Quote:
Originally Posted by BMdoubleUTIFUL
There was an issue with the midpipe mating up to the downpipes. When you lay the two systems side by side (oem + valvetronics) you can see the flanges are rotated slightly compared to stock. You would think this isn't a big problem until you attempt to mount it. One oem down pipe has a flex portion and one of the valvetronic pipes has a flex portion. Both are at a their maximum flex when the pipes are being mated, just to get the nuts on to the downpipe bolts. As you try to tighten them, the system does not naturally take the correct path of travel as it goes toward the rear of the car. It's at an angle towards the driver rear when it needs to be towards the passenger rear. You must force the pipe toward the passenger side while simultaneously tightening the flanges. This still left the bracket for the midpipe exhaust hanger about 1/2 - 1 inch off center and to the rear of where it needed to be in order for it to mount with a bolt and screw. I ultimately had to drill a channel into the exhaust hanger bracket in order to get the screw to sit at a low enough angle to get a nut on it and support the midpipe. The rest of the mounting went much more smooth as far as mounting the exhaust to the vehicle.
The valve actuators from your oem system mount to the valvetronic system with included springs from valvetronic. Unfortunately the springs do not fit into the channels that are required to allow the system to operate. I was told to heat them up and bend them into place. The springs are quite sturdy and I didn't have a heat gun so I had to go buy one. Pliers of any kind didnt yield me any luck. I had to use a pair of channel locks with a thin tip to for where it needed to be. It ended up a little disfigured as you can imagine a perfect spiral won't keep its shape after you heat it to a temperature that allows it to bend. But I was able to use some force and get the actuators to coincide with the valves and the bent springs.
It took me a weekend at home using jacks and jack stands. Multiple hours of attempting different avenues to get the downpipes and midpipe to mate. And waiting for responses from valvetronics when I would send them pictures of things not fitting correctly and getting responses that insinuated they were not going to help. I was probably one of the first within the batch that released the full stainless system so it's fair to say there could have been some things out of spec on their side. But you would think they would offer to replace parts that are shown and measured to be off, instead of ignoring the fact that a new product had fitment issues.
Ultimately the sound is great. I would say cruising from point A to point B on the highway sounds as if it's equivalent to oem sport mode while in comfort mode. When you are actually in sport mode it is throaty and screams at high rpm. I was also under the impression that the newest software update that added the up shift "fart" was purely active sound on the inside of the car because even with windows down using the oem system I never heard it. But it's very clear with a full exhaust that the up shift "fart" is mechanically there outside of the car as well. There is no rasp unless you are at a stand still and rev the car passed 4 - 4.5k but even then it's nothing obnoxious.
I don't remember where I read this but I was sure that my exhaust would come with the forged carbon tips, but they actually came with 1x1 weave carbon tips which I wanted in the first place. The quality of the car looks very nice but I don't have a carbon diffuser to compare it to, and the carbon roof is so far away that you would never be able to notice if the weave was different.
Sorry for the long rant, just trying to be informative about everything up front to possible future buyers.
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Hey man don't be sorry for the rant. It's exactly what I'm looking for. I to will be installing this myself and want as few issues as possible. I do remember you now and a few others having issues with the midpipes and all from Valvetronic in this link.
https://g80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1875680
It's to bad that they didn't seem to want to help you more on the issues but it sounds like you have it figured out now. This may sway me to go Active now but we'll see. Thanks again for the awesome write up!