[darcus]

I have a 2015 Cayman, and I drive a lot. For details on that, see my thread here: http://www.planet-9.com/981-chat/13...0-miles-year.html?highlight=cost+of+ownership

This review is about my experience with some aftermarket headers and valved exhausts. Let me preface this by saying I'm not here to bash anyone and will try to keep this as objective as possible. If you'd like the dirty details-- feel free to PM me.

---

I had about 30,000 miles on my PDK base cayman before I upgraded to a site sponsor's valved exhaust for my car. I did a lot of research and was assured by my salesperson that the drone would be minimal. After the installation, the exhaust sounded pretty badass, but the drone was pretty bad-- especially with all the highway driving I was doing at the time.

I decided to do a few more upgrades and got the accessport, plenum, bmc air filters, pro tune, and catless headers from the same vendor.

There were a few installation.. err.. surprises, but after everything was said and done-- the car sounded wild

Pros: Noticeable power improvement, loud enough to rev the engine and cars in front of me would move out of the way. Sounded like a GT Cup Car.
Cons: Catless headers, so would not pass emissions; and the big one: too loud.

Yes, with the valves open, it was too loud to drive with. The level of noise was so loud that with the windows down-- my hearing would start to sound muffled. Mind you-- i'm under 30 years old.

Here is a video of it on the dyno: https://youtu.be/9Lz1L-aZ6BM?t=3m19s

But the worst issue: the drone. The vavled exhaust had it's own drone, but now with the headers, the overall volume was significantly louder. The drone was obnoxious and not livable.

After about 3,000 miles with that setup, I changed the exhaust AND headers.
---

I'm now running the Soul Performance valved exhaust and the street headers with cats.

I had the installation done at Soul's HQ and I had ZERO issues.

The valved exhaust has more of a throaty, deeper tone and sounds more like a luxury exotic than a cup car. Personally, I greatly prefer this. With the valves open, it's still very loud-- but in a good way. I have been getting a lot of "thumbs up" from fellow motorists-- something I did not get before with the other setup.

The headers give my butt dyno a little more torque in lower revs vs the catless headers-- which is nice for street driving.

The absolute selling point, however, is the lack of drone. With the valves closed, the car is far more civilized and there is almost no drone whatsoever. I wish this exhaust would have been available two years ago, because I would have bought it then.

This is my car now: https://youtu.be/cFpsZ9xHIiU

If you are local to the Allentown, PA, area and want to give it a listen, shoot me a PM.

No check engine lights, no drone, just a superior product from a company who doesn't just talk about customer service-- they actually come through.

 

[gearFX]

Thanks for sharing! Would you say that the Soul headers + valved exhaust still has more drone than stock (if you even remember what that sounds like)? If it has more drone than stock, how would you quantify it? (20% louder drone than stock exhaust? 50% louder?)

 

[darcus]

Thanks for sharing! Would you say that the Soul headers + valved exhaust still has more drone than stock (if you even remember what that sounds like)? If it has more drone than stock, how would you quantify it? (20% louder drone than stock exhaust? 50% louder?)

Honestly it's hard to remember what stock sounded like. For a stock car without PSE, I would say that with the valves closed and sport mode off, the drone would be 5% louder than stock-- and only because the overall sound is a little bit louder than stock.

With Sport mode on, call it 10-15%, and with the valves open at load around 2200RPM, about 20% more than stock.

That said, the improvement over the previous valved exhaust I had is just mind blowing. I'd like to get some seat time in a PDK with PSE... I have a suspicion the Soul exhaust might even have less drone than that.

 

[RickH]

You may have discover the holy grail! My biggest fear with exhaust upgrade is the drone. I've had it on other cars and it is very fatiguing on long haul freeway runs. Thanks for the post!

 

[darcus]

You may have discover the holy grail! My biggest fear with exhaust upgrade is the drone. I've had it on other cars and it is very fatiguing on long haul freeway runs. Thanks for the post!

I agree. I'm just really glad I found the setup that I had desired for about two years. Kind of sucks I had to pay for aftermarket headers and exhausts twice (haven't found any buyers on the old gear yet), but I'm finally content with my car.

It's so difficult (impossible?) to get an accurate sense of how various components sound in real life. I had spent hours upon hours on youtube comparing tons of vendors. You live and you learn!

 

[Soul Performance Products]

Marcus,

Thank you for the great review! I'm glad we chatted and you trusted in us enough to switch out to Soul! Our passion to make customers happy was one of the driving forces behind starting our company, and every time we can meet and exceed expectations - it's all worth it.

Here are some shots from your installation:

-Mike in Marketing

 

[Keslrnr]

Very nice. I'm in N Va. Which shop in PA did your install?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[darcus]

Very nice. I'm in N Va. Which shop in PA did your install?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The most recent successful install was done at Soul's headquarters in Willow Grove, PA. They were very fast and had great attention to detail.

 

[Keslrnr]

Thanks. That's not too far from me. Plus I just like driving the BS. Do you guys in PA have a coffee and cars group?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Soul Performance Products]

Thanks. That's not too far from me. Plus I just like driving the BS. Do you guys in PA have a coffee and cars group?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Keslrnr,

There are a couple of great cars and coffee groups, most notably the Lehigh Valley Cars and Coffee which sees hundreds of great cars and thousands of spectators. Alternatively, you can stop by our facility here anytime if you just want to go for a drive, our doors are always open for fellow enthusiasts!

Best,

 

[Keslrnr]

Thanks! Looking forward to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cayman Ed]

Thanks for sharing. good numbers from a Mustang dyno.

 

[Whiteball]

Do the long tube street headers expose that are to more or less heat? Do they need to a heat wrap?

Do you have a picture from underneath showing if there is less clearance or if it is the same? The picture above looks like the pipes are exposed and will be damaged if the car scrapes.

 

[Soul Performance Products]

Do the long tube street headers expose that are to more or less heat? Do they need to a heat wrap?

Do you have a picture from underneath showing if there is less clearance or if it is the same? The picture above looks like the pipes are exposed and will be damaged if the car scrapes.

I wouldn't worry about heat too much in that area, there is enough flow through there to negate any increase. Ceramic coating is always an option, and has the chance to slightly increase power by increasing the efficiency of the exhaust.

The long tube design does push the depth outside of the factory design window, and as a result there is less clearance. We wouldn't worry, there are lower points on the car that would receive a strike before the headers.

-Mike in Marketing

 

[gearFX]

I wouldn't worry about heat too much in that area, there is enough flow through there to negate any increase. Ceramic coating is always an option, and has the chance to slightly increase power by increasing the efficiency of the exhaust.

Not trying to contradict anybody, but isn't the concern with aftermarket headers without heat shielding the increased of coil pack failures? (Isn't this well documented by now, or has the problem been overblown?)

 

[FlatSickx]

That sounded great after you made the switch. I keep going back and forth on just the exhaust section or headers, then adding the rest later. The street headers and valved exhaust are pretty spendy. I just picked up a CPO 2015 981 CS with just over 6,000 mi. It has sport chrono, but no PSE. I don't know why the OE ordered it that way. But it leaves me in a quandary and my wife just won't understand $6k for something that is not broken.

 

[VariousCheeses]

Not trying to contradict anybody, but isn't the concern with aftermarket headers without heat shielding the increased of coil pack failures? (Isn't this well documented by now, or has the problem been overblown?)

Yeah this is the main thing that worries me about aftermarket headers.

 

[Soul Performance Products]

Yeah this is the main thing that worries me about aftermarket headers.

We have a few options here:

1. We can ship any order directly to a top tier coater such as Jet-Hot for ceramic coating.
2. We can source heat wrap to supply for those who would like to wrap the header.
3. We can try and look at the situation again to see if we can craft heat shields that would work with our headers and potentially others.

 

[FlatSickx]

I just ordered as set of Soul Performance Street Headers with cats. The only thing I did not consider is my warranty! It is good until Jan, 2021. I may have to store these in my garage for 3.5 yrs.

 

[FlatSickx]

So on Sept 6, I ordered a set of SP street headers with cats. They were delivered today. I ordered mine through Jon at Flat6 Motorsports and they were drop shipped by the manufacturer.

They are well packaged




They sure are pretty


I hope to have them installed next week after the hurricane has blown through GA.