[napeHbNYC]

You have probably seen me posting about being not satisfied with the Vanguard exhaust with Charles's DPs and I am on a quest to find what I like. My next choice fell on the PE. Is there anybody who had both and what you stayed with and why? Also, if I get PE do you, guys, think its worth it to make custom flanges and bolt on to the Vanguard midsection or should I get the stock exhaust and sell Vanguard? How do you think would be the sound with Vanguard piping and PE mufflers compared to stock piping. Thank you as always!

[skip2mylou123]

Sorry, I know this is unrelated. But let me know if you're going to sell the vanguard hahaha

[Bimmer 808]

what don't you like about the vanguard? the video clips i heard sounded awesome. i have the PE. it sounds good, but tends to burble at idle.

the best sounding exhaust i've ever owned was from UUC on my 97 328i...miss that sound.

[KMEninety335]

Originally Posted by Bimmer 808

what don't you like about the vanguard? the video clips i heard sounded awesome. i have the PE. it sounds good, but tends to burble at idle.

the best sounding exhaust i've ever owned was from UUC on my 97 328i...miss that sound.

you don't like the burble sound?! I love that lol

[napeHbNYC]

Love the burble but it sounds a bit tamed. Its awesome on cold start but than a bit too tamed. Do you have dps with your PE?

[napeHbNYC]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

Sorry, I know this is unrelated. But let me know if you're going to sell the vanguard hahaha

LOL I will, if I don't chop it to work with PE lol

[Bimmer 808]

no DPs but thinking about it. not sure if i want to deal with CEL and passing emissions testing.

the PE sounds best in the high rev range IMO.

[uberbeast21]

I want to go with bmw PE and catless DP's im just wondering how loud in person it would be, because I live in cali where they go around like exhaust nazis and ticket you for everything, I want something loud when im on it and decently tamed when im not

[Bimmer 808]

Originally Posted by uberbeast21

I want to go with bmw PE and catless DP's im just wondering how loud in person it would be, because I live in cali where they go around like exhaust nazis and ticket you for everything, I want something loud when im on it and decently tamed when im not

the PE is pretty tame in the lower range, but can't speak for DPs and PE. at least you can claim that the PE is stock because it comes from the dealer.

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by uberbeast21

I want to go with bmw PE and catless DP's im just wondering how loud in person it would be, because I live in cali where they go around like exhaust nazis and ticket you for everything, I want something loud when im on it and decently tamed when im not

Boost activated cut out?

[ChuckD05]

just got the PE and with catless downpipes before it warms up there is very obvious rasp... e46 m3esk...

once warm it gets a little less raspy , some may love it, but some will hate it...

I had the rennart exhaust on just before and it didnt have any rasp but stunk like ish with no secondary cats... the PE secondary cats eliminated that completely...

at idle revving it sounds incredible though, and the popping is very nice.. overall i like it a lot but wish it didnt get raspy up top... im not sure resonators would fit with the cats in place, ill have to take measurements... that should make it perfect if i could add 12 inch vibrant res inline

[Bimmer 808]

Originally Posted by ChuckD05

just got the PE and with catless downpipes before it warms up there is very obvious rasp... e46 m3esk...

once warm it gets a little less raspy , some may love it, but some will hate it...

I had the rennart exhaust on just before and it didnt have any rasp but stunk like ish with no secondary cats... the PE secondary cats eliminated that completely...

at idle revving it sounds incredible though, and the popping is very nice.. overall i like it a lot but wish it didnt get raspy up top... im not sure resonators would fit with the cats in place, ill have to take measurements... that should make it perfect if i could add 12 inch vibrant res inline

raspy is a good way to describe it...

[uberbeast21]

Originally Posted by Torgus

Boost activated cut out?

is this possible? that sounds like it would be awesome

[napeHbNYC]

Thank you for the detailed review. Did you mean cats in the stock mid section?

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by uberbeast21

is this possible? that sounds like it would be awesome

Yes:

You can have them open based on RPM as well or other triggers. Personally boost is what I would want, or have it trigger via a switch which is triggered after 3/4 throttle.

[Dr. G]

Originally Posted by napeHbNYC

You have probably seen me posting about being not satisfied with the Vanguard exhaust with Charles's DPs and I am on a quest to find what I like. My next choice fell on the PE. Is there anybody who had both and what you stayed with and why? Also, if I get PE do you, guys, think its worth it to make custom flanges and bolt on to the Vanguard midsection or should I get the stock exhaust and sell Vanguard? How do you think would be the sound with Vanguard piping and PE mufflers compared to stock piping. Thank you as always!

I went back and forth between the exhausts a couple times. If you don't like the rasp of the catless vanguard switch out the midsection resonators to better ones. If you don't like the note you may like the PE's note better. I ended up sticking with the PE eventually because it just sounded cleaner and more refined. The vanguard sounded boomy and it was just a bunch of noise to me down low, but it sounded amazing when giving full throttle. The PE sounds very refined and engineered no matter where you are in the rpm band and it was less boomy. I spend more time driving normally then I spend going full throttle so based on this I went with the PE.

Just use the stock mids with the PE, there's no point in cutting the Vanguard when you can sell it.

Originally Posted by uberbeast21

I want to go with bmw PE and catless DP's im just wondering how loud in person it would be, because I live in cali where they go around like exhaust nazis and ticket you for everything, I want something loud when im on it and decently tamed when im not

When catless it's pretty loud in the higher rpm's, but it's "decent" in the lower range. You can still kind of tell somethings not stock on the car when catless though. Especially when it's cold and winter up here in Canada when you let off the throttle even just cruising casually coming to a stop at a light the exhaust let's out some pretty serious pops.

Originally Posted by ChuckD05

just got the PE and with catless downpipes before it warms up there is very obvious rasp... e46 m3esk...

once warm it gets a little less raspy , some may love it, but some will hate it...

I had the rennart exhaust on just before and it didnt have any rasp but stunk like ish with no secondary cats... the PE secondary cats eliminated that completely...

at idle revving it sounds incredible though, and the popping is very nice.. overall i like it a lot but wish it didnt get raspy up top... im not sure resonators would fit with the cats in place, ill have to take measurements... that should make it perfect if i could add 12 inch vibrant res inline

I added Vibrant resonators into my mids to deal with the nasty rasp and I was able to keep my factory secondaries in place.
My car will be on a lift tommorow and if you want I can snap pics of the placement and email you them, just shoot me a PM if you'd like to see them.

[Marcadelic]

vanguard with catless dp's is horrible, the rasp is worse than a muffler delete

pe sounds better either way

[threethirtyfive]

It's amazing. PE and Catless.

[napeHbNYC]

Thank you, guys. Vanguard is in no way horrible, it looks awesome and sounds great but not loud and throaty enough for my liking. I am looking to swap it for PE if anybody is interested

[threethirtyfive]

Nothing at the moment, I need to get some. Its very nice, good sound but nothing too loud. Doesn't piss off the neighbors and the wife approves. I have not heard someone drive the car but all the input I have gotten so far is all positive.

My last car was an R32 which arguably has one of the better OEM exhaust notes. I get as many compliments on the PE/Catless setup as the R. Now rip 1, 2, 3 with something to bounce the sound off with the windows down and you REALLY hear it

Originally Posted by Moodist

Sounds pretty good, do you have any driving videos? I am wondering how it would sound being catless and having the PE.

[E90Company]

OP, since you have an E90 your OEM exhaust has a resonator, while E92's do not. When you buy the E90 PE it comes with a small x pipe section that replaces the resonator, in order to keep the sound consistent with the E92's (also costs more because of this.) What I would reccomend you doing is ordering the E92 PE so you can keep this OEM resonator, save some money, and keep the rasp down when you add CDP's. I've heard this setup in person and it sounds just like that video above, but without the rasp.

[Dr. G]

You need to add resonators with the catless PE, you get all the sound without the rasp.

I haven't heard the method mentioned above with the OE resonators, but it sounds like a decent plan as well if you don't want to weld in the vibrant resonators.