[Wissam]

Gents, I had the BMW PE installed yesterday on my 328i sedan...in the first picture below of the OEM muffler, is the black rubber piece supposed to be removed along with the OEM muffler? I would have thought it should have been transferred to the PE muffler...

Second, the PE sound seems to be barely higher than the OEM, and certainly not as loud as all the youtube videos out there...so my question is, when people talk about having the PE installed, does it mean just the muffler piece, or does it also automatically mean the "Y" shaped pipe piece (second picture below) which I think is called resonator delete?...I bought the PE from a private seller so don't know when one actually buys a PE from the dealer, does it come standard with the pipe piece or just the muffler and you'd have to buy the pipe piece separately?

[MonsterM]

Originally Posted by Wissam

Gents, I had the BMW PE installed yesterday on my 328i sedan...in the first picture below of the OEM muffler, is the black rubber piece supposed to be removed along with the OEM muffler? I would have thought it should have been transferred to the PE muffler...

Second, the PE sound seems to be barely higher than the OEM, and certainly not as loud as all the youtube videos out there...so my question is, when people talk about having the PE installed, does it mean just the muffler piece, or does it also automatically mean the "Y" shaped pipe piece (second picture below) which I think is called resonator delete?...I bought the PE from a private seller so don't know when one actually buys a PE from the dealer, does it come standard with the pipe piece or just the muffler and you'd have to buy the pipe piece separately?

I just checked my old OEM muffler and the rubber piece is still on it so I it's not supposed to be removed. My PE is much louder than stock but more tame than other aftermarket options. Give it some time it will get louder. The PE exhaust comes with the "Y" pipe and the muffler. It is a two piece with 3 clamps but I had mine welded. Hope this helps.

[MaximusJ]

That rubber boot is for drone removal on the OEM or MMW exhaust; which are the same.


The PE doesnt have it. ITs normal that its quiet right now. Warm your engine enough and go give her. Be sure to test your car to make sure the RPM meter's needle is working properly all the way up to 9k rpm

You'll eventually break it in doing so and you will love it more and more each day.

[Wissam]

appreciate the replies, it definitely helps...the thing is the guy I bought it from and the garage that installed it both gave me the impression that the PE comes as the muffler piece only and that the "Y" pipe piece is something you buy separately...since I installed only the muffler piece, I'm wondering how much the "Y" piece contributes to the loudness, probably significantly since it deletes the resonator...I guess I'll have to wait and see as the PE breaks-in...

[1QuikWS6]

Yeah, you definitely got screwed over on that one - the PE comes with the midpipes & res delete.

I'm gonna say that it is never gonna sound the same, or as loud, if you have not deleted the resonator, as that component assists in the 'muffling' of the sound.

Now you could have the shop do a resonator delete and weld in a Flowmaster 'Y' pipe in place of the resonator, and achieve the same results as the full PE - but they will prolly want to charge xtra for that...

[MaximusJ]

Even if charged extra, go install that Y-pipe ASAP.

[Hasek9339]

I love the way mine sounds I think that since he doesn't have the Y pipe installed it might be affecting the overall noise volume!

OP do you have AT or MT?

[JHB335]

I had a PE exhaust installed on a 2008 328 XI and I can tell you the sound when new is NOTHING like how it ends up. New, it's barely there.

I went from being disappointed (having to free rev it inside parking garages with windows down to feel like I had an exhaust) to people telling me they heard me open it up from a half mile away when I got on the highway, to people telling me it sounded illegal (half joking of course).

But it does get substantially louder - when its broken in it really rips, no problems hearing it open up when you are inside the car with the windows up. I felt like it took 8 months or more to fully break in, but my memory is sometimes.... not so good

So anyways, not really sure about the fact that you are missing some hardware - I would get that resolved for sure. Then be prepared to give it some solid break in time.

That being said, if anyone knows why an exhaust would need to break in, I'd love to hear it. I've always felt that metal pipes shouldn't change much over time.

[benzo23]

Originally Posted by JHB335

I had a PE exhaust installed on a 2008 328 XI and I can tell you the sound when new is NOTHING like how it ends up. New, it's barely there.

I went from being disappointed (having to free rev it inside parking garages with windows down to feel like I had an exhaust) to people telling me they heard me open it up from a half mile away when I got on the highway, to people telling me it sounded illegal (half joking of course).

But it does get substantially louder - when its broken in it really rips, no problems hearing it open up when you are inside the car with the windows up. I felt like it took 8 months or more to fully break in, but my memory is sometimes.... not so good

So anyways, not really sure about the fact that you are missing some hardware - I would get that resolved for sure. Then be prepared to give it some solid break in time.

That being said, if anyone knows why an exhaust would need to break in, I'd love to hear it. I've always felt that metal pipes shouldn't change much over time.

So are you saying its actually more beneficial to buy a used one?

[Wissam]

Hasek9339, it's manual...

JHB335, thanks for the input...I'm gonna wait another week or so to see how the sound develops and then I'll see if I still need the resonator delete pipe...

[DESI4life10]

I swapped the rubber boot from my OEM exhuast to the PE exhuast as their is a spot on the PE exhaust to place it. Exhaust sounds amazing so far.

The Y-pipe is a big factor to the sound and definately is required to get the proper PE exhuast sound.

[JS82]

As others have said, you need the Y-pipe to get the sound you want.

[Wissam]

how long would you guess it takes for the PE to fully break-in and reach its normal loudness levels? 100 miles? 1000 miles? 5000 miles? just need a ballpark

[flinchy]

Ohh what, the bmwpe comes with a res delete? No wonder why i hate how it sounds!

Ed: any exhaust needs some carbon buildup to get the real sound, and at least 1000 to loosen up a bit

I've owned my car from 61,500km. It's now at about 93,000. The exhaust note is TOTALLY different, much more popping on the overrun, much more aggressive sounding.. I'm almost happy withthe sound itself

Outside the car it actually sounds quite wonderful.

Every ~1000-2000km i can notice the note ha changed slightly

[Wissam]

After waiting for 6 weeks and 2,000km for the PE muffler to break in, the exhaust note was still muted, so it was time to complete my PE installation by deleting the resonator. Took my car to Scott's Hot Rod shop last Friday and had the resonator delete done...exhaust note is obviously louder now but still very classy...for the benefit of others contemplating similar work, cost wast $250 taxes in for the resonator delete...

[Phil325i]

Originally Posted by Wissam

After waiting for 6 weeks and 2,000km for the PE muffler to break in, the exhaust note was still muted, so it was time to complete my PE installation by deleting the resonator. Took my car to Scott's Hot Rod shop last Friday and had the resonator delete done...exhaust note is obviously louder now but still very classy...for the benefit of others contemplating similar work, cost wast $250 taxes in for the resonator delete...

Got there in the end Wissam! BTW in answer to the question in your OP, yes, the 'drone damper' should be swapped across from your original muffler to the P/E one. Recently bought a P/E and the dealer kindly copied me the BMW fitting instructions which mentions swapping it over...

BTW the P/E doesn't always come with the resonator delete pipes. It depends on the engine and the market. My (European) 325i has the N53 direct petrol injection engine, and the resonator delete is not possible as that section of the exhaust contains an additional emissions sensor and wiring. Still immensely happy with it though!