Quieting your loud cold starts

[331GT]

Been a concern of mine since I leave the house before 5 am 5 days a week. I'm in a suburb where the loud cold starts can and have annoyed my neighbors. They've been surprisingly cool about it but I still don't want to wake people up and just be an overall insufferable neighbor with the loud car next door ha.

Simple fix-pool noodles. Someone here posted a YouTube video of it on stock exhaust. I have roush so I had some initial issues with the noodles staying in the tail pipes and not getting blasted out. They only got launched out (pretty far I might add hahaha) on cold starts. Warm starts the car doesn't fire up so aggressively. Obviously cold starts were what needed to be suppressed. But the proof is in the videos. Before and after.

Stock exhaust manifolds, roush x pipe, roush axle back.

Hope this helps some. I almost left mine stock because I didnt want to be bothering my neighbors. Obviously doesn't apply to active exhaust owners here but not everyone has that feature.

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[JK XLR8]

Pretty neat trick! Mine definitely barks on startup!

 

[331GT]

Pretty neat trick! Mine definitely barks on startup!

it's exceptionally cheap and easy, too. once the car is warm, just pull 'em out. personally, i love the loud cold start. but im a car guy, so not everyone likes it like i do, to say the least! it looks a little ridiculous, and ive gotten some funny looks from neighbors and people walking by seeing these noodles sticking out, but the main goal was something that actually works. i could always mess around with shortening the noodles, painting them black or gray or something, but meh. it's almost more fun seeing the weird looks and the questions i get.

also, i think the longer they are, the more they will suppress the noise. i havent played around with that much yet but maybe i will.

 

[EFI]

How far in the pipes did you shove those in?

 

[Gnatsum21]

Been a concern of mine since I leave the house before 5 am 5 days a week. I'm in a suburb where the loud cold starts can and has annoyed my neighbors. They've been surprisingly cool about it but I still don't want to wake people up and just be an overall insufferable neighbor with the loud car next door ha.

Simple fix-pool noodles. Someone here posted a YouTube video of it on stock exhaust. I have roush so I had some initial issues with the noodles staying in the tail pipes and not getting blasted out. They only got launched out (pretty far I might add hahaha) on cold starts. Warm starts the car doesn't fire up so aggressively. Obviously cold starts were what needed to be suppressed. But the proof is in the videos. Before and after.

Stock exhaust manifolds, roush x pipe, roush axle back.

Hope this helps some. I almost left mine stock because I didnt want to be bothering my neighbors. Obviously doesn't apply to active exhaust owners here but not everyone has that feature.

Should come stock with pool noodles.

 

[331GT]

How far in the pipes did you shove those in?

They only fit into the tail pipes maybe 3-4 inches. this is with Roush mufflers/tips, however. stock tail pipes may be different. the Roush has wider tips than the pipe itself that comes out of the muffler, so you can only shove the noodles in a little bit before they hit the smaller pipe exiting the muffler and stop. this is where i had issues with them blowing out of the pipes.

i linked the video that i watched first to try this below. in that video he cut the noodles lengthwise/down the tube to make them narrower and to be able to shove them deeper into the tail pipes. this did not work for me and they kept blowing out of the Roush tailpipes. in the video, he had stock mufflers. mine work better now by not cutting the noodles lengthwise. this leaves them wider and harder to shove into the pipes, but also harder for them to blow out. anyone who wants to try this with various aftermarket mufflers may need to mess around with thickness to get adequate friction to prevent them from blowing out. it does quiet the car considerably when they all stay in.

 

[Firsttexan]

I like the start up bark. But it's parked in a condo garage.


Active Exhaust has a start up quiet mode setting.

 

[Toretto]

Since you don't have the factory Active Exhaust, then go with an aftermarket active exhaust option, or see if any of your local muffler shops offers it. There's a shop here in Toronto who offers their own Valved Exhaust option, and when closed, sounds quieter than stock.

 

[Firsttexan]

Since you don't have the factory Active Exhaust, then go with an aftermarket active exhaust option, or see if any of your local muffler shops offers it. There's a shop here in Toronto who offers their own Valved Exhaust option, and when closed, sounds quieter than stock.

The pre-made aftermarket units designed for the Mustang are pretty pricey. Not sure what a muffler shop would come up with.

The way High performance Mustangs tend to self destruct in some owners hands, I bet the salvage yards are getting quite a few of these active exhaust systems in stock.

 

[KermiStang]

Obviously doesn't apply to active exhaust owners here

FYI thats not quite correct. On the OEM system, on cold start the valves are fully open no matter what the settings selected. They stay that way and gradually close to the operator selected setting as the cats warm up. (They add more timing and fuel during this start period to get the cats up to temp' so they start working). We don't live is an area that gets below 5 deg C so can't speak for colder/frozen snow areas, but from cold start it takes about + 30-45 seconds for the noticeable drop in noise and start higher rpm starts to drop off as the cats heat up and the computer slowly closes the valves to the operator setting. The time differences to fully closed valves (in Quiet Mode) and lower idle (hence overall start noise) varies depending on outside ambient temp and if the car was recently used, but it can go out to a couple of minutes. This may be longer in a very cold ambient temp environment.

I have Borla S-Type catback (active version using OEM actuators) and the very first cold start made me jump. It initially really barks sharply compared to OEM exhaust (ATAK would be even louder) but quiets down in the same time back as the active OEM. I start in the garage not to wake the locals.

i believe the after market systems are not hooked up to the car ECU, so are just a switch or bluetooth controlled. So if you set close they stay closed, etc.

I love the OEM active, but may try the noodles for the first few minutes after a full cold start as it warms up and the valves close fully and Idle goes to normal. Then I just skulk out in quiet mode.

 

[331GT]

FYI thats not quite correct. On the OEM system, on cold start the valves are fully open no matter what the settings selected. They stay that way and gradually close to the operator selected setting as the cats warm up. (They add more timing and fuel during this start period to get the cats up to temp' so they start working). We don't live is an area that gets below 5 deg C so can't speak for colder/frozen snow areas, but from cold start it takes about + 30-45 seconds for the noticeable drop in noise and start higher rpm starts to drop off as the cats heat up and the computer slowly closes the valves to the operator setting. The time differences to fully closed valves (in Quiet Mode) and lower idle (hence overall start noise) varies depending on outside ambient temp and if the car was recently used, but it can go out to a couple of minutes. This may be longer in a very cold ambient temp environment.

I have Borla S-Type catback (active version using OEM actuators) and the very first cold start made me jump. It initially really barks sharply compared to OEM exhaust (ATAK would be even louder) but quiets down in the same time back as the active OEM. I start in the garage not to wake the locals.

i believe the after market systems are not hooked up to the car ECU, so are just a switch or bluetooth controlled. So if you set close they stay closed, etc.

I love the OEM active, but may try the noodles for the first few minutes after a full cold start as it worms up and the valves close fully and Idle goes to normal. Then I just skulk out in quiet mode.

interesting, i did not know that. i recall reading something about being able to set active exhaust to start in quiet mode at certain times or day, or something like that, to allow you to start the vehicle quietly if it's early, late, or whenever you dont want it loud. i never read into it as much as you explained, however. i can understand the purpose of warming the cats up quickly via adding timing and fuel, but i am unsure how leaving the active exhaust valves open during this process helps.

Thanks for the clarification though and explaining that

but yea, bottom line, if the car is still louder than desired even with active exhaust/quiet mode, the noodles will still work. i paid a whopping 8 bucks for 2 of them haha.

 

[Gnatsum21]

FYI thats not quite correct. On the OEM system, on cold start the valves are fully open no matter what the settings selected. They stay that way and gradually close to the operator selected setting as the cats warm up. (They add more timing and fuel during this start period to get the cats up to temp' so they start working). We don't live is an area that gets below 5 deg C so can't speak for colder/frozen snow areas, but from cold start it takes about + 30-45 seconds for the noticeable drop in noise and start higher rpm starts to drop off as the cats heat up and the computer slowly closes the valves to the operator setting. The time differences to fully closed valves (in Quiet Mode) and lower idle (hence overall start noise) varies depending on outside ambient temp and if the car was recently used, but it can go out to a couple of minutes. This may be longer in a very cold ambient temp environment.

I have Borla S-Type catback (active version using OEM actuators) and the very first cold start made me jump. It initially really barks sharply compared to OEM exhaust (ATAK would be even louder) but quiets down in the same time back as the active OEM. I start in the garage not to wake the locals.

i believe the after market systems are not hooked up to the car ECU, so are just a switch or bluetooth controlled. So if you set close they stay closed, etc.

I love the OEM active, but may try the noodles for the first few minutes after a full cold start as it warms up and the valves close fully and Idle goes to normal. Then I just skulk out in quiet mode.

I don't have AE on my car, are you saying that even with the setting to "quiet" in the AE settings, cold starts are still pretty loud?

 

[OzMustang S550]

FYI thats not quite correct. On the OEM system, on cold start the valves are fully open no matter what the settings selected. They stay that way and gradually close to the operator selected setting as the cats warm up. (They add more timing and fuel during this start period to get the cats up to temp' so they start working). We don't live is an area that gets below 5 deg C so can't speak for colder/frozen snow areas, but from cold start it takes about + 30-45 seconds for the noticeable drop in noise and start higher rpm starts to drop off as the cats heat up and the computer slowly closes the valves to the operator setting. The time differences to fully closed valves (in Quiet Mode) and lower idle (hence overall start noise) varies depending on outside ambient temp and if the car was recently used, but it can go out to a couple of minutes. This may be longer in a very cold ambient temp environment.

I have Borla S-Type catback (active version using OEM actuators) and the very first cold start made me jump. It initially really barks sharply compared to OEM exhaust (ATAK would be even louder) but quiets down in the same time back as the active OEM. I start in the garage not to wake the locals.

i believe the after market systems are not hooked up to the car ECU, so are just a switch or bluetooth controlled. So if you set close they stay closed, etc.

I love the OEM active, but may try the noodles for the first few minutes after a full cold start as it warms up and the valves close fully and Idle goes to normal. Then I just skulk out in quiet mode.

Agree re the pronounced bark on cold starts in quiet mode. I'm also going to give the noodles a go. I've got 3 different colours I can try , I report back.

 

[KermiStang]

I don't have AE on my car, are you saying that even with the setting to "quiet" in the AE settings, cold starts are still pretty loud?

Yes. With OEM exhaust and especially without a centre muffler delete, "Loud is a relative term, but do a "coffin" delete, X or H, or a full aftermarket catback (active or not) then definitely yes. After the cats are warmed up and the valves close and start RPM drops to idle, my "Quiet mode" with Borla S-Type Active catback is about the same loudness as the OEM system in "Normal" mode. The beauty of this exhaust (and maybe others I cant vouch for) is that off the gas it is quiet, so low RPM driving out of the neighborhood is still fairly quiet. Its a different story when on the gas which is why I really like it. Each mode of the active exhaust settings even with the catback is a noticeably different volume level. I have a friend with an aftermarket active on an FM that has four levels but he says he has trouble differentiating more than two major differences in volume. That may also be the OEM active working differently as well, as in motion and acceleration/deceleration, the valves are constantly adjusting and are not just fixed in one of 4 fixed locations. This process again changes depending on what performance mode you have set, not just the exhaust mode. It's all very well integrated. We get it standard over here as well as a lot of other options. Our base cars are more like a PP1+ spec' as standard without too many other options left to pick. (No PP2 cars are offered. Just Mach1 now, but they are like rocking horse poop)

 

[KermiStang]

set active exhaust to start in quiet mode at certain times or day, or something like that,

Yes that's correct. I don't use the time of day thing. Just always start in quiet, and then change it up later when on Hwy or backroads. Someone told me the other day you can set it in the "MyMode" settings to save a few button pushes, but I've not tried that yet.

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