wildcatgoal
@sirboom_photography
- Thread starter
- #1
Long Sound Video:
First Start Up (engine had some heat, not a total cold morning start):
First of all - I don't want you hear your judgement on my shifting. I know I need work. Thank you for noticing.
About 250 mi. ago I installed the Solo Performance Mach Thunder Catback on my 2016 GT PP. I ordered the Mach XV but was accidentally sent the Thunder muffler. Solo corrected the mistake (sent me a Mach XV muffler) and said "run the Thunder, see how you like it" since I already took off my 900 lbs. stock exhaust before realizing I had the wrong muffler. They handled this situation like true gentlemen... at 9PM on a Saturday night! I got my replacement Mach XV muffler a few days after installation but before I switch them out today, I figured I'd show off the best-sounding exhaust on a S550 I've heard to date (IMHO).
You can watch the extensively long and barely-edited video above for sound clips and, toward the tail end, some commentary while video taping the interior sound.
In short, this exhaust system is about as loud as the "loudest" muffled options from other manufacturers. Think Borla ATAK, MBRP Race... the loud ones that still have some semblance of a muffler. How do I know this? Because over the past few weeks of Mustang GT ownership, I've heard A LOT of exhausts with the local S550 group - those are my comparisons. It is too loud for me, though, so after I write this I'm going to slap on the Mach XV muffler. And all I have to do in order to accomplish this is jack up the car, remove some bolts, replace the muffler, tighten the bolts. Easy.
The Thunder exhaust is, as you may know, a mid-muffler design which perhaps contributes to it sounding eerily like my Stage III 103" Harley-Davidson Street Bob did... I mean... the similarities are uncanny at times. It is a very full, deep, thumping, almost NASCAR sound with literally no tinny rasp characteristic of a lot of other systems for our S550s. I mean... ZERO rasp. Exactly what I wanted. Fitment was excellent and the fully adjustable tips made fitting the massive 4.5" tips even, level, and perfect in my exhaust cutouts a breeze. I see so many exhausts hanging too low or too narrow or too wide or just all cockeyed and goofy but I was EASILY able to make my tips SPOT THE F ON! And, being OCD about these kinds of things, these adjustable orientation tips should be on every exhaust. The system is MUCH lighter than stock. I did not weigh it but... it's significantly lighter. The system is shipped in super sturdy boxes with enough padding that you could drop ship a live animal with them - I mean... the boxes looked like they hadn't been touched on their way down from NY to Atlanta. I've received Amazon boxes containing a stuffed animal looking worse. The boxes, smartly, have two handles on them allowing the carrier a nice easy way to lift and move them, which makes it less likely for the box to be abused. Someone was thinking up at Solo when they settled on their packaging strategy... well done, y'all.
Drone? These have adjustable J-pipes which, BTW, you do not see even when kneeling behind the car, which I love. Compared to seeing a chrome muffler through the exhaust hole, not seeing anything except a massive 4.5" tip (which looks amazing compared to smaller tips) is epic. I love that. Anyway, I do get some drone (if you can call it drone) at about 2100 / 2200 RPM on 6th on the highway going SLLLLightly uphill, like when the car just has to use a teensy bit more power to maintain speed vs. totally flat road. I don't like this "drone" but I haven't adjusted the J-pipes because, as you should know, I'm switching the muffler out anyway. But this is not a drone that is rattling teeth and giving you that head crushing feeling. The reason I don't "like it" is because the exhaust is just too loud for me. A slightly quieter rendition of this "drone" and I could car less. There is, though, a point when the exhaust does resonate at the common point this occurs in our cars... but according to Solo, the vast majority of our cars will not exhibit drone. Again, I don't think this is anything terrible (plus I can probably adjust it out with the J-pipe) so don't get your panties in a bunch.
Other than that narrow window, the exhaust as a wonderful brum brum burm thump sound to it when cruising, especially in high gear at crusing RPM. It's so soothing it puts my hyper as hell Southern Curr dog to sleep. Under heavy acceleration, it gets loud in the car but the sound is very, very perfect. It sounds like a freakin' big block haulin' nuts. Coasting on a decel, it transitions with a brauuummmmmmmmmmmm that is not tainted by excessive pops and claps, just right after you press the clutch in you get a quick pop sometimes... it's very refined, IMO. In-between gears, again you get a nice crackle pop with no tinny characteristics and if you give it a rev in neutral (like a quick stab up to 3K and off) it'll snap crackle pop a little too, but again... refined as hell sounding. There is NOTHING hollow or "missing" in this exhaust unless you do prefer a more raspy tone, then you might want to enter into Corsa territory. If you were in my car and I punched it, you'd hear this sensational thumping roar as if you can pick out every cylinder. LOVE IT!
So what "more known" exhaust sounds like it? To my ears, without a doubt the MBRP Race. I am so stupidly picky about exhaust tone so Solo's exhaust putting a smile on my face is a huge feat. But the MBRP Race ALSO put a smile on my face when I heard it. The MBRP Race was a little less thumpy (at least the ones I heard) and didn't have any cool pops (but I was just hearing some revs) and most MBRPs that I've seem have some fitment issues with the tips. I can literally set the tips to be the exact same distance from the diffuser on all sides due to the adjustability (and I didn't need to adjust much, only to preference really).
The only thing I didn't video was a cold morning start. Let's put it this way. I know a neighbor that lives on the total opposite of my massive neighborhood over opposite side of our lake and she will text me "Good Morning" when I start the car in the morning. For about 10 seconds, it is NASCAR start loud. Like... I'm concerned my neighbors are going to kidnap me loud. If you want that... and want it to sound amazing... the Thunder is your cup of tea. I cannot imagine how loud this would be with headers... but it would sound gnarly for sure.
I have no idea of this exhaust contributes any to added power. My car doesn't feel more powerful, just louder. I am excited to mute it down a bit but keep the same tones once I throw on the Mach XV.
Photos attached:
First Start Up (engine had some heat, not a total cold morning start):
First of all - I don't want you hear your judgement on my shifting. I know I need work. Thank you for noticing.
About 250 mi. ago I installed the Solo Performance Mach Thunder Catback on my 2016 GT PP. I ordered the Mach XV but was accidentally sent the Thunder muffler. Solo corrected the mistake (sent me a Mach XV muffler) and said "run the Thunder, see how you like it" since I already took off my 900 lbs. stock exhaust before realizing I had the wrong muffler. They handled this situation like true gentlemen... at 9PM on a Saturday night! I got my replacement Mach XV muffler a few days after installation but before I switch them out today, I figured I'd show off the best-sounding exhaust on a S550 I've heard to date (IMHO).
You can watch the extensively long and barely-edited video above for sound clips and, toward the tail end, some commentary while video taping the interior sound.
In short, this exhaust system is about as loud as the "loudest" muffled options from other manufacturers. Think Borla ATAK, MBRP Race... the loud ones that still have some semblance of a muffler. How do I know this? Because over the past few weeks of Mustang GT ownership, I've heard A LOT of exhausts with the local S550 group - those are my comparisons. It is too loud for me, though, so after I write this I'm going to slap on the Mach XV muffler. And all I have to do in order to accomplish this is jack up the car, remove some bolts, replace the muffler, tighten the bolts. Easy.
The Thunder exhaust is, as you may know, a mid-muffler design which perhaps contributes to it sounding eerily like my Stage III 103" Harley-Davidson Street Bob did... I mean... the similarities are uncanny at times. It is a very full, deep, thumping, almost NASCAR sound with literally no tinny rasp characteristic of a lot of other systems for our S550s. I mean... ZERO rasp. Exactly what I wanted. Fitment was excellent and the fully adjustable tips made fitting the massive 4.5" tips even, level, and perfect in my exhaust cutouts a breeze. I see so many exhausts hanging too low or too narrow or too wide or just all cockeyed and goofy but I was EASILY able to make my tips SPOT THE F ON! And, being OCD about these kinds of things, these adjustable orientation tips should be on every exhaust. The system is MUCH lighter than stock. I did not weigh it but... it's significantly lighter. The system is shipped in super sturdy boxes with enough padding that you could drop ship a live animal with them - I mean... the boxes looked like they hadn't been touched on their way down from NY to Atlanta. I've received Amazon boxes containing a stuffed animal looking worse. The boxes, smartly, have two handles on them allowing the carrier a nice easy way to lift and move them, which makes it less likely for the box to be abused. Someone was thinking up at Solo when they settled on their packaging strategy... well done, y'all.
Drone? These have adjustable J-pipes which, BTW, you do not see even when kneeling behind the car, which I love. Compared to seeing a chrome muffler through the exhaust hole, not seeing anything except a massive 4.5" tip (which looks amazing compared to smaller tips) is epic. I love that. Anyway, I do get some drone (if you can call it drone) at about 2100 / 2200 RPM on 6th on the highway going SLLLLightly uphill, like when the car just has to use a teensy bit more power to maintain speed vs. totally flat road. I don't like this "drone" but I haven't adjusted the J-pipes because, as you should know, I'm switching the muffler out anyway. But this is not a drone that is rattling teeth and giving you that head crushing feeling. The reason I don't "like it" is because the exhaust is just too loud for me. A slightly quieter rendition of this "drone" and I could car less. There is, though, a point when the exhaust does resonate at the common point this occurs in our cars... but according to Solo, the vast majority of our cars will not exhibit drone. Again, I don't think this is anything terrible (plus I can probably adjust it out with the J-pipe) so don't get your panties in a bunch.
Other than that narrow window, the exhaust as a wonderful brum brum burm thump sound to it when cruising, especially in high gear at crusing RPM. It's so soothing it puts my hyper as hell Southern Curr dog to sleep. Under heavy acceleration, it gets loud in the car but the sound is very, very perfect. It sounds like a freakin' big block haulin' nuts. Coasting on a decel, it transitions with a brauuummmmmmmmmmmm that is not tainted by excessive pops and claps, just right after you press the clutch in you get a quick pop sometimes... it's very refined, IMO. In-between gears, again you get a nice crackle pop with no tinny characteristics and if you give it a rev in neutral (like a quick stab up to 3K and off) it'll snap crackle pop a little too, but again... refined as hell sounding. There is NOTHING hollow or "missing" in this exhaust unless you do prefer a more raspy tone, then you might want to enter into Corsa territory. If you were in my car and I punched it, you'd hear this sensational thumping roar as if you can pick out every cylinder. LOVE IT!
So what "more known" exhaust sounds like it? To my ears, without a doubt the MBRP Race. I am so stupidly picky about exhaust tone so Solo's exhaust putting a smile on my face is a huge feat. But the MBRP Race ALSO put a smile on my face when I heard it. The MBRP Race was a little less thumpy (at least the ones I heard) and didn't have any cool pops (but I was just hearing some revs) and most MBRPs that I've seem have some fitment issues with the tips. I can literally set the tips to be the exact same distance from the diffuser on all sides due to the adjustability (and I didn't need to adjust much, only to preference really).
The only thing I didn't video was a cold morning start. Let's put it this way. I know a neighbor that lives on the total opposite of my massive neighborhood over opposite side of our lake and she will text me "Good Morning" when I start the car in the morning. For about 10 seconds, it is NASCAR start loud. Like... I'm concerned my neighbors are going to kidnap me loud. If you want that... and want it to sound amazing... the Thunder is your cup of tea. I cannot imagine how loud this would be with headers... but it would sound gnarly for sure.
I have no idea of this exhaust contributes any to added power. My car doesn't feel more powerful, just louder. I am excited to mute it down a bit but keep the same tones once I throw on the Mach XV.
Photos attached:
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Last edited:
