[Beaner]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums here, and as you can likely see, this is my first post. I apologize if I have placed this in the wrong section on the forum. However, I'm excited to learn more about BMW cars from everybody here in the community, and I want to share a bit about my experience with the modifications done to my vehicle (2022 G42 M240i xDrive).

I have the first Valvetronic Designs M240i G42 exhaust and figured a lot of folks would be interested in my take on this exhaust system, as I have received a lot of questions about this exhaust in person. Hopefully, this helps reveal some information about this exhaust for others interested in a Valvetronic exhaust. To be clear, I purchased and paid the full price of this exhaust system and want to provide true feedback to help others with their purchasing decision.

Fortunately for everybody interested, this exhaust is awesome. This exhaust sounds amazing when the valves are open or closed. When driving in Sport+ with the valves open, it gets pretty loud and rowdy in the mid to high RPM ranges. My favorite thing about this exhaust is how it lets all of the sounds shine through on a spirited drive while being relatively tame during low rpm driving. There is an incredible overrun sound, the turbo is clearly heard through the exhaust, and all buzzy sounds in the exhaust and cabin are completely gone. There is no drone whatsoever, and the crackles, burbles, and bangs are noticeably more pronounced.

In my opinion, the exhaust adds a more aggressive look that this car desperately needs. The valves can be opened or closed at any point, and while closed, the sound decreases to near stock levels. However, regardless of the valves being closed, the cold start is noticeably louder. Leaving the valves open for a cold start allows a viciously loud cold start that will annoy all of your neighbors. Overall, I could not be happier; in my opinion, my car is now one of the best-sounding M240is and one of the best-sounding cars I've ever heard. I've also received many compliments from people saying it is one of the best sounding exhausts they've ever heard.

My car was the one that was used for sound clips in the official Valvetronic Design videos, and as good as it sounds in those videos, it sounds even better in person. I am beginning to see there are more exhaust options hitting the market now, and there are now other options for less money, but from the entire experience; the ordering process, presentation of the system, ease of installation, fit/finish of the system, and how well it performs, this exhaust is everything I could have asked for. It is truly a top-notch exhaust system that really lets the B58 shine. Could I have sacrificed and gotten the cheaper system? Possibly, but I believe my money was well spent as I bought this car to reward myself. I was told from others that this is one of the best new exhaust companies around, and I didn't want to have anything but one of the best on my car.

So ultimately, I believe it was all worth it! This system is extremely expensive, but I do believe in this case I got what I paid for. Hope this answers some questions for anyone interested in this exhaust or any exhaust modifications for their M240i. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

Looking forward to learning from everyone and looking forward to laying down some beans with this B58.

I'm working on getting more photos and videos taken to add to this post. I'm just waiting for a day with good weather to get some good shots and sound clips of this exhaust system. Please ignore the salt and marks on the underside of the car.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for sharing

[Ultimateone]

Originally Posted by Beaner

I was told from others that this is one of the best new exhaust companies around, and I didn't want to have anything but one of the best on my car.

Weird considering they have not the best reputation and they are not new. They would resell stuff from Alibaba for triple the price. This company just provides half their exhausts to influencers to grab sales.

Reminds me of FI/IPE/Armytrix that are all made in the same place.

[VegasG42]

Welcome to the forum , great first post. That username though

Just curious , you say no drone - do you have an aftermarket downpipe installed , or are you stock ?

[Beaner]

Hi, username made me laugh a bit

I do have an aftermarket downpipe, but I'm not sure which one. I can find out and get back to you on what downpipe it actually is.

What I can say regarding the drone is... I noticed drone prior to changing the exhaust at around 3,000 rpm in my car to the point it would drown out my music. With this new exhaust that drone with the valves closed is nearly if not entirely gone. The car is very quiet and I can now hear myself think with the valves closed.

I usually have the sunroof cracked when the valves are open to hear the exhaust so when they are open.... its very loud. I can't comment on drone for when the valves are open.

[Beaner]

To answer Ultimateone, not sure if I can tag people on this forum or not, any help with that is very appreciated.

I have seem some others on here say the same as you. I believe they do have suppliers from china as well but I'm not certain, don't quote me on that. I did get the opportunity to speak and meet with Austin directly. I can't imagine they've been around for a while as I'm under the impression Austin is the founder and he looks to be in his mid twenties maybe. With that said, context of a while is different from person to person, my idea behind what is a while may be longer than yours.

Regarding the quality of the exhaust, every person I know and trust who modify cars for a living has commented about how nice the exhaust is and have also asked me to introduce them to who put this exhaust together.

However, I myself cannot comment on the quality of their suppliers, but I can say that not all components made in China are made equally. Manufacturing facilities in China with very high quality control standards and specializations in quality science can provide very high quality products. Other facilities with low quality standards can provide low quality goods and both of these can be sold by manufacturers in bulk on Alibaba. Other than that, I cannot provide a comment on this as I do not have enough information to provide you with an answer. I do not want to mislead anyone and do not want to make any misinformed statements so I cannot give you a good answer that I am satisfied with until I have more information.

[BG42]

They cut you a sweet deal on it atleast? Did your car have a downpipe on it when you bought it? Is it catless or catted? I was fairly interested in this exhaust until some forum members and locals steered me away from the company. Glad you like it though.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Beaner

However, I myself cannot comment on the quality of their suppliers, but I can say that not all components made in China are made equally.

This ^

Some think China has one factory that makes all the car parts and supplies them to the US. They have hundreds of suppliers with varying prices and quality.

Take the US, for example; you might get top-notch service and quality work from one shop, then visit a different shop and get terrible work and customer experience. That does not mean that US companies are either good or bad; they reflect the standards of each shop.

Your iPhone is made in China, and it's arguably the best phone in history, but there are thousands of other junk phones/replicas made in China. It just depends on where in China you are getting your parts.

[Beaner]

Originally Posted by BG42

They cut you a sweet deal on it atleast? Did your car have a downpipe on it when you bought it? Is it catless or catted? I was fairly interested in this exhaust until some forum members and locals steered me away from the company. Glad you like it though.

Oh, I am seeing how to reply to people. The downpipe is catless and I believe it is VSRF. I have removed the downpipe and am returning to the stock downpipe now. I will be switching to a catted downpipe in the future for tuning, but overall I do not see a reason to be catless. It was mostly for the sake of the video but now I am thinking of going with AA for the GESI cat.

[viperx100]

Originally Posted by Beaner

Oh, I am seeing how to reply to people. The downpipe is catless and I believe it is VSRF. I have removed the downpipe and am returning to the stock downpipe now. I will be switching to a catted downpipe in the future for tuning, but overall I do not see a reason to be catless. It was mostly for the sake of the video but now I am thinking of going with AA for the GESI cat.

I don't think that you can beat the AA catted DP for quality and peace of mind with their assurance of no CEL popping up. A lot of us are running this DP with nothing but good things to say about it. I did get drone with it, but only after I added the Dinan exhaust. Together it was too much for me, but the DP by itself was not drony at all, added a little more aggressive tone, spooled faster, and gave you pretty good gains for your $.

[mike@x-ph.com]

+1 for AA