Best Intake and Cat back

SweetheSwee · 02-02-2013, 09:51 AM

Well the girlfriend has decided to put a little into the car, so I figured we'd start with the basics. No real price limit, i know you get what you pay for. For an intake I was thinking the K&N looked simple enough and K&N is a good name, but for exhaust systems I have no real idea. Not into the whole fart cannon deal, A 95 civic would've been much cheaper so we dont want it to sound like one. More of a sti deep rumble sound is desired. Post up suggestions, thanks.

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matmatician · 02-02-2013, 10:27 AM

First off, welcome to focus fanatics!

There are a lot of options out there, but a lot of folks here use one of two intake setups. Then first is a short ram intake by Steeda (what I have, I love it) and it's a bit more pricey than other options. Another is the CoolFlo system by FSwerks. It's $180 and people swear by them.

As far as exhaust goes, FSwerks is also gonna be your best bet most likely, unless you want to pay out the nose for a Flowmaster.

And if you just want to look around before you make a decision, here are a few great vendors:
focus.c-f-m.com
www.fswerks.com
www.steedafocus.com

RonMaiden · 02-02-2013, 10:31 AM

Being on this forum less than a year and still a bit of a noob the consensus from what i see is the Steeda and FSwerks seem to be the most popular combo and probably will be my choice when I venture down that road.

MotorcityJAX · 02-02-2013, 10:31 AM

Welcome to FF! I agree that there is going to be a lot of debate on this, I like both the Steeda and the FSWerks intakes, i personally have the CoolFlo and love it. It gives the car a nice growl from under the hood, but noticed it cuts down mpg (probably because i give her a little more throttle just to hear her). and when it comes to exhaust i would go either Magnaflow or the FSWerks Stealth, both sound great and keep drone to a minimum

Creative · 02-02-2013, 10:55 AM

My .02

I have a steeda intake and love it, I like the look of steeda better, but fswerks also has a nice intake to. I personally am not a fan of the kn intake just cause of looks. As far as exhaust I bought a fswerks stealth and love it. It's a 2.5" exhaust and sonds great.

***suss6052*** · 02-02-2013, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotorcityJAX

Welcome to FF! I agree that there is going to be a lot of debate on this, I like both the Steeda and the FSWerks intakes, i personally have the CoolFlo and love it. It gives the car a nice growl from under the hood, but noticed it cuts down mpg (probably because i give her a little more throttle just to hear her). and when it comes to exhaust i would go either Magnaflow or the FSWerks Stealth, both sound great and keep drone to a minimum

On what planet does the magnaflow catback exhaust sound good? Maybe its just the recordings, but even their factory sound recording for the magnaflow sounded very raspy and ricey, not what I'd want to hear, and then the FSWerks stealth still has a bit of drone, going with a custom bent system might be better.

Maybe if some one has a better recording it might not actually sound as bad, but I'm not a fan of the so called professional recording from magnaflow for our cars.

MetalMuffins · 02-03-2013, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suss6052

On what planet does the magnaflow catback exhaust sound good? Maybe its just the recordings, but even their factory sound recording for the magnaflow sounded very raspy and ricey, not what I'd want to hear, and then the FSWerks stealth still has a bit of drone, going with a custom bent system might be better.

Maybe if some one has a better recording it might not actually sound as bad, but I'm not a fan of the so called professional recording from magnaflow for our cars.

I had a custom 2.5" on my old 2005 ford ranger, and it was a 2.0L Duratec. It was a bit loud for my liking, but sounded great. This is the first and only Magnaflow setup I have owned, but I loved it.

From that experience, I was leaning towards the Magnaflow catback because I don't plan on doing much aside from intake/exhaust.

I am just woried that the FSWerks would drone as it is a 2.5"... what's everyones thoughts?

TL:DR - Magnaflow or FSWerks Stealth Catback?

***suss6052*** · 02-03-2013, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetalMuffins

I had a custom 2.5" on my old 2005 ford ranger, and it was a 2.0L Duratec. It was a bit loud for my liking, but sounded great. This is the first and only Magnaflow setup I have owned, but I loved it.

From that experience, I was leaning towards the Magnaflow catback because I don't plan on doing much aside from intake/exhaust.

I am just woried that the FSWerks would drone as it is a 2.5"... what's everyones thoughts?

TL:DR - Magnaflow or FSWerks Stealth Catback?

http://www.magnaflow.com/04sound/spo...FordFocus.html

Sounds raspy and ricey to me more than the FSWerks.

YouTube Video

Personally I'd go custom or FSwerks, but the FSWerks still allegedly has some drone, and I haven't fully experienced it in person yet so idk.

JPfocus23 · 02-02-2013, 12:11 PM

I've been wondering the same things. I am mainly wanting to look into a new exhaust. Right now I just have the lunchbox delete on mine because I wanted some back end noise. But I want to put a cat-back in the coming months. I hear a lot of good and bad about most of the systems out there, but hear mostly good about the FSWerks. Is the FSWerks the way to go?