7milesout

Hello. My name is Jason, and I'm an exhaustaholic...

I'm in a strange mood. I just got finished going for a ride in my friend's vehicle here at work. A
2009 BMW M5 (V10 ). He recently assembled the remaining sections of an after market exhaust. He bought it with the section 3, and it sounded ... good.

He just put the section 1 and 2 in it, and it sounds ... bad ***. The car is in showroom condition, and if it were mine and it were 100° outside, I would always ride with the windows down and the radio off. It now sounds very exotic when it's revved up.

As I'm riding in it, I'm just thinking how good the LS would sound with straight pipes from rear of the resonators back. I've heard it, and it sounds good. If not a bit redneck (for an LS). But doggone it, I just can't help myself. It makes me feel all gooie inside when I hear a nice sounding exhaust. This guy has already had 1 serious issue (and expensive) to repair, and just finished repairing another issue that for 95% of the consumers would have cost them through the nose. But he's smart, he's a motorhead (like us), and fixed it himself inexpensively. As I rode in it told him, "you know what, it doesn't matter how many issues you have to fix, the sound alone is worth the trouble." And I meant it.

A while back, I started developing my own system for the LS, but ran into a bit of a snag. From now, I'm going to see if I can push through it and finish the project.

I can't help it. It may not sound right for an LS to be open / loud like that. But I can't help the redneck blood that runs in my veins.

My LS brothers and sister, I come to you for your support. I may need a sponsor to go with me wherever I go, and put head phones on me when a nice exhaust sound is near ... and wipe the drool off my chin. Anyone that would put a loud exhaust on an LS (like me) has issues. I need the support of the LS family. Please don't disown me. Maybe in a day or two, the sound of that V10 will stop echoing in my head, and I'll be OK with the whisper quiet exhaust from our cars again.


7milesout

tbilisi79

V10 BMW and our motors are very different . So forget that v 10 sound.

Also loud exhaust gets tiring really fast, especially if you drive the car on daily basis .

But if you insist. A guy next to my garage has a ISF with custom borla exhaust and no cats and the car sounds amazing.
Figure if you weld in an x pipe mid section and throw in a pair of borla mufflers it should sound good.
Borlas tend to be on a loud side. Magnaflow mufflers also sound good and are quiter.

I'm sure others will chime in as well.

Nospinzone

I know a shrink who can probably help you, but then you have to want to be helped, and I don't think that is the case.

Seriously, I think if you don't make some other radical mods, just making the exhaust louder isn't going to work well.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

I put a full Borla cat-back exhaust, x pipe, and Kooks long tube headers on my Mustang years ago that sounded really good. I'm not into loud exhaust anymore but if it is your style go for it. I am a fan of Borla products. I would start off with just the mufflers. If it's not loud enough start removing resonators.

roadfrog

As tbilisi said, the LS is no V10 BMW. As a former BMW owner, I only have to say "Thank God".

Also, it's akin to owning a Dodge Dart and wanting it to sound like an SRT Viper

I can attest to the "gets tiring real fast. The drone is awful. I know this because I removed my mufflers for nearly a week, not only to see how it would sound, but also discovering severe rot in the mufflers, necessitating replacement. I will admit that, at first, it sounded amazing. About 3 blocks later, I thought "oy". Days later, and I couldn't wait to get the replacement mufflers on. There are others here who have installed Flowmasters or Dynomax and say the drone is too much. I save my throaty rumbles for my Mustang GT.

NickTee

Straight pipes do not sound good, ever, and they are the shining example of quantity versus quality of sound. Much as a 7lb, burnt steak does not taste good despite the vast quantity, the straight pipe does not sound good just because it creates an excessive amount of noise.
If you want to modify the exhaust, make headers. They will give you more power and a slightly more aggressive sound.

CarGuy89

Jason - You are not alone! lol. In fact the E60 M5 is my favorite sounding sedan ever. I love the music that V10 makes. That being said, these 2 cars are designed for different purposes. IMO you are better off leaving the 460 stock, but adding a fun weekend car in the future (which is what I plan to do). This way you still retain one of the best luxury cars on the market while adding in a fun sports car with a nice sounding engine!

7milesout

I'm very aware that the V10 is different, as well as they wouldn't sound the same. The point was that the sound of that engine just made me weak. I also have an FD3S in the garge which has made mince meat out of every car i've raced but one. And it's so loud I had a guy I passed tell me it actually hurt his ears when I passed (at full throttle). It sounds good. But it sounds like a chain saw on crack. Not as sexy as that V10, nor as boss as a properly exhausted V8.

The one thing you guys are saying that is convincing me is the 3 block deal. I can see the possibility of going 3 blocks and thinking it sounds inappropriate and wanting the mufflers back on. Maybe I should remove them and just get it out of my system so I can put them back on and forget this?

NickTee

Perhaps you should swap in an LS3 and a turbo into the FD and you'll have the V8 exhaust tone you desire, along with an easy 650-700rwhp on fairly low boost. Or swap the LSX into a LS460, because it's funny

R Z

With loud pipes you won't need any sound system. You won't be able to hear it.

7milesout

Somebody "up in here," removed the mufflers, and posted the sound. It wasn't as loud as expected because the resonators are quite effective. That's what I want. Not RX-7 loud, but just kind of sexy. May not be quite that in real life. Will find out.

roadfrog

Oh man, trust me it's LOUD. A video's sound cannot capture it appropriately. At certain RPM's, the drone will make your ears bleed, What I wonder though, is how it might sound with the resonators removed and the mufflers in place. My guess is that it would sound equally offensive.

That said, the rumble and growl initially is intoxicating, but again, it quickly grows tiring. It's not too bad at idle though.

Tec80

Electric cutouts are another option. Stock quietness when you want peace, and loud mayhem when you don't.

roadfrog

Yeah, I believe someone did that here on CL.

seekhalilg

7milesout - I can relate. The car the made me want an exhaust was a friend's S5, which sounds perfect stock. I looked at a number of options and read numerous reviews, and ended up purchasing the JoeZ cat-back exhaust for my 460. Upon my first drive after installation, I questioned what the hell I had just done to my beautiful luxury ride. The drone at any RPM under 1,900 was atrocious, yet the sound after that was just perfect. In my quest to retain the epic sound (think G37/GTR hybrid) above 2k yet lessen the drone, I did a ton of research online and found a simple solution called a helmholtz resonator.

See: http://my.prostreetonline.com/2014/0...ne-resonators/

These can be fabricated by any decent exhaust shop and added in to any oem or aftermarket exhaust. I had my shop fab and install one resonator before each muffler, and the difference was significant. I now have a significantly dampened amount of drone in a small 400 RPM range (1,500-1,900) and have retained a magnificent sound both above and below that. The only time you'll ever hear the drone is when you're driving up a hill in a high gear.

As soon as I get around to upgrading my '08 to an F-sport, I'll most definitely be taking the exhaust with me!