Tomorrow is my day off and I'm going to visit my exhaust system guy. I hope once he gets it up in the air, he has some good advice for me. We'll see. Wish me luck. If anything happens, video and pics to follow. I'm taking my camera for sure.

Go for the X pipe! it'll make a big difference since you have a v8 ..

.. or glasspacks haha

Well I followed the advice of some of the forum members and got the
x-pipe put in. The first thing I realised while idling was absolutely nothing. I was worried it might be loud and that would be tough to explain to my wife but once I started driving at a slow pace again, not much difference, which again, is nice. It's only when you mash the throttle that the exhaust note comes alive and you can hear the difference. It's definitely not obnoxious but it adds a tasteful growl. I'm more then pleased and I'm pretty sure after getting a closer look at everything under the vehicle I'm going to stop with exhaust upgrades and now work on making the engine inhale better.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...ictures021.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...ictures022.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...ictures024.jpg

Gofast ... what engine do you have? If you have the 8 cyl you should also notice something when you just start the car - should have a nice bark/growl now. :thumbup:

......0n my 3.0, what differences will I notice if I install the X-pipe.....that same 'bark/growl'?

Gofast, how much did they charge you to install your X-pipe?

MTX5 just did some exhaust mods on his 3.0i, you could ask him how it sounded, then check out how his currently sounds. Check out this thread.

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...st-system.html

I just did mine on a 4.4 and it sounds awesome. Just right. Certainly
noticeable at start up. I will try to get a clip posted ASAP.

Audio of my 4.8 with X-pipe
 

Alright, just did a quick recording of the X. Not much to see but plenty to hear!

The sound is pretty close to what I hear except I don't think its quite this raspy - especially if you turn up the volume too much. Listen with the volume kinda low. I say this because when I'm singing karaoke I think I sound great but yet all the dogs in town start howling - so I don't know!:D :rofl:

I recorded this with Nikon coolpix S9 camera so probably not the best quality for audio but, eh, got the job done.

I placed the camera right on the bullbar of the ML430 (right about the Xs rear bumper height) and the ML was about 5feet away. I did not floor it. I tried to wait for the idle to go down after startup but didnt want the video to be too long so I revved it with minimal wait.

Not quite as deep as stock but fine for me. :thumbup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_gkL5w8mg

I'd imagine standing outside the vehicle might sound a little better but with the window open, there wasn't really a noticeable difference. I think once I get an open air intake and it chipped it will add a little more sound to it. I do know that I must have lost about 50-60lbs on that piece they cut off which was nice. I'll borrow my bosses HD video camera once this cold snap has passed and do some recording in a parking lot.

As for what I paid, I paid $300 CDN with tax for everything.

I just listened to that sound clip and now I'm definitely going to have to record something sooner because I don't think mine sounds that loud. I'll get to work on a sound clip tomorrow.

i have the eisenmann race mufflers on my 4.8. it is the best money i have ever spent - sounds insane.