exhaust

[ScreamingYellow04Mach1]

does anyone know if an off road or catted x or h pipe will have a better sound with an slp loudmouth 1 catback exhaust?

[Dark_Knight7096]

Well anytime you add a mid to a catback you are going to get a louder sound, we would need to know a lot more about the car before giving you a definitive answer. I would assume from your username that you have a 99 V6, but is this question about your car? Is it about a friends?

If it is about your car an SLP Loudmouth and a catted X-pipe will probably have you sounding like a ricer at idle, and halfway decent at WOT. I had an SLP Powerflo and a hiflow catted midpipe in my Pontiac Grand Prix (3.8L, same size engine but no x or h pipe because it went 2 exhaust manifolds, directly into 1 pipe, back into 2 mufflers) and it sounded like a pissed off honda at idle and like a Grand National at WOT. The Loudmouth is even louder and raspier than the Powerflo so it may sound more hondaish. An offroad mid would have you sounding even more so, there's not really much point in going with an O/R pipe anymore these days because the new High Flow cats offer so little restriction that unless that cat is your only thing robbing horsepower there's no sense in eliminating it, AND that way, you stay legal.
Another thing, an X-Pipe has a higher pitched sometimes described as raspier sound than H-pipes anyway. That is their nature. X-pipes work better for exhaust scavenging in the upper RPMs and can lead to more torque up top and better power on the high end. H-pipes are the opposite, they work better on the low end. Ever watch NASCAR? They use X-pipes, which is why when the cars go zipping past they sound more like European sports cars, than the V-8 brutes that they are. So the X-pipe will probably only add to the "Honda soundingness" of your car. If that is what you are going for though, please by all means, go for it. If you are looking for something that sounds like a V-8, just know you aren't going to get it. I have heard some cammed V-6s that sound almost exactly like 8s but you'll never get 100% of the way there.

What I would recommend would be to go on youtube and search through videos of exhaust, type in a few key words of what you are looking for, and search. Chances are 1500 other people already have the combo you want and half have posted videos of how it sounds, that way you can get a good idea of what the different systems and combos sound like so you can make the most informed decision possible.