Ballade Sports Type S Exhaust Update (Not good)

[@haaake]

They even managed to copy the failure mechanism of the old ASM exhaust, incredible.

[@Jasserv]

Ballade strikes again

[@zaahidrahman]

😂

[@PrepaidKarma]

Well said! 😅

[@Larkc-ty5sz]

holy shit the legend is back?

[@YardmanCJ]

Remark x Zero Auto Factory EQZ is easily my favorite single exhaust. Has a Helmholtz bypass chamber letting you choose how loud you want it. No hwy drone (with the quietest setting). Even at the loudest setting, still sounds refined. About 6k miles and 3 track days, no issues yet.

[@ap2s2000]

I have the same exhaust and its great, I don't track my car though

[@joshuas787]

I've had the remark exhaust for almost a year now. I've done 6 track days and 5 autox events. It's also my daily and its holding up strong approaching 10k miles

[@kindledlight]

How much does the Remark weigh if you know by chance?

[@1fffffdd]

I can't say enough good things about my tanabe medallion touring exhaust. No real track time but it has stood up to almost 25k miles of bumpy New England roads and plenty of high rpm. In fact it took almost 5k miles to fully break in and sound perfect to my ears.

[@DS-dw6mo]

Is it the revel rebrand or the original tanabe?

[@dverdin55]

Chuck S from s2ki is that you?!

[@Nfsryder]

Average Ballade product. Thanks for being a test dummy, shame it's like this cuz the exhaust really looked promising.

[@rustler1999929]

HKS Hi Power, the one with the boiler looking can, 6 years, 2 trackways later 80 k km of road touge abuse and sill performs and sounds amazing

[@implectic]

Yep. ❤ The best

[@chachacamel]

It Drones like crazy

[@rustler1999929]

​@@chachacamelfalse information this ☝️

[@DIYGuysvideo]

People have different thresholds for what they consider drone. I have to agree the exhaust does drone though.

[@chachacamel]

@@rustler1999929 if I could send images here I would prove it to you scientifically. It drones at 100-110Hz

[@edwardwood6127]

tanabe touring medalion is best dual exhaust for s2000. 7 years on my car and well over 100,000 miles and still sounds incredible

[@soloryderrr]

I just got a s2k a year ago and after alot of parts buying and checking things out I see Ballade all the time. All of their stuff just looks like rebranded chinese knock off stuff with a big price premium. I ordered from their site one time and I am so glad I got the berk HFC instead of the balade one Edit - LOVE LOVE LOVE my Fujitsubo Legalis R exhaust - glad it came with the car!

[@JuanAntonEgo]

All this time i thought my Greddy exhaust was horrible. At lease that lasted me a couple of years. Thanks you for the update & great content once again!

[@blancA4blanc]

Couple of points to make - you only use specific multiple point of weld and not the whole circle as these two pieces might expand and contract at a different rates. A possible solution would be to use larger welds, ot even better, use rivets to hold these pieces together. Having that said - the design of having tubes inside one another without a supporting wall is always bound to fail. metal fatigue, heat cycles and contraction and expansion of the pipes will always be the failure point

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Great points

[@PeaceSTAR253]

I saw all i needed to know about them when i saw their video of upping the rev limiter to 11k on a stock motor.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Yeah that entire video was cringe lmao

[@dverdin55]

But it's Ballade Sports! They are THE Honda S2000 specialists. It must be the owner's fault for using the S2000 in a way it was intended to be used with this exhaust installed. FYI, it can NEVER be Ballade's fault

[@rustler1999929]

YEAH ! of course !!! Its never Ballades fault 🤣 even after sending me twice leaking honda oem injectors 🤣 NOPE NOT THEIR FAULT at all

[@automotiveadhdpodcast]

Appreciate your dedication following up on this with a long term update! I’ve used a 3” Berk single catback on track for 4 years with my AP1. The durability has been great and the weight is also excellent. Unfortunately it pushes the sound limit at some tracks and is AWFUL on the highway haha. Too bad the Ballade exhaust isn’t a viable option as it otherwise seems to toe the line between noise, weight, and performance.

[@jmazza774]

I can echo the praises of the Berk exhaust as well. Funnily enough switching to the Ballade header helped with the drone on the highway some.

[@shadxows]

I've been running the Greddy Supreme SP dual exhaust on my daily '06 for a few thousand miles and I absolutely love it. Very tame with a nice tone, only a bit of drone reading around 94 dB. It's not a 70mm exhaust but I highly recommend.

[@civicpride1986]

Thanks for the updates, i was considering this exhaust but knowing it will not hold up, i will not be considering it anymore..

[@stevederosa1655]

another typical Ballade product,

[@bige7186]

Yeah they suck

[@z1coMomo]

Good thing I went with a Remark exhaust instead of Ballade. They also blocked me on Instagram because I asked for advice on a weird noise coming from my driveshaft area 🥴

[@victormerino1007]

I got the Yonaka Motorsports and have tracked my AP2 for a whole year without any issues. 10+ track weekends so far.

[@kevinw.8240]

Yonaka seems to be a real good company, ive heard nothing but good things about their parts including the coilovers for the s2000. Met the owner years ago and he had an s2000

[@christopherpauley8174]

Still a fan of the good old tanabe medallion - it’s been rebranded now to something else but I have an original. I don’t track but I some regular hard driving on a consistent basis. I bought mine used with probably 20k miles on it and it’s been flawless the 3 years I’ve had it.

[@sdlausen1]

UK mod. Heavy, but OEM quality.

[@stevederosa1655]

Or buy genuine Japanese aftermarket like greddy apexi etc

[@sdlausen1]

@@stevederosa1655my Greddy exhaust also failed on my RSX-S back in the day...

[@TheTrashcanLarry]

Doing gods work here man

[@coffeemonstar2]

It’s crazy i bought one when it came out… and its still in the box. Their marketing is just….

[@LoveLikeaHurricane]

with that said...i thought about getting their Ballade mugen seat rails to go with a recaro Pole position ABE...... i wonder if it will hold up.

[@subse7enx]

Thank you for the update!

[@Kh501pr]

Is this failure repairable? Like redoing the tack welds and welding the muffler back up. Does the cost exceed buying a different muffler from like Vibrant instead?

[@symbiotic_s2k572]

Ballade sports has made a response to this video! They claim they have a new an imporved exhaust. Check out thier most recent video. 🧐

[@DIYGuysvideo]

🍿🍿🍿

[@ericmartinez7712]

I have the duals and put about 5,000 miles on them. It's still holding up with only driving around town. I guess I will keep my JR exhaust for back up then :(

[@DatNinjaGuyD]

I wonder if you can reweld everything together

[@DJJASProductions]

Too bad! What did you end up getting next? I have my eye on the Reve Touring Sl Catback (Tanabe) . Thoughts?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I had a second Ballade exhaust from my daily that I am using now but I haven’t driven much due to unrelated reasons.

[@IXthEvil]

Figures your IG story went up after I took mine to 3 track days xD

[@bwoo2828]

Are you located near the SF Bay Area? Willing to do a valve adjustment on an AP1? I've seen your videos but afraid to DIY.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Yeah! I do valve adjustments often. Best way to reach me is on IG at @diyguystv but you can also email me.

[@Udancearoundme]

mod the stock exhaust, make it into a single and increase flow by cutting baffles in the muffler. seen people attempt this but never finish it.

[@Asia_boi]

Hey mine startled to rattle as well! Especially during low RPMs too. I had bought mine second hand off Facebook. I also track my s2000. So…it only makes sense…

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Thanks for the data point 🥲

[@atb1117]

I'm on the hunt for a new exhaust after my Cleib 70mm single broke one of the hangers and tore a huge hole in the resonator after about 5 years. I've put maybe 20k miles on it, no track days, but tons of hard driving at the dragon. How is the S2k 24 years old and there's still no good exhaust solutions on the market? The Revel Medallion replica looks good, but it's only for 2000-2005 models. Has anyone tried LHT's Ti exhausts?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I would like to try the LHT exhaust but it wasn’t clear to me if it was for locals only and built to order.

[@atb1117]

@@DIYGuysvideo it seems like it is built to order, I couldn't find an exhaust for sale on their website.

[@motocracy4828]

I've always appreciated your videos, sometimes I wish there were more but I get it, life is busy at times! As far as the exhaust goes, I would reach out to either the guys at CounterSpaceGarage (CSG) or the guys at Urge Designs. I know the two guys at CSG used to track their S2Ks pretty heavily, but think they moved onto the 86/BRZ platform. I know the guys at Urge still focus on S2Ks and tracking the cars. If I hadn't already got the J's Racing 70RR from CSG (at their suggestion) then I would be looking hard at the Urge exhaust. Neither options are cheap, but what's that saying? Buy once, cry once? Seriously, I don't like to bash but I would probably never buy something from Ballade. Of if you want to be baller, take a cross country trip to LHT and get a custom titanium exhaust system from them, which they will fabricate in-house while they have your S2K. But I know that would require some deep pockets lol.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I was actually going to buy the Urge exhaust until the Ballade one came out. The one thing I’m worried about with it is passing sound at Laguna, otherwise I really respect Urge and what they do. Another exhaust I’m looking at is the MXP 70mm dual which I believe is the company that manufactures the CSG exhausts

[@datttdo]

I have the MXP exhaust. It's nice and quiet but pretty heavy (47.5lbs) @@DIYGuysvideo

[@DIYGuysvideo]

@DatttDo Wow! That is the one data point that I couldn’t find. That is almost as heavy as OEM!

[@davidmartinez-gj8ek]

Remark I love mines after the Js 70rr

[@rommelkarununganjr2067]

You should try the Remark exhaust specifally designed for our S2000. Had it on for a couple years now and no issues at all.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

60mm :/

[@Getsomepiggy]

@@DIYGuysvideoRemark is 2.5” according to their website

[@K03sport]

​@@DIYGuysvideo60mm means higher/faster gas velocity. larger volume, lower velocity...

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Gernby proved 70mm test pipe and exhaust makes more power than 60mm test pipe and exhaust back in 2011. There is probably a reason that the person that spent > 2000 hours researching and testing s2000 exhausts used a 3 inch pipe for the Urge scavenger pipe.

[@Sleetui]

I have the Ballade Sports Dual Type S Exhaust on my car. I don't track my car and haven't had a failure (yet). But it may just be a ticking time bomb tbh. Did Ballade send those new replacement mufflers for free? Also, can they be repaired/improved if brought to a shop? Maybe it's time to consider a different exhaust. Maybe something from a reputable company LOL.

[@Xynurse]

I am afraid, no. They will push you to buy their products but they don't stand behind the quality.

[@Frenchyk]

Dang I was hoping that this would of been a good product too. You considered the EVS70 SSP exhaust instead? I love mine.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Yeah I considered it. In my experience it drones and it is way too loud to pass sound at Laguna

[@Frenchyk]

@@DIYGuysvideo Oh wow.

[@shhwds6315]

Ti ballade exhaust next!

[@Teku_Guy]

Well wat about the yonaka exhaust it sounds good idk if it’s any good it’s similar in design idk what yall think? 🤔

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Looks like it would be quite loud and it drones

[@wattski]

The more I hear about Ballade and their products the more convinced I am to stay away from them.

[@jellyman113]

Only good thing is the header. I gained 10 hp switching to there’s besides that stay away

[@jacobmusha7188]

@@jellyman113 10hp that you measured back-to-back on a dyno, or are you just blindly believing Ballade's claims?

[@bige7186]

Trust me I am a victim of them and got done so dirty from them, please spread the word not only to the s2000 community but the whole Honda community and let people know to stay away from them they are very aggressive and rude and there parts absolutely are trash 🗑 no good.

[@bobleeeeee]

I appreciate these comments I was about to order coilover exhaust and a hardtop from them

[@BeJay7]

So far my evasive single exit exhaust does what i want (semi quiet then roars when im on it). Oh and now droning - EVS Tuning 70-SSP $1,045 Have no complaints so far Although i dont track my S... Yet lol

[@fokker1138]

I don't know why anyone trusts Ballade anything at this point. There's too many reports out there of the low quality in their products and shady practices. If not chasing significant weight savings, the original Tanabe Medalion Touring was a winner. I put 100k miles on one with track, autox, and street and the only thing that changed about it was it wasn't quite as quiet at idle as it was when new.

[@MastRk]

I would say that Alex is going to whack you but knowing him he'd go with a 3rd rate hitman so your probably alright.

[@jorgeizDShiznit]

I sold my Greddy Go Tuning exhaust. Shortly after my shit started rattling. I only drive my car on the weekends or track it smh..

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Damn, another data point. So many of these rattling.

[@noahp6886]

hmm i have a similar rattle in my oem exhaust. i thought it was the cat since it's stock with almost 100k miles though.

[@wrenchaholic_]

There’s a few thing to check. The bolt on the header supports bracket. Mine was missing and making a noise. Make sure there’s no pebbles above the heat shield. I found a nut behind the one above the cat. Still haven’t found what it’s for but looks oem but there’s not many nuts on Hondas. Hopefully that’ll help in some way. There was one other issue with my s2k and that was the bolt on the alternator was also loose and made a weird noise that sounded like the timing chain tensioner. Even cause pitting from paralysis on the bracket and alt.

[@noahp6886]

@@wrenchaholic_ thank you so much. I'll have to check that tomorrow.

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Broken cat will sound a bit like a tumbler with rocks. I have a video on it as a common issue with a sound clip. Might wanna check that out

[@noahp6886]

@@DIYGuysvideo thanks I didn't know that you had that vid. So my CEL never came on and it only rattles at certain rpms. So maybe it's a loose exhaust bolt considering that it started after I had the diff mounts replaced 🤔

[@AP2PERFORMANCE]

Could you measure the piping inside the muffler for me?? Thanks!

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Perforated part is 70mm and then it shrinks to 60mm

[@AP2PERFORMANCE]

So technically it’s a 60mm inside the muffler?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Yep. Appears so

[@AP2PERFORMANCE]

@@DIYGuysvideodid the original 70mm ASM have this as well?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I don’t know what exactly the issue was with the ASM 70mm single but I recall there being an issue with their resonators primarily. This doesn’t really track with Ballades excuse since I’ve only seen muffler failures.

[@rightfight100]

Guess I'll weld a greddy muffler to mine in the future :(

[@KPad87]

I got a buddy club spec 2 for sale

[@bige7186]

I got that one 😂 I LOVE IT.

[@Funrides91]

I thought Ballade Sports been a no-go for a while now?

[@Fairladyy34]

Any experience with evasive’s t1r?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I don’t but I have read that they drone, yes even the EM version.

[@Fairladyy34]

Bummer 😢 q300 is becoming too much for me and rattle is driving me crazy

[@modality14]

When made in China goes wrong..however my titanium header is 2 years 8 track days going strong

[@mikelmorgan6409]

welp i'm buying a new exhaust lol. t1r single or remark most likely

[@Austin-bi4fr]

i know you arent gonna wanna do this but can you do a guide on replacing the soft top lolol

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Maybeeee

[@Austin-bi4fr]

@@DIYGuysvideo I’ll take you out to dinner 👉🏼👈🏼

[@maxymillion7480]

Anyone tried the Cleib 70 mm yet?

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Probably loud as heck

[@Apexracingbr]

one in a million, i love ballade staff

[@StingrayFPV]

Woah, a Ballade product is total crap? How unusual 😂

[@burtonporter8437]

You can’t buy parts and expect perfection- You need to build your own boss. And then when everyone else wants it, they won’t be able to afford it lol due to the labor it takes to make things correctly. Personally- if you were happy with the product you had, but the welds failed- I’d get a real welder to fix it. But that’s just me. Can’t make parts to a price point that are going to survive track life

[@spencersgarage]

Exact same thing happens with Yonaka exhausts! Stay away from Yonaka!

[@task5147]

Should've cut them open properly so you can weld them back!? Although you can still weld them back like thatbtoo 😆

[@DIYGuysvideo]

I don’t really have any idea what I’m doing. I started with a dremel, then moved onto an angle grinder, and then said fuck it and moved to the sawzall. At least when my other one breaks I’ll know what to tell a shop when I bring it in for repair.

[@gnuts85]

Their batteries suck too. They last less than a year

[@DIYGuysvideo]

Yeah, they are straight from Alibaba. Exposing them is probably what got me banned from Ballade

[@mugen2002]

@@DIYGuysvideo Ballade got banned from S2KI, for trying to sue the forum owners about peoples bad reviews of their shop.

[@davidcrandon2329]

@@mugen2002 Oh come on....everybody knows that the "Banned" tag for anyone is just when you don't contribute to the owners of the forums sponsorship.

[@mugen2002]

@@davidcrandon2329 This info is from an admin on S2KI. I'm a 20+ year member on S2KI.

[@mugen2002]

Made In China ASM exhaust.

[@bige7186]

This is why I stopped going to ballade sports, there customer service is poor, and there parts for example tct Is poor made, I had one and it leaked 3 months in idk how they are still in business people need to wake up and realize and stop buying there products or getting service done from them.

[@yurenzhou76]

Ballade sport product is so shit that I don’t even bother to complain. Nothing they made work on my s2k, not to mention their 300 buck soft top latches.

[@andomort]

Average ballade product

[@LetContinueee]

Cheap eBay knockoffs… ballade sports is trash.

[@LetContinueee]

Ballade sport is trash lol.