I have a pacesetter exhaust on my car and it sounded great and it wasn't raspy at all. I just bought a ZZPerformance midlength header and downpipe with a high flow cat and now the car sounds terrible. It is raspy as hell and I want to fix it fast. Any ideas of what the problem could be? Maybe the cat just needs to break in a bit? I don't know but I could use some help because I can't stand how it sounds.

 

I have the zzp header and downpipe and my exhaust was really raspy too...I did magnaflow 2.5" cat-back which made it worse but, I was told the muffler and cat would take a while to break in, so that might be your problem.
I got a 22" resonator put in, which toned it down a little, I'm getting a resonated tip on next week which should help a bit too.

 

uhh take off the zzp **** ? lol

 

no idea, as soon as I went to a Pacesetter header my car started to sound like complete crap too.

i think its just the fact that the materials they use are thinner than stock and it allows more noise to come out.

one reason why I'm going to a complete LSJ exhaust actually

 

well my cat-back is leaking like half way back so that might be my ploblem. If that does't fix it then i don't know what i will do

 

my resonators baffle is broken inside so mine sounds raspy but other than that idk

 

What size is the exhaust?

 

Sooo...the pacesetter header? Is it going to make my exhaust sound worse when i install it?

 

You could try the GMPP touring exhaust comes with a muffler and resonator so the sound is suppressed a good bit. I have the ZZP combo as yours as well and it does sound loud and raspy. Give it some time like 250-500 miles and see how it sounds. Still sounds like crap? Just buy a resonator. There is no other real way to do it without losing performance.

 

Any time you install a header and open up the exhaust it tends to make the car more raspy. A chambered muffler and a resonator will help a ton.

 

Well i have the magnaflow, but was planning on putting another resonator in there when i install the header anyway, so hopefully it wont be bad.

Yall got me nervous now...I love the way my exhaust sounds...hopefully it wont take a turn for the worst and start sounding like a honda

 

Just because it sounds like a Honda doesnt mean it is. We both have 4 cylinders and in return we will have a similar sound. But we are doing our exhaust the right way with header-back style while most Honda's are giant mufflers with 7" tips.

 

get a good resonator, will make a world of difference. i had the pacesetter, which also sounded great until i put on a downpipe/hi flow cat. sounded like ****. put a resonator, made it sound MUCH better, though it still didn't sound great. make sure there's no leaks, and if there are fix them, that's a big reason why it probably sounds like crap.

 

aka replace gaskets

 

Couldn't have said it better myself...

 

replace that pacesetter muffler with a flowmaster super 40 http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
and maybe a small res
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku