N55 with AR catless downpipe review

[black e]

Hey guys,

Before anyone get it's panties in a bunch because they haven't gotten there DP, i ordered mine in September when AR was just starting to try fitments with Matt@cambertoe because they didn't have a local car.....and i even bought one from the local that took his car to AR for the actual fitment( hint hint... i have another DP that I'm going to be selling =) )
And again, my car is a 2011 135i with the DCT (dual clutch trans)

Anyway, i got my AR downpipe last monday but i was out of town so i couldn't get to put it in till Wednesday. To be honest, the DP was SO EASY to install it took me 1 hour start to finish on a lift and proper tools, including the time to wrap the pipe with heat wrap. I didn't bother doing a right up on the install because if you can't easily do the install then you shouldn't work on your car at all, there's plenty of space in there. It would take longer to do a right up then to do the install, it's that easy.
The DP is Flawless, fitment is perfect and the AR quality is definitely there from the flanges, the welds to the o2 sensor bungs...just perfect!
The OEM pipe is very heavy because it's got 2 cats in it, the first has to be at least 600 cell and the second 400 cell. it also necks down allot right after the turbo as you can see in the pics . The AR on the other hand is very light and it doesn't neck down like the OEM pipe and it also has mounting brackets for the OEM mounts so everything in nice and kosher.

Now, for the power. As soon as i pulled out of the garage i noticed the throttle response was much sharper and the engine felt more quick to rev and of course, the sound is just sick!. The DP definitely added HP EVERY WERE in the power band, from low RPM all the way to red line and the power doesn't die out as sharply past 6K RPM, instead the car now feels powerfull till 65-6600 RPM and that is a very welcomed feeling because my last car was a 6XX AWHP Evo 8 that i used to rev to 9K RPM all the time... and the car rev's faster so now the Performance steering wheel that i put in the car is really usefull with the built in shift lights.
If you ask anyone that knows me personally they'll tell you that I'm a wheel and exhaust whore, and this car is no exception. I've got 3 different exhaust setups(Berk street catback/ resonated midpipes and muffler axelback, Active Autowerks/stockmidpipes, Riss Racing catback)(well 2 because i just sold my Riss catback today) as well as 2 wheel setups so i tried them both with the AR DP to see witch one i liked better before i sold the other one. I liked the Active setup better and thats what i left on the car.

So were are some videos that i took with my IPhone 3 so that everyone get's a chance to hear what there car would sound with the AR catless DP. Also, note that on the 135i with the N55 engine the midpipes don't have cats in them so keep that in mind when listening to the videos. I also did do 2 flyby videos by request( you can hear the DCT in action to!) and feel free to watch my other videos under my youtube user name =)










Berk setup:


Active setup:

This is AR DP + stock N55 midpipes and Active Autowerks axelback (muffler delete)

This is AR DP + Berk full catback (resonated midpipes+muffler axelback)

This is AR DP + stock catback

This is AR DP + Hartge exhaust + custom resonator delete

Flyby1

Flyby2

One last thing, I've seen that the BMW community doesn't seem to believe in o2 sensor spacers so i gave it a shot because i found out that the PROcede doesn't have the catless DP code in the CANclear memory(Shiv already has the code so they are going to added to the CANclear memory in the next couple of weeks) so it won't auto-erase the CEL. I've driven about 40-50 miles mostly highway but also some city as well as aggressive driving and no light since i did the spacer mod, when it would have come one by now before.... and i'll let you guys know if this changes.
What i did is i used 2 spark plug non-faulers and drilled one of them so that the sensor would fit in the first one only, here's some pics of the finished product:

[collegemt]

They both sound mean. However I prefer the sound of the Berk setup.

[EINSER M]

wow

[SinCalgary]

The Berk sounds awesome if you ask me. Thanks for the videos and looking forward to the write up as I am considering DP's and the Berk exhaust for myself.

[oman135]

Berk sounds awsome!

[ModBargains.com]

The AR Design N55 Downpipes sounds great paired with both exhausts!!!

[black e]

first post updated!

[oman135]

which 1 is louder AA axle back with stock mid and stock dp or berk full sport exhaust with stock dp
i wont install dp now because of the warranty !

[black e]

Berk with stock DP but not by much

[miro2296]

man you can really hear them turbos on the AA setup, but both sound great!!!

[oman135]

Originally Posted by black e

Berk with stock DP but not by much

but the berk exhaust has mufflers does the mid-pipe really makes difference in loudness?

[black e]

Yes

[black e]

http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-how...ouler-how.html

Same thing, but you have to drill to 37/64's -19/32's hole to fit the BMW o2 sensor ....

[UdubBadger]

how do you guys feel about catless vs. catted?

big difference in sound, performance, price?

[shockin330i]

I want mine already :bawling:

[black e]

i put the stock exhaust on the car to hear how it sounds, so i'll have a new video of that by tomorrow.

[shockin330i]

Mine is never coming in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[black e]

^^^i'll sel; you the 2nd one i have.....you can have it by the end of this week, or wednesday if you what to overnight!

[onefastman]

You have two?

Why?

[black e]

long story......

[UdubBadger]

Originally Posted by black e

^^^i'll sel; you the 2nd one i have.....you can have it by the end of this week, or wednesday if you what to overnight!

if only it were catted

[shockin330i]

cats are for losers!