Big Thanks to Mike at BPM

[sello]

finally got the straight pipes installed and i talke to mike on tuesday he tell me we can do the remote tune at 1pm pt im like great thats 3 hours difference.. well the idiot i am i text mike at 10am eastern time telling him im ready, he says mike its only 7am here but give me 15 min to wakeup and get a coffee and we can do it!!! great customer service!!!! well now i have a few question for the rest of u guys with test pipes... i honestly think it couldnt sound any worse!! its mettalicy (if thats even a word) but it 100% sounds god awful.. btw i am running stock mufflers. is this the reason, or will it sound much better with a new cat back system. or will that terrible sound still be present becaue the primary cats are removed. I have also read that most of u guys that did test pipes felt a pretty big difference in power, i really dont feel much if any added power at all. mike told me since i was running the latest software that i wouldnt feel much difference. I dont get it did I just spend 1400 to make my car sound like crap and to turn the cold start cycle off, maybe i was hoping for huge gains, which i really wasnt, i really thought the butt dyno would have felt like it was money well spent and sadly i think it wasnt, please any input would be great.

[roastbeef]

Catless should yield the biggest power gains short of a supercharger, but this sound is usually excessive or doesn't sound good.

[6SpdFANATIC]

I have MS test pipes with a Megan Exhaust and Mike's tune. Car sounds MEAN. It is definitely a little more raspy without the aftermarket cat back exhaust so that could be your issue. I had test pipes (primary cat removed) with stock exhaust for a week or so and still wasn't happy so I poured over these threads trying to find the best exhaust setup and I can tell you that the Megan racing catback is the cheapest, but sounds INCREDIBLE with test pipes.

Found a used one for 300 bucks and then just took it and had it powder coated black and it was as good as new!

Don't waste your cash on exhaust systems as the power gains are minimal. You will get more from Mike's tune then you'll ever see from an exhaust system. It's all sound preference and everyone's butt dyno is different.

Good luck and happy driving!

[tdott]

I felt the same way at first. Driving the car gently or doing little pulls here and there on the street, it's hard to notice a difference.

It isn't until you turn DSC off, really plant your foot into it, you'll notice how much more it comes alive (and breaks loose easier), especially in the high rpm range. The hard part is it's difficult to do this on the street as redlining 2nd and you are already breaking most speed limits. You'll also want to be careful and you'll need the skill to control it, especially with DSC off. I find with DSC on it hides alot of the rawness that helps you feel the difference in power.

Take it on a track and I'm sure you'll feel a difference. You are looking at roughly 30rwhp gain, as proven by many dyno comparisons. While not game changing, it should be noticeable.

[tjsabec]

I have AC test pipes, BPM Sport stage 2 and an Akrapovic slip on and I love the way my car sounds. Also at least 5 times this summer I have been at a stop light and some kid has asked me to "rev that shit up" So others seem to like it too

[grantmax]

This thread is confusing and severely lacking in commas. The title is misleading. Can we start again?

Test Pipes should make an appreciable difference in power. If you gutted the x-pipe while you were at it, better get an aftermarket muffler to clean up the sound.

[tony093]

U need a rear piece. I just installed my RE test pipes last weekend and the car sounds so much meaner + the bump in HP is to die for.

[gatorfast]

Give the tune a day or two to fully adapt. The more you drive the more you will notice the difference.

On the test pipes not making noticeable power, I have to agree. Drove a friends car with no cats and stage 2 tune and it didn't feel any different than my car which still has primary cats. From all of the reviews on this board I expected it to be a night and day difference.

[sello]

Thanks for the replies gentleman. I knew I would get some flack for my post not being grammatically correct. But I wrote it at like 330 am and for some reason commas and question marks weren't working on my computer at work. I think I might have to go with the Megan catback it seems cheap enough so if I don't like it I can just sell it and take a very small loss.

[sello]

On another note.. My mechanic who was installing the test pipes let his friend with a 02 m3 drive my car (not happy to say the least) guy says their is something wrong with my car cuz his car would "walk" mine. Makes me feel a little better cuz I'm sure he didn't know how to drive a high revving v8.. Btw his m3 is stock

[///M///]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

Give the tune a day or two to fully adapt. The more you drive the more you will notice the difference.

On the test pipes not making noticeable power, I have to agree. Drove a friends car with no cats and stage 2 tune and it didn't feel any different than my car which still has primary cats. From all of the reviews on this board I expected it to be a night and day difference.

Am running stage 2 tune, challenge sport x-pipe with an Akra slip on and it actually feels slower it doesn't chirp anymore on the 2-3 shift. Am debating going back to the stock section 1 and just run the stage 1 tune. I was expecting a noticeable difference but not the other way around.

[sello]

Dsm918 wow sucks man. I would assume a pretty good gain with that settup

[JD3]

Originally Posted by 6SpdFANATIC

I have MS test pipes with a Megan Exhaust and Mike's tune. Car sounds MEAN. It is definitely a little more raspy without the aftermarket cat back exhaust so that could be your issue. I had test pipes (primary cat removed) with stock exhaust for a week or so and still wasn't happy so I poured over these threads trying to find the best exhaust setup and I can tell you that the Megan racing catback is the cheapest, but sounds INCREDIBLE with test pipes.

Found a used one for 300 bucks and then just took it and had it powder coated black and it was as good as new!

Don't waste your cash on exhaust systems as the power gains are minimal. You will get more from Mike's tune then you'll ever see from an exhaust system. It's all sound preference and everyone's butt dyno is different.

Good luck and happy driving!

I have this same setup but turner pipes, sounds awesome. It's actually gotten quiter over the past year and can be very civil but scream when i want her to. I love it.

[FormulaMMM]

Didn't you listen to videos before you installed to know what you were getting?

Power increase catless + tune is/should be noticeable. Not night and day, but definitely noticeable. Seat of the pants, dyno, and real world accel data.

[GrahamDobbins]

I had a Full Borla exhaust system and had to get my ACM test pipes welded in for the tune. I think my car sounds really good with that combo. The best thing about the tune in my opinion is the DCT upgrade. Man the car is just a beast now.

[jchristianp]

+1 on test pipes with a Megan catback.

I sometimes run this setup and get complimented with some regularity on the note. For the price, you cannot even come close with any other system.

The only thing that kills me with it though is there is still some raspiness and there is a drone about 2k rpm. If you have a manual this isn't really an issue, but if you have a DCT expect to be running in manual mode most of the time to keep you out of that rpm range. The downshifts sound amazing though and at WOT it turns heads.

I tried TPs with stock (tinny) and TPs with OEM mod (awful and too loud) before picking up a Megan.

For what it's worth though, I am back to running with cats and an OEM mod catback and personally probably like it a little more(refined). I still have the stage 2 loaded which Mike said would be alright if I was running on 93 octane. I know there is a loss in power but I couldn't tell the difference. I always drive with the electronic nanny on anyways and it happily catches me going too hard regardless of mid-section. My son's daycare has commented as well that I don't wake up all the babies when I drop him off anymore as well. I'll let the babies sleep : ..............for now.

[BPMSport]

OP: do you have traction control turned off?

It takes a bit of driving and a few full throttle pulls to allow adaptation. But test pipes and tune is a very noticeable difference even coming from the latest versions of SW. I think it sounds good too, but maybe it's just me.

[m3ray]

I thought adaptation was a myth. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit

[FormulaMMM]

Originally Posted by m3ray

I thought adaptation was a myth. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit

Nope, as real as bigfoot from what I understand.

Especially when I went from catless tune back to stock exhaust and stock tune, car was a doggg for the first few pulls. I mean over and above what you'd expect from that downgrade in power. Got better the more I drove it.

[6SpdFANATIC]

Originally Posted by jchristianp

+1 on test pipes with a Megan catback.

I sometimes run this setup and get complimented with some regularity on the note. For the price, you cannot even come close with any other system.

The only thing that kills me with it though is there is still some raspiness and there is a drone about 2k rpm. If you have a manual this isn't really an issue, but if you have a DCT expect to be running in manual mode most of the time to keep you out of that rpm range. The downshifts sound amazing though and at WOT it turns heads.

I tried TPs with stock (tinny) and TPs with OEM mod (awful and too loud) before picking up a Megan.

For what it's worth though, I am back to running with cats and an OEM mod catback and personally probably like it a little more(refined). I still have the stage 2 loaded which Mike said would be alright if I was running on 93 octane. I know there is a loss in power but I couldn't tell the difference. I always drive with the electronic nanny on anyways and it happily catches me going too hard regardless of mid-section. My son's daycare has commented as well that I don't wake up all the babies when I drop him off anymore as well. I'll let the babies sleep : ..............for now.

I can vouch for the drone at 2k RPM with Megan and test pipes, but I have a manual so I virtually NEVER hit those RPMS. For the money, you won't come close to the sound from this setup with anything else. And thousands for a more aggressive exhaust note with no perf gains is crazy IMHO of course.