Meds 3.0si Coupe - Sound recordings.

[Meds]

After a few more miles in the car, learning the intake.

I opened up the sound generator by removing the foam and leaving the 'S bend' pipe in the engine bay. I did this previously with the stock and BDS system and hated it, it was far too boomy for me, not a pleasant noise at all..
But on the Carraero system it's perfect.

Sound:
The sucky swirly whooshy sound when on light throttle is really quite entertaining and louder now the foam is removed, this must be quite noticable from outside. Unsure why this dissapears on mid/full thottle.?
Mid-range, not much change.
It really shouts above 5.5k.
No drone or boom during any condition, lovely.
I've been chatting to a mate who's rigged a pipe from his sound generator to the underside of the plenum and mentions is further amplifies things. More noise is available if I feel I need it.

Feel:
Mid-range I initially thought it was lacking a little from previous but I think this is not the case. I get a slight bump on pedal press, the power comes in, then drops for a split second before continuing, this is why it feels like a small drop in power but once that 'bump' has passed the power deilvery is smooth and strong like before. This will be rectified with the remap.
Top end is harder for me to reliably review, I'm not there often on my loacl drives, it feels sharp and pulls very well.

A welcome upgrade. It's refined, shouts when you want it to, looks great and once I get myself a map sorted it should be something very special.

 

[ChrisQ_Z4]

Can i come and swap my car for yours then you can have the fun of doing it all over again lol. sorry.

Honestly the car looks stunning and the right up you've done is very good.

 

[Meds]

Can i come and swap my car for yours then you can have the fun of doing it all over again lol. sorry.

Honestly the car looks stunning and the right up you've done is very good.

Ha, NO!

The sound deadening was the most time consuming part, the rest was pretty straight forward once I got stuck in, nothing I've done is overly technical or hard for anyone that can hold a spanner.

Suspension and dropping to size 17" wheels are next on the list.

 

[danfrost89]

How ya getting on with the Carraero...?

 

[Meds]

How ya getting on with the Carraero...?

So far so good, no issues at all.
I've still not progressed with the map as a new addition to the family has taken my focus.
An OG BMW i3s.

I've had loads of folk asking for sound clips.

The phone microphone doesn't pick up the swirly whooshing or the rasp over 5.5k rpm but at least it demonstrates the sound difference. All the mid range boom has gone, the sound is there when it should be, not part throttle when cruising.
Windows were closed.

The traffic lights weren't helping me to make progress.

 

[Mr Tidy]

Sounds good James. And well done for getting above 5,500 rpm.

 

[Meds]

Sounds good James. And well done for getting above 5,500 rpm.

I know! Crazy behaviour!

 

[Mr Tidy]

TBF I was wondering what happened to your hat!

 

[ZeD_4]

Sound is one thing but Carraero cost vs performance wise... what are the actual gains? Sorry is its answered here somewhere.

 

[Meds]

I don't have any method to put numbers down on paper as I didn't have any dyno graphs prior.
I need to get the tune sorted (which is a little way off yet due to other commitments), Carraero have always stated a tune will be needed to utilise the plenum to its potential, which is fair.
22RPD seem keen to do the tune for me and as Carraero are now selling to the US I might wait until they have some experience with the plenum before going for it myself.

It doesn't feel like i've lost anything, for sure.

The £ vs horsepower struggle is very real, I dont think anyone is stupid enough to expect an instant 300hp N52 without some magical tune and probably other upgrades to compliment the plenum, headers maybe.
At the end of the day, this is a single staged, smoothed out intake, removing the sound generator, DISAs and adding some trumpets inside a larger airbox. Nothing groundbreaking.
But crucially keeping the MAF and TB as I want a car without any compromise. I'm not building a track weapon.

I'm not expecting huge gains and think Carraero have dug themselves a small hole with their claims, without any data to back them up. People have been getting a little bouncy on the interweb about it. (the people who probably have not purchased one)
Any gain I do get will be a welcome bonus.
There must be some, right??

It's the carbon, moldings, sensor connectors, machined metal parts, research and overall finish which costs ££££.
There's a few homebrew 3d printed options appearing which will cost much less, they're not for me.
I wanted a quality product to compliment the car and the Carraero does exactly that.

It's expensive, yes, no doubt. Especially when you add some options.
Sometimes you need to be the first to jump in.

Sound is one thing but Carraero cost vs performance wise... what are the actual gains? Sorry is its answered here somewhere.