. Why are people still wearing their parkas?? I literally stripped all my clothes off upon boarding due to the oppressive temperature going on in this bish.

Anyway so no better time than the present for an update. I was driving my dad to Costco for a beef run yesterday. I tend to avoid traps like Costco but I was conned into it with the promise of cow. I am unable to drive the car 'as its supposed to be driven' with the passenger roster that was present so I was doing a lot of light braking. Damn if these pads don't squeal on light braking. It's not extreme but it's enough to be annoying. Either I need to bed in the pads better, or the pads are inherently noisy, I'm not sure. The squeal goes away under more pressure though.
During my last drive for the near distant future I put the car through some paces that 33° temps would allow and I have to say... I didn't want to get out of the car. Also, my rims are now black instead of gunmetal due to brake dust. All in all I'm happy with the direction this is heading. I'll update my review above with my updated thoughts.

Did I mention this bus is way too hot? This is terrible.

I also would like to say I have no idea how stance kids drive their cars let alone why they do what they do, I find I'm scraping occasionally and I'm at the Ohlins recommended height.

TooSoon

How much of a drop is that over the OEM height, 1-1.5 inches?

WhyW

Yeah. I have some side shots that show the drop, I'll post up some comparison shots tomorrow.

Ricky_Flowers_

av8ter

QFT

WhyW

Here's a comparison.

Before:


After:

TooSoon

WhyW

Exhaust – Greddy Spectrum Elite Dual, v.2



I’ll start by saying I hate drone. A lot.

In fact, sometimes I think the stock exhaust drones. In reality it doesn’t drone that much. Over the past two years I’ve heard several non-stock s2000 exhausts and now have a newfound appreciation for the word “drone.” And no, not the Star Wars style drone. I’m talking about the ear bleed drone. They’re close to the same thing, but very different.

So here I was saying “what exhaust should I get?” I didn’t have the coin for what I really wanted, the ASM Siren single. Plus, if I got a single I’d have to change the rear bumper, and the only single-exit bumper I really like is the AP1 with exhaust plug- but I don’t like the sides of the AP1 rear bumper because they don’t carry the indent from underneath the door like the AP2 bumper does. So I wanted to get a dual. I looked at several including Tanabe, etc. and liked them, but couldn’t justify the coin for the minimal increase.

Chris suggested I take a look at the Greddy SE, so I did, but it’s hard to hear what the exhaust really sounds like on Youtube… Then I saw that they upgraded to v.2 with a Helmholtz resonator, so I jumped on it. I got a super good deal too.

Setup
Greddy SE Dual v.2 with Helmholtz resonator, stock cat, AP2 hangers

Initial impressions





Easy to transport at least…

Having not driven the car in a few months, I probably would have thought the stock exhaust startup was loud. Initial cold start was… Well it’s deep, kind of loud, and boomy. Once the car warms up a bit and the revs drop, it’s not too far from stock. As in, your passenger’s ears won’t bleed from how loud it is. I’d say it’s stock but deeper.



It miraculously rained in Southern California so I got waterspots on the muffler. I cried. And realized that I didn’t want to bend down enough to wipe them off, so they’re still on there. Oh well.

Okay so what about the sound? HOW DOES IT SOUND? Pretty good in my book. I drove my mom to Babies R Us to pick up some weird pillow thing that basically acts like a big spoon since my sister is pregnant. The pillow is for my sister, just for the record. Anyway so I drove her in my car and my mom says “your car sounds louder.” So there’s that going for this exhaust, I guess. Moms will think it’s louder. I’d also say it’s docile; under normal driving conditions, such as puttering around town, it’s very stock-ish. But the second you put the right side pedal down to the floor it really opens up and you get a really good deep, bassy tone that sounds better and better the higher you rev. I absolutely love it, and I’m glad I got this exhaust. It also quieted down after a few hundred miles. An important item to point out is this; the new Helmholtz resonator is the best addition Greddy could do to this exhaust. Driving down the freeway at a constant speed there is no drone. It's OEM like in that regard, if not a little bit better. If you speed up or slow down, then yes you get some drone going on. Simply cruising though is when the resonator comes into play.

I have AP2 hangers right now, and it doesn’t look too off, but they are meant for AP1 hangers so I’ll be switching them out. I already bought the AP1 hangers but when I went to switch them out, my jack was too low and ramps too steep, and I got lazy and decided to not mess with it.

So overall, it’s a great sound. It’s deep, great upper rev sound, and looks good.

Would this work on my “stanced out” s2000?
No, because it’s not $h!tty enough. You should go with something like

Is it green?
No, it’s silver. You know, the color of quarters.

Cost vs. benefit
Depends. There are cheaper options out there but they make concessions. Bang for buck wise, I think this is the best option because it’s a sound upgrade, is lighter than stock, and still stays under 93db.

Will it blend?
Maybe if you used an industrial sized blender, but in reality it would be so loud that your ears would bleed while blending. Might as well buy a Megan exhaust or something and make your ears bleed with that instead.

Who would you recommend it to?
If you want a high pitched exhaust, get something else. If you want something that is raspy, get something else. If you want something that is for a 2001 Ford Mustang, get something else.

If you’re looking for something that is an upgrade from stock but doesn’t make concessions, this is the exhaust for you. If Tanabe is too quiet, this is the exhaust for you. If you hate drone but want to upgrade, this is the exhaust for you.

Also, the price isn’t too bad.

How would these work in a situation where I have to evade extremely pissed off cocaine dealers?
Okay so here’s the thing. If you were forced to upgrade your exhaust, this would probably be the best option because you could idle around and they wouldn’t be able to hear you until you got too close. So you have that going for you. But their headlights would shine on the mufflers and probably give away your position. No bueno. Maybe paint them if you’re going to be doing a lot of cocaine dealer evasion. The sound isn’t crazy enough that it would scare them though.

If you’re evading cocaine dealers, stick to stock.

TooSoon

Nice plates.


Also gold is metal bit its gold and not silver.

Chris_Lum

i'm really surprised at how much of a difference that helmholtz pipe made. I've owned the first gen SE dual and the updated version cut down on drone significantly. Makes me miss the greddy!