Ive heard many things about the Thermal Research exhaust for turbo cars and thats all the searches gave me. But what about for non turbo cars. I am thinkin abou buying one off of a guy in the classifieds: $300 bucks, 2.25" piping, all stainless.

What do you think?? Good deal? I really wanted an Apex-i N1, but havnt found a good deal on one.

How is the quality of the Thermal exhaust? How does it sound??

Thanks

 

I used to run a Thermal R&D cat back on my gsr, with DC DAC and greddy headers. It was the black matte painted one, not the SS one, but I think they are the same exhaust. As far as sound goes, the thing is LOUD. Louder than any other exhaust I've heard on the street as a matter of fact. You can literally hear it coming 2 blocks away. As for performance, since my car was pretty stock, really hard to tell the difference. I did end up selling it to a guy with a JRSC in his GSR, and he said he lost 2psi of boost. I guess that means its pretty free flowing. Seriously, the thermal is not like your run of the mill Greddy, RSR, Tanabe, Apex-i exhausts. It seemed like it was much more "race-oriented". Anyways, I got the exhaust for real cheap, I think like $75 delivered. I ended up selling it for $175 shipped, and shipping cost me $65. For $300, I might hold off on it and try to find a better deal, or a different exhaust. Then again, don't see too many Thermal catbacks for sale nowadays.

 

i have a 2.25 thermal on my gsr...when i first got it i was like damn this thing is load then it started getting quieter the higher the rpm and now its not loud at all just deep i had my car inspected today normally i would be able to hear the mechanic drive off in my car but i didnt even notice him leave today and i was watchin...if you can put up with it bein loud for a month then i think its a good buy...looks good, performs good, and eventually sounds better....thats why i think anyway

 

I had nothing but problems with a Thermal R&D classis cat-back. Problems with the product as well as the customer service. But apparently I must have been an isolated case because I seem to be the only one.

Summary of problems:
~cracked mid-pipe (due to poor quality/design)
~the un-burnable cores magically burnt out
~sent back to Thermal for density testing
~sent me a new muffler, without explaination of the inital failure
~called for test results and was refused the info as well as hung up on
Would I buy another T R&D product? Nope, I'd just end up buying a Greddy PE 70mm cat-backm instead.


[Modified by SLPR, 1:39 PM 9/4/2002]

 

I don't know if the thermal "gets quieter" over time so much as you get more used to it. I ran it for about 1.5yrs before selling it, and yes, I did grow more accustomed to the noise, but it was still loud. Granted, not that raspy ricey kind of loud like some of the other exhausts out there, but definitely much louder than stock. When I put my stock one back on, I couldn't even tell the car was on. I wish I had a sound clip or something that you could listen to and decide for yourself. In my opinion though, it is too loud for everyday driving. Sure it was cool when I first got it, but after time, it annoyed the hell out of me. Besides, performance gain was negligible, even with intake and headers.

 

everyone has their own opinion...i dont think its too bad for daily driving...i think no matter what exhaust you are using the stock exhaust is almost always gonna be quieter than aftermarket

 

Get the Thermal Stealth... Its not loud at all and I think it is the best sounding exhaust out there. The Thermal Classic sounds the same as an apexi n1.

 

I would have to agree. My friend had one on his gsr for a while and man, that thing was just tooooooo loud, even in the cabin...it was almost unbearable.....and to make it worse, he supercharged it and THEN it was utterly ridiculous....