Hello all,
Now that some people are finally getting their hands on some ///M2's and aftermarket parts are starting to emerge, I thought I'd give my long overdue review of my
Fabspeed Motorsport Sport Cat downpipe and Muffler Bypass...
I have long known
of Fabspeed Motorsport; I drive by their shop at least once a week (my daughters go to swim right down the street). I honestly was not aware that they dealt with aftermarket parts for BMW's. I was used to seeing more "exotic" cars out in their lot. However after some research I found out that they have had a good amount of experience in tuning and developing parts for the F22. I contacted Bobby Ashton at Fabspeed, who is their BMW specialist (he also drives an m235). They were more than happy to get their hands on an ///M2, as this was back in May and there just weren't many out in the wild.
So after speaking with Bobby and checking out their website, I knew that what I'd be interested in was some sort of downpipe. Wasn't sure if I wanted to go catless or catted at this point. Bobby invited me to check out their shop and talk about options. Attached below are some pics of my first visit. As many of us here on the forums, this is not my first enthusiasts car, and I have never kept any of my cars in stock form. So I have had a good amount of experience with tuners. I must say that Fabspeed's showroom and shop area is the most impressive one I've dealt with. The showroom is spotless as is the shop area. They fabricate nearly everything in house. I was given a thorough tour of the entire place. Everyone I spoke to seemed extremely knowledgeable and very enthusiastic about tuning cars. I'm not sure how to embed photos and videos, so here are some pics from my first visit to the shop, followed by pics of the exhaust/DP installed on my car, and the dynograph:
I can't say enough positives about my experience with Fabspeed. When I dropped off my car, they thoroughly inspected it for any damage, and took pictures of the car (now I know this was also a "cover my a$$" move on their part as well), but it was a nice touch. They took down the mileage, how much gas was in the tank, and asked if I wanted my license plate blurred out if they post pictures online. During the whole installation process their were two times where I needed the car back, so they dropped it off at my house. Car was always washed when I picked it up. One time I dropped by unannounced, and the driver's seat was wrapped in clear plastic, with the standard paper mats by the pedals. All my OEM parts were wrapped with enough bubble wrap that I could probably toss if off my second floor deck and there'd be no damage.
Now onto the most important stuff- my thoughts on their products. First off, I don't think anyone will question the quality of their products. Seriously. Look at their stuff. Welds and finish are top top notch. They have to be. Most of their customers are driving truly exotic, truly very expensive cars, and want their aftermarket parts to match in quality. My lowly M2 looked out of place in their shop.
I decided to go with their Sport Cat downpipe, because I didn't want to deal with any CELs. It's been asked numerous times on the forums whether their catted DP will throw a CEL. It will not. I checked out the m235 forums and lots of people there have their catted DPs, and no one has had any issues. Build quality, as expected, is top notch. The sound? Best to watch the videos that Fabspeed has included in their original exhaust thread. That is my car in the video, and while it mostly accurately gives you a sense of how the car sounds, I think it sounds even better in real life. The DP exaggerates and multiples the "burbles" that we all love.
In terms of performance, you can check out the below posted dyno. My butt dyno tells me the car feels a bit peppier, a bit more eager to get on boost. Night and day? By no means. Does it transform the car into an absolute beast? No. But I sincerely do feel the car pulls a bit harder. And now it
sounds like a beast
You can also hear the turbo spool up a bit. Bottom line, I love the Sport Cat DP. For me, it's perfect. I get the sound, along with some performance gains, and NO CEL.
On to the muffler bypass. Initially, I had no plans on doing anything with the exhaust. But I was so satisfied with the DP, I decided to give the Muffler Bypass a shot. Admittedly, you won't see any performance gains with this product. You do lose some weight (I believe around 14lbs?). Once again, in terms of build quality, no concerns or issues.
The look of the exhaust- I think it looks great. Initially, when I first saw it on the car, I was a bit hesitant. I thought the pipes were a bit large, and extended out a bit too much. But I quickly realized that was not the case, and I really really like the brushed stainless look (I believe they have other tip styles as well).
Now the most important quality to an aftermarket exhaust is...the sound (IMO). So..the one thing to note about the muffler bypass is, that on initial startup, particularly cold starts, the thing is LOUD. Like rattle the rear view mirror, wake up sleeping kids loud. However, for whatever reason, after about 10 seconds after startup, the exhausts quiets down SIGNIFICANTLY. Not sure why (wastegate closing/opening???). After this point, I think the exhaust sounds FANTASTIC. While the DP increases the amount of "burbles", the exhaust amplifies the volume of the burbles and all the other good sounds this car naturally makes. Windows down, in nice weather, it sounds GLORIOUS. Seriously.
The next big question is, what about any drone? I have had numerous cars with numerous aftermarket exhausts, and I have yet to find one without ANY drone. And this exhaust is the same. However, I notice that it is within a relatively small RPM range (say 2800-3200), at highway cruising speeds. Is it unbearable? By no means. Is it noticeable? Yes. But as with most aftermarket exhausts, it's largely manageable with some thoughtful throttle control. Although my ///M2 is my DD, I usually drive only 5-7k miles a year, and don't do much highway driving, so what little drone there is is not really an issue. YMMV.
OK, it's getting late, and I don't want to ramble. I wrote this post to give you what I hope is an unbiased review of my DP/Exhaust, as well as my experience with Fabspeed Motorsports. I couldn't be happier. From start to finish a thoroughly enjoyable experience dealing with those guys...
Here is a link to the original exhaust thread, with a video clip of my car...
http://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1270926
-c