Evolve X-pipe - Stay Away!

[Hivand_M]

Anyone recently buy an evolve xpipe? I always heard they're all about quality and super sprint makes them etc.

I recently bought their xpipe from their site and it seems they used low quality cats? They're supposed to be 200 cell just like the oem secondary cats. When I had my oem x pipe with primaries deleted, the car did not smell once warmed up.

I searched the imprint on the evolve cats "CAT104R2" and it seems they're about $170 a cat. I've put the car up a couple times now to check for leaks and there are none.

https://martelius.com/en/200cpsi-metallic-cat-3

Anyone else going through this? I reached out to them and all they said was check for leaks.

Happy New Year!

[M3SQRD]

Have you compared old pictures of the evolve x-pipe HFCs to your version with the Martelius HFCs? High quality HFCs are worth the cost and last a lot longer than inexpensive HFCs. Greater chance of failure/plugging the x-pipe with inexpensive cats.

I run an AA x-pipe with stock main cats for emissions and an Akra with HFCs + stage 2 in between emissions testing. I’ll notice an exhaust smell at start up but once warmed up there’s no detectable exhaust odor.

[wyatth]

Check with Evolve. When I considered their X pipe, I discovered that early versions used HJS cats. They then swapped to an Australian cat that seemed to be of fine quality. Maybe they've changed again. Not much point in going this route over a V-Band test pipe solution if the HFCs are lower quality than OE secondaries.

https://motoiq.com/project-e90-m3-pa...xhaust-tips/3/

[Hivand_M]

Yes and they do look different. That is why i'm making this thread. Did their quality drop? Does supersprint not make their exhausts anymore? I don't understand why they would put cheap cats.. my car smells like it's catless with this x pipe.

[nah dude]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

I don't understand why they would put cheap cats.

Because profit margins. During covid everyone got used to paying insane prices for catted aftermarket exhaust products. I remember seeing people selling used OEM X pipes for 1500-2000 for a while. So they're able to keep this high price while introducing a low cost low quality cat like this one and most people aren't going to notice or complain.

[Hivand_M]

Originally Posted by nah dude

Because profit margins. During covid everyone got used to paying insane prices for catted aftermarket exhaust products. I remember seeing people selling used OEM X pipes for 1500-2000 for a while. So they're able to keep this high price while introducing a low cost low quality cat like this one and most people aren't going to notice or complain.

That makes sense and it’s a big time bummer. Paying that much money to a company known for quality and you end up getting a trash product. This piece is useless to me now as it smells like it’s fully catless.

I guess let this be a lesson to whoever is in the market for this x pipe.

[nah dude]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

That makes sense and it’s a big time bummer. Paying that much money to a company known for quality and you end up getting a trash product. This piece is useless to me now as it smells like it’s fully catless.

I guess let this be a lesson to whoever is in the market for this x pipe.

Yep, and this is just encouraging people to buy alibaba alternatives for a quarter of the price because the quality is just as good, if not better in some cases.

Another great example is the AA equal length mid pipe for the X3M. People waited for it for years and they finally released it. It's a non resonated non catted bent pipe and they want 2200 dollars for it. It's way more expensive than their other EL mid pipes for the other S58 platform vehicles. There's an alibaba company that sells an identical product for 500 dollars. Why would anyone buy the AA product?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

That makes sense and it’s a big time bummer. Paying that much money to a company known for quality and you end up getting a trash product. This piece is useless to me now as it smells like it’s fully catless.

I guess let this be a lesson to whoever is in the market for this x pipe.

Sorry man. It might be cheaper to buy HJS or GESI cats and have them welded in vs. selling this one and finding one that already has high quality HFCs. The challenge/RKP street version was a solid x-pipe but IND stopped selling them and now only offer the MS catless x-pipe. The BW forward x-pipe is probably the best currently available except they will only sell it to dedicated track/race cars without a street registration. Damn EPA. Purchasing the BW x-pipe and adding HFCs results in one of the best x-pipe setups. I believe there’s one for sale in VA right now.

[Hivand_M]

[wyatth]

Well they're beating around the bush there.

FWIW the iND/Challenge Sport midpipe used some cheap HFCs too. I think the Bimmerworld X pipe offered a GESI HFC, but only on the pipe made for their headers. Shame we don't have any high quality HFC midpipe options.

[DanMpower]

Originally Posted by wyatth

Well they're beating around the bush there.

FWIW the iND/Challenge Sport midpipe used some cheap HFCs too. I think the Bimmerworld X pipe offered a GESI HFC, but only on the pipe made for their headers. Shame we don't have any high quality HFC midpipe options.

Yup, I think the iND/Challenge X-pipe uses $100 Magnaflow cats.

I had an early version Evolve X-Pipe and it was probably the best X-Pipe I ever had. Kinda regret getting rid of it, it had next to zero smell and the power gains were insane. It felt better than some of my fully catless setups.

It's sad to see they have to resort to using cheaper components to keep their products competitive price-wise and sustainable.

I think my next X-Pipe will be a custom one and I'm going to ball out on some HJS cats.

[Hivand_M]

How much was the ind x pipe though? These guys just put the evolve one on sale however before that it was almost $3k. I mean how much profit do you lose if you spend less than half of that on good quality cats and continue having a good reputation.

[S65Hunter]

I've been running the evolve x pipe for a few months now. It was purchased by the PO of my car, it was just never installed until I purchased the car. I've no 0 issues, I mean yeah there's SOME smell but you know... you are deleting the primary cats after all.

[Hivand_M]

Originally Posted by AlpineE93

I've been running the evolve x pipe for a few months now. It was purchased by the PO of my car, it was just never installed until I purchased the car. I've no 0 issues, I mean yeah there's SOME smell but you know... you are deleting the primary cats after all.

Do you have a picture of your unit? I was running the oem x pipe with primaries deleted which had some smell. I definitely have no problem with some smell. My unit smells worse than the 100 cell cats akra uses.

[S65Hunter]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

Do you have a picture of your unit? I was running the oem x pipe with primaries deleted which had some smell. I definitely have no problem with some smell. My unit smells worse than the 100 cell cats akra uses.

This is the only picture I have. On start up, there's a decently strong smell. But after a couple minutes I can only barley smell anything.

[Hivand_M]

Originally Posted by AlpineE93

This is the only picture I have. On start up, there's a decently strong smell. But after a couple minutes I can only barley smell anything.

Thank you for sharing. Those cats vs what I posted look beefier to me? Not sure..

[S65Hunter]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

Thank you for sharing. Those cats vs what I posted look beefier to me? Not sure..

Yeah, I think they are different.

[e46e92love]

Here is a shocker, shady / cheap ass vendors in the car aftermarket world. It’s amazing to me the abuse these forums hand out to BMW and OEM part pricing but then shell out all this money for complete garbage from all these BS tuners / aftermarket players.

Cracks me up….

e46e92

[vitalsigns]

Originally Posted by e46e92love

Here is a shocker, shady / cheap as vendors in the car aftermarket world. It’s amazing to me the abuse these forums hand out to BMW and OEM part pricing but then shell out all this money for complete garbage from all these BS tuners / aftermarket players.

Cracks me up….

e46e92

But that's not Evolve's reputation, which is why it's a genuine shocker, as it would be with Dinan or other reputable after market vendors.

[Hivand_M]

Originally Posted by vitalsigns

But that's not Evolve's reputation, which is why it's a genuine shocker, as it would be with Dinan or other reputable after market vendors.

This. If it was some Alibaba group buy then that’s on the consumer but Evolve has years of good rep and tons of positive forum member reviews.

[GeorgeA]

That is messed up - Evolve Automotive should step up and correct this situation.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Hivand_M

Thank you for sharing. Those cats vs what I posted look beefier to me? Not sure..

The pic of this version of the Evolve x-pipe looks like it’s using HJS HFCs - looks like the cats used on my old AA x-pipe with HJS HFCs.