[ipayincash]

Originally Posted by jokerswld34

One thing to keep in mind is that the more flow of air you increase thru the engine, the more pressure you put on certain components, particularly those that BMW may have cut costs on by using plastic. I’ll give you an example from my own experience. After installing the catted downpipes, and piggyback tune for several months, I installed the dinan carbon intake. That intake brings air into the system in a much higher volume than stock. Immediately after install I got a drivetrain malfunction that took months to resolve. Ended up being that the plastic ends on the intercoolers cracked from the added pressure and I had to replace both intercoolers (on my dime because of mods - dealer good willed one for me). Not saying this would happen to you but it could and it was $2500 per intercooler installed.

After that experience, I decided to remove the mods altogether and drive the car in stock form until I ultimately traded it in. Car was a beast with the mods and sounded amazing, but it wasn’t worth the headaches, time in service and extra money to repair. I lost confidence to drive it hard and it drove me crazy to have a CEL randomly pop up in a $125k super truck.

But to your question, I’d say you are perfectly safe with secondary delete, intake and an Akra full system. Car would sound very nice and you wouldn’t be messing with Air/Fuel at all. Although the intake won’t do much for performance and you won’t hear that much sound in the cabin either so that may be one you can save your money on. It’s really once you start messing with downpipes that you’d need to be thoughtful on properly tuning to the set up for optimization and longevity

I had a similar experience, I purchased my first BMW ever, a used 30k miles fully loaded 2017 X5 50i xdrive msport with downpipes and a regular Bootmod3 tune and some beautiful 22 inch Vorsteiner wheels. I bought it cause I fell in love the second I test drove it, turbo & exhaust sounds were incredible ! After about 10 months of enjoying it, it started overheating, knowing literally nothing about tuned cars I took it to the dealership, they said it was a cooling fan and I spent 2k fixing it only to have it overheat on the way home. I took it back and they just chalked it up to it being modified and were basically useless. At the time I was very busy with work, didn't know anything about tuned cars (still don't), and having car issues, being left stranded, spending thousands down the drain with no solution was a nightmare so I just sold it and bought a 21 X5Mc thinking if the plain 50i was that much fun I can only imagine how insane the x5mc is going to be and sound.

WRONG, I was disappointed, don't get me wrong I love my car, its the perfect daily. But the sounds are just so muted, so here I am chasing turbo spools lol From everything I've gathered it feels like downpipes is exactly what I want but it comes with exactly what I don't want which is CEL/tuning/problems.... The way your experience turned you off completely is the same way I felt but I now have this addiction and I must feed my soul this aural sensation lol you mentioned "Turbo whistle is very pronounced and exhaust note is much louder. To me it sounded quite good, especially when just cruising around you get a lot of turbo noise and overrun. Lots of attention by people." Thats exactly what I had and want again, and then you said "car would sound very nice" that build doesn't sound very exciting lol Thank you for sharing your recent battle it leaves me with a lot to think about....

[Alan l.]

^^ Pick up the following mods and you should be good while not impacting warranty/longevity.

Secondary downpipes
Full Akra or FI exhaust

The difference is substantial. It all comes down to what tone you prefer between Akrapovic and FI. They sound very different. If you don't run a tune you shouldn't run into any mechanical issues outside of the normal BMW stuff.

[4cfd bmr]

Originally Posted by jokerswld34

No matter what catted downpipes you install, you will more than likely get a CEL. Every manufacturer is going to advertise no CEL but the S63 motors are not downpipe friendly. Even guys running super sprint CATs got CELs quite often and those babies cost like 4-5k.

Maybe it doesn’t occur often but you will certainly get one. Don’t waste your money. Without a tune, installing a 200 cell cat is negatively impacting your fuel mixture and you will run more lean. Likely will cause other issues down the road. You may gain a tiny bit of power but nothing worth the price. The sound improvement is really nice but it is quite loud.

Take it from me, if you’re not tuning, just remove the secondary CATs and invest in an exhaust, or simply remove the mid pipe resonators on the OEM exhaust. I have some videos of inside the car, cold start up and racing if you want I can send them to you. PM your email.

[jokerswld34](contact:179444) Curious if you'd be able to email those to me. I tried PM'ing you and it basically said your inbox is full (in so many words). When you get a chance if you could PM me when you clear out your inbox/sent messages i'd appreciate it.

[Cobra_X5MC]

i have catless primary and secondary downpipes and a dinan stage 1 tune.

while the CEL is annoying i just clear it with an OBII reader paired to my phone.

i also dont leave my tune on all the time. i turn it off and use it when i really want to get on it. that probably sounds silly but i know theres always a chance these things can ruin the car. even if its from Dinan....

[ipayincash]

So your cold start is absolute bonkers for first 10 seconds and the 24/7 rotten egg smell BUT the sound of turbos and grunts is worth it in your opinion ? It doesn't run funny at all ? Others mentioned it will run lean...

[Brandt51]

I have catless downpipes on the rig, but it’s also unlocked and tuned. I thought the tuning was required.

The exhaust is stock other than the downpipes and it is loud. Can def hear the turbos spool too, almost sounds like a diesel. So cool. With the tuning, there’s pops, burbles and BANGS now. But no weird smell other than fuel sometimes in the hot tune. Hahaha.

Don’t do updates with unlocked ECUs otherwise you’ll have to buy another M SUV for your significant other after ruining her brand new dream car. Hahah. It’s ok now, ECUs are good to go again. Oops.

[Cobra_X5MC]

so is it a requirement to do a tune with Catless Primary Downpipes? i thought it was optional so you dont have to deal with the CEL.

if so how much have i damaged my car? LOL

[vitipr]

Originally Posted by Cobra_X5MC

so is it a requirement to do a tune with Catless Primary Downpipes? i thought it was optional so you dont have to deal with the CEL.

if so how much have i damaged my car? LOL

I have catless and jb4 in my x5m lci. No cel, all working great. Downpipe o2 sensors have spacers. Redstar sells the whole kit.

[Cobra_X5MC]

i have the o2 spacers from RedStar on. still got the CEL unfortunately. its hit or miss.

[vitipr]

Originally Posted by Cobra_X5MC

i have the o2 spacers from RedStar on. still got the CEL unfortunately. its hit or miss.

Try Big Daddies Garage mini cats then. Had an f80, g80 and now the x5m and never had a CEL issue (knock in wood) with the mini cats or spacers. Redstart gave me like 5 spacers, my shop used the one that limits the most air, if that helps.

[ipayincash]

How do both of you like the redstar catless dp's ? Thinking of doing exact same... Does the jb4 help with the loud cold start ?

[bellabimmer]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

^^ Pick up the following mods and you should be good while not impacting warranty/longevity.

Secondary downpipes
Full Akra or FI exhaust

The difference is substantial. It all comes down to what tone you prefer between Akrapovic and FI. They sound very different. If you don't run a tune you shouldn't run into any mechanical issues outside of the normal BMW stuff.

Whats the difference in sound between Akra and FI can you somehow describe differences etc.

I am catless downpipes with gpower exhaust but I have lots of exhaust drone.

[Alan l.]

Based on what i've heard myself is that Akra sounds more smooth and refined where as FI is just loud and broken up like old american V8. FI isn't my cup of tea but could be for someone else. I'm VERY happy with my Akra/Dinan combo and wouldn't change it for anything else on this car.

[vitipr]

Originally Posted by ipayincash

How do both of you like the redstar catless dp's ? Thinking of doing exact same... Does the jb4 help with the loud cold start ?

Its a loud cold start but one its settled the x5m sounds amazing. However you can definitely smell the fumes, my only negative thing. Regarding the jb4, cold start is unaffected by it, unrelated events.

[Cobra_X5MC]

the Catless downpipes completely change the car. its a monster and sounds amazing.

What Vitipr said is correct, the fumes are pretty bad. im considering putting my stock primary downpipes back on and leaving the secondary's catless for now.

was considering going stage 2 with a tune but may wait a bit. No regrets, just the fume smell is starting to get a bit old.

[vitipr]

Originally Posted by Cobra_X5MC

the Catless downpipes completely change the car. its a monster and sounds amazing.

What Vitipr said is correct, the fumes are pretty bad. im considering putting my stock primary downpipes back on and leaving the secondary's catless for now.

was considering going stage 2 with a tune but may wait a bit. No regrets, just the fume smell is starting to get a bit old.

Im in the same boat.

[ipayincash]

The smell is the only reason I was considering getting the redstar HJS HD 200cpsi 130mm but the price is holding me back and haven't read one single review about how the smell or sound compares to straight catless. I really wish redstar would make videos showing the difference in sounds at the very least.... obviously can't smell through the camera but would help consumers on making a decision