Towma8r

Watching the video over and over, I think for me, to keep the wife happy, I have to leave the valved mufflers. I am assuming the suitcase resonator delete with the rear valved mufflers in place, will be less loud than the suitcase resonator in lace and the valved mufflers removed.

Are there front resonators before the suitcase resonators? What will it sound like with those removed and leaving the suitcase resonator in place and the valved mufflers? Are the front for drone?

Shield

Reporting back in. First of all we have the absolute greatest muffler shop here in Columbus Ohio (Mad Hatter Muffler on Sullivant Avenue). They charged me $120 to install the cutouts ($60 per side, I did the wiring (super easy as the battery is in the trunk).
So with the 2016 A8L I had the stock exhaust + 2 cutouts. It sounded decent outside of the car with the cutouts open, but wasn't enough oomph for me.

Went back in 2 days ago - the shop removed the suitcase muffler with an emphasis on being able to reinstall it if I didn't like it. Cost, $60 per side again. They simple welded in 2 straight pipes in its place. I barely noticed any difference.
So while I was there, they said "If you want to hear this, remove the 2 baby silencers near the flex pipe up front". So they did, and welded in (again) two more straight pipes. You don't "need" an X pipe or anything; that makes no difference. You're just deleting those resonators and straight piping where they were. $60 each per side, So total I was in $360 total (Basically $180 per side / 3 sets of welded in pipes/cutouts. Plus I tipped them $110).
Now the car sounds AMAZING and is LOUD and has those sweet burps/cracks when you flog it. Since I left the original mufflers ON with the cutouts - (and this is the magic here) - It sounds BONE STOCK with the cutouts closed. Dead silent.
My concern was hearing some sort of drone with the front resonators out. You can't hear anything at all - I drove around at all speeds (with the cutouts closed) including highway and it sounds bone stock. I'll shoot some video at some point.
I drove the car down to show my elderly father, who told me I was an idiot for messing with the exhaust on such a nice car. I showed up with the QTP cutouts closed and he said "I thought you did something to the exhaust". LOL. We took a ride and he said "This car is very quiet". Then I opened them up.....
The reason I recommend the QTP cutouts over all other brands is you can open them up partially - a tiny fraction at a time. Other brands are "open or closed" only. I did take the OP's suggestions and programmed the Homelink buttons.

Anyway, the takeaway is this - Remove the suitcase + the two front silencers, and add cutouts near the rear (Watch HealthNut's video for the perfect location). This is the best of all worlds solution IMO as it's STOCK sounding with the cutouts closed. Simply doing the cutouts or cutouts + rear suitcase just wasn't enough for ME personally.

The kit I bought was QTP QTEC50CPK2 - Included the remotes, the cutouts, the Y-pipes, the hardware, the 2 turn-down tips. Everything you need. That was $611 on ebay and included everything we needed. Seller I bought from was "espeedshop" and it arrived in 3 days. Couldn't be more thrilled.

healthnut76

Awesome! Absolutely agree; the best of both worlds!

healthnut76

See @Shield's comment below. You wouldn't actually remove the valved mufflers; those stay and remain fully functional. You simply add cutouts just before the rear valved mufflers so you can bypass them (and get that awesome growl) when you want, or keep them closed when you want the much more tame stock sound. For increased sound, bypassing the rear mufflers is the key. But, again, the cutouts give you the option to "remove" them or not whenever you want by simply pressing a button.

Towma8r

I am going to go with the suitcase removal first, and then go from there, Next, if that not enough remove the two front silencers, Then, order cut outs and install. Great thing is my buddy owns the shop, so I just have to pay 50%

I'll report back

Towma8r

Thanks for reporting back! I am hoping the suitcase removal will be what I am after, as far as sound... I am just looking for a little more, and a tad more in sport mod as far as sound but not get loud...... maybe I will get to the cut out in the end.......

Shield

I shot this today - I wish I'd have remembered to shoot this with a camera that didn't normalize the audio. So since I did once single take and chopped it up in post, you won't get a great idea volume-wise.
But with them open, it's "cops will arrest you" loud.
With them closed, it sounds like stock.

Enjoy!

Shield

My exhaust shop was very cool - they had a guy sitting up in the cabin while the car was on the lift periodically revving it upon request. Came in with just the cutouts already done. Then they removed the suitcase muffler and welded the straight pipes in their place. Barely any difference (maybe 5% louder at best?). Then I said hell with it and they cut off a silencer behind the flex-pipe. BINGO! Pops and crackles and a deep rumble. Then he grabbed a thick rag and held into place both sides of the temp straight pipe, just so I'd get an idea of the loudness with the cutouts closed. It's really remarkable how quiet it got -everyone was stunned. So in summary, you want to do what I did. At least I think so...

healthnut76

Sounds awesome, bud!👍🏻

Shield

Thought of you tonight Healthnut (based on watching your s8 exhaust video 300 times) - got some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Kept everything hush quiet not to be an a-hole in the long lines. Left there, headed home. Was getting a bit ornery going under a long overpass - had them wide open. Then I saw the boys in blue, so I immediately shut 'er down like in your video at the gas station. It and the Carplay are my favorite additions to the car!