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      05-18-2009, 09:30 PM   #1
frankzlin79
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Drives: 2018 M3
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Houston, Texas

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Active Autowerke Signature Exhaust - E92 M3 - Review with Pictures (Update w/ Videos)

After weeks of researching on this forum and watching all the YouTube video clips of Remus Sport, UUC Corsa, Eisenmann Sport, Riss Racing, and Active Autowerke Signature, I finally made a decision and went with AA Signature. Omar gave me a good deal and extremely fast shipping. I ordered from Omar on a Thursday evening around 6 pm Florida time, and I received the 64 lbs. package on Tuesday around 7 pm in Texas.

The package comes shrink wrapped in two pieces: (R - Driver Side) and (L - Passenger Side)


Another picture of the (R) and (L) sides.


The left, right, and center bracket, still bubble wrapped. Not pictured is a CD-ROM containing a Word and PDF of the instructions. The PDF can also be downloaded from Active's website.


Oh no! Looks like a dent in my new exhaust. I e-mailed Omar and he assured me that this is normal. This is actually a crease purposely made into the exhaust by Active because of a clearance issue. I can confirm that the crease is normal because I saw another member who was selling his AA and it had the same crease in the same area. When I watched the installation of my exhaust, I noticed plenty of room for the exhaust in that area. In other words, for my car, a crease in the piping was not necessary. Oh well.


Passenger side muffler with tips attached.


Passenger side muffler with tips detached.


Another shot of the tips. Notice the adjustment screws.


Installed Rear View.


Installed Side View. I adjusted the tips so that they were near flush with the bumper, similar to the stock setup. However, you gotta extend the tips out just a couple of millimeters to show off that Active Autowerke logo etched on the top of the tips.


Installed Top View.


Installed Rear View 2.


3/4 View. **********s.com clear reflectors.


Front View - **********s.com matte black kidney grills.


Side View - **********s.com matte black fender grill.


Installation:
The AA Signature was installed in Houston, TX by ///M Power at Richmond and Dunvale. The shop did not need to read the installation instructions. He just eyed up the stock exhaust and the AA exhaust and knew what to do. Pretty impressive considering this was his first 2008+ M3, but defintely not the first M car he's worked on. The install did have one hiccup. The AA bracket has a slot where you tighten a nut to get the muffler to hang at the correct height. For my car, even at the highest adjustment setting, the muffler was still about 1" lower than the passenger side. So my shop unbolted the AA bracket (left the muffler still hanging onto the mid-section pipe and hanger) and took a grinder and expanded the length of the slot on the bracket. He bolted the AA bracket back to the car and was able to increase the height of the driver-side muffler. Now both mufflers appear to be at equal height, however, my the NCC of the driver side is higher than the NCC of the passenger side (see pic).

Review:
When the car was first started, I was thinking, "whoaa..this is about 2x louder than I thought it would sound!" I was looking for an exhaust that was only slightly louder than stock. This thing is waaaay louder than stock at idle. I don't have a sound pressure meter with me (but will soon), but it is unmistakably louder than stock.

When I began driving, I noticed that the interior noise was very loud. Loud enough to be annoying to rear seat passengers. I thought that AA advertises this thing to be one of the quietest exhausts on the market? (This is partly true at high rpms...more on this later). At 3000 rpms or less, the exhaust is extremely loud. People next to me at stop lights definitely know there is an after-market exhaust on the car. As you accelerate and increase rpms, the loudness becomes less pronounced. At about 60-80 mph (>3000 rpms), the exhaust miraculously becomes barely noticeable. You can hear the smooth hum of the exhaust, but it is only slightly louder than stock at these high speds and high rpms.

When you floor the car, the exhaust is not that loud either, but sounds like a deeper F1 tone. Very nice.

When you begin to slow down for a stop sign, the loudness returns. At these lower speeds, I have to increase the volume of my bluetooth for the speaker phone and my stereo a couple of notches to hear.

My overall thoughts is that it is a very nice system. The tone is very smooth, mellow, and has a warm and deep hum. I personally think that it is a little on the loud side at the lower rpms and speeds. (it is loud enough to easily set off car alarms in a parking garage) The people at the shop all grinned and said it was the perfect sound and perfect volume. In terms of performance, I feel the car is much more responsive. Not quite the feeling of having the Power button on, but probably half of that effect. Despite my personal opinion that the exhaust is too loud at low speeds, I am still very happy with my purchase. I'm starting to get use to the sound now and enjoy it. Hopefully after a couple of hundred more miles, the exhaust will quiet down.

I'll try to post videos if I can figure out how to do that.

UPDATE: Videos are up on post # 28 and 29.

Last edited by frankzlin79; 07-30-2009 at 12:48 AM..
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