F80 Milltek drone

[hungry_hog]

I own an F80 LCI 2016 which came with a Milltek exhaust. I am not sure if resonated or not (no paperwork for the mod).

Last weekend was the first time I've had an extended motorway journey and the drone is pretty awful from 60mph+. This was in comfort mode.
I know It's not the best sounding car regardless of exhaust, but essentially it makes a motorway journey pretty awful.

What are the best options:

- Return to stock (maybe simplest and best)
- Other manufacturer
- Switchable / non switchable

The nuclear (man maths!) option is to switch to C63 W205.
I owned a W204 before and this was much quieter on motorway than the M3.

[leef44]

These modern cars have sound generators coming out of speakers. They are acoustically programmed to give an "emotional" engine sound based on the factory settings.

If you replace the exhaust, the resonance with the generated sound could possibly be the cause of the droning noise (disrupted sound wave imbalance).

Is it possible to switch off the sound generator or go to a specialist to reprogramme the acoustics?

[hungry_hog]

leef44 said:

These modern cars have sound generators coming out of speakers. They are acoustically programmed to give an "emotional" engine sound based on the factory settings.

If you replace the exhaust, the resonance with the generated sound could possibly be the cause of the droning noise (disrupted sound wave imbalance).

Is it possible to switch off the sound generator or go to a specialist to reprogramme the acoustics?

that a good point, thanks. I forgot about the speaker..I think it may be codable, there is no option from settings sadly

[DT398]

If it’s got the HK stereo, you can disconnect the sound inside the car by removing a plug from the HK amp. It’s behind/under the left hand side trim in the boot. There’s a YouTube video somewhere. Takes 5 minutes.

[hungry_hog]

DT398 said:

If it’s got the HK stereo, you can disconnect the sound inside the car by removing a plug from the HK amp. It’s behind/under the left hand side trim in the boot. There’s a YouTube video somewhere. Takes 5 minutes.

it does indeed have HK (is that standard on M3?)

Thank you - will have a butchers

[bunchofkeys]

Pull the fuse for the ASD unit, It should be a 15amp fuse; would take you less than a minute to do and will sound much better in the cabin.

I have the F85, it's fuse 129 on the rear drivers side fuse board.
Trying to pull the cable out of the ASD needed dinky little hands.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Sunday 1st August 19:22

[bunchofkeys]

Looks like you cannot just pull a fuse on the F80, but as mentioned above, hopefully this link helps

https://youtu.be/FqYPwNG0E9Q

[DT398]

bunchofkeys said:

Looks like you cannot just pull a fuse on the F80, but as mentioned above, hopefully this link helps

https://youtu.be/FqYPwNG0E9Q

That’s the one. It’s a bit fiddly but doesn’t take long, definitely works and doesn’t cause any error messages or the like. I did it straight away on mine and it was better for it. Sold the car a while back and I’m guessing it’s still disconnected!

[Krikkit]

I'd also double check if it's the resonated or non-resonated one, Miltek tend to sell the centre sections for fairly sensible money so you could swap them over and sell the non-res section.

[tallpaul26]

The standard (sport) exhaust on my comp pack F80 does not drone at all. Motorway cruising is actually relatively quiet in the cabin.

You need to establish what configuration your Milltek setup has. Also double check the valves are actually opening and closing.

From what I've read/heard on YouTube videos, the Milltek exhaust doesn't really improve the exhaust sound, it's just louder than OEM.

[hungry_hog]

thanks guys for the helpful replies

food for thought!