Aftermarket sports exhausts - what say you?

[straightsix]

Noticed on the interweb that I can get a complete (cat back) Sportex single tailpipe system for my 318ti for about £170.

Now I'm not talking about something that has a tailpipe that you could move in to, but I still can't decide whether it would make the car look (and sound) rather pants.

So - what are your thoughts on aftermarket exhausts in general, and are Sportex any good?

Cheers

Ed

[roscozs]

Personally I don't have a problem with decent stainless steel sports exhausts. If you get a well manufactured vehicle specific one they're not too loud but seam to make driving them more enjoyable as you can hear the engine more clearly. Its the universal back boxes that I cant stand.
I got a milltek catback exhaust for my Fiesta and I think its money well spent. It improves the look of the back of the car and makes enthusiastic driving more enjoyable. I can even take it off and put it on an ST if I buy one or flog it because its stainless steel.

[Flibble]

A sports exhaust is a performance mod in my book, so valid. If it's not too shouty, I don't see why it should look bad.
Honking great generic bean cans are purely for looks, so crap.

[Mars]

Waste of money. Why not record a loud car and play it back through your stereo? Better, spend the money on genuine performance improvements.

[slimmyreed]

I think that you have to have something that has a decent sound to it in the first place (my preference is nothing with less than 6 cylinders). I left the exhaust well alone on my first car (escrote), but now I'm driving a V8 I had to get the exhaust done (cat-back non-res miltek)

[Colonial]

According to accepted PH logic then it is fine if it's on a car that 40 year old car nuts like, but not 18 year old ones. As you have a 318ti you'll probably fall under the "chav blah blah blah boy racer blah blah blah" heading. Which is a pity.

Me? 3 inch custom downpipe into custom stainless, with a remus muffler/tips. And it's on a 4 cylinder.

[Animal]

Best advice is to look at the system before they put it on. Look at the quality of the welds, search for other people's opinions and see if there are any recurring problems.

Also, if your current exhaust doesn't need replacing (rust, holes, etc), then I'd suggest you don't bother. Any aftermarket exhaust (even if it's just backbox) is almost certainly going to be louder so try and listen to a couple before you decide.

HTH

Animal

[joebongo]

Do they count as mods for insurance purposes though? Wouldn't want my premium hiking as a result of a nice set of pipes on my E38 7 series.

[Mroad]

joebongo said:

Do they count as mods for insurance purposes though? Wouldn't want my premium hiking as a result of a nice set of pipes on my E38 7 series.

Yes they are classed as mods, whether your premium increases is another matter, depends if it increases performance, the value of it and more importantly, the insurance company.

Most SS exhaust usually have the added bonus of weight saving over the stock steel exhaust. BMW in particular have heavy but very good quality stock systems. Replacing the whole lot with SS can save tens of kilos.

Edited by Mroad on Saturday 24th October 09:11

[hunt_the_fox]

Mars said:

Waste of money. Why not record a loud car and play it back through your stereo? Better, spend the money on genuine performance improvements.

Are you talking generally or for his specific motor?

If you think that a/m exhausts are not genuine performance improvements you are wrong.

[rob1234]

slimmyreed said:

I think that you have to have something that has a decent sound to it in the first place (my preference is nothing with less than 5 cylinders).

+1, but EFA (with some exceptions).

[henrycrun]

Another excellent way of disturbing people is to leave a barking dog.
Just what the 21st century needs - more noise pollution.

[Mannginger]

Gosh this thread has bought a couple of the holier-than-thou types to the surface hasn't it?

[bigfatnick]

a friend of mine has the same exhaust on the same car. It is LOUD! It does however pop, bang and gargle and awful lot, which i like.

I dont think it made any performance difference and the sportex stuff is mild steel, so wont last forever. Usually on a bmw, if the exhaust rots through i'd reccomend getting a quietish stainless exhaust just because theyre so much cheaper than oem systems.

[rottie102]

henrycrun said:

Another excellent way of disturbing people is to leave a barking dog.
Just what the 21st century needs - more noise pollution.

I so wish you stop next to me at the traffic lights

[Fordo]

I'm of two opinions regarding sports exhaust- and it all depends on what the system is like, and what car its made for

My old car was a 2.0 litre turbo- had a very constrictive standard exhuat- in places, the kinks in the bends reduced the diameter to about 1/2 an inch! coupled with a turbo elbow that was a 90 degree right angle, and it was choking the engine. I had a sensible system made- no bean can at te back- just 2 and a half inch stainless, mandel bend exhaust, from turbo back. The boost threshold dropped by nearly 1000 rpm. So the turbo spooled up at 2000rpm, not 3000! Made such a difference to the way the car felt- much nicer on motorways, there was no need to change out of 5th. And it wasnt too noisey- fun when on song, but subtle and quiet around town.

My current car, when i bought it, had a silly exhaust on it- i could have literally slept inside the tail pipe, it was that large. And it just defended me on the motorway. Real migraine inducing. Was the first thing I sorted out. Nought a new standard exhaust, and sold the noise maker on ebay.


So to me, it depends on what the sports exhaust is for- is a real performace mod? Or just for noise?

[Mars]

hunt_the_fox said:

Mars said:

Waste of money. Why not record a loud car and play it back through your stereo? Better, spend the money on genuine performance improvements.

Are you talking generally or for his specific motor?

If you think that a/m exhausts are not genuine performance improvements you are wrong.

Am I indeed? And you have evidence?

[poo at Paul's]

Mars said:

hunt_the_fox said:

Mars said:

Waste of money. Why not record a loud car and play it back through your stereo? Better, spend the money on genuine performance improvements.

Are you talking generally or for his specific motor?

If you think that a/m exhausts are not genuine performance improvements you are wrong.

Am I indeed? And you have evidence?

Properly designed and tuned exhausts make an enormous difference to performance of an engine.

Try driving a car with no exhaust at all, open ports from the head. Or a car with a blocked cat.

The scaveging effect of a decent tubular manifold and pulse tuning from the exhaust, as well as changes to backpressure ahve a significant effect on the overall performace (power) and power characteristics of an engine.
Have a google, (Dave Vizard is a good starting point), it's quite an interesting subject.

http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/track/6992/viza...

Edited by poo at Paul's on Sunday 25th October 22:31

[raf_gti]

henrycrun said:

Another excellent way of disturbing people is to leave a barking dog.
Just what the 21st century needs - more noise pollution.

Dude!

Are you for real?

This, if you hadn't noticed is Pistonheads and whilst it is certainly no Barryboys I'd like to think we all appreciate the sound of a nice exhaust note.

OP>>

I found Remus to be a nice subtle system on my Civic, there was a sporty note to it but by no means intrusive.

[Robatr0n]

slimmyreed said:

I think that you have to have something that has a decent sound to it in the first place (my preference is nothing with less than 5 cylinders). I left the exhaust well alone on my first car (escrote), but now I'm driving a V8 I had to get the exhaust done (cat-back non-res miltek)

EFA