[m c]

Hello.

I've been reading this thread with great interest. Many thanks to those of you who pioneered this project. I picked up an '18 M2 with MPE about a month ago and while I adore it most of the time, it's simply too raucous for extended highway trips. The incessant drone and road noise after a three hour trip made it feel like a 12-hour journey.

I've compiled my list with the guidance of all of those who have already jumped on this project. I have my shopping cart full of the necessary parts but before I pull the trigger, I have two questions:

1. I don't have any real complaints about noise coming from the engine compartment. At least I don't think I do. How much of a difference does the hood insulation make for road noise? Does it purely mute engine NVH or is there another benefit to it?

2. Apologies if I missed it in the thread, but does anyone who has tackled adding insulation to the rear of the car have the MPE (minus resonator)? If so, has the drone been reduced at all? I love it on short drives. It's waaay too much on long drives. If the insulation didn't do much, have you found an acceptable solution short of adding the resonator back in?

Many thanks again for everyone's input and time they've put into this. I never expected to question my buying decision when I bought this car but the truth is, after the long highway trip my wife and I made last week, I started to. I'm so relieved to know that ambitious folks like yourselves were able to find a solution.

[DarthFader]

Originally Posted by m c

Hello.

I've been reading this thread with great interest. Many thanks to those of you who pioneered this project. I picked up an '18 M2 with MPE about a month ago and while I adore it most of the time, it's simply too raucous for extended highway trips. The incessant drone and road noise after a three hour trip made it feel like a 12-hour journey.

I've compiled my list with the guidance of all of those who have already jumped on this project. I have my shopping cart full of the necessary parts but before I pull the trigger, I have two questions:

1. I don't have any real complaints about noise coming from the engine compartment. At least I don't think I do. How much of a difference does the hood insulation make for road noise? Does it purely mute engine NVH or is there another benefit to it?

2. Apologies if I missed it in the thread, but does anyone who has tackled adding insulation to the rear of the car have the MPE (minus resonator)? If so, has the drone been reduced at all? I love it on short drives. It's waaay too much on long drives. If the insulation didn't do much, have you found an acceptable solution short of adding the resonator back in?

Many thanks again for everyone's input and time they've put into this. I never expected to question my buying decision when I bought this car but the truth is, after the long highway trip my wife and I made last week, I started to. I'm so relieved to know that ambitious folks like yourselves were able to find a solution.

I wouldn't start buying a bunch of deadening material. With MPE it's never going to be super quiet in the cabin on the highway.

Best bet is to:
Ditch MPE or perhaps get a resonator in there
Code out ASD
Get some new tires - PS4 are very quiet vs stock PSS or Continentals

My car has stock exhaust, no ASD, PS4 tires, front fender seals for like $28 and it is very quiet on the highway. I just got back from a 5k mile trip across the country and it was fine. No annoyance whatsoever. Wife never complained.

[Nezil]

Originally Posted by m c

Hello.

I've been reading this thread with great interest. Many thanks to those of you who pioneered this project. I picked up an '18 M2 with MPE about a month ago and while I adore it most of the time, it's simply too raucous for extended highway trips. The incessant drone and road noise after a three hour trip made it feel like a 12-hour journey.

I've compiled my list with the guidance of all of those who have already jumped on this project. I have my shopping cart full of the necessary parts but before I pull the trigger, I have two questions:

1. I don't have any real complaints about noise coming from the engine compartment. At least I don't think I do. How much of a difference does the hood insulation make for road noise? Does it purely mute engine NVH or is there another benefit to it?

I can't answer about the hood insulation because it's the only part I've not yet fitted. I'm actually interested to hear other responses about this.

What I can say however is that the insulation that goes in the door gap does block quite a bit of engine noise. This is because at the top of that gap it goes in to the engine bay bulkhead area. Fitting those foam seals isn't for wind noise or wheel noise, it's really for high frequency engine noise reduction.

2. Apologies if I missed it in the thread, but does anyone who has tackled adding insulation to the rear of the car have the MPE (minus resonator)? If so, has the drone been reduced at all? I love it on short drives. It's waaay too much on long drives. If the insulation didn't do much, have you found an acceptable solution short of adding the resonator back in?

Sadly, I also cannot answer this question directly because I don't have an MPE. What I can say is that I was surprised at the difference the sound isolation over the rear wheel arches inside the car makes. It's four pieces - two in the trunk area and two beside the rear seats. I did these simply to complete the interior deadening, but I noticed a massive difference if I have the rear seat folded down for any reason; way less drone at highway speeds.

[m c]

Thanks for the responses.

Nezil, regarding your last point, are you saying drone is reduced with the seats down rather than up?

[Nezil]

Originally Posted by m c

Thanks for the responses.

Nezil, regarding your last point, are you saying drone is reduced with the seats down rather than up?

I have the stock exhaust with a Fabspeed Sport Cat and tune. There is some drone at around 3,000 rpm but far less than I understand is present with an MPE. I had noticed in the past that with the seats down the drone was far louder (obviously).

What I mean is that after installing the additional deadening, even though I wasn't expecting much, it killed the drone even when the seats were down. When they're up it was even better still.

I guess my point is that it's worth doing to make the drone less, whichever exhaust you have installed. Will it eliminate the drone from your exhaust I cannot say, but I can say that it will make quite a noticeable difference.

[m c]

Very helpful. Thanks.

I think I'll skip the hood insulation and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

[Poffman]

Originally Posted by m c

Hello.

I've been reading this thread with great interest. Many thanks to those of you who pioneered this project. I picked up an '18 M2 with MPE about a month ago and while I adore it most of the time, it's simply too raucous for extended highway trips. The incessant drone and road noise after a three hour trip made it feel like a 12-hour journey.

I've compiled my list with the guidance of all of those who have already jumped on this project. I have my shopping cart full of the necessary parts but before I pull the trigger, I have two questions:

1. I don't have any real complaints about noise coming from the engine compartment. At least I don't think I do. How much of a difference does the hood insulation make for road noise? Does it purely mute engine NVH or is there another benefit to it?

2. Apologies if I missed it in the thread, but does anyone who has tackled adding insulation to the rear of the car have the MPE (minus resonator)? If so, has the drone been reduced at all? I love it on short drives. It's waaay too much on long drives. If the insulation didn't do much, have you found an acceptable solution short of adding the resonator back in?

Many thanks again for everyone's input and time they've put into this. I never expected to question my buying decision when I bought this car but the truth is, after the long highway trip my wife and I made last week, I started to. I'm so relieved to know that ambitious folks like yourselves were able to find a solution.

I have this same setup with an MPE and ASD bypass harness on my 18 DCT. The above callout for MPS4S is a great one, you will not regret those tires.

I had an e92 M3 before and have been disappointed in the road noise of the m2. I did the hood insulation and door seals some time back and found the results to be decent. My daughter (7) rides in the back a lot and her seat was quite loud. I filled the holes under the rear side panels with the big metal piece from the m240i and again, decent improvement.

I've had the trunk and rear wheel well pieces for a few months and finally put them in yesterday. We took a drive before in a variety of conditions, street, freeway, and a variety of settings. We did comfort valves closed to sport+ valves open WOT. We then did the same drive after.

The wheel wheel and trunk kit made a really nice difference. All 3 of us were impressed and happy with the change (after my daughter had been complaining how long it was taking of course..) You hear the road less and the engine/exhaust is much cleaner. It's much easier to hear my wife and daughter in the car. I tried to use a db meter but had conflicting results. We're about to take a 1k or so mile round trip over the weekend and I'm very pleased about the improvement.

Install wasn't too bad, disassembling the trunk area and lifting out the rear seat button are the hardest parts. There are a few wiring harnesses that I couldn't get the sound deadening under easily. I just cut small lines in the sound deadening to slide it under and put the wiring where it goes, then taped over the sound deadening with black duct tape. All in all it took my wife and I about 2.5 hours. It would take maybe 1hr now if we were to do it again.

[m c]

Great info, Poffman. My stuff just arrived from getbmwparts which was waaaay quicker than I was expecting. Fortunately I'm off today soooo.....here we go.

Thanks all, for the help.

[m c]

Did anyone manage the rear insulation without removing the seatbacks? Or is that necessary?

[m c]

Well, it's in. It took forever and the 90+ degree sun didn't help but it's done.

For those considering this project, honestly, it's a pain but I wouldn't call it difficult. The photos others have posted were a huge help but in the end I used them more just to figure out the orientation of the trunk insulation than anything else. Like others mentioned, I just figured out how to fit it behind the wire harnesses as I went. And also like others, there were some spots I had to cut the insulation but that's no big deal.

The biggest headache I found, and there were a few, were the support braces under the parcel shelf that bolt to the wheel well. Be aware that you will have to cut holes in the insulation for the lower bolts on both sides and figuring out exactly where was a pain.

Anyhow, we cancel our road trip tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll get to hear the difference but I suspect it will be notable improvement in terms of road noise. But based on what I saw in the parts I put in, I suspect it will do very little to address the MPE drone. But we'll see.

[Poffman]

Originally Posted by m c

Well, it's in. It took forever and the 90+ degree sun didn't help but it's done.

For those considering this project, honestly, it's a pain but I wouldn't call it difficult. The photos others have posted were a huge help but in the end I used them more just to figure out the orientation of the trunk insulation than anything else. Like others mentioned, I just figured out how to fit it behind the wire harnesses as I went. And also like others, there were some spots I had to cut the insulation but that's no big deal.

The biggest headache I found, and there were a few, were the support braces under the parcel shelf that bolt to the wheel well. Be aware that you will have to cut holes in the insulation for the lower bolts on both sides and figuring out exactly where was a pain.

Anyhow, we cancel our road trip tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll get to hear the difference but I suspect it will be notable improvement in terms of road noise. But based on what I saw in the parts I put in, I suspect it will do very little to address the MPE drone. But we'll see.

Glad it wasn't too bad. Curious to hear what you think. I'm super happy with the results for the effort and cost.

[m c]

I still haven't been on the highway but my observations from local driving:

> road noise seems to be markedly reduced. Less crashing over bumps, grittier asphalt doesn't seem to hum and intrude the cabin as much and it's a generally more pleasant place to be. It could be a different story at highway speeds but my initial impression is positive here

> it seems to have done nothing to reduce MPE drone in the cabin. I've made a point of driving around in that droney rev range between about 2700 and 3000 rpm and it seems every bit as loud as it did before

So far I'm glad I did but I wish I could do something to reduce the amount of drone that gets into the cabin. It's headache-inducing on long trips.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by m c

> it seems to have done nothing to reduce MPE drone in the cabin. I've made a point of driving around in that droney rev range between about 2700 and 3000 rpm and it seems every bit as loud as it did before.

What about putting some dyna-mat (or the like) on the horizontal surfaces of the trunk (under the black cover where the net goes)?

Maybe that would help the drone a little bit?

However-- upon thinking about it a little bit, when I did a performance exhaust on my e46 M3 AND and on my supercharged Solara (both long gone and long ago), I had drone issues at a certain rpm range. The solution was a fairly expensive mid-pipe that had been designed specifically for that reason. I installed the mid-pipe and it solved the problem.

Obviously a completely different cars, engines, exhaust setups-- but it may just be that without doing something to the exhaust piping between the exhaust manifold and the can-- you're going to get a drone with an aftermarket exhaust.

[Zeese]

Originally Posted by m c

%snip%
Anyhow, we cancel our road trip tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll get to hear the difference but I suspect it will be notable improvement in terms of road noise. But based on what I saw in the parts I put in, I suspect it will do very little to address the MPE drone. But we'll see.

The drone :-/

This past Friday, August 7th, I had the resonator from the stock exhaust added to the MPE. The original plan was to cut out a section of pipe and replace it with the resonator using V-Bands. V-Bands? I would take the straight pipe and install flanges on it too. This would allow one to swap the resonator and the straight pipe with some facility, if desired. Fail! The choices of where to place the resonator were few — one. Too little clearance for me except in one section. Seemed silly to mess with the V-Bands and maybe lose some ground clearance. The resonator is welded into place.

Impact? Substantial! The drone appears to be absent. There is less of a "statement" now as opposed to when there was a straight pipe. Do I miss the straight pipe? Well, yes. The car has less bark. Would I remove the resonator? No. The driving experience is less jarring to me. Conversations are possible. Rolling down the windows is sort of interesting now. It is easy to listen to the radio.

Few highway miles to say much more re: the MPE drone. I have the original Contis on the car. Guessing the Michelin PS4S will help with noise.

To do: Install the insulation in the trunk.

Anyone know the torque specs for these four bolts that are on each side of the trunk? If yes, how do you know? Happy to learn. Thanks!

[BMWF87Melb]

A little off topic here but still on the topic of noise / sound. Are there any tinnitus sufferers here with the OG M2?

I've never had any tinnitus before but either after two weeks of owning the car (everything stock), I've got ringing in my ears and as well experiencing blocked ears while driving the car (never had this sensation with any other cars). After driving the car as well the ringing seems to be worse too.

Not sure if it's just a coincidence and I might be experiencing these sensations due to a cold or infection - but just wanted to see if others have experienced a similar thing?
I didn't think the OG M2 was particularly loud in stock form but if there's anything I can identify it seems the howl from the car seems hits a frequency that my head doesn't like. I have now turned off the ASD via the bypass harness but that has not helped anything.

I'm seeing an audiologist tomorrow it's that bothersome - but really hoping it's not the car, as I don't think it's something I can live with long term! I'm just under 40 and have had cars with modified exhausts before and they've been no issue, could be a sign of age right? :s

[m c]

Update

I've taken my first two extended highway trips this week since adding the insulation. The result is a significant reduction in road noise, even over courser pavement. It's not Lexus quiet (or even 3 Series quiet) but it's a marked improvement in comparison to before.

I can also attest that it has done seemingly nothing to reduce the exhaust drone, much as I suspected. But after several hundred highway miles and at least as many local commuter miles, I have decided (for now anyway) that I can stomach the drone for the bark and growl I get when I really want it. However, if my highway miles increase in any great numbers, that opinion could change.

Now, to figure out how to stop the carbon tips on the MPE from rattling during cold start....

On an aside, I'm sorry to hear about the ringing in your ears. I haven't experienced anything like that. Good luck at the audiologist.

[srmast1]

Originally Posted by BMWF87Melb

A little off topic here but still on the topic of noise / sound. Are there any tinnitus sufferers here with the OG M2?

I've never had any tinnitus before but either after two weeks of owning the car (everything stock), I've got ringing in my ears and as well experiencing blocked ears while driving the car (never had this sensation with any other cars). After driving the car as well the ringing seems to be worse too.

Not sure if it's just a coincidence and I might be experiencing these sensations due to a cold or infection - but just wanted to see if others have experienced a similar thing?
I didn't think the OG M2 was particularly loud in stock form but if there's anything I can identify it seems the howl from the car seems hits a frequency that my head doesn't like. I have now turned off the ASD via the bypass harness but that has not helped anything.

I'm seeing an audiologist tomorrow it's that bothersome - but really hoping it's not the car, as I don't think it's something I can live with long term! I'm just under 40 and have had cars with modified exhausts before and they've been no issue, could be a sign of age right? :s

I have a 2018 OG M2 with factory MPE and the drone at 80 mph on the highway was just too much for me. I thought i would get used to it but I never did. Its not the road noise or the vibration (i mean, it is a sports car) that bothered me, just that damn drone at ~ 3000 rpm in any gear.

Rather than add insulation, i put a stock exhaust on my M2 and that took care of the drone as well as made the car quieter overall, which I like. Really, the only thing that will kill that drone is putting on an exhaust with resonators. Anyway, i notice zero difference on my butt dyno, and now I can hear the sound of the 6 cylinder over the loud, raucous exhaust noises i used to get.

I never experienced tinnitis (ringing) but I did experience ear fatigue and discomfort. My hearing has recovered, and I can take highway trips in relative comfort. Its very nice with stock exhaust. I can listen to music on the highway or even have a conversation via bluetooth.

I figured it would be easier to buy a stock exhaust($200 lightly used) rather than splice the resonators from the stock exhaust into the MPE. That, ASD delete and the spare tire kit are my only mods. Also, i dont think your issue is age related. You must be sensitive to the m2 stock exhaust audio frequencies or you may have an undiagnosed inner ear issue. I am VERY sensitive to the frequency of exhaust drone in the OG m2. I hope you find a solution!

[BMWF87Melb]

Originally Posted by srmast1

I have a 2018 OG M2 with factory MPE and the drone at 80 mph on the highway was just too much for me. I thought i would get used to it but I never did. Its not the road noise or the vibration (i mean, it is a sports car) that bothered me, just that damn drone at ~ 3000 rpm in any gear.

Rather than add insulation, i put a stock exhaust on my M2 and that took care of the drone as well as made the car quieter overall, which I like. Really, the only thing that will kill that drone is putting on an exhaust with resonators. Anyway, i notice zero difference on my butt dyno, and now I can hear the sound of the 6 cylinder over the loud, raucous exhaust noises i used to get.

I never experienced tinnitis (ringing) but I did experience ear fatigue and discomfort. My hearing has recovered, and I can take highway trips in relative comfort. Its very nice with stock exhaust. I can listen to music on the highway or even have a conversation via bluetooth.

I figured it would be easier to buy a stock exhaust($200 lightly used) rather than splice the resonators from the stock exhaust into the MPE. That, ASD delete and the spare tire kit are my only mods. Also, i dont think your issue is age related. You must be sensitive to the m2 stock exhaust audio frequencies or you may have an undiagnosed inner ear issue. I am VERY sensitive to the frequency of exhaust drone in the OG m2. I hope you find a solution!

Thanks for the inputs. The funny thing is I actually was planning to buying a second hand MPE. I do like my cars with a bit more noise but in my current tinnitus state, might steer away for now! Sounds like you don't miss your MPE at all? There seems to be plenty of drone complaints here on the forum, but there are a few that mentioned they have no drone at all! Sound is really subjective but could it possibly be to a mis-install of the MPE and the cutting of the pipes?

I've done the ASD delete, and that has helped a bit - boominess has to go.

Great to hear you're enjoying your car with the stock exhaust and can drive in comfort!

I'm very much crossing fingers it is an inter ear virus/infection as the audiologist said he couldn't find anything wrong with my ears or hearing. Seems like no one has had any such issue with the exhaust frequency, so hope it's just down to something else.

[BMWF87Melb]

Originally Posted by m c

Update

I've taken my first two extended highway trips this week since adding the insulation. The result is a significant reduction in road noise, even over courser pavement. It's not Lexus quiet (or even 3 Series quiet) but it's a marked improvement in comparison to before.

I can also attest that it has done seemingly nothing to reduce the exhaust drone, much as I suspected. But after several hundred highway miles and at least as many local commuter miles, I have decided (for now anyway) that I can stomach the drone for the bark and growl I get when I really want it. However, if my highway miles increase in any great numbers, that opinion could change.

Now, to figure out how to stop the carbon tips on the MPE from rattling during cold start....

On an aside, I'm sorry to hear about the ringing in your ears. I haven't experienced anything like that. Good luck at the audiologist.

Thanks for that - unfortunately haven't gotten to the bottom of the ears ringing so hopefully it's not car related!

Did you try pushing the MPE carbon exhaust tips further back? I've read some had some luck with that and changing the bolt for the tip.

[LuvMyE92]

I don't think it's the carbon tips rattling - I think it's the cold start algorithm that the cars use to warm up the cats quickly that give you the horrible rattling sound.

Kudos to @Zeese for installing the resonator to fix the drone. That noise was the big fun killer for me on the M2. I hated the idea of taking off a $4K option and replacing it with stock (at more expense).

Side note of possible interest: I was watching one of those car shows on MotorTrend TV (formerly Velocity) and they were showing a cat-back system for the Tundra. Apparently it has quite a drone, and so to fix that issue they weld in a piece of pipe that goes off at a 90 degree for about 2 ft. It isn't an exhaust cutout per se, but just a pipe to kill the resonance at a certain frequency. Interesting approach.

Of course there is no room to do that on a BMW.

I once had a Corvette with a B&B catback system, and it had a miserable drone at around 1600-1800 RPM, which is highway cruising for that car. I had to use earplugs, and ended up towing it everywhere.

[srmast1]

Originally Posted by BMWF87Melb

Thanks for the inputs. The funny thing is I actually was planning to buying a second hand MPE. I do like my cars with a bit more noise but in my current tinnitus state, might steer away for now! Sounds like you don't miss your MPE at all? There seems to be plenty of drone complaints here on the forum, but there are a few that mentioned they have no drone at all! Sound is really subjective but could it possibly be to a mis-install of the MPE and the cutting of the pipes?

I've done the ASD delete, and that has helped a bit - boominess has to go.

Great to hear you're enjoying your car with the stock exhaust and can drive in comfort!

I'm very much crossing fingers it is an inter ear virus/infection as the audiologist said he couldn't find anything wrong with my ears or hearing. Seems like no one has had any such issue with the exhaust frequency, so hope it's just down to something else.

No, i dont miss that MPE one bit. The car is much easier to live with now, infact, its almost comfortable!

[DriverDaily]

For reference, this list of rear sound insulation weighs 5.1lbs in total.

• 51487296055 Sound Insulation Trunk Left
• 51487296056 Sound Insulation Trunk Right
• 51487334357 Sound Insulating Wheel Housing, Rear Left
• 51487334358 Sound Insulating Wheel Housing, Rear Right
• 41007294289 Cover Left
• 41007294290 Cover Right

On a bathroom scale I weighed myself at 174.9lbs. I picked up the sound insulation and re weighed myself at 180.0lbs.

I'll happily add 5lbs to the rear of the car if it cuts even 1db off the noise level at 70mph.