Nottingram

I was thinking about putting exhaust in my 2011 xB, but dont know where to start. I see a lot of different cold air intakes out there, but dont know what the difference is and if it is worth spending the money on. I see the K&N for like $300.00, but there are like some other brands on ebay that i havent heard of that are half the price. Whats the difference?

Also, What are some opinions on exhaust? I was thinking of just adding a muffler to existing stock exhaust to cut costs, but I am not sure what type to get. I see that the popular choice is the borla exhaust kit. How does this differ from just putting in a muffler?

I am not looking for giant performance upgrades as this is my daily driver, but I do want it to sound better than stock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

criminaltc

Alright listen. You've been a member for 4 years. I would expect you to have this down by now. This is basics bro. But that's cool. Now.. on to business.

Intake - Spend the money on a name brand. Spending $250-350 is right. The other ebay brands are just bent tubes. These 2AZ's are touchy. Companies like K&N, AEM, and Injen have all spent the millions of dollars of R&D to make sure that this motor accepts it's air flow (which there's a lot more to it than one would think). The ebay one is going to throw a CEL eventually and give you issues. People might say that they haven't had issues for years and years... well it's only time. And every motor is different (climate, elevation ect).

Exhaust - Mufflers are trash. Scratch that idea all together. So.. looks like you have some ideas on brands that are offered. That's good. Now, YouTube "xB" and then the name of those exhausts and you'll see what they sound like. For real true sound, I recommend a full cat-back system. You will notice a great sound improvement. Not necessarily an obnoxious sound inclination, but just better, deeper, throatier ect.

As far as performance, you couldn't spend enough on bolt-ons to worry about making too much power. And intake and exhaust might gain you 5-9 horsepower. That's it. However, what is also does is make you feel a hell of a lot better about your car and makes you fall in love with it all over again. You won't regret it.

Then when you are done with that, lower that mother f-er.

Toast_Burner

I can't agree on spending the money on a name brand intake personally. The ebay intakes are fine and do not cause issues. You can read about all the ebay stuff here. I have the Ebay intake and it has been fine for 45k miles with a K&N filter. If you want to spend more money, do it. A CAI on an XB is the proven most HP you can bolt on You can drop ~$2k mods and not even get a 20hp whp gain on this engine it's really not worth the investment imo. That being said, I believe the intake is the best performance mod as it isn't really expensive whether you spend $60 or $300 on it since any of them sound amazing. You can probably pick up one of the name brand intakes cheaper these days too.

I do agree with lowering the xb. Stock suspension is set up like ____ and the rear end is high.

Nottingram

Well I did it. I ordered my stuff and now it just got to my house. I went with the Tanabe DF210's, the Borla single catback exhaust, and an Injen CAI. The biggest problem i had was dealing with getting a CAI that is California CARB compliant. The Injen one is like the only one that I could find that would be shipped to my address. Now to put it all on!!!! I am going to have a busy weekend.
I think this goes without saying, but it will be better for me to install the Borla BEFORE I put the lowering springs on, right? Seems there would be more wiggle room to take off the stock exhaust and put on the new one.
When I get everything installed, I will post pics!

Biggregg24

I have the injen and it's nice, sounds good on wot, as far as whatever you do, it doesn't really make a difference

Nottingram

Its all on! Just put on the CAI this morning. Its all nice and aligned and growling like a beast!!! The DF210's are awesome! I can hardly feel a difference in the ride, except, of course, having to be more mindful of steep driveways and speed bumps. And the combo of the Injen and Borla makes the xB growl upon acceleration.... its just what I wanted.

I attached some photos

Biggregg24

Looks good, I like the wheels