Well, you guys convinced me… …and truth be told I was never really setting out to build a sleeper AMG E63 killer (it seems the only way to truly make a m54 competition worthy is forced induction and that’s an expense and headache 🤕 I’m not willing to invest in), but the sound is very important to me so I decided to forego the headers for the moment and (after some pretty exhaustive research) decided to go in on a pair of BadlanzHPE SS electric exhaust cutouts - they have excellent reviews, strong materials, manufactured in the US, reasonably priced and a 5 year warranty. Along with those I ordered a pair of Cherry Bomb M-80’s, a stainless stamped x-pipe to replace the resonator, and finally - the cherry on top - my faux M3 quad 3.5” tips. I’m pretty sure I’ll get all the sound I was hoping for with this setup, and it’s plenty absurd to keep me entertained for awhile, although I’m already bracing myself to be underwhelmed in terms of any performance gains.

Thanks again for your input guys; it definitely pointed me in the right direction. I’m hoping for install to happen mid-next week. I’ll throw up a link with a before/after video of the sound and you guys can judge whether it was worth all the goofy trouble!

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