I went to the Borla Tech Day at Cunningham Motorsports yesterday. It was a pretty good event and I thought I'd share some stuff. Related to this thread, they had the same car there from SEMA in the original post above. It had a Vortech supercharger, and full cat-less long tube header back exhaust (same silver/carbon tips). It also had an awesome Brembo upgrade too that I was drooling on.
(PIC)
Lisa the OP was there and told me the carbon tips will be available very soon. I told her a few of us though it would look better with a black interior. She said they were aware of the feedback and decided to go with black for the production piece. It looks anodized. Bravo to them for listening to customers, I thought it looked way better and much more subtle now. They had a sample there:
(PIC)
No Flash:
(PIC)
Flash:
(PIC)
Stainless double walled tip below. I should have gotten a direct rear shot but you get the idea and I'm sure it's on the site. They look larger in person but I think it's the color and double wall design playing tricks on your eyes maybe:
(PIC)
Some other details I got from the Q&A while there that might be of interest:
-Whether you choose the double walled stainless tip or the carbon fiber, that inner pipe diameter is the same. Visually to me the inside tubing of the Borla "intercooled" Carbon tip looked smaller but it's an optical illusion. I doubt you'll ever notice once it gets black anyway.
-Cunningham runs the S-type on their car. That system, as well as the others, manage drone very well. That's why the owner chose it.
-David Borla explained how they identify a drone frequency and design the muffler/resonator combo to eliminate that frequency by tuning it to the inverse one.
-If you live in CA and have a concern that the exhaust may not meet the 95DB limit in the CA vehicle code they comply, so no worries. If you have NPP and set the car to the snow/ice with the NPP compatible versions it will be under for sure.
-(I already knew this but) Any
cat-backs do not need a CARB# in CA because they are after all the emissions equipment (the cat being the last emissions part in the system).
-Stainless systems have a lifetime warranty and although they can discolor will not corrode or rust. They can be hand brushed or polished if you are into that. I asked about coating and the marketing guy said that's usually for inferior metals and may not be a good idea due to the expansion and contraction of stainless.
-I asked David Borla and his dad if they had an opinion as to why most exhaust for domestic cars use a slip fit or clamp system as opposed to flanges and gaskets like most Japanese or Euro cars. They agreed it may be partly tradition but said they like the clamps for weight savings and adjust-ability.
-They mentioned that they make in house plenum and valve covers in carbon fiber. They were on the SEMA car but I forgot to get a picture. They looked pretty good. They are made at the TN location. They are a gloss finish while the tips are more a semi gloss (which I happen to like because it looks more like real structural dry carbon made in an autoclave).
-I mentioned the one thing that strikes me about the stock "suit case" muffler is that it is very flat and covers the void under the back of the car. It sort of goes with the what GM tried to do in other areas of the under carriage it making it flat to reduce lift and possibly aid mileage. I said it would be cool if they offered something like a diffuser or cover for the void left by going to dual mufflers. He said that would be cool especially with their carbon abilities now, however, they have offered a similar product before and it didn't sell well. I think it may have been for the Corvette??? I guess you can't have everything.
From memory I think that's it.
A cool little story at least for me personally. At one time I worked for a pretty well known Japanese performance company called HKS. They made exhaust among other things. The "H" and long time president Mr. Hasegawa and Mr. Borla (the Dad) were friends. Mr. Borla got him into planes and commented about what a nice man he was (Mr. Hasegawa passed away a few years ago). It made sense to me why in the old HKS catalogs they had one random picture of a supped up small plane with the company logo. Both David, his dad and the other staff were very friendly. When ever I decide to pull the trigger on an exhaust I'll be giving the S-type a really hard look. Really nice quality and sound level for what I want. The tip design will be a hard choice but I don't think you can go wrong now. Unless they offer titanium
PS. Lisa if you read this titanium can be bolted on just like your carbon tip
