well... finally modded a bit..
 

have a silver 2006 4.8is.
ordered some zomkspeed smoked clear/red LED tails, ordered up LightWerks tailight capacitor mod, picked up some smoked sidemarkers, got the front windows tinted to match the factory tinting, and the car is at the shop as i type getting the stock 20's powdercoated satin black.

:popcorn:

will post pics this weekend when everything is installed.. :stickpoke

debating on the stock exhaust withan x-pipe or straight pipes. thoughts?? (yeah yeah, ive searched) dont mind the raspiness. i love the rasp from an e46 m3.. but will it sound like total shite?

Post pics when you get the wheels done. I have been debating on doing my stock 20's in satin black as well.

Don't do straigth pipes, I gaurantee that it would drone too much in regular driving. Get the x-pipe, it sounds loud and clean and has a lot less drone when driving normally.

Straight pipes will sound like total "shite"

Trust me i have straight pipes on My 4.4 and the Raspyness drives you crazy. You hear it more cause the trunk is open to the cabin. I would go with the X-Pipe.

Not only will it sound like shite, it will defy the whole point of what an x-pipe is designed to do. Don't make the same mistake BMWX54.4 made.

:iagree:

Hijack! heres a pic with semi gloss black. your gonna love your twenties all over again
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/DSCF0339.jpg

what is the recommended x-pipe placement as far as distance from the mufflers, etc? :stickpoke

I'd just throw it in the middle of where the resonator is now. I would think that its probably somewhat important where its located so that the exhaust pulses cross each other at the right time, but its better to have it there in general vs deleting it completely. When you remove the res, take pics of the inside for the heck of it. The res out of my 7 had an internally muffler x-pipe, so going to just a normal x-pipe w/o the muffling is what makes it sound so sweet and give it a little extra tone in the X. Slightly off topic, but cat replacement and positioning is definately more critical since they need to be dead centered between the pre and post 02 sensors. I've read of people getting cat efficiency codes from placing them too far forward or back from their original position. Just center the x-pipe and you should be fine. 2.25" btw.