[tubstar]

Hi Everyone,

I've been asked by a lot of owners to share videos and thoughts of my equal length setup and I hope this post will help others with their search for the right exhaust for their S55 motors.

My setup

• AR Design S55 Resonated Downpipes
• Milltek Equal Length Cat-Back Exhaust
• Stock Secondary Cats (Australia)
• Bootmod 3 - Stage 1 93 - OEM Burbles

Quality: Can't really fault either, both manufactures did a great job and I've always loved the beautiful welds from AR Design

Fitment: I had no issues with the AR Design DP's, installation was flawless compared to the Turner Motorsport ones which I ended up having to return. The Milltek System was a little bit tricker, I had to cut a section of my stock exhaust, no instructions were included either and all I was sent was this from Milltek:


I eventually did get everything to fit but I had a few issues lining up the exhaust as I couldn't get one of the hangers back on, so a zip tie was used in the mean time as I wanted to hear it all together and knew I'd eventually need to take it to the exhaust shop for further modifications.






Outcome:


The exhaust looks great and I'm glad the stock ball sack no longer appears, I won't lie though, I was extremely disappointed at first but as the exhaust has started to break in a bit more (250KM/150Miles) at some rev ranges I think the exhaust sounds great but past that 3-4K RPM I find this setup way too raspy and it's also very loud under heavy acceleration even in comfort however it's a very tame system and the drone when cruising isn't bad at all.

I've messaged a few other members and some don't mind the sound or have moved on to other systems, I will be visiting my exhaust guy in a few days, I will look to put some resonators to try mellow out the sound, I'm not sure whether I want to replace second cats with resonators and also have a second set of resonators somewhere or just keep the second cats and install a single set of resonators. Hopefully I will be one step closer to making this motor sound decent!


This video will show standstill revs and a short drive by in Comfort (Valves) and Sports Plus (Valves Open)

Q&A

You spent all this money and your car sounds like $#1%!

A: I partially agree but hopefully with a few tweaks we can get it to mellow down and make it sound a bit nicer. There was a lack of videos out at the time and someone had to eventually try this combination so others could make an informed choice and not regret spending all this money! Also make sure to watch the video on a computer with decent speakers as your mobile phone will not have the range to playback the audio properly.

Why are you missing an exhaust tip in your video?

A: Unfortunately it was not tightened properly and it fell off

Q: Why didn't you go with the TopGear Motorworks, ActiveAutowerke etc system

A: I purchased this system Around April 2020 as it was the only available equal length exhaust on the market at the time that was specifically designed for the M2 Competition which I could grab my hands on in Australia.

I was following the f80 discussion boards pretty closely and most manufactures were still only working on the M3/M4

Q: Why didn't you just buy a OG M2

A: Got a great deal and the tuning potential of the S55 motor is more superior, I also came from a N54 35is Z4 so this was a nice upgrade for me.

Why do the Milltek Equal Length exhaust sounds so diffrent in various videos?

A: Great question, like you I was very very confused, the initial video I saw posted on Facebook of the Silver M2C on the Milltek FB page Here sounded amazing in which I then learnt was an OPF/GPF equiped model in the UK.

A second video was then released of a US model with secondary cats here which made most people go

I emailed Milltek about the raspiness and was told:

You can use a centre resonator from one of our quieter systems in place of the centre sections delete to bring the volume down however this would lessen the Equal length affect substantially, as while the Equal length valved outlet would remain in place the centre silencer would act as a balancer before the sound would then reach the different length pipework and enter the rear silencer. We don’t use resonated separate centre sections as due to the space restraints it wouldn’t be possible to do, moreover we want to keep the sounds separate to the rear silencer, and once they reach that they would have been slowed and equalled as they go into the silencer.

So to make things a bit clearer the EL system is sold as a Catback/OPF Back meaning you'll need to cut your stock system and clamp it together although Milltek do offer a delete pipe (straight pipe) or a high flow pipe which you can use instead of cutting up your stock system.

However myself and many others with secondary cats instead of OPF's are finding that the secondary cats are not dampening enough sounds to create that deeper tone as the original EL video released by Milltek.

Why haven't you gone BM3 Stage 2?

I've yet to adapt to Stage 1 and I'm not yet confident enough with the car in which I feel I need more power, my ride height and alignment is also slightly off so even at a dry straight line launch the car does want to go sideways.

Follow me on instagram @millie_m2c to see my latest updates

[AUSf22]

Great review and thank you for the write up! very informative.

Would love to hear the car in person as I'm sure the video doesn't pick up the full sound as it is in real life.

[tubstar]

Originally Posted by AUSf22

Great review and thank you for the write up! very informative.

Would love to hear the car in person as I'm sure the video doesn't pick up the full sound as it is in real life.

My pleasure yep it does sound slightly better in person but I've used a decent camera and microphone with a wind deflector to best attempt to capture the sound, noting when played back on a mobile it does sound a-lot worst than using PC speakers.

[paulina]

I reckon the resonator on the downpipe is way too small to properly dampening the exhaust sound. My one with oem downpipe is raspier than OPF car, but not as raspy as yours. My recommendation will be see if you can fit a bigger resonator on your downpipe or try sport cat downpipe, keep secondary cat and add two resonator after the secondary cat.
Milltek El need to be properly dampened to sound decent

[tubstar]

Originally Posted by paulina

I reckon the resonator on the downpipe is way too small to properly dampening the exhaust sound. My one with oem downpipe is raspier than OPF car, but not as raspy as yours. My recommendation will be see if you can fit a bigger resonator on your downpipe or try sport cat downpipe, keep secondary cat and add two resonator after the secondary cat.
Milltek El need to be properly dampened to sound decent

Agreed, I guess we know now that the OPF has great dampening affects. I don't think I want to modify the downpipes with larger resonators as I just got them from AR Design.

First steps will definitely be to add resonators after the second cats and if that's not enough, I'll potentially replace the second cats with resonators as well.

I'll be seeing my exhaust guy on Thursday to get his opinion, so we'll see how it all goes.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review

[Flange]

Originally Posted by tubstar

Hi Everyone,

Why do the Milltek Equal Length exhaust sounds so diffrent in various videos?

A: Great question, like you I was very very confused, the initial video I saw posted on Facebook of the Silver M2C on the Milltek FB page Here sounded amazing in which I then learnt was an OPF/GPF equiped model in the UK.

A second video was then released of a US model with secondary cats here which made most people go

I emailed Milltek about the raspiness and was told:



So to make things a bit clearer the EL system is sold as a Catback/OPF Back meaning you'll need to cut your stock system and clamp it together although Milltek do offer a delete pipe (straight pipe) or a high flow pipe which you can use instead of cutting up your stock system.

However myself and many others with secondary cats instead of OPF's are finding that the secondary cats are not dampening enough sounds to create that deeper tone as the original EL video released by Milltek.

Why haven't you gone BM3 Stage 2?

I've yet to adapt to Stage 1 and I'm not yet confident enough with the car in which I feel I need more power, my ride height and alignment is also slightly off so even at a dry straight line launch the car does want to go sideways.

Follow me on instagram @millie_m2c to see my latest updates

That’s my car in the original FB video.

Having lived with the OPF back system for 6 months now, I’m of the opinion that it actually sounds best (to me, but I may just be old...) in efficient mode before the valves open.
It’s deeper and purposeful without being overly harsh and raspy.

I think Milltek are developing a new centre resonator to take out that rasp, but in turn that will also lose some of the sound.

[tubstar]

Originally Posted by Flange

That’s my car in the original FB video.

Having lived with the OPF back system for 6 months now, I’m of the opinion that it actually sounds best (to me, but I may just be old...) in efficient mode before the valves open.
It’s deeper and purposeful without being overly harsh and raspy.

I think Milltek are developing a new centre resonator to take out that rasp, but in turn that will also lose some of the sound.

Your car sounds awesome Flange!

This was the response from Milltek re the centre resonator

You can use a centre resonator from one of our quieter systems in place of the centre sections delete to bring the volume down however this would lessen the Equal length affect substantially, as while the Equal length valved outlet would remain in place the centre silencer would act as a balancer before the sound would then reach the different length pipework and enter the rear silencer. We don’t use resonated separate centre sections as due to the space restraints it wouldn’t be possible to do, moreover we want to keep the sounds separate to the rear silencer, and once they reach that they would have been slowed and equalled as they go into the silencer.

I've just ordered some AeroTurbine TR252 so hopefully they'll help

[Flange]

I certainly believe the OPFs help with the sound - not something anyone would have expected to say considering most view them as a massive pain in the arse.

The problem here seems to be the acoustics have been tuned for a car with the OPFs as that’s what Milltek used to make the system.
I’ve recently been driving mine in sport / + but with the gear change setting (DCT) to 1. (Usually have it on 2) - have found it sounds better for some reason.

[lnsaneM]

This set up is way too raspy

[blitzyo]

Crazy rasp
I'd like to get these resonated downpipes though, but they don't have a flex section like stock, akra, AA and a few others do.
Are there any options for resonated DPs with with a flex section?

[thedoluk]

You don’t the flex with no cats as they are there for expansion Of the metal due to the heat of the cats.

[MugiwaraJub]

I reckon I've watched your youtube video 2324 times by now and genuinely like the level of noise and rasp (may be down to liking obnoxious exhaust notes. It sounds like you've played around with the system since posting, have you got any current videos? Really tossing up between the Militek or potentially the FI.

[mikeyryap]

Can someone show me what the Remote for valves look like on the N55 Milltek exhaust for M2? Thanks in advance