Glad to see you guys doing frontiers. In my opinion they’re just as good as any other truck and last just as long. People need to start giving these trucks a try, specially the 2022 and up models great trucks !
I am very impressed how the 2wd Frontier drives and handles on asphalt. I am sure it is exceptional off-road. It is a solid mid-size truck. Also the body lines are simple. I prefer the Frontier rather than the over priced and tacky Tacoma.
I would have been interested in seeing the aFE cat back exhaust. I really appreciate these tests because I own a 2019 Frontier SV 4x4 and there is not a lot of information out on RU-vid about aftermarket parts. Thank you Z1 off-road. 👍
@@traviswh it did it day one out of box been on since a few days before I posted...I have added 3 resonators to get rid of drone and it's still there. Worst decision.
I've chosen the Banks Power Monster Exhaust for my 2017 Pro4X 4.0L V6 (VQ-40) 6 Speed Manual transmission. I'm not after the good quality sounds of exhaust but I'm after the Torque and HP that the parts can give to my truck. My truck gained almost the same Torque and Power on his Dyno Result. I also have Volant Cold Air Intake in there and replaced my BullyDog GT with Pedal Commander. Nice goodies
Not even on purpose I was looking at the Nismo Exhaust through Google and clicked the first link that wasn't an add. Then turned on RU-vid to look at the Exhaust get an idea of what it looked like and sounded like. Finished the video then realized I was on y'alls website... I think it was meant to be. Will be ordering from y'all once I get the funds. lol
I went with a dynomax ultra flo cat back 2.5 inch system. It was too loud and droney for my taste, so I swapped the ultra flo muffler out for the dynomax super turbo, and it actually sounds great. Cut way down on the drone, almost none. And it still has a good deep growl, just slightly louder than stock. I’m very happy with it.
@@alansoriano9160 yes very dronny at 30+ mph sounds good but it makes lot noise in cabin when driving. You need to install sound deadener or another resonator
Purchased MBRP. Super easy to install and enjoy the feel. The drone is real but rather have performance over quiet. Only when at certain rpm and it goes away so not constant. I enjoy it for 2023 Frontier PRo 4x. Almost purchased new NISMO so this review came in handy.
Spent a ton of time researching exhausts and landed on the Borla kit. The factory Y being retained definitely doesn't allow for as high of flow but super happy with the sound.
I had the Magnaflow on my old Xterra. Fit like a glove. Crazy that you had to chop it up. Really interested in the AFE. Hope y’all can get one and test it. I like the high tuck.
@@tdabney0242 banks powers drones alittle more I would think but I never ran one I also the nismo fitment is better and finish is alittle better I'm not sure if banks is 409 or 304 stainless..
The Borla would likely be my choice because there's no highway drone but it sounds great on throttle and add a tiny bit of power. Although it could be a bit louder under acceleration. The Nismo would likely be my 2nd choice, even tho it saps a bit of power, because it sounds nice on throttle without any highway drone. The MBRP sounds and performs the best and I would consider it, but the drone would likely be too much for me.
Agreed. I have the Nismo cold air intake on my Pro-4x and I am thinking about the Nismo exhaust. Looks good and sounds good. Would like to see them paired up.
You should replaced the "Y" connector first and dyno it to see the comparison between completely stock and just the Y replaced. Then start with the aftermarket ones. And for next episodes, a test with the Intake manifold spacer with stock air filter, Y replaced stock Exhaust. And from there
I’ve been running flowmasters on my 07 since 2013. I like the way it sounds but does drone while cruising but it’s a deeper sound. I’ve also been running K&N CAI since about 2010.
It is interesting that none of these exhaust pop like mine does. My '11 4.0 manual with factory muffler would softly pop a little if I revved it to around 2k rpms and let off or when downshifting. I was going to get a Magnaflow but the small town shop I went to suggested some no name turbo style muffler. It now sounds good, a little like the Borla, and the popping is more pronounced. It's not annoying like a riced up car and mostly only does it when I want it to.
I bought the mbrp some time back and havent put it on bc I want to get dyno numbers before and after to make sure about gains but am glad it's a good option.
The Banks is the way to go. It’s been on my truck since 2010 on a lwb with a 6spd manual. The sound does change slightly after a few runs but in all coupled with a good cool air intake it does sound REALLY good..
Great video dyno comparison. Nismo results were a bit disappointing. I have the Banks but luckily mine was straight forward but I did have the extended cab and not the crew. Other than the numbers, the stock exhaust sounded really good
Great comparison. I have a Nismo, however, I had the exhaust modified by a performance shop. We put 2" on the passenger side and stayed with the 1.75 on the driver side. Figured the passenger side would act like an "expansion chamber" to give a little less back pressure on the far side of the run. Also, we cut out the Nismo Y because they FREAKING CRIMP THE ENDS IN HALF! Take a light and look down those pipes. It is sheer madness! Idea is that opening up the Y, plus having the straight through driver side pipe at a little more velocity (1.75 vs 2) would help to "pull" a little of the passenger side expansion chamber gasses through. You can DEFINTELY feel it with the butt dyno but we never tested it. Overall, there is a really, really clear difference from the stock Nismo. I still can NOT believe the Y on the Nismo pipes crimp them down to 1/2. Pure stupidity in my opinion.
Awesome video! I would like to know how the new 2020 Engine would sound with the same test. The difference in power when I added an exhaust system to my Toyota Tundra was awesome. Not so crazy about the six cylinder sound but love the power add to the wheels. Thanks for the video, good stuff👍
I’m guessing the Gibson actually had too much restriction, so I’m guessing Nissan owners might want to skip the resonator with that particular exhaust system I don’t know how much exhaust flow improvement that would do and hopefully he’s using Royal purple HPS 5W-30 in his truck and their transmission fluid and rear axle fluid with all the heart accelerations during the tests so he gets maximum protection and obviously their fuel system treatment wouldn’t hurt either
Would it be safe to assume that the cold air intake test & this test would be close to the same results on the Titan 5.6? I was thinking about putting both on my Platinum Reserve.
I had the mbrp catback on my ‘12 pro 4x CCSB. After a while the coring does brake down & drones a lot! The aluminized tubing & case will break down in less than 5 years. So much so that it leaked & melted the wiring harness that’s directly above it. Idk why Nissan thought it would be a good idea to run wires there.
What is the frontiers normal exhaust size?? I know they say if you increase the exhaust diameter high end will go up but low end will go down a little ..with these 9 speeds now your usually in the low range .my question is if you keep the exhaust oem size till past cats and increase it after the cats will it still have effect on losing low end torque ?
Good video. Just installed the walker dynomax. Sounds friggin nasty. Makes me love my manual even more. It cracks and sounds beautiful while slowing down. No idea if it makes more power. Our hp too low to ever notice mods.
Can you guys do a shoot out for the options that are available $or the 3.8 frontiers please? And maybe fab some of those set ups to it as well? I've seen a guy on here that fabricated the 4.0 mbrp system to the D41, sounds good but the recording is a bit close to the camera
i watched this video and the one comparing cold air intakes. I had a cat back exhaust installed on my 2019 Frontier by Lou's Custom Exhaust (a New England chain), and put a Volant CAI on myself. Pretty happy with the results, sounds awesome and runs very well. Question: is there any need to have the tune updated based on these mods?
Mark, sorry about the late response. Generally if the manifolds and cats are still stock you should be okay with that combo. In our continued testing after this shootout the intakes that have a varied (funnel shaped) pipe like the aFe Momentum line or Holley intech appear to be close, and some instances over the safe limit of running "lean" when paired with free flowing exhaust. Stock sized intake piping seems to be a little safer. If you still have cats and a stock sized pipe intake you're probably okay, if doing more upgrades or pairing with one of the mentioned styles we would recommend a tune for sure. Of course you will always benefit from a tune (even on stock parts), but we wouldn't say "required" in all instances.
Hello, love the video! Thanks for doing this. I noticed that 2 of the 3 (magnaflow and banks) are all listed for pre 2017 model test truck. Im not saying thats a huge culprit, but might have something to do with not fitting right out of the box. The Gibson has several models listed on your site, is it possible that the model installed wasn’t compatible? Not trying to be a troll or anything, just something I noticed that wasn’t pointed out. Love the frontier build, subscribed for more of that for sure. Thanks again!
Thanks for the support. Most do list list up to 2019 and 3 of these aftermarket systems fit perfectly, the exhaust really doesn't change till you get to the new 3.8L. The issue with the magnaflow was the error where the intended slip fit at the back of the muffler was wrong. Both the muffler exit and the tail section were the exact same size. One needed to be larger than the other to utilize a slip fit and thus the crush clamp they provided, if you received this as a customer we would expect a call and to schedule a return on the product. We believe this is likely just a production error as the hanger appeared to be further off than we would have expected too on the magnaflow. Hopefully it's an isolated incident and would love to hear from others about their successes or challenges with it. On a positive note the Magnaflow did prove to perform well not only on the dyno but allegedly... allegedly, tail lights could have been show to a titan in a heads up test... allegedly. ;) The Banks power fit perfectly until we got to the last section, in all honesty we think their exhaust could use a small update here at which point they become the obvious top contender.
@@z1off-road thank you for the reply, I understand the truck shares many of the same parts through the long model run of almost 15 years. I am 2 months into owning my frontier, I already have a wishlist saved on your site I hope to be checking off as funds become available. Thanks again for the great video and dyno proven results, even though tuned and stock ecu can have different outcomes its nice to see what the possibilities are.
@@z1off-road For what it's worth, I recently helped a friend install a Magnaflow catback on his E30 sedan. I'd recommended them because I've run a few of their exhausts on various cars, and have installed for other friends over the years and had no issues. His exhaust fit poorly (flange angles were off, bend angles were off), and we ended up having to modify pretty substantially to get it to fit. Part numbers were verified in triplicate to make sure we didn't order or receive the wrong part. Perhaps they're slipping a bit on their QC these days.
Personally like the sound of my wifes Pro 4X stock. If it ain't broke don't fix it. HP are hit and miss on many bolt ons. You need more power? Throw in the 5.6 V8 from a Titan 😎.
What do you think about the new Nissans with the dual exhaust? What do you think about putting one of those on a Nissan Xterra run duel converters And then just at the end put a white pipe in to the stock exhaust. Yeah I know I know and then the next one to the exact same way and then cut open a stack muffler and put two inlets on it. And then do what you know how to do take it out check it for the dB and then put it on the Dino if you can do something like that for us guys.
What timing! I was looking for an exhaust for my King Cab, initially was drawn towards the Nismo exhaust and I think this vid sold me. I'm not looking for crazy sounds or crazy power gain, just nice quality and a little more tone. What do you guys do with all the exhausts? Will you sell as open box for the bolt-ons, or willing to sell?
We posted most of these up for sale on the site after the test in our clearance section. We update this every week so if you're a deal hunter definitely worth checking out from time to time www.z1offroad.com/clearance-c-83165.html
Would be great info except nobody actually makes an exhaust for my 4.0L powered R51 Pathfinder. Actually gets to 60 mph in about 6.1-6.2s with factory manifolds, cats and exhaust. JBA cat forward headers going on next.
the only one i can find for a 4.0 pathy is the gibson catback. other than that i think no one actually makes one. i had the same issue and right now my stock one is leaking so im prob gonna go gibson.
The Gibson on both my older Nissans are directional louvers the systems fit perfect and I still love the sound when matched with my 3.0 and upgraded 3.3. I did not see muffler direction mentioned in the video but that could be a contributing factor to power loss if it was backwards... Or it could all together be a different design than the ones I have. Too bad it didn't work out for the 4.0 in the vid :(
I'll allso add that since posting this I bought a Gibson cat back for my pickup and the design was different from the (discontinued) ones on my pathfinder, it actually plugged up with soot and I had to remove it. (Diesel tuning)
Peak vs Max reported. We examined each graph and noted results for each, it's not what you see annotated on the graph because that just references the "Peak'#'s" for each run, often the max change occurs at different point on the graph.
It is intended to be, we have had mixed feedback to date from other users. Some are getting bolt on solutions and others are giving us feedback slight tweaks have been needed. Seems like anyone with an extended shackle is also having to cut or modify for install.
We have a variety of options for those who want to purchase a muffler and not a full system, but the results of a muffler with matching muffler tube will have slightly different results on sound and performance. www.z1offroad.com/exhaust/muffler-c-6_19_83732.html
Not to our knowledge, when we called in to speak with their tech it seemed like they may have been familiar with the shackle fitment issue. Great news is the Z1 does clear the shackle, makes all the power and sounds great.
Good video! Not too many of em out there cause no one really modifies their Frontier. Anyways, back in August I bought a 21' white midnight edition and am looking to lower it, make it sound good with a deep tone to it and open up the cold air intake induction. It's kinda hard to tell which exhaust sounds deeper and better so if anyone has any recommendations then please let me know, I'd appreciate it
The whole video was great and informative, was disappointed by nismo cause I really thought the results would be good you know. But anyways MBRP sounds like a bad mf.. how about a video with the best exhaust setup(MBRP) and air intake setup(volant).
