I dropped my car off today at 8AM to Alan's Muffler's in Gainesville, FL, who came highly reccomended by all my gear head friends, along with the AWE exhaust in the well-packaged box. I drove the car up on the lift and they raised it up and I showed them the two hangers that Adax mentions in his article that should be adjusted to reduce rattles and vibrations. In about two hours they were done; they had to take the wheels off to do it they said and the only other installation issues were the bolts on one of the hanger clamps breaking; so they replaced them with really study, thick double bolt clamps. They said they also replaced some of the hardware that was to be retained from the old exhaust but was in horrible shape. The full job cost me $120, hardware and labor and I inspected everything while the car was up and it looked PERFECT, even the hanger rods that Adax pointed out in his article looked spot on. I highly reccomend the shop if anyone here is in the area and needs exhaust work.
Now the exhaust... I fired up my car before they relifted the car and did a leak check. That idle rumble is INTOXICATING. After the car was back down, I did some revving and a short drive up and down the road and WOW. While I'm sure all exhausts available provide similar power gains, the sound of the AWE exhaust is indescribable. I stood behind it while my friend revved the engine, and it's damn near heaven; it unleashes the monster within the 3.4 engine. The fit and finish is AMAZING; I will post pictures once the weather here gets better and my car's a little cleaner. Absolutely no harsh vibrations, resonance, or rattles; and as you rev higher and higher the engine tone just gets sweeter, the deep rumble and boom evolves into a mean snarl. This is what a sports car should sound like!!!
GET THIS EXHAUST!
- Suneet :burnout:
"Sounds" like you approve of it. A suggestion: Make sure the muffler shop properly torqued the wheel bolts. That may not be their expertise.
And dont you just love the personalized engraving of your name?
Oh yeah, that packing box. Amazing how they did that huh?
The longer I own it, the better I like it, if thats possible.:dance:
Santa Fe makes a very good point - make sure the wheel bolts get torqued to 96# either by the shop or by yourself - this is very important.
brad
Thanks guys, they actually called me to get the right torque #. I don't even own a torque wrench...
Thanks for the review. Is it a concensus that the rear wheels have to be removed to replace the exhaust? I was thinking about doing it myself but I don't have jack stands and was hoping it can be done by backing it onto ramps.
I'm still waiting for my order to come in.
-Moto
Moto, I found it strange because I hadn't heard anyone else taking wheels off to install the exhaust. It might just be because this was the shops first AWE exhaust for the Cayman and they said it was just easier to access everything with the wheels off. - SS
It is a LOT easier to access the bolts that hold the catback exhaust to the exhaust manifolds/cat unit by taking off the rear wheel and taking off the plastic cover in the wheel well. See the Milltek install article for details showing this.
Suneet,
I should have my AWE in about 2 weeks. I want to keep the OEM unit when it is removed. Will it break down and fit in the box that the AWE came in ?
Yea, I'm sure it will; but you might have to take some packing materials out of the box, it comes pretty packed with foam. The installers threw the box and packing materials away, but I have mine stacked vertically in a corner in my parent's garage and it's taking up less room than the box would have. It's crazy how ugly and restricted the old exhaust looks, today my dad saw it and said "it looks like it came off some old jalopy." - SS
Suneet-
Thank you for your business. We are glad that like it.
