In search of the quietest 1M exhaust...

[James T. Kirk]

I love the roar of a good exhaust as much as anyone, but only when I want to accelerate.

I'm rather fed up with my stock 1M exhaust system. The drone is mind-numbing and right at the wrong spot in my RPM to cruise comfortably on the highway.

What would you recommend as the most understated exhaust system alternative with less drone than stock... ideally, with no drone at all.
.

[M3Power79]

My Milltek has no drone as is also too quite

[sparoz]

N55 mids

[ozinaldo]

Check my Evolve exhaust thread if you didn't already. The very reason why I love this exhaust is it really is very refined and civilized when you don't push the throttle and it is really loud and killer when you want to get things heat up, especially after around 4000 rpm. It is the real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde exhaust (without a button or so managing that) which I was looking for and it keeps on getting better with every mile.

There are small pops and burbles all around the range, cold start is awsome and loud and drone is infinitely better than the stock, both in intensity and range, I don't even count it as an issue anymore. I had a huge drone between 2000 to 2900 rpm with stock.

It also doesn't get that metallic raspy sound at the top end of the acceleration like some other exhausts do. I love some other exhaust sounds as well (Lightweight, Meisterscaft etc.) but for the price this just seems to be flawless imo. I wouldn't change it to anything, louder or not.

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

Drone is from the axle-back, not the mids.

Ah, okay - I thought a few people just had the N55 mids have their drone eliminated.

BTW to the OP, I did eventually got over the drone. There is also a thread stating if you fill the empty space in the boot with a towel, the drone is reduced - theres where they put the KW DCC controls, so if you check out some of Aussie_in_London's threads you should be able to locate it.

[Mahlzeit]

Before you spend any money on anything - try the towel mod:

[IMG][/IMG]

[Chris ABP]

Originally Posted by M3Power79

My Milltek has no drone as is also too quite

No too quiet for too long as we're expecting the non-resonated centre sections in tomorrow

Will be in touch, Chris

[flzrider]

Originally Posted by sparoz

Ah, okay - I thought a few people just had the N55 mids have their drone eliminated.

I've read this as well.

[mrow]

Originally Posted by Mahlzeit

Before you spend any money on anything - try the towel mod:

[IMG][/IMG]

It looks like that's covering the amp. Couldn't that cause problems with the amp overheating?

[Mahlzeit]

Originally Posted by mrow

It looks like that's covering the amp. Couldn't that cause problems with the amp overheating?

It was a test, and defn not permanent. It did prove to me to be an effective reduction on 'drone'. Which, call me crazy,... I like. So if u got serious about doing this you could craft something to fit while not covering heat producing componts.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by James T. Kirk

What would you recommend as the most understated exhaust system alternative with less drone than stock... ideally, with no drone at all.

Captain, as Mahlzeit correctly pointed out, also your USS Enterprise has a secret white cavity in the boot which seems to be related to the drone:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...php?p=12850245

No-one confirmed yet what the adverse consequences are re heat accumulation when the empty cavity is filled with sound deadening material (such as an exclusive 1M polo shirt, for example). Avoid overheating issues. It might temporary keep your hamburger meal warm on the way home, though.

See also bullet point #4 in the log issues thread: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showp...7& postcount=1

[mrow]

Originally Posted by Mahlzeit

It was a test, and defn not permanent. It did prove to me to be an effective reduction on 'drone'. Which, call me crazy,... I like. So if u got serious about doing this you could craft something to fit while not covering heat producing componts.

After posting that I figured Dynamat would work too but I don't care about the drone enough to spend the money on Dynamat so I found some people recommending this stuff as an alternative sound deadening. You can cut it to fit nicely, including around the amp. One of the reviews on the Home Depot website even says he used it for sound deadening with his car stereo and it worked great. Think I'm going to pick some up this weekend and give it a try.

[richb811]

Eisenmann will get you pretty subtle volume when you aren't dancing on the gas pedal, and enough to let you know you are alive when you do.

[providence]

I had the same search criterion: solution is a simple swap of the mid pipes (to N55's). I have the stock axle back and no other crazy mods, the result is a significantly reduced if not eliminated drone... If you TRY to identify it there is a HINT between 2100-2300 rpm. There is also a subtle volume increase which sounds better from the outside of the car. All in all it's a simple, cheap, easily accomplished mod that increases your driving pleasure ESP at cruising speeds.

[LotusBoy]

Totally agree with the previous post: on my car, the N55 mid-pipe has seriously reduced the drone. Under some combinations of temperature and atmospheric pressure, the drone comes back a little, then disappears again. A bargain mod !!

[jackkk]

I got akrapovic slip-on(titan) with AR design DP's on my 335i and it was quiter than SS sport with stock DP's on my 1M not... I would say, that I didn't hear my akra at all in comparising with SS)
I think Akra slip-om with wireless kit will be the best choise and you can regulate the volume by pushing the button, but Akra is expensive

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by sparoz

N55 mids

+1. I thought some 1M owners found that the N55 mids seem to solve the drone. I thought thats because the N55 mids have a resonator at the end of the pipe - while the OE pipe does not.

[///1M]

Why does BMW not offer an aftermarket exhaust, especially engineered for the 1M, to address all the sound issues with this otherwise special car?

* It's a huge miss for BMW. *

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by ///1M

Why does BMW not offer an aftermarket exhaust, especially engineered for the 1M, to address all the sound issues with this otherwise special car?

* It's a huge miss for BMW. *

They would sell it as hot cakes but this is not the first time neither the last BMW making wrong calls. Like most other half-done and imperfect details about this car, it gave us a huge variety of aftermarket solutions to choose from which fill the void BMW created. Now, everyone has the sound he/she really likes. Maybe not such a bad thing after all.

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

+1. I thought some 1M owners found that the N55 mids seem to solve the drone. I thought thats because the N55 mids have a resonator at the end of the pipe - while the OE pipe does not.

I am not sure if it's the resonator because there is a resonator with the OE pipe too but there is also the cats which N55 mids don't have. Somehow, it flows better and minimizes the drone. Of course, resonator might be different as well but from the looks they look similar. Check photos of both from my install thread, post 2:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745649

[jackkk]

Originally Posted by ozinaldo

I am not sure if it's the resonator because there is a resonator with the OE pipe too but there is also the cats which N55 mids don't have. Somehow, it flows better and minimizes the drone. Of course, resonator might be different as well but from the looks they look similar. Check photos of both from my install thread, post 2:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=745649

Do you have drone with your set up?
I got the SS sport and stock mids, so I got some metallic drone around 1500RPM, but I think it is because of bad instalation of the exhaust, because when listening the music with hard bass(logic 7) I hear some bad metallic voice from the same place

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by jackkk

Do you have drone with your set up?
I got the SS sport and stock mids, so I got some metallic drone around 1500RPM, but I think it is because of bad instalation of the exhaust, because when listening the music with hard bass(logic 7) I hear some bad metallic voice from the same place

I have nothing like that, seems like bad install to me as well. I have a minimal drone at a very narrow band between 2200 to 2400 but nothing like the stock drone, it is even likeable and I assume it is going to be better with more mileage.