pbsaz
01-06-2006, 12:48 AM
I've only put about 80 miles on my return tip from the Zoomer's shop so I'm only able to provide my first impression.
First of all, Ron and his brother Frank are absolutely great to deal with. They made sure I was completely pleased with the installation and quality of the system above any other considerations.
I don't have any pictures, but you've already seen them if you've followed the previous Zoomers thread and since I went directly to work I don't have any sound bites. Actually, I'm not sure how I would record it anyway but I'm willing to try.
Fit and finish are excellent. I don't understand the amount of concern I've heard over the tips as they are much higher than the stock muffler. I understand they are a little farther back but still I think other bits are would hit ground before they do. Of course if you're going to hit your bumper then you're going to hit the tips too. I just don't expect that's reasonably going to happen in my case. YMMV
I think the sound is outstanding and better (subjective) than what I've heard from other systems. It is much deeper than I thought possible for an I5 but no it's not a V8 rumble. No concerns however that it sounds like a Honda or other ricer either. What I'm really thrilled about is as good as it sounds outside, there is absolutely no drone or obnoxious noise inside the cabin. Driving home on the freeway was as pleasant as the ride down there before the switch. Put your foot into the throtle and you'll hear a very pleasant difference. Back off and it's as quiet as before. I just listened to the clips of the flowmaster system and at least in the clips it had significantly more interior noise than the Zoomer. Since sound clips are subject to a lot of quality issues, I'd be happy to have anyone in the LA area take a listen at some convenient time and place. George from this board was also there this morning and I believe he was also very pleased with the sound. We both went for a spin in the final product. George, please chime in.
As for performance, no I don't have a dyno of before or after, only my seat of the pants comparison. I didn't expect big performance gains ( and frankly I didn't buy it for performance) but I was looking for a little more oomph in the way of throttle response from about 2.5K. I believe I got my money's worth. One thing that really hit me was that I finally got the benefit of the K&N aircharger that I installed when I purchased my H3. Up until now all I got was more noise on WOT. If you're going to change the intake to let more air in then you really need to do something about the exhaust. It seems to rev better and I believe there are good performance gains. If anyone can accurately measure them so much the better.
I'm interested to find out if there's any benefit in gas mileage but that will take me a while to find out as I'm traveling soon and generally use the H3 for weekend transportation.
all for now
Phiip
First of all, Ron and his brother Frank are absolutely great to deal with. They made sure I was completely pleased with the installation and quality of the system above any other considerations.
I don't have any pictures, but you've already seen them if you've followed the previous Zoomers thread and since I went directly to work I don't have any sound bites. Actually, I'm not sure how I would record it anyway but I'm willing to try.
Fit and finish are excellent. I don't understand the amount of concern I've heard over the tips as they are much higher than the stock muffler. I understand they are a little farther back but still I think other bits are would hit ground before they do. Of course if you're going to hit your bumper then you're going to hit the tips too. I just don't expect that's reasonably going to happen in my case. YMMV
I think the sound is outstanding and better (subjective) than what I've heard from other systems. It is much deeper than I thought possible for an I5 but no it's not a V8 rumble. No concerns however that it sounds like a Honda or other ricer either. What I'm really thrilled about is as good as it sounds outside, there is absolutely no drone or obnoxious noise inside the cabin. Driving home on the freeway was as pleasant as the ride down there before the switch. Put your foot into the throtle and you'll hear a very pleasant difference. Back off and it's as quiet as before. I just listened to the clips of the flowmaster system and at least in the clips it had significantly more interior noise than the Zoomer. Since sound clips are subject to a lot of quality issues, I'd be happy to have anyone in the LA area take a listen at some convenient time and place. George from this board was also there this morning and I believe he was also very pleased with the sound. We both went for a spin in the final product. George, please chime in.
As for performance, no I don't have a dyno of before or after, only my seat of the pants comparison. I didn't expect big performance gains ( and frankly I didn't buy it for performance) but I was looking for a little more oomph in the way of throttle response from about 2.5K. I believe I got my money's worth. One thing that really hit me was that I finally got the benefit of the K&N aircharger that I installed when I purchased my H3. Up until now all I got was more noise on WOT. If you're going to change the intake to let more air in then you really need to do something about the exhaust. It seems to rev better and I believe there are good performance gains. If anyone can accurately measure them so much the better.
I'm interested to find out if there's any benefit in gas mileage but that will take me a while to find out as I'm traveling soon and generally use the H3 for weekend transportation.
all for now
Phiip