looking for perfect exhaust

[M3.Rene]

This is my first post . First mod I did on my M3 was a muffler delete and I loved how the way it sounded. It had a deep and heavy tone, which I loved. Saved some money and I was ready to modify my car. I decided to go with Gintani's catless x-pipe + their burble tune. Keep in mind I had a muffler delete, so catless x-pipe + muffler delete sounded EXTREMELY LOUD. I would speed up and my car sounded like a NASCAR car. It also had a raspy tone around 2k-3k rpms and I did not like the way it sounded. I loved the way it idled, it was a beast. Only downside was how loud it was. Since I daily my M3, I decided to weld back my OEM exhaust. Now it's too quiet and it has this raspy and high pitch tone to it, makes it sound cheap in a way. I don't know if it takes time for the x-pipe to settle in? (drove it for 100 miles now). I'm in the market for an exhaust that'll make my car have a deep and heavy tone again like I had with the muffler delete. I don't want it extremely loud, just the right amount of loud if that makes sense? I've been looking at the forums and youtube videos for the past couple of days and I've picked the Meisterschaft, Gintani, or Eisenmann exhausts. I was just thinking of purchasing the Gintani rear section so I can have a full exhaust system but when I heard the eisenmann exhaust it had a heavy tone that reminded me of the muffler delete setup, which I was looking for. Only problem is that I don't know what brand to choose and whether to choose their sport/race versions. I've seen plenty of comparison videos of the 3 exhausts and some videos make them sound with a heavy tone whereas other videos make them have a raspy tone (maybe because of camera quality). What exhaust do you guys I should get? Would like to hear from people with my similar setup, catless x-pipe with whatever exhausts you guys have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=587IRXptpWQ

My initial setup that I had, just muffler delete. I loved it so much because of the heavy tone it had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vCTUmZ7-l0

When I went to gintani to install the xpipe, RIP my ears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKAZunzc1s

This is the setup I'm currently running, gintani catless x-pipe with OEM exhaust, as you can tell it sounds high pitch and raspy which I do not like at all.

[jeff@autocouture]

Borla mid-pipe (quad resonated)
Akra slip on

Glorious

[dparm]

Originally Posted by M3.Rene

What exhaust do you guys I should get?

My advice would be to attend some local M3 meetups and hear things in person. Ask some guys to rev it for you, ride along, whatever it takes.

Otherwise, you will get a thread full of "buy X exhaust because it's cool" or YouTube clips that never accurately capture the sound due to the various microphone and camera differences.

In general, if you don't like raspy and tinny sounds, get something with cats and resonators/middle mufflers; the whole point of resonators is to smooth out annoying resonances and absorb some of the rasp. Anything marketed as "race" will be loud and annoying, as you learned.

[Patrón]

On a scale of 1-10

I had...

stock (horrible) 2.1
exhaust mod (drone/horrible) 1.9
megan style w stock cats/xpipe (good sound) 6.8
megan style w resonated xpipe catless (euphoric sound/drone) 7.9
dinan with resonated xpipe (subtle with little drone) 8.1

my friend has the same xpipe with a megan and it sounds incredible on the outside and probably my favorite set up i've heard. BUT the drone is obscene on the inside.

all of the above including my friends car are with a supercharger.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by jeff@autocouture

Borla mid-pipe (quad resonated)
Akra slip on

Glorious

Is the Borla mid section an X-pipe or straight through?

[Bl0ck]

If you mess with the xpipe it's going to have some rasp to it. I have an evolve xpipe with a meisterschaft gt and it's loud lol.
https://instagram.com/p/Bb724AVBC7y/

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by Block23232

If you mess with the xpipe it's going to have some rasp to it. I have an evolve xpipe with a meisterschaft gt and it's loud lol.

You have the Evolve with the resonated & CATed X-pipe?
Do you know what the cell count is on the CATs (100, 200, 300)

I'm seriously considering the Evolve because I would like to lose the smell from an uncatted system, but still want hi-flow CATs that aren't too restrictive.

....still waiting on a response from Evolve.

[Bl0ck]

I believe it's a 200 cell resonated.

[nycplumber]

Ipe Valvetronic all day. When I see old men running to get my attention I used to assume it's to complain about my driving. They're actually complementing my exhaust

[InspireSiR]

https://youtu.be/9-TiW2i2c68

[M3.Rene]

Originally Posted by InspireSiR

https://youtu.be/9-TiW2i2c68

what exhaust is that

[InspireSiR]

It's a custom exhaust shop setup. I loved the way this car sounded. Deep, smooth and low rumble. I knew I wanted the same sound for my car.

I believe if you want the same type of tone, you should NOT remove the primary catalysts. Every E9x car I've heard with test pipes is raspy if paired with a louder race level exhaust. If you get a sport level exhaust you could probably get away with running test pipes.

As for me, I don't race so the tradeoff for 30 extra hp (or whatever it is) to the downgraded sound was not worth it to me. So I kept the primary cats and removed the secondary cats and resonators instead and paired that with this custom exhaust shop muffler.

Compare the previous link to this one here and you'll know the difference that I'm talking about:

[111turbo]

MPE and catless xpipe w resonators. 😎

[6ixSpd]

There is no such thing as a perfect exhaust, this is such a hugely subjective matter. Check out some clips, learn how changes in the mid pipe affects the sound, learn about how different types of mufflers for these cars affect sound, then make your decision. There are literally hundreds of videos out there, and tens upon tens of threads on this topic.

[jeff@autocouture]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Is the Borla mid section an X-pipe or straight through?

Borla xpipe is from the headers to the rear section, includes two resonators and has the primary cat delete built in.

[SYT_Shadow]

I"m pretty happy with my setup:

ESS HFX Xpipe (comes with 2 cats and 2 resonators)
+
Evolve Valvetronic catback on 'open'

It's loud, not very raspy, has zero drone outside of 2000rpm.


Xpipes with HFC and resonators seem to not have drone anywhere around 3000rpm which you actually drive at.

Loud mufflers (or no muffler) with the stock xpipe drones like hell around 3000rpm although it still isn't a loud exhaust

[eatsleepboost]

^ ESS is redesigning their xpipe so the old pipe is no longer available. I am told the new catless pipe with be available in a few weeks. The new hfc x pipe will be a few weeks after that. Curious to see what the change is. I may pic up the HFC option when ready.

[M3ANMACHINE]

Here's my setup. Corsa + Test Pipes