Exhausts - is there an accepted 'best'?

[oi_oi_savaloy]

Guys

Tried using the search function but tapping in 'Exhaust' gets you 97 pages in return!

So; Is there an accepted 'best exhaust system' for an e30 or is take your pick, they're all much of a muchness?

And secondly - would just changing the back box make a significant change to the noise of the car? (obviously not on the performance side of things).

Thanks

[zimmer-320i]

i have a 320 and it has a sportex rear box and it sounds sweet, to be honest the stock centre is atturly as good as a s/s aftermarket exhaust, if you also after a manifold hottuning do one on here as a group buy or for 30-40 quid more and avoid a wait go on ebay and they sell them there and i beleve there the next best to btb exhausts which are alot of money,

in my personal experiance avoid powerflow like the plauge, the stainless they use is a poor cheap and does surface rust very quicky, and not nice if youve paid 300-400 for a system,

if you wanna hear a e30 320 with a non oem back box on just drop me a pm and ive got a vid on my pc of the sound, sad i know but hey i love it to much

also to add if you dont mind spending money scorpian are the "best" suited exhaust for a bmw iirc, bolt that to a 6 branch and they sound f@*&ing awsome!!!

[oi_oi_savaloy]

Zimmer

Beautiful! I'm going to pm you after this post (because I'm sad too!) so I can have a listen to your exhaust.

I was just telling the wife that this is the best car I've ever had and I love the car almost as much as her (which went down really well I have to say). That's how much I like mine!

Thanks for your helpful advice too.

Not sure I've got £200+ for the 6 branch manifold as the wife's pregnant with our second sprog and I've just got to be a little careful what I spend on the car at the moment.

[zimmer-320i]

well the 6 branch dosnt realy gain power but only sound and total satisfaction, ive had a look and cant find it but itll take me 5 mins to do a 15 second vid clip,

yer ive had jap, french, euro cars and the bmw is a good car

[Andyc02]

The best is the genuine bmw ones will sound like it should,
will last 10 years + and you wont get that tinny noise that you get from stainless steel
price isnt as much as you think I got a middle box for my 1987 320i for £97.00 as was lucky egnough to get a genuine back box off ebay for £20.00 brand new old stock, they are quality,Pattern ones last 3-5 years if your lucky none s/s of course .

[tari]

I say keep it original.. If anything get a 6 brancher.

[scottiemorris]

i got a full stainles system made up it just had a small wolfrace backbox with 2 outward rolled tips, i had to take it back after a few days, imagine nascar with that honda vtec angry wasp in a tin can sound constantly! got 2 silencers put in and it still sets off car alarms all in i spent 320 so i'd recomend just buying a scorpion mate. but mine does sound great at full chat though!

[mattm]

I say stick with the original. I had a full stainless system made up recently as well and I took it back to be quietened down. It's still it bit noisy for what I need (commute on motorway everyday!).

I wish I'd kept the original one and just put a twin outlet trim on it!

[Barx325i]

I replaced my entire 320 system (everything apart from the cast manifold down) with a standard 325 system

(afaik the 320/325 cast manifolds are identical).

The change in exhaust note was super nice. It was a lot cheaper than an after market purchase & coupled with the existing a k&n & a quik tappet fettle, it did the old girl justice.

It definately gave the impression of more power and better throttle response but that could just due to the fact it sounded that much nicer.
get one..

[Rav335uk]

I relplaced mine with a stainless 2.6inch bore with a powerflow back box, sounds good too, and no restrictions with the m30.
Best part was the price £200.00

[robbo86]

scorpion dtm catback

[cliffybabe]

ive got a alpina 6 branch scorpion centre and scorpion rear lemans style and it sounds wicked

[robbo86]

I bought mine to drown out my tappets

[StuBeeDoo]

The best is the genuine bmw ones will sound like it should,
will last 10 years + and you wont get that tinny noise that you get from stainless steel

Another vote for genuine.
You know it's going to fit without any butchery and the sound is going to be right. You get what you pay for!
Having said that, I'm running a new (well, it was new this time last year) genuine front half, and a Scorpion rear half. OK, so it's a bit louder, but I did it to lose the swan-neck tail-pipes that always rust eventually.

[reggid]

depends what you mean by best.......if it involves sound then thats always a personal thing anyway.

[burgoil]

original is best,after markets dont fit very well at all. get to loud over time. oem with chrome tail pipe covers is what i would go for mate

[zimmer-320i]

yer talking about loud got stopped by vosa certified cops, and got told to remove my sportex back box as they couldnt find a e mark on it!!, any one know if sportex are emarked??

[DavieP]

I replaced my entire 320 system (everything apart from the cast manifold down) with a standard 325 system
<-snip->
It definately gave the impression of more power and better throttle response but that could just due to the fact it sounded that much nicer.
get one..

Was it much louder? I hate loud exhausts and much prefer something that burbles away quietly in the background, unless I'm stamping on the loud pedal really hard

[DaveD]

scorpion dtm catback

ditto

[AlpineAde]

I run a Supersprint cat-back exhaust.

Its fit was just as good as OEM and barely louder than stock. It only really opens up on full throttle. No drone, no nasty resonance ~ very nice. It was hooked up in the wink of an eye and really is a quality product. Cost was only a tad more than an OEM unit. Mind you, we pay a fortune for a lot of OEM stuff in Australia.

I'm very happy with it.