[TopG42]

I have looked at most of the axlebacks/catbacks available and I also have the AA catted downpipe installed but I am unsure of what to do since alot of people seem to complain that there is drone when this downpipe is paired with any axleback. Is there any possible setup to enhance my exhaust volume/tone without introducing drone? (For background: Came from a '22 SS 1le with MBRP axleback. Was pretty loud and droned a little on the on the free way but it was tolerable)

I am NOT going for v8 level of decibels. But i feel like the stock exhaust setup is too silent for the engine it comes with. Even after the downpipe it still feels like it has no voicebox.

[BG42]

I don't mind my m performance setup with the aa downpipe. My 6 month old doesn't mind it wife either. I have debated a couple of other catbacks for a bit more noise but it's pretty low on the list of stuff to do. Best bet is see if anyone around you has an aftermarket setup because sound clips on the web do none of them justice.

[TopG42]

Ah I wish I had the mpe. Thanks for the info!

[ILikeBimmers]

Originally Posted by TopG42

I am NOT going for v8 level of decibels. But i feel like the stock exhaust setup is too silent for the engine it comes with. Even after the downpipe it still feels like it has no voicebox.

From what I've heard from videos is seems that the AA cat with stock had a nice volume and raspiness. If you're still not happy with the sound I'd say just go for an axel back. The thing about exhausts is the closer you get to the end the less impact on sound it makes as it's my understand the exhaust gasses energy is the lowest at the tail pipe, and the reason exhaust tip mods don't do very much for sound.

Personally, I'm basically in the reverse of your situation where I have the MPE and have the AA cat planned as a mod. The MPE is a pretty great OEM+ exhaust, though there are some savings if you go for one of the excellent aftermarket offerings FI/Dinan/Miltek/etc. The distinct advantage of the MPE is that if installed by BMW, will not affect your warrranty despite sawing off your OEM muffler at the rear axle. Seeing that you already installed a AA downpipe you may not care that much about warranty.

I can tell you personally that the MPE is really comfortable for drone and combined with the (too good imo) sound deadening we have is almost silent. The MPE doesn't really sing until you rev out the engine and I think it will be excellent when combined with the AA cat. There is some drone during cold start when it's doing the cat warming procedure but once that passes it's nearly silent.

If you do go with the MPE I'd advise trying GetBMWParts as they are actually just a BMW dealership in disguise that way you can have a more competitive price with some of the other aftermarket mufflers. Best case scenario you might be able to ask your local dealership to price match them: ($1,923.26, P#:18-30-5-A3B-F69) https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-part...MtMGwtbDYtZ2Fz . Additional parts and labor should be around $200-300. DIY would require you to saw your muffler off with a pipe cutter.

[BG42]

Originally Posted by ILikeBimmers

From what I've heard from videos is seems that the AA cat with stock had a nice volume and raspiness. If you're still not happy with the sound I'd say just go for an axel back. The thing about exhausts is the closer you get to the end the less impact on sound it makes as it's my understand the exhaust gasses energy is the lowest at the tail pipe, and the reason exhaust tip mods don't do very much for sound.

Personally, I'm basically in the reverse of your situation where I have the MPE and have the AA cat planned as a mod. The MPE is a pretty great OEM+ exhaust, though there are some savings if you go for one of the excellent aftermarket offerings FI/Dinan/Miltek/etc. The distinct advantage of the MPE is that if installed by BMW, will not affect your warrranty despite sawing off your OEM muffler at the rear axle. Seeing that you already installed a AA downpipe you may not care that much about warranty.

I can tell you personally that the MPE is really comfortable for drone and combined with the (too good imo) sound deadening we have is almost silent. The MPE doesn't really sing until you rev out the engine and I think it will be excellent when combined with the AA cat. There is some drone during cold start when it's doing the cat warming procedure but once that passes it's nearly silent.

If you do go with the MPE I'd advise trying GetBMWParts as they are actually just a BMW dealership in disguise that way you can have a more competitive price with some of the other aftermarket mufflers. Best case scenario you might be able to ask your local dealership to price match them: ($1,923.26, P#:18-30-5-A3B-F69) https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-part...MtMGwtbDYtZ2Fz . Additional parts and labor should be around $200-300. DIY would require you to saw your muffler off with a pipe cutter.

Tips will never affect exhaust sounds its purely aesthetic, also adding a catback wont do anything to your warranty, if and if you gain anything in performance its very very very minimal. You do a catback/axel back for sound. You can do both AA downpipe and mpe for the cost of most of the true catbacks, dinan is an exception because its an axel back.

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by ILikeBimmers

From what I've heard from videos is seems that the AA cat with stock had a nice volume and raspiness. If you're still not happy with the sound I'd say just go for an axel back. The thing about exhausts is the closer you get to the end the less impact on sound it makes as it's my understand the exhaust gasses energy is the lowest at the tail pipe, and the reason exhaust tip mods don't do very much for sound.

Personally, I'm basically in the reverse of your situation where I have the MPE and have the AA cat planned as a mod. The MPE is a pretty great OEM+ exhaust, though there are some savings if you go for one of the excellent aftermarket offerings FI/Dinan/Miltek/etc. The distinct advantage of the MPE is that if installed by BMW, will not affect your warrranty despite sawing off your OEM muffler at the rear axle. Seeing that you already installed a AA downpipe you may not care that much about warranty.

I can tell you personally that the MPE is really comfortable for drone and combined with the (too good imo) sound deadening we have is almost silent. The MPE doesn't really sing until you rev out the engine and I think it will be excellent when combined with the AA cat. There is some drone during cold start when it's doing the cat warming procedure but once that passes it's nearly silent.

If you do go with the MPE I'd advise trying GetBMWParts as they are actually just a BMW dealership in disguise that way you can have a more competitive price with some of the other aftermarket mufflers. Best case scenario you might be able to ask your local dealership to price [...]

Soo correct me if I am wrong (this worked with Chevy) but I figured if something went wrong and I needed to claim warranty I could just reinstall the factory downpipe before bringing it to the dealer. No tune or anything but like I said Bmw might be different.
And dont worry, I know I need to pay to play.

Also thanks for pointing out the MPE I'll definitely look into that option! I really wish videos did all these exhausts justice so I can compare better. For instance the dinan Axelback + AA DP on video I can never tell how much volume it will have compared to stock. Obviously more but how much more? Dont want to be a fart can but still want to have an aggressive sound.

[ILikeBimmers]

Originally Posted by TopG42

...I figured if something went wrong and I needed to claim warranty I could just reinstall the factory downpipe before bringing it to the dealer.
...Dont want to be a fart can but still want to have an aggressive sound.

Yeah the 'cat swap would probably work as long as they didn't know. I think it's possible to get your car flagged if you run higher boost, but I haven't heard of anyone tripping that with a downpipe. I think it would probably work.

Honestly I don't think you can go wrong picking among the Dinan/Miltek/FI/Akrapovich/MPE, they're all great, the question isn't if it aounds good, the question you should be asking is HOW good ��. The b58 is just very musical so it lacks raspiness stock. Hell even the muffler deletes avoid the fart cannon sound imo.

The only time I've seen the sound become a bit too dirty and raspy are when people have fitted cheap catless downpipes imo. Great for pure grunt, not for a nice subdued growl.

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by ILikeBimmers

Yeah the 'cat swap would probably work as long as they didn't know. I think it's possible to get your car flagged if you run higher boost, but I haven't heard of anyone tripping that with a downpipe. I think it would probably work.

Honestly I don't think you can go wrong picking among the Dinan/Miltek/FI/Akrappvic/MPE, they're all great, the question isn't if it aounds good, the question you should be asking is HOW good 😂. The b58 is just very musical so it lacks raspiness stock. Hell even the muffler deletes avoid the fart cannon sound imo.

The only time I've seen the sound become a bit too dirty and raspy are when people have fitted cheap catless downpipes imo. Great for pure grunt, not for a nice subdued growl.

Im so down for Dinan or Militek or even the MPE. Have you ever dealt with drone in any car? Asking because I havent personally dealt with it only hearing vids of other cars with it.
Also this might be a stupid question but do you think I should go with my alternate plan which is just to keep stock exhaust and get an intake for more turbo noise rather than exhaust noise? Not expecting gains or anything
Purely a different sound plan for the car . Ik its my decision at the end of it but its so hard to choose. Im new to the Bmw platform but I love the variety. My SS was pretty basic

[BG42]

Bang for buck is probably downpipe intake.

[ILikeBimmers]

Originally Posted by TopG42

Im so down for Dinan or Militek or even the MPE. Have you ever dealt with drone in any car?...
...think I should go with my alternate plan which is just to keep stock exhaust and get an intake for more turbo noise rather than exhaust noise? Not expecting gains or anything...

As I own the MPE I can only really speak to it's irl drone which is that it is true OEM+ retaining a subdued sound and volume until the car is revved out and the valves are opened in sport mode. I believe our newer G42s no longer even have a resonator so sport mode is almost a straight pipe save for the cat. There are plenty of members here who explicitly state the other aftermarket catbacks don't have any drone issues as well and my impression from video matches up with that

Why not both ? Your alt plan of intake mod would be beneficial if you looking for pure turbo grunt, as our stock boxes have some sound muffling applied. Personally I'm planning on going with an Eventuri CF intake as it is the only intake, as far as I know, that offers a significant HP gain, sources air from the right wheel well, and sounds nasty as fuck over video, but it comes at a hell of a price and I'm probably holding off until a more viable ECU bench unlock process becomes available for the post 2020 June BMWs, or iDrive stops getting updates. I think some of the more common intakes like MST will deliver moderate sound enjoyment.

Eventually I'm also looking to go with Can bus integrated manifold port infection and flex fuel so my car can drink up ethanol instead of 93 octane cause this thing eats up gas ��.

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by ILikeBimmers

As I own the MPE I can only really speak to it's irl drone which is that it is true OEM+ retaining a subdued sound and volume until the car is revved out and the valves are opened in sport mode. I believe our newer G42s no longer even have a resonator so sport mode is almost a straight pipe save for the cat. There are plenty of members here who explicitly state the other aftermarket catbacks don't have any drone issues as well and my impression from video matches up with that

Why not both ? Your alt plan of intake mod would be beneficial if you looking for pure turbo grunt, as our stock boxes have some sound muffling applied. Personally I'm planning on going with an Eventurin CF intake as it is the only intake, as far as I know, that offers a significant HP gain, sources air from the right wheel well, and sounds nasty as fuck over video, but it comes at a hell of a price and I'm probably holding off until a more viable ECU bench unlock process becomes available for the post 2020 June BMWs, or iDrive stops getting updates. I think some of the more common intakes like MST will deliver moderate sound enjoyment.

Eventually I'm also looking to go with Can bus integrated manifold port infection and flex fuel so my car can drink up ethanol instead of 93 octane cause this thing eats up gas 😂.

Man that eventuri sure looks and sounds nice. I flipped a coin and ended up ordering the Dinan axlback and will probably post results once the install. I think from there I will decide on when I will get an intake or look into different ones to pair up but I figured I'd just go Dinan. Speaking of Dinan do you think the strut bars they have for the g42 are functional or just for looks? Hard to tell because I can't find true review vids on it but they don't look like they can really stiffen up anything but I could be wrong

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by BG42

Bang for buck is probably downpipe intake.

I went 50/50 chance and ended up going exhaust first. Definitely going to do the intake after! Thanks for the input!

[BG42]

Originally Posted by TopG42

Man that eventuri sure looks and sounds nice. I flipped a coin and ended up ordering the Dinan axlback and will probably post results once the install. I think from there I will decide on when I will get an intake or look into different ones to pair up but I figured I'd just go Dinan. Speaking of Dinan do you think the strut bars they have for the g42 are functional or just for looks? Hard to tell because I can't find true review vids on it but they don't look like they can really stiffen up anything but I could be wrong

Its a great choice its even cheaper than the MPE and it probably sounds better, the MPE is a tad quiet for me even with the downpipe. The dinan looks and sounds solid.

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by BG42

Its a great choice its even cheaper than the MPE and it probably sounds better, the MPE is a tad quiet for me even with the downpipe. The dinan looks and sounds solid.

Yeah there is a presidents sale going on a bunch of sites like urotuning or bmp tuning. Pretty nice discount albeit the Christmas discount was bigger (wish I hopped on that).
Do you mind me asking what mods you have done so far? I was considering making a post asking for everyone's recommended G42 starter pack mods. Thought that would be fun

[BG42]

I have CF lip, M perf spoiler, Eibach lowering springs, spacers front and rear, aa downpipe, MPE exhaust, some interior cf, color matched from side markers. The biggest stuff so far for me was the downpipe and mpe then lowering it with spacers really made it look awesome. I shopping wheels atm its almost as hard as exhaust shopping.

[ILikeBimmers]

Originally Posted by TopG42

...flipped a coin and ended up ordering the Dinan axlback and will probably post results once the install. I think from there I will decide on when I will get an intake or look into different ones to pair up but I figured I'd just go Dinan. Speaking of Dinan do you think the strut bars they have for the g42 are functional or just for looks?

I've heard good things about the Dinan exhaust so I think it was a good choice. I believe it comes standard with quad exhaust tips so you won't have to purchase the 'ole ali express special (which to be fair many people run here on this forum and are very happy with.

I've seen a couple different types of strut bars that I can't really see doing very much besides looks. I think quite a few forum members have also expressed their doubts on it. The most functional are probably the ones that actually run perpendicularly across the engine, I think I've seen a couple of those. Most promisingly, there are a few forum members who appear to have acheived sucessful fitment with the blitz mk5 supra strut tower bar into the G42 and G20 chassis on this post. I was going to attempt to fit the blitz strut tower bar, but the main thing I was worrying about was fitment with aftermarket intakes, parcticularly with the eye watering price tag of the eventuri intake I have planned.

[nype]

It’s too bad Dinan doesn’t offer less obnoxious tip options.

[BG42]

Originally Posted by nype

It’s too bad Dinan doesn’t offer less obnoxious tip options.

I agree the tips are kinda lackluster but I bet you can find some aftermarket tips that would look awesome.

[nype]

Ya even a no tip option would be nice.

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by BG42

I agree the tips are kinda lackluster but I bet you can find some aftermarket tips that would look awesome.

Any suggestions? I don't mind them that much but if I could get some that don't stick out as much I would probably get them later depending on how it looks in person after install

[TopG42]

Originally Posted by BG42

I have CF lip, M perf spoiler, Eibach lowering springs, spacers front and rear, aa downpipe, MPE exhaust, some interior cf, color matched from side markers. The biggest stuff so far for me was the downpipe and mpe then lowering it with spacers really made it look awesome. I shopping wheels atm its almost as hard as exhaust shopping.

Yeah I was actually looking for wheels before anything but gave up because its hard to figure out which width/offset combo to go for while avoiding rubbing. Also what spacers do you run?

[BG42]

Originally Posted by TopG42

Yeah I was actually looking for wheels before anything but gave up because its hard to figure out which width/offset combo to go for while avoiding rubbing. Also what spacers do you run?

Running 13 front and rear, you could probably do 15mm up front but 13 looks great.