Hmm...I don't like drone either. I never took the HKS to have noticeable drone, if any at all. So maybe I'm mistaken there...hopefully not since the looks do not matter to me as much as the sound. I just want it a tad louder than stock but that's about it.

I'm most likely getting it installed this weekend so I will report back.

 

That's great. waiting to "hear" the results. Uphill, under load, in 5th, (around 2100 to 2600 rpm), especially. Make that 1500 to 2100.

 

FYI I ran the HKS with a variety of combinations of y-pipes, midpipes and intakes. All of the combinations yielded drone with the least amount coming with stock intake, stock y-pipe and 05 sedan midpipe. However after running it for a while the drone got to me and I sold the muffler and bought a MD VQ sedan exhaust. Drone problem solved, sad that MD only produced less than 30 of these exhausts total.

 

Oh wow. Interesting... I have an 05-06 Sedan Mid-pipe sitting in my garage if you need it eicarG35. I am in Costa Mesa

 

Hmm..you're scaring me a bit, Blue Dream.

I was never under the impression that the HKS had any drone. It would suck to have to get rid of it if it really does because I do not care for drone at all, no matter how nice it makes the car sound.

It looks like it was the least when you had a full stock setup which is what I have, but I guess I will have to see this weekend after I get it installed. Fingers crossed that I don't experience any drone but I'll report back.

 

The good news for you is if you don't like the sound you'll be able to sell the HKS on here for what you paid for it, they go quick in the Marketplace.

 

Ok so Sean (SxExCx) helped me install these this weekend and it is definitely very nice sounding. It's also pleasing to the eye compared to stock (I never liked how the tips are cutoff).

I would say the sound from the outside (had the gf do a few circles around the lot while I stood outside) is sweeeet! Not too loud at all, but definitely way more noticeable than stock. It's like the perfect balance in my opinion in that it's not obnoxious at all but is still noticeable.

The sound level inside definitely did increase quite a bit though. I would put it more towards 30% increase in sound from the inside. While idling or cruising with the foot off the pedal, you can't even really tell the difference. When I step on it, however, the beast awakes and it sounds much deeper and throatier than stock. I didn't experience any drone at all, even at the 2.5k-3k range. It is noticeably louder when I've got my foot on the gas, but that's to be expected. I've gotten used to it now just having driven it 2 days and don't have any complaints about it. Personally, I'd still wish the in-cabin sound was a bit quieter, but that's not really reasonable to expect if I want it to be more noticeable on the outside.

My main concern is whether or not my gf would be annoyed by it being too loud but she said it's fine and doesn't mind it so everything's good! Admittedly, I haven't pushed it past 4k rpm yet to hear what it's like since Sean reset the ECU for me and I'm trying to have the car relearn my driving style in hopes of increasing my MPG. My driving style now just isn't how it was 8-10 years ago so I'm hoping I can actually squeeze a bit more MPG out of her. I am assuming it sounds ridiculous at WOT but I will report back on that in the future.

All in all, I am very happy with the HKS Sport Exhaust and would recommend it.

I'll try to get some sound clips if you guys are interested in that.

 

How is it going uphill on a highway @ 1500 -2000 rpm? That's where the drone killed the exhaust on my I35 and caused my to replace the muffler that came with the cat back.

 

It's loud but it's not unreasonably loud, if that makes sense. There isn't any drone from my experience, even in that scenario. It's not a freeway but I do have a long segment (~2 miles) of continuous uphill on my commute to work at the speed limit is 60 on that road so it's similar to the scenario you are asking about.

How would you describe the drone that you had on your I35?

 

A consistent, low frequency, high decibel, irritating noise. Sort of like a "fog horn".