6 weeks ago I purchased a 3.0si as an upgrade from my trusty 2.5i. When I test drove it I fell in love with the additional power. One of the things that grabbed me about this particular car was that the guy had had a quad exhaust conversion done. It was somewhat loud and he boasted that he'd gone back to the shop a couple of times to get them to tweak it because it wasn't loud enough at first. In my excitement of potentially buying a car the exhaust level didn't bother me too much - it sounded pretty cool at the time.
Fast forward several weeks and after last weekend taking the new car on a trip down the coast (2 hour highway drive each way) I have grown to hate it. The exhaust is absolutely unbearable - between 2-3k RPM it drones horrendously. Around town it doesn't seem so bad, but on the highway it made me want to gouge my eardrums out! I've realised it doesn't actually sound that great around town either. It's just a constant low pitch tone and lacks any of that lovely raspiness you expect from a BMW inline 6.
So I think "no problem, I'll just get an exhaust shop to fit a quieter muffler". I took the car to a local shop and they had a look but informed me that there was not a lot they can do. I was told that the droning most likely comes from the pipe to the added set of tips. The muffler fitted is a straight through unit but even after calling suppliers he couldn't find anything better that would fit into the odd muffler cavity. I could go to a "tuner" shop but there's none near me and my wallet cringes at the thought of how much they will charge.
Eisenmann do a quad exhaust muffler system which is highly regarded, but that's way out of the price range I'm prepared to spend. I did some more searching and it turns out that Schmiedmann do their own also: http://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/1939070-new?product=SCMZ4E85R2764. The description and pictures are promising, but I can't find any info online about them. So I was wondering if anybody on here has seen or heard one? There is a video here where they fit one but the demo at the end is very difficult to actually glean much from.
A mate has had a Schmiedmann muffler on his E36 M3 for a few years and he's very pleased with it, so quality seems up there. I just want to make sure that the sound level is good and that there's no droning. I do realise that they specify this exhaust for the prefacelift cars, but I spoke to my service adviser at BMW about it and he says there's no technical reason why it won't work on my facelift car. It just may need the mounting points modified slightly, which is no big deal.
So, any suggestions?
Fast forward several weeks and after last weekend taking the new car on a trip down the coast (2 hour highway drive each way) I have grown to hate it. The exhaust is absolutely unbearable - between 2-3k RPM it drones horrendously. Around town it doesn't seem so bad, but on the highway it made me want to gouge my eardrums out! I've realised it doesn't actually sound that great around town either. It's just a constant low pitch tone and lacks any of that lovely raspiness you expect from a BMW inline 6.
So I think "no problem, I'll just get an exhaust shop to fit a quieter muffler". I took the car to a local shop and they had a look but informed me that there was not a lot they can do. I was told that the droning most likely comes from the pipe to the added set of tips. The muffler fitted is a straight through unit but even after calling suppliers he couldn't find anything better that would fit into the odd muffler cavity. I could go to a "tuner" shop but there's none near me and my wallet cringes at the thought of how much they will charge.
Eisenmann do a quad exhaust muffler system which is highly regarded, but that's way out of the price range I'm prepared to spend. I did some more searching and it turns out that Schmiedmann do their own also: http://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/1939070-new?product=SCMZ4E85R2764. The description and pictures are promising, but I can't find any info online about them. So I was wondering if anybody on here has seen or heard one? There is a video here where they fit one but the demo at the end is very difficult to actually glean much from.
A mate has had a Schmiedmann muffler on his E36 M3 for a few years and he's very pleased with it, so quality seems up there. I just want to make sure that the sound level is good and that there's no droning. I do realise that they specify this exhaust for the prefacelift cars, but I spoke to my service adviser at BMW about it and he says there's no technical reason why it won't work on my facelift car. It just may need the mounting points modified slightly, which is no big deal.
So, any suggestions?