Borla Atak Axle Backs on SS - VERY disappointed! HELP!!

[Melba Toast]

Hello all. New member here.

SO long story short, I finally decided on doing my exhaust mod for my 2011 2SS/RS after an extensive research online through forums and videos and taking in account of what money I can spend at the moment and it came down to the Borla Atak axle backs and the Flowmaster Outlaw axle backs since I couldn’t afford a full cat back and wasn’t sure If I wanted to go that route currently until I decide on tuning out the AFM, but needed the car to sound like it had BALLS because frankly it sounds so sad for a V8. And before you criticize me for having an A6 and not an M6, this is my DD and everyday my commute is HELL and I couldn’t be shifting constantly in LA traffic. It’s a PITA. So that’s why the L99.

Moving on.

Having come off of my Challenger RT and Mustang GT/5.0 both with mods, I needed the Camaro to sound as badass as she looks. I really did. It’s the wimpiest V8 I’ve heard yet.
Although I didn’t realize the effort and money it took in comparison.

The Stang; a cool set of Roush axle backs for $400 and BAM! HELLO V8 EVERYONE!! What? You can hear me 3 blocks away? HAHA NICE!!

The Challenger, CAI and Borla cat back and … HOLY COW. I actually scared everyone in the service dept. upon first firing her up after the install. Hahaha! That was…awesome.

And so I settled on getting the Borla Atak for my Camaro since I was very pleased with both sound and quality on my Challenger.

Just got it installed a few days ago and was SO excited, pacing back and forth, trying not smiling like an idiot and then it was done and I fired her up with remote start!!

…..and …..yeah.

…uh… umm… OK.

So I said “That’s it? Really? That’s… it? “ SIGH. Look, I didn’t expect it to sound like the snarling race car the Roush made the Mustang sound, but from ALL the different videos, I though this was the closest enough. I didn’t want to do muffler delete since I kept hearing about loss of backpressure and low end TQ. So that’s why I went with a muffler axle back set.

OK SO. On to the Atak—
Start up is cool; Definitely more meaty and noticeable than stock, but after that… quiet as stock. Seriously. WTF?! I looked at the box. Yup that says “ATAK for 6.2 V8”
Check.
Looked under the car at the cans.. it does say “BORLA ATAK” on the cans.
Check.
I thought, I wonder if it’s really the touring one that was mislabeled?

So I drove it around for a while to test it out. Absolutely quiet in the cabin. Bummer! I detect NO drone so far, aside from the AFM variation from transitioning, but at that, no sound in the cabin much at all and I wanted that GRRRR noticeable. You know…like I’m actually driving a v8 muscle car?!! Nuttin. Nada. Quiet as stock.

At WOT….Honestly guys, it sounds like a muffled V6. A real low muffled fart sound and not at all the barking throaty sound from pretty much all the different videos I watched. And seriously not even notable. At WOT it’s like stock; with maybe a small higher pitch muffled ricey/ tuner car sound. When I step on it, the best way I can describe it – someone trying to scream with a hand covering their mouth. It’s like…It WANTS to bark but can’t. And that AFM transition is WAY more noticeable now. My Challenger did have this as well because of same setup Dodge put in the R/T. But with a full catback and CAI it wasn’t AS bad, but I could hear it transition when at slow steady speeds. On the Camaro unless I use paddle shift, it then sounds like a muffled V4 pop in and out constantly! Annoying.

I watched every type of video with the axle backs and the cat backs. From having been on a stock L99 to fully modded and even on LS3 to give me an idea. And yes, from having the Roush system on my Stang I knew the videos do not always sound as they do in person but c’mon. This sounds NOTHING like ANY videos! Except start up. That’s the only thing that seems to match the videos well. Standing outside the car it sounds like a V8. But sitting inside with the windows down hoping for that v8 rumble, it sounds like ricer car. UGGG…

Needless to say I’m frustrated and really disappointed. I’ve been driving it last couple of days and in fact I’m getting more pissed and frustrated by the sound. I don’t think it’s the fault of Borla at all, just my car. So I’m not blaming Borla at all.

I just don’t know what I can do right now. Just blew $750 on this and I don’t know if I want to remove the center resonators yet. I was originally going to just do the muffler delete or even get the SLP Loudmouth 1 or Magnaflow Comp series, but the muffler shop told me that though they have no problem doing that for me, its just FYI the new Camaro needs that backpressure and did not recommend that I do straight pipe/muffler delete.

So there was discussion of bullet muffler at least and then ultimately I said F-it, I’m gonna get the Borla Ataks! Ya know thinking I would get that loud mean ultra aggressive sound I had my Stang with JUST the Roush axle backs. Since it’s the same type of muffler design.

So what are my options guys? In making it much louder and deeper? Should I just take them off and go back to muffler delete option? Or should have I just gone with the Outlaws to begin with?!! Arggh I know peeps say it gets a little louder as the exhaust burns in a bit, but really, I find that opposite.
On My Challenger the exhaust was RIDICULOUSLY LOUD and DEEP when I first had it installed and then after a while the tone leveled off and wasn’t as LOUD anymore, but a tad deeper and throatier.
And the Roush on the Mustang never really changed in tone. It stayed LOUD, MEAN RASPY and SNARLY from day one onward. I loved it! Everywhere I went in the Stang, I turned heads and got thumbs up and people freaked out. I scared some kids in the mall parking lot when I started her up. LOL!! I loved it!!

That’s what I want here with my SS, but without going into LTs, HF Cats just yet. Like to keep my warranty intact for the moment. BUT I still want it to sound as LOUD AND MEAN as I can get the L99 to without headers and so on. Sound like I have a damn 6.2 liter V8! A nice deep throaty rumble and BARK at WOT.

There is an older mustang GT a couple houses down from me that this woman owns and it embarrass me even with my Borlas now… SIGH…
I think she has Flows on it. It's always so DEEP when she drives by the house.

PLEASE HELP with opinions and options guys?!!

[Smirnoff]

Solved: Run open headers like the rest of us.....closed.

[ST1LE]

As you probably know the resonator is going to reduce volume until removed. AFM causes awful drone so until thats gone, I see why you want to keep it. Solo high flow cats will make it louder and deeper for sure! Most people dont get a CEL so a tune shouldnt be necessary.

Sadly warranty friendly mods arent any cheaper than the rest, so for the price of an axleback and quality high flows you could have a set of top notch LT headers with cats and be happy.

[pump905]

Originally Posted by ST1LE

As you probably know the resonator is going to reduce volume until removed. AFM causes awful drone so until thats gone, I see why you want to keep it. Solo high flow cats will make it louder and deeper for sure! Most people dont get a CEL so a tune shouldnt be necessary.

Sadly warranty friendly mods arent any cheaper than the rest, so for the price of an axleback and quality high flows you could have a set of top notch LT headers with cats and be happy.

this will work for AFM and keeps your warranty, get headers and hi flows, keep your atak and you are done.

[Melba Toast]

Originally Posted by ST1LE

As you probably know the resonator is going to reduce volume until removed. AFM causes awful drone so until thats gone, I see why you want to keep it. Solo high flow cats will make it louder and deeper for sure! Most people dont get a CEL so a tune shouldnt be necessary.

Sadly warranty friendly mods arent any cheaper than the rest, so for the price of an axleback and quality high flows you could have a set of top notch LT headers with cats and be happy.

yeah, I know that resonator in the middle is killing it, but I don't know what I want to do with that now. Would getting the Borla X Pipe in there help, thus making it near a cat-back now, make the sound not only a little louder but a bit more clear? Its just that it sounds SO muffled right now.

I was thinking of the Solo high flow cats but I've read it does not go well with the Atak system. It sounds much better with the S-Type.

Just trying to figure out how to make it sound better currently without spending a whole lot extra until I can. Also wanted to get the Roto Fab CAI first before I start investing in more 'heavy duty' mods.

Just bummed, that with the 5.0 Mustang all it really need a good set of axle backs and it came to life and sounded AMAZING...and the Camaro with a 6.2L is taking much more effort and money to sound sweet.

[CamarocrayZ]

I just done a muffler delete a couple days ago, and love it I have a buddy who has the atak and we both agreed that the muffler delete sounded more aggressive and has a deeper tone it ended up costing me $60, and from what I've read on here it doesn't make you lose any power

[Melba Toast]

Originally Posted by CamarocrayZ

I just done a muffler delete a couple days ago, and love it I have a buddy who has the atak and we both agreed that the muffler delete sounded more aggressive and has a deeper tone it ended up costing me $60, and from what I've read on here it doesn't make you lose any power

Do you have an l99? How is the muffler delete with the center resonators still intact tho? Still muffled or does it sound ALIVE?!

[Fast6.3]

hey melbatoast do you have a vert I dont know if all a6 cars have them or just the a6 verts but mine had some flapper valves right by the diff if you have them you will see some springs coming out mine sounded like a fart untill I took them off

[CamarocrayZ]

No i have an Ls3, i have read alot that the biggest problem with the muffler delete on the l99 is the transitioning noise from the afm but if you keep your resonators it help that,i still have my resonators on although its not the big piece like the l99 and it sounds great from start up, to wot. it definitely sounds like a real muscle car, im sure its the sound your after, the only con i would say is the decel popping got louder as well

[3rdgen3]

My muffler deletes on my LS3 is seriously loud!

Also, these 5th gens have a lot more sound deadening in them then S197 mustangs and 08+ Challengers, so the exhaust sound is fairly quiet on the inside of the car. It's VERY deceiving.

I did a burnout a few days ago and had a buddy of mine film it for me from the outside and afterward he was telling me just how unreal my car sounds "Dude, that thing is LOUDDDDDDDD from the outside, jesus christ!" was his exact comment he said to me right after the burnout.

Said burnout:



And, i cant even begin to tell you how many people have literally jumped after I start my car up from how loud it pops and growls on startup. Still on stock manifolds/catback/resonators, just muffler deletes.

Also, the shop who told you that these cars need the back-pressure from the mufflers doesnt know these cars. The stock cans are a straight through design with an internal J-pipe. You will not lose any power nor is it "bad" for your car.

In short, Muffler deletes will definitely be louder then the borla attak axle back on an otherwise stock L99. That huge resonator underneath is what is killing your sound.

I would sell the atak's you just got, recoup what you can, get the muffler delete and see if thats enough for you. If not, pickup the JEGS X-pipe for these cars to replace your stock RES..then im sure you'll love the sound.

Solo or JBA High flow catted mid-pipes are a good option if you're not willing to go the long-tube route either. It just really depends what youre willing to spend.

[Pace]

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330436

Very informative for anyone!!!!

[1KillerSS]

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

Solved: Run open headers like the rest of us.....closed.

Originally Posted by ST1LE

As you probably know the resonator is going to reduce volume until removed. AFM causes awful drone so until thats gone, I see why you want to keep it. Solo high flow cats will make it louder and deeper for sure! Most people dont get a CEL so a tune shouldnt be necessary.

Sadly warranty friendly mods arent any cheaper than the rest, so for the price of an axleback and quality high flows you could have a set of top notch LT headers with cats and be happy.

LT headers and Cat delets...

[Melba Toast]

Originally Posted by Fast6.3

hey melbatoast do you have a vert I dont know if all a6 cars have them or just the a6 verts but mine had some flapper valves right by the diff if you have them you will see some springs coming out mine sounded like a fart untill I took them off

fast6.3- hey no vert, I got a hardtop. Interesting, Didn't know about those. I'm not sure if that's something will all A6 cars.

[Melba Toast]

Originally Posted by CamarocrayZ

No i have an Ls3, i have read alot that the biggest problem with the muffler delete on the l99 is the transitioning noise from the afm but if you keep your resonators it help that,i still have my resonators on although its not the big piece like the l99 and it sounds great from start up, to wot. it definitely sounds like a real muscle car, im sure its the sound your after, the only con i would say is the decel popping got louder as well

Yeah you do know the sound Im after!
I don't mind the decel pop. If its too much, it does get a little bothersome, but I do like that sound... had that a bit with the Stang I had because of those Roush mufflers.

A ZL1 actually pulled up next to me at the market the other day and man...it sounded sweet. I heard it roll in the parking lot before she (yes the driver was a she) parked next to my SS.

So if I go muffler delete but keep my center resonators intact, I wonder if it will still give me the rumble and not a muffled version of it. Since you have an LS3, it's considerably louder as I am told. Its so sad after spending all this money already, and getting miss-information about the muffler delete which I wanted to do in the first darn place, that now I'm going to back to to that... should have followed my first instinct.

Btw, I have just been noticing the burning smell coming from my exhaust. Every time I have stopped and parked I can smell it... never had that issue with other exhaust mods to cars...