New to forum- 2011 35D

[willyworm*]

Howdy,

I am the proud new owner a 2011 x5 35d with 82k mi. Not new to diesel, but new to the BMW family. Had a Jetta TDI til about 5 years ago, been in love with diesel ever since. Let me say that I live in South Carolina and we do not have diesel emissions testing, or annual vehicle inspections anymore.

Love the ride and the mpg of the E70 compared to my 2001 Tahoe. The main reasons for buying the x5 I did were:
1. duh, it's a diesel
2. it had the OEM receiver hitch; I'm a redneck and like to duck hunt, fish and just ride the swamps of backwoods SC, so I gotta be able to pull my boat around. I could have easily added it myself after the sale, but didn't want to mess with it if I could find one that met all my other desires and already had the hitch.
3. it had the premium driver's seat. From all the reading I did before they said it was a nice upgrade if you log the hwy miles like I do. I drive about 25k miles annually for my job, so mpg is my primary focus.
4. I have 2 kids so I wanted to keep about the same amount of space as my Tahoe, but improve on mpg. I was also considering the Audi Q7 but with the 3.0L Dieselgate the only ones I could find were 2013+ and were out of my budget. This x5 was my compromise, and I'm very pleased with my choice thus far.

I have some plans to delete the emissions crap and do a tune. I have a relationship with an excellent mechanic who was a BMW tech before going out on his own. He specializes in diesel times, but he's never done a x5 tune before, so I wanted to do my homework before he and I put a plan together. So I have lots of questions:

1. I was going to start with the EGR delete, but wasn't sure if it'll throw codes or not. I looked at fixmyvw.com and they have the EGR Delete kit for $225. Is there another kit available that's a better option, or are they all about the same? And can I install said kit by itself and keep riding or will it throw codes?

2. I also plan to do a full SCR/DPF delete at some point. Looking at the Buzzken 3" exhaust kit. BMW X5D DPF and SCR cat delete - 3" Is there really that much to be gained by going to the 3.5" Unobtainium kit? ANy pros or cons between the two? Once again, if there are other options I'm leaving out please enlighten me.

3. I can only assume that SCR/DPF removal would cause the computer to go insane. So once I procure all the parts to accomplish removal of the emissions junk, what are my options on a tune to address the software side after the OEM hardware is gutted? I looked at Chipwerke, JR AutoTuning, what others should I be looking at?

4. Anyone got a lead on a decent muffler? Seem silly to me to rework the plumbing only to leave the OEM muffler to be the weak link in the chain. Need some recommendations there as well please.

Thanks for all the input and I look forward to learning the ins and outs of this SAV.