4.8is, stock cats or race? What do you all think?

[vierpunktachtis]

Hey guys

I've been trying to sell my Imolared '05 4.8is for quite some time now and the market for these kind of cars here in Sweden is pretty much dead, so i'm basically having some second thoughts about selling it. The offers i get on the car is so low, i feel it's not even worth selling. Therefore i'm thinking of doing some modifications on it. One of those mods are the exhaust.

Is there any reason to change the stock cats to like 300 cells race?

Someone told me years ago that it could give quite a big HP gain (like 10-15hp). Is there any truth to this, or am i just wasting time and money? I would like to keep the exhaust as much original as possible (the tips on the 4.8is are the greatest). Also, how big weightreduction would this kind of procedure do?

Off topic, other mods i've been thinking about is getting some smoked taillights (blinker and reverselight), white angeleyes, foglights, license plate lights, interior lighting and maybe some AC Schnitzer footrests, handbrake and floor mats.

What do you all think? The car has black leather with graphite metallic trim, high gloss shadowline and panoramic sunroof. Any ideas on other mods?

[dannypiv]

I wouldn't change the cats. They don't do that much for your horse power (5hp maybe 10hp). But, if you do want to keep your exhaust original but unique, do what I did. I removed the center resonator and installed an X-Pipe. It sounds GREAT. It is noticiebly louder than stock, especially on start up. When in idle it sounds basically stock but when you really give it some gas, it sounds amazing. Not too loud and definitely deep, a real nice growl.

As for the other modifications, I was also thinking about getting different tails. I would like to get the LED tails with the smoked reverse lights and smoked tail lights; like these, SMOKE 00-06 BMW E53 X5 4.4i 3.0i 4.6is 4.8is RED SMOKED EURO TAIL LIGHTS LAMPS | eBay and I also did the LED License plate lights on my 4.8is, they look great but occasionally the Check Lic. Lights message comes on the dash, but I don't mind. I would do the White Angel Eyes because I am planning on doing them too, Foglights would look good also, I would do LED interior lighting because it looks great, but make sure you unplug your battery for most of the Lighting accesories.
I would not do AC Schnitzer stuff because I personally think it looks bad with a non-AC Schnitzer car, but that is just my opinion.
Good luck with whatever you do and post some pictures if you do any of these

Other mods I would do if I were you are running boards, an underride guard (love mine), black kidney grills, maybe powdercoating your wheels matte or gloss black, carbon fiber window pillars and emblems, and carbon fiber wrapping your interior (I am planning on doing most of these) . For performance I am planning on installing a Stage 2 aFe Intake and a Sprint Booster Throttle Remapper, I am getting these too! Wheel spacers and maybe some KW Coilovers would look pretty good too.
You can order most of this stuff from bimmian.com, they have pretty good prices and the carry most of the stuff you're planning on doing.