Here's the email I just received from BUB. They sure appear to be a standup company.
George,
Thank you for your email on your BUB 7 Stealth mufflers. I want to ensure you that you have indeed found the perfect mufflers. The increased sound that you are experiencing is the result of a manufacturing issue with one of the components of the baffle. This problem was caught after the first 30 mufflers were manufactured and has been corrected. Additionally measures have been put in place to make sure this problem does not happen again. At this point only a few baffles have had issues, so this may be isolated to a handful of mufflers or systems. BUB Enterprises strives to design and manufacture products that meet the toughest quality standard which is what we would expect as a customer.
Brad Williams will contact you and we will replace your mufflers without question. Please post the contents of this email on the forums you belong to so that anyone with a similar problem is fully aware that BUB stands behind our products. The contacts are as follows: Warranty- (877)282-7473 or linnea@bub.com, Tech Support (800)934-9739 option 2 or bubtech@bub.com.
I would like to address your question about our research and development of the mufflers and give some general background on sound requirements. From reading the forums I see there is misinformation out there. The requirement to meet 80 dB(A) for sound is a US EPA federal standard which requires the use of a drive by test. You can’t say for example that driving at 50 mph down the road or while at 2500 RPM’s on a stationary test, being under 80 dB(A) you meet the federal standard. Even as one person wrote on a V twin forum, you can only use SAE J2825 as a reference to the EPA standard since this standard might “eventually be the standard by which we are judged”. BUB agrees completely that the stationary test that SAE has established makes the most sense for manufactures, consumers, and enforcement officials. As it stands now and since the 70’s, the current EPA drive by test is the standard that is to be used and this is the procedure BUB used in the development of our Stealth mufflers.
The design of our Stealth mufflers was not an easy task. The configuration is such that BUB used a mechanical baffle with multiple technologies that reduces the sound level without killing the performance. This mechanical baffle is wrapped in automotive grade muffler packing that is designed to last in sealed automotive mufflers for 100’s of thousands of miles. All of this is packaged in a high volume muffler to provide the sound level BUB must meet with a tone that is far superior to stock or anything else on the market.
As a manufacturer, BUB is required to meet an “acoustical assurance” period of 4,000 miles. All this means is that the mufflers must be under 80 dB(A) for this 4,000 mile period. To ensure we exceed this requirement BUB went to the lengths of sending a set of mufflers on a trip to Alaska for a total of 15,000 miles and then verifying the results of our previous sound tests. This test along with the many other sound tests in the development of these systems showed no discernable differences after mileage accumulation.
From the above I hope that you see BUB has done its homework on these mufflers. We have gone to great lengths to ensure our products are exceptional and meet all requirements we say they do. I should also mention that the BUB 7 Stealth FL mufflers are just the start of things to come from BUB. BUB’s R&D department is currently working on 7 Stealth mufflers for ST, Dyna, and Sportster applications. BUB is also going to package the Stealth FL mufflers with our brand new 09 FL TDX system (aka True Dual Crossover). The Stealth mufflers packaged with the TDX headers provide the most powerful product we currently have in our FL lineup and meet the EPA sound requirements.
After viewing the information you post on many forums, it is apparent that you are dedicated to the V Twin community. I hope you post this so that others can hopefully benefit from the information given here.
P.S. I have sent this same letter to the person I believe is bob2002.
Bob Infalt
Director of Research and Development
Author
Topic: BUB Stealth Mufflers (Read 30780 times)