Product Review: M3 World.com.au Catless X-Pipe

I picked up a stock high mileage E92M back in October to run as a track car. The weight made me question the practicality, but the great styling and V8 won me over.

The first thing the car needed was an exhaust upgrade, because the OEM exhaust note is boring unless you are at WOT.

I didn't see an off the shelf solution that I liked so I poked around m3post for a bit until I ran across a thread talking about some systems from Australia. I really liked the stuff DaveDee was building over at http://m3world.com.au/ so I reached out to him for a race set-up. Thanks to the Trans Pacific Partnership and the strong USD, I was able to get a catless 2.5" T409 stainless set-up with resonators and satin black paint shipped for a great price.

This x-pipe weight 27lbs, which is a 14lb savings over the OEM 41lb x-pipe. It's no titanium system, but my track budget went to other areas. Right now It's hard to justify the extra $1,000 to save 29.5lbs. (Akra x-pipe with cats/resonators weighs 11.5lbs, with the GT4 being even lighter!) Maybe in the future I'll switch over, who knows. For now, this is just what the doctor ordered.

The quality of the welds are top notch. Everything arrived in a very reasonable amount of time. Install was simple and used all of the existing hardware.























I ended up mating this to an Akra slip-on to save weight, so you can get an idea what this combination sounds like.

You get the raw note of the catless x-pipe and the more tame Akra combined to make this:

Great review and awesome engine note! I have the M3 World test pipes and they are great too! Been eyeing up one of their X-pipes too recently. Great quality and excellent customer service... would always buy from Dave where possible!

No love for a product review?

Thanks for the review! I'm in the market for a catless x-pipe and with my top choice being Challenge and them not making those anymore, this came useful to me. I mean seriously though, how different can all these catless x-pipes be other than the reaonators it's using??

Da1unv wrote

I mean seriously though, how different can all these catless x-pipes be other than the reaonators it's using??

Quality? Not sure though

nholmes wrote

I picked up a stock high mileage E92M back in October to run as a track car. The weight made me question the practicality, but the great styling and V8 won me over.

The first thing the car needed was an exhaust upgrade, because the OEM exhaust note is boring unless you are at WOT.

I didn't see an off the shelf solution that I liked so I poked around m3post for a bit until I ran across a thread talking about some systems from Australia. I really liked the stuff DaveDee was building over at http://m3world.com.au/ so I reached out to him for a race set-up. Thanks to the Trans Pacific Partnership and the strong USD, I was able to get a catless 2.5" T409 stainless set-up with resonators and satin black paint shipped for a great price.

This x-pipe weight 27lbs, which is a 14lb savings over the OEM 41lb x-pipe. It's no titanium system, but my track budget went to other areas. Right now It's hard to justify the extra $1,000 to save 29.5lbs. (Akra x-pipe with cats/resonators weighs 11.5lbs, with the GT4 being even lighter!) Maybe in the future I'll switch over, who knows. For now, this is just what the doctor ordered.

The quality of the welds are top notch. Everything arrived in a very reasonable amount of time. Install was simple and used all of the existing hardware.























I ended up mating this to an Akra slip-on to save weight, so you can get an idea what this combination sounds like.

You get the raw note of the catless x-pipe and the more tame Akra combined to make this:

Thanks for the great review Noah. The Akra slip on sure sounds quite agressive with your new setup. Not quite what you would expect, the Akra system is usually much more sedate, even with the evo Xpipe

Last NA wrote

Thanks for the review! I'm in the market for a catless x-pipe and with my top choice being Challenge and them not making those anymore, this came useful to me. I mean seriously though, how different can all these catless x-pipes be other than the reaonators it's using??

There are quite a few really, apart from what Noah says which is top of the list,
fitment is critical, X design and sound are others, keeping drone down Quite a few use hot dog style resonators and they are over the top loud.
Even the OE X pipe seems to rely on the OE rear nutsack to keep things quiet and the first thing that can happen with an aftermarket catback is drone between 1500 and 2100 RPM when the traditional V8 big block sound is what's wanted.

DaveDee wrote

There are quite a few really, apart from what Noah says which is top of the list,
fitment is critical, X design and sound are others, keeping drone down Quite a few use hot dog style resonators and they are over the top loud.
Even the OE X pipe seems to rely on the OE rear nutsack to keep things quiet and the first thing that can happen with an aftermarket catback is drone between 1500 and 2100 RPM when the traditional V8 big block sound is what's wanted.

Hey guys I was hoping for some input regarding this x pipe. So would you guys say this is one of the x pipes on the more tame/quiet side? I haven't heard the term hot dog resonators but they do often look like hot dogs. I'm in the market for an x pipe and am looking for one of the more tame ones. Was looking for a used dinan, possibly a borla, or an evolve or AA with HFC's, but I've recently heard some good things about this x pipe and that it's one of the more quiet ones, was hoping to get some imput. The design looks similar to stock in regards to where the x is, and the thickness of the piping, I'm hoping this is an indication of it not being too aggressive of an x pipe.
For comparison, I was considering the bimmerworld x pipe due to the attractive price, but it's def one of the louder x pipes due to the piping and how far up the x is. This m3world model appears to have the x closer to where the oem system has it, thus I'm strongly considering it.
Any input is greatly appreciated

I dont find it sound good at all, maybe its the video mic idk. But it doesn't sound good, that's weird. I wanna go catless akra as well, but with akra full system and another x pipe only. This make me think twice.

Razif wrote

I dont find it sound good at all, maybe its the video mic idk. But it doesn't sound good, that's weird. I wanna go catless akra as well, but with akra full system and another x pipe only. This make me think twice.

Honestly, the Akra is the problem. Most systems mated to an Akra sound very tame.

I wanted to try this x-pipe mated to other mufflers but never did.

Check out the videos on the official site, should give you other ideas as to what it sounds like.

Why I said its weird is because, I have full evo in my car and it sounds damn good for some reason (maybe just to me? ). I've gone to they akra website and the sound is very close to my system in real life.

Perhaps its the akra resonator? or perhaps the titanium material makes a the sound different?, hard to believe its that much different just cause of material tho...hmm..

Maybe I should leave my system as it is.

nholmes wrote

Honestly, the Akra is the problem. Most systems mated to an Akra sound very tame.

I wanted to try this x-pipe mated to other mufflers but never did.

Check out the videos on the official site, should give you other ideas as to what it sounds like.

I've never heard the akra in person, but I agree I dislike the sound on the video due to how deep it sounds, as if the exotic higher pitched aspects were not present. Would you say this deep sound is due to the akra rear? Or the m3world x pipe. It's a bit difficult to tell from videos but it seems like that's the case although I'm not sure.

Has anyone else paired this with another muffler/rear besides the akra? If so curious what setup you were running and your thoughts on the sound/volume of this x pipe.
Any input is much appreciated. Trying to convince myself I found a not too bassy sounding, "relatively tame" x pipe. Can't find much input out there on x pipes regarding volume and tone, mainly just gains :/

Zalamander wrote

I've never heard the akra in person, but I agree I dislike the sound on the video due to how deep it sounds, as if the exotic higher pitched aspects were not present. Would you say this deep sound is due to the akra rear? Or the m3world x pipe. It's a bit difficult to tell from videos but it seems like that's the case although I'm not sure.

Has anyone else paired this with another muffler/rear besides the akra? If so curious what setup you were running and your thoughts on the sound/volume of this x pipe.
Any input is much appreciated. Trying to convince myself I found a not too bassy sounding, "relatively tame" x pipe. Can't find much input out there on x pipes regarding volume and tone, mainly just gains :/

The M3 world X pipe was developed for performance and sound. Removing the primary cats increases the volume quite some but adding the custom resonators after the HFC brings the volume back somewhat. The design of the resonators was specifically to reduce volume and drone and give a unique sound. Resonators are larger than the stock resonators. There are many reviews on the local forum of the system in part or in full. Many use the stock rear system with this and it enhances tone and performance. Each combination of X pipe and rear system is unique and 2 that are really successful are the M3world valved rear and the Corsa rear. For use as a daily I'd recommend the HFC/Resonated pipe. It's not over the top cruising or with a light load but sounds aggressive when under full throttle, the end tone being controlled by the choice of rear system. The location of the X as you mentioned is the same area as OE but the X itself is a unique design which makes for greater compatibility with ECU tunes like BPM sport Stage 2.
The system also packs down to a smaller size carton which is important to keep the cost of freight lower. The X pipe comes as 2 engine pipes and the mid section which bolt together. It's now also available with highly polished ceramic coating