truck_newbie

Been away for a while. After almost 4 years of enjoying the Gibson, I decided it was time to change things up a bit by getting a new exhaust. I listened to pretty much every exhaust available for the T1. I think one of the newcomers that wasn’t available when I purchased the Gibson is the AWE OFG. I love the sound of the AWE but for almost $2400, that’s a bit much for me to spend on the truck at this point in its life. So Borla it was. I went back and forth for a while trying to decide between the Borla Touring and S-Type. I have listened to the Touring in-person a few times. It’s about as loud as the Gibson so wanted something with more volume. I was leaning towards the S-Type but got a bit concerned as many claim it is a tad too loud, especially cold start. In the end I went with the S-Type and had it installed a few days ago. Long story short, I am both a bit relieved and slightly disappointed. Not nearly as loud as I thought it would be based on the threads here. Recently got a Camaro SS 1LE and the factory NPP exhaust on that car is loud. Maybe that has skewed my perception of loudness . I was a bit concerned the S-Type cold start might be louder than the Camaro but thankfully it’s quieter. I’m honestly slightly disappointed in the volume. It seems barely louder than the Gibson from first impressions. One major plus for the S-Type is that there is zero drone. The Gibson has a slight drone which I got used to over time. The S-Type sounds like stock exhaust when cruising, you can barely hear it. Even when you put your foot in it, you don’t hear it as much in the cabin. It’s fairly well isolated from the cabin. The Gibson is tuned for low revs and has a deeper tone compared to the S-Type. Overall, I think it was an ok upgrade. Hopefully it gets a tad louder over time. Maybe I should try the Atak harmonizer in-place of the S-Type resonator. I am going to have someone drive my truck so I can listen to it from outside. The general consensus I got from this sub was the S-Type is bonkers loud. That has not been my impression. Anyone else has a similar experience as me? Previous post on Gibson

No, it was done by the shop that painted the fog light bezels.

I haven't noticed any camera issues but i haven't really paid close attention to it. It seems to work fine, no distortion observed.

Got it painted gloss black. I was going to wrap it but the wrap experienced some shipping delays so ended up getting it painted. At the time of purchase, there weren't any aftermarket bezels available. Believe me, I already checked. If you don't need it done immediately, aftermarket bezels will probably show up at some point as they did for the grille.

They are available on Ebay from multiple sellers but i purchased mine from TopGearAuto. It ended up being the cheapest even with shipping since they don't charge tax.

Black denali grille installed with fog light bezel painted black. I wanted a black AT4 grille but there doesn't seem to be one available that supports the front camera. Anyways, i think it looks sharp. Deadpool would approve of the theme ?.

Grille Day. Install coming up.

Installed some sound deadening in the front doors and floor. No more rattles. Sounds very clean now. Great bang for buck. Recommended.

Had no idea what that was lol, had to google it. Looks interesting.

Thanks. Applying to the floors were much easier than I had imagined.

Finally got around to doing this. Installed some deadening over the weekend. Did front doors and a bit of the floors. Only left with the rear doors, will do that later. Disclaimer: I make no claims of being an expert on this. Audio engineering tends to have a lot of controversial topics so I’ll try not to step on any landmine. TL;DR -> You should do this. Best way I can describe the improvement is the sound system sounds very clean. It’s actually a little bit weird. I can really crank it up with no rattling or resonance from the doors and the bass sounds very tight and less boomy. You don’t have to do any measurements like I did, just stick away and enjoy. Keep wanting to go out for a drive it so I can listen to it?. @OnTheReel, good tip on the fabric tape, definitely made the clips tighter. Didn’t end up using the butyl tape though, the vapor shield on mine was still sticky for re-application. Summary 1. I took measurements before and after with the UMIK-1 and REW software. I didn’t do any tweaks to the system. Just wanted to see before and after performance from installing the mats. Will probably tweak and dial the system in later. 2. Frequency response didn’t show much variation pre and post install. a. I didn’t see any improvement in the mids which was a little disappointing. Nevertheless, resonance improvement won’t show up in frequency response anyways. b. Freq response results tells me my system is unbalanced and that I like a lot of bass ?. Don’t judge. I actually found that a little surprising as the kicker knob is only halfway and my settings are bass=2, mid=4, treble=4. 3. Spectrogram measurements show that post install, the bass decays faster. You can see in the pre-install that the bass has some decent magnitudes even past 600ms. Much tighter now. 4. Material is not expensive and it’s very easy to apply. a. The doors are not hard to take apart. Some of the clips are stubborn but they should come off with a little persuasion. b. I’m not sure how much improvement came from doing the floors but they are the easiest to apply. You just lift the carpet and roll it on. It definitely killed some of the Kicker sub vibrations that travel through the floor. I think it’s maybe a tad quieter now but I haven’t measured the noise SPL post install so can’t say for sure. Will measure it later. 5. Knock test didn’t disappoint and the door has a much more solid thunk to it when closing. 6. Surprisingly there is actually some factory applied sound deadening. I have highlighted it below. There is a deadening mat that goes across the top section of each of the front doors applied from factory. Who would have guessed. Install Pics I applied a bunch deadening behind the white material below. Didn't remove it, just lifted and applied.

Yep, it comes ready to apply on.

Yes they are flatter than the factory badges and better quality. The factory ones are just cheap plastic imo. They got destroyed by the heat gun when taking them off. I should probably have been more gentle.

Got these from my buddy @PabloK but I think this is the Ebay listing for them Black AT4 Badge Link. The seller (vroomvroom) also has red ones. If you wanted something cheaper, decals are now available. Not quite as sleek but they are at least options. Decal Link and picture below.

Installed black AT4 badges and removed the Sierra. I think it came out well.

14-15 mpg on the highway isn't great but it will get better over time. You can install a tonneau to improve it a little bit if you don't already have one. You can also do a test: Drive a stretch of highway at 50-55 mph to see if it improves. That speed range is the most efficient for the AT4 and most vehicles for that matter. Also, do you happen to live at a higher elevation?

USB-C is rated for 10,000 connect-disconnect cycles if your phone supports it. With that amount of cycles, if you plug it in 5x a day everyday, it will still take about 5 years for it to wear out.

You can use the heated steering wheel fuse. Works fine on mine.

That's some nice sleuthing. Thanks for sharing.

Also took me more than an hour to install. I compare the 1hr install time to the cooking and prep times listed on recipes. It will take a pro or someone who has done it before to meet those targets. Overall, i really like it considering the price. Stepping up to much more capable subs will cost a lot lot more unless you build a custom system yourself. I honestly don't want that much bass in my system, just wanted something with a little more kick to round it up. I saw a picture of the Bose subwoofer they have hidden in the center console and that thing is a joke.

Nice. Now replace the chrome AT4 badge with the black one and perhaps the exhaust tips too.

Hmm, really not for me but if you like it, that's all that matters.

Well, i don't know which reviews you read but shopchevyparts is a real site. That's where i ordered my regular kicker sub from last year.

Yeah, that is very high. Kit alone is $1k from shopchevyparts so they are charging a lot for install. Honestly, if you are willing to spend that much, you should consider going the custom route. The thread below has a lot of good info going the custom route.