Dude I was in your exact same shoes about a month ago...What I did was went to a muffler shop,got a 2.25 inch piping from the cat going to a round resonator going to a flowmaster muffler (40 series???cant remember) but it sounds like the Apexi not loud but DEEP...PM me & I can probably make you a sound clip of it...I thought I was going to regret it, but IMO sounds and performs just as good if not better than any other exhaust I've ever heard & no rice tip...

-Dean