V12V 2012 - exhaust options

[goatherder2001]

I recently bought a V12V 2012 manual. Fuse 22 has been pulled and although I love the sound, I feel it could be better. My question is, what are my options when I have a Aston warranty for the next 2 years and keen not to void that? Thanks in advance

[yellow_tang]

If you have removed fuse 22 then you are bypassing the silencer so no point replacing that. With the valves open the only silencing is from the catalysts. As you will have two sets of cats in series, remove the secondary ones. The secondary cats are only there to mop up emissions if the primary ones degrade.

A pair of secondary cat replacement pipes. You may want to replace fuse 22 then, or make it switchable. AM ones wont void the warranty, and releases a few more bhp.

The AML ones are about £295 each, HD33-5E211-AA.

Edited by yellow_tang on Friday 28th June 11:08

[EVR]

Just so you know, on some more recent cars like mine (MY 2011V8V N420), it's fuse 15, not 22.

I drove around 1 month with the wrong fuse pulled.

Try it, it could save you quite some money.

[goatherder2001]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate this. I immediately tried the fuse removal and noticed both 15 and 22 were missing so someone covered all bases!

[Felonious]

After I collected mine, I drove straight to Bamford Rose where they replaced the secondary cats with straight-through pipes and plugged in a ccharger switchable valve, er, switch. Little remote jobby for opening and closing the valves whenever you like. And it’s fantastic.

Edited by Felonious on Saturday 29th June 11:49

[PantsFire]

The other option would be secondary sports cats, though they're more expensive they're a nice middle ground.

[goatherder2001]

Thanks. What's the difference between secondary decat and secondary sports cat asides from price? Assume the latter is more refined?

I'm coming from a Maserati QPV GTS which was ridiculously loud, too loud perhaps but it's upped my sound requirements and seeing as it's a weekend driver, I'm happy for it to be loud

[Felonious]

goatherder2001 said:

Thanks. What's the difference between secondary decat and secondary sports cat asides from price? Assume the latter is more refined?

I'm coming from a Maserati QPV GTS which was ridiculously loud, too loud perhaps but it's upped my sound requirements and seeing as it's a weekend driver, I'm happy for it to be loud

I came from a Granturismo MC Shift with an unsilenced x-pipe. The de-catted Vantage is not as loud (I think) but the noise is properly decadent. When the valves open around 3k revs, the rise in volume is an absolute joy. I certainly wouldn't consider the secondary de-cat as in any way unrefined. It can be loud, but with the valves closed and trundling round below 3k revs it seems pretty refined (certainly from in the cabin) without losing the luxurious sound of the V12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpwPat12uyQ

[goatherder2001]

Okay, sold. Thanks!

Sounds like I have to go the Aston route for the secondary decat to ensure my warranty remains

[Felonious]

goatherder2001 said:

Okay, sold. Thanks!

Sounds like I have to go the Aston route for the secondary decat to ensure my warranty remains

I didn't go down the Aston route and my car is being well looked after under its initial warranty by AM Cambridge. Aston would have trouble defending why not to honour a warranty when any 3rd party de-cat pipes are identical to the ones they sell and fit. I therefore decided not to worry about it.

[goatherder2001]

Okay, so what's the thinking re non-aston? Which would you advise on? I'm based in South west London. Cheers

[DAVIDOXE]

Had mine done at AM Bristol when it was serviced last year.
They were offering a good deal at the time around £700 all in. The sound is incredible especially the little pops on overrun.

[yellow_tang]

goatherder2001 said:

Okay, so what's the thinking re non-aston? Which would you advise on? I'm based in South west London. Cheers

They are all much the same, literally a straight bit of pipe with a flange at one end. They will all discolour and look the same after a few thousand miles! The AML ones only have a paper label with the part number on that must burn off after fitting.

[goatherder2001]

Okay, so which is the best value then?

[goatherder2001]

Been offered £650 incl VAT for Aston Martin to do this including labour. Seems like a good deal?

[goatherder2001]

So, I did it and frankly don’t notice any difference at all! Oops

[RobDown]

goatherder2001 said:

So, I did it and frankly don’t notice any difference at all! Oops

[JohnG1]

goatherder2001 said:

So, I did it and frankly don’t notice any difference at all! Oops

Er, you have a v12 vantage and removed both of the secondary catalytic converters and you don't notice any difference. Really? Should have gone to hearing savers :-)

[IanV12VSRs]

goatherder2001 said:

So, I did it and frankly don’t notice any difference at all! Oops

Difficult to believe - is your hearing ok??

[goatherder2001]

When I turned up to collect it and spoke to the service manager I said “I’m looking forward to hearing the sound difference” to which he seemed a little baffled and said “well, yeah, the extra power is the key thing”.

Will take it out again tomorrow and see, but was expecting quite a difference and really can’t hear it if I’m honest. Almost like nothing has happened!