VE Sportwagon + KPM Exhaust Drone

[UFO]

The Majority of the Droning is when AFM is active, talking with greg i think it was from KPM he said they only had trouble with one wagon that had AFM enabled and to stop the drone they had to disable it. I will have to get some pics / sound files up and show the set up, as im sure the exhaust tips finish a fair way before rear bar. If worse comes to worse ill just get the AFM disabled, i have heard of people getting better consumption with a cat back exhaust OTR intake and tune than AFM anyway..

posted 1min before my last .

If this is the case and most of the drone is when AFM kicks in, well then thats easy cause you only have 2 options because this is a very common issue!
1) Disable AFM completely, or 2) Re-install standard exhaust.
There is a 3rd option, but that means selling current car and buying a manual... but thats hardly an option .
I havent heard of or seen an aftermarket exhaust that works god with AFM... if there was they would make an absolute fortune!

If it was me and I had a V8, disabling AFM would be done in an instant. It's basically mandatory to have a new exhaust on a V8, so you can hear it! And if you dont do a lot of hwy driving, AFM isnt much use to you anyway. Stop start and not getting into 3rd gear or above isnt giving a chance for the AFM to kick in anyway.

 

[HUX 90]

Hmm maby they changed the way AFM works for the 2010 model because my cylinders definately dont deactivate in manual.

 

[unitdiplomacy]

Drone in your car can be attributed to a few different issues. As already pointed out above, AFM can definitely cause drone... but there's a distinct difference when you hear it 'activate'. Continuous drone is more than likely caused by poor rear muffler selection. This is especially important in wagons... because if Im not mistaken the rear mufflers in a wagon are slightly different to sedan/ute variants in regards to noise cancellation. The tell tale sign with mufflers designed specifically for the wagon (at least when dealing with Holden genuine parts) is whether the tips of the exhaust come out of the rear muffler as one pipe splitting into two (or in the case of sedans, two pipes coming directly out of the muffler). As the wagon body shape is more susceptible to drone, rear muffler choice is very important.

If as you say "you've got enough drone to shake your mirror", then no amount of changing other exhaust components will make as much difference as actually changing the rear muffler. As discussed previously in other threads (search), you can change the note and tone a little by installing aftermarket extractors etc, but in your case I'd be almost 100% sure that the cause of your excessive drone is rear muffler choice. You can also try to dynamat the rear section of the car (pretty easy because tyre well is readily accessible), but I reckon different mufflers will be your only option.

And I'd also definitely agree with exhausts settling in as suggested above. I've had a number of cars with new exhausts put on over the years, and in each of them the exhaust note changed a little over the first say 6 months. It got a little deeper (and in one case just a little louder). Up to you on whether you want to 'wait and see', but if it was me and my mirrors were shaking? I'd be pulling them off pronto! (Pretty easy job mind you... 2 bolts and they just slide straight off the rubber gromets). Ebay some different ones for cheap cheap and see how you go?

Thanks UFO, the rear muffler tips come out at one piece and split into two. Dont get me wrong i love the sound the KPM exhaust makes, im just trying to find a compromise between a nice sounding V8 and keeping the billy lids happy and headache free my thoughts were if i was spending $2500 on an exhaust system thats guarenteed not to drone, i wouldnt have to change anything... i will see what it sounds like in a few months time, maybe even get AFM disabled, i was hoping it would be a easy fix, i.e exhaust was slightly bent during shipping which caused some sort of resonance, or exhaust tips not protruding out far enough from the rear of the vehicle, or exhaust vibrating / rubbing on a section of the car just after some opinions surely this has been covered many times, i just couldnt find many people that were unhappy with KPM exhausts

 

[unitdiplomacy]

Hmm maby they changed the way AFM works for the 2010 model because my cylinders definately dont deactivate in manual.

it looks that way it was one of the first things i tried though

 

[unitdiplomacy]

posted 1min before my last .

If this is the case and most of the drone is when AFM kicks in, well then thats easy cause you only have 2 options because this is a very common issue!
1) Disable AFM completely, or 2) Re-install standard exhaust.
There is a 3rd option, but that means selling current car and buying a manual... but thats hardly an option .
I havent heard of or seen an aftermarket exhaust that works god with AFM... if there was they would make an absolute fortune!

If it was me and I had a V8, disabling AFM would be done in an instant. It's basically mandatory to have a new exhaust on a V8, so you can hear it! And if you dont do a lot of hwy driving, AFM isnt much use to you anyway. Stop start and not getting into 3rd gear or above isnt giving a chance for the AFM to kick in anyway.

Disabling the AFM, does this have to be done at holden or can it be done at any tune place?

 

[SSV Redline]

We had the exact same KPM system fitted to our Sportwagon on Wednesday and there is no drone, rattle or bump to speak of. The note out the back brings a "smile to our dial" everytime we start her up or excelerate.

 

[Smitty]

We had the exact same KPM system fitted to our Sportwagon on Wednesday and there is no drone, rattle or bump to speak of. The note out the back brings a "smile to our dial" everytime we start her up or excelerate.

manual or auto???

 

[jr689]

The term "settling down" means that the glass packing loosens up a bit after a week or two and the note changes, also the exhaust will carbon up a bit too, this alters the note as well.

Most brand new exhausts sound different after a couple of weeks than they do when first installed.

Oh fair enough so is this "loosening" up a good thing? And does the sound end up getting better in general or is it not a one size fits all situation?

 

[HUX 90]

Most tuners can disable AFM

 

[RUF-60L]

wow i didnt know bout the one pipe splitting into 2 being for wagons, thats what sureflo put on my sedan :/