Straight pipes?

[antcamp]

Ive got a friend with a e36 328 that built custom headers and straight pipes all the way back and it sounds nasty, however I dont want my zhp sounding like a tractor....anyone done this yet?

[M0nk3y]

Not a good idea.

You'll lose too much backpressure and end up giving your car worse performance in the torque and maybe HP band.

As well, you'll get alot of drone at all speeds and probably a couple noise violations to go with it

[antcamp]

yea actually at my college campus in delaware the noise violation would probably be one of my biggest concerns, ive been youtubing clips of performance exhausts im thinking the highline exhaust or blue wave sound the best to me

[Hermes]

Check out TSE3, only loud when you punch it... No annoying drone. They have like 5 videos on the site so you can hear it - http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/catalog/uuccorsa-twin-silencer-exhaust-tse3-for-01-05-e46-330-and-325-round-tips-tse3.htm

[Rustyh]

Maybe I'm showing my age, but the thought of putting straight pipes on a ZHP makes my head hurt.

Seriously though, and I realize this is a subjective thing, but IMHO the car already has a very sweet sounding exhaust. In fact, from many ZHP owners I've known over the years it seems that many have mentioned that the exhaust tone of the car is one of the first compliments they get from non-ZHP owners.

But if you really want a different sound, you could first try just removing the resonator and see what you think. If that doesn't do it for you, you could look into BMW's performance exhaust ($$$) or see what Supersprint or Borla offer (both are also $$). When I had my ///M I picked up some SS's (mostly because at the time I was in the mood for the DTM tips) and was happy with the looks and quality. But eventually I accepted that $1600 could have been spent on better things.

Just my .02,
Rusty

[llll1l1ll]

I did some video searching a while ago to hear ZHPs with an aftermarket exhaust. I just like good ol' stock the best. Plus, I've had the stock exhaust set off car alarms a few times.

In parking garages, of course.

[Rovert]

I have straight pipes on my car with a Supersprint muffler at the end. It's totally normal when driving around. Just a tad louder than OEM exhaust and a bit louder drone below 2.5K when you're putting a moderate load on the engine.

[Gheybe]

I have headers, and straight pipes. Only have a resonator in there somewhere.

Don't do it. Get a real exhaust.