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View Poll Results: What is your exhaust setup & are you experiencing the raspy "tin can" noise issue?
EL mid pipe (non-res) / stock axleback / no issue 3 5.88%
EL mid pipe (non-res) / stock axleback / yes, my car has the same issue! 16 31.37%
EL mid pipe (res) / stock axleback / no issue 5 9.80%
EL mid pipe (res) / stock axleback / yes, my car has the same issue! 3 5.88%
EL mid pipe (non-res) / aftermarket axleback / no issue 6 11.76%
EL mid pipe (non-res) / aftermarket axleback / yes, my car has the same issue! 7 13.73%
EL mid pipe (res) / aftermarket axleback / no issue 4 7.84%
EL mid pipe (res) / aftermarket axleback / yes, my car has the same issue! 7 13.73%
Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll

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      07-01-2021, 12:00 PM   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wah View Post
Mine was only cold start. Sounded great after a couple minutes but cold start had this loud annoying vibrating sound. Couldn't drive out of my garage in the morning without cringing.
In your case , all you have to do is disable cold start
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      07-01-2021, 12:15 PM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
In your case , all you have to do is disable cold start
I can't since this car (2020 M2cs) has one of the newer locked ECUs. But even if I could, I'd rather not.
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      07-01-2021, 12:40 PM   #47
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Holmes870 pawelczyk7 zjldmd since you three are the only ones who voted as not having experienced this same raspy noise issue on your own cars, I'm curious which aftermarket muffler each of you are running with the EL mid pipe?
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      07-01-2021, 12:47 PM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
In your case , all you have to do is disable cold start
Mike - can you please do us all a favor and possibly ask someone from Active to chime in and provide some sort of official response on this thread? It's not fair to you to have to be stuck in the middle of this fiasco as you're just the vendor in this case (one of the actual good ones I might add) and have no control over their products nor how they're manufactured. Thanks

Last edited by StephGOD; 07-01-2021 at 12:56 PM..
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      07-01-2021, 12:52 PM   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
Since I somehow became the messenger in this, I would like to hear customer feedback on this.

Is what Active said accurate? meaning you only hear the rattle on cold start or sport mode at 2K
I would personally need to do more testing in terms of driving around in efficient or MDM mode AFTER the car is warmed up to see if I hear it at 2k. I definitely heard it yesterday after driving for 35 minutes in Sport mode around 2k rpms.

And it 100% happens in all modes on cold start, within the first few minutes.

FYI to all, I'd like to say that Mike has been awesome, his company is great to deal with, this is certainly not an attack on him or XPH.
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      07-01-2021, 01:00 PM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StephGOD View Post
Mike - can you please do us all a favor and possibly ask someone from Active to chime in and provide some sort of official response on this thread? It's not fair to you to have to be stuck in the middle of this fiasco as you're just the vendor (one of the good ones I might add) in this case and have no control over their products nor how they're manufactured. Thanks
They are aware of the thread, I will ask them to chime in if they have any new info to post other than what they have sent me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Atorak View Post
I would personally need to do more testing in terms of driving around in efficient or MDM mode AFTER the car is warmed up to see if I hear it at 2k. I definitely heard it yesterday after driving for 35 minutes in Sport mode around 2k rpms.

And it 100% happens in all modes on cold start, within the first few minutes.

FYI to all, I'd like to say that Mike has been awesome, his company is great to deal with, this is certainly not an attack on him or XPH.
Thank you!
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      07-01-2021, 01:51 PM   #51
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After waiting since March for this EL midpipe and now hearing all these issues and the latest recommendation, this is really pretty poor.

I'm scheduled to have the EL non-res and Remus Race installed on Tuesday. Rather not try and install it and incur labors costs if its going to have any of these issues (not to mention subsequent labor to correct, replace parts, swap back to stock) and sucks that I got rid of the box as I have no space at my place right now otherwise it'd be going right back. Knowing there's issues here, will AA take back the EL pipes or allow for exchange w/ the single pipe?
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      07-01-2021, 02:57 PM   #52
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I just called AA and spoke with them for about 10min on the topic. This is what they told me.

Currently, they do not have any fix for this and the unfortunate thing is they suggest we just let the car idle until the tone dissipates. They seem to think the raspy sound is more prevalent on the F87 platform due to the shorter overall exhaust piping. They said they do tune out cold start but it's nothing they can do remotely nor is it through bootmod3. Even though they recommend non-resonated for stock downpipe, they think adding resonators won't really solve the issue as it's still pointing back to the cold-start that's on the ECU. I mentioned how I might hear a faint raspy tone after driving around warmed up but it's not repeatable often and he thinks the resonators might help with that but isn't confident.

From my end of things, I did turn the GTS startup roar OFF which makes it a bit less embarrassing. I still might just default the exhaust valves to OEM instead of open all the time to see if that helps.

Seems like we're all stuck with this for the time being unless some superstar here can figure out a fix.
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      07-01-2021, 02:57 PM   #53
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by StephGOD View Post
Mike - can you please do us all a favor and possibly ask someone from Active to chime in and provide some sort of official response on this thread? It's not fair to you to have to be stuck in the middle of this fiasco as you're just the vendor (one of the good ones I might add) in this case and have no control over their products nor how they're manufactured. Thanks
They are aware of the thread, I will ask them to chime in if they have any new info to post other than what they have sent me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Atorak View Post
I would personally need to do more testing in terms of driving around in efficient or MDM mode AFTER the car is warmed up to see if I hear it at 2k. I definitely heard it yesterday after driving for 35 minutes in Sport mode around 2k rpms.

And it 100% happens in all modes on cold start, within the first few minutes.

FYI to all, I'd like to say that Mike has been awesome, his company is great to deal with, this is certainly not an attack on him or XPH.
Thank you!
Will x-ph accept returns and refunds? I'm scheduled to have mine installed on Monday but am now having cold feet.
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      07-01-2021, 03:09 PM   #54
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darien335is View Post
Will x-ph accept returns and refunds? I'm scheduled to have mine installed on Monday but am now having cold feet.
We'll take it back if its brand new, email support@x-ph.com and they'll take care of it
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Last edited by mike@x-ph.com; 07-01-2021 at 03:18 PM..
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      07-01-2021, 03:45 PM   #55
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So odd that many of the early adopters don't seem to have this issue.
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      07-01-2021, 04:19 PM   #56
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It's funny how times change.

E46 M3's had raspy exhausts and when I had AA on my E46 it was the raspiest of all and I loved it.

Most the exhausts for M2C sound like garbage to me, can't wait to get the EL on my car and get a little rasp in my life.
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      07-01-2021, 04:21 PM   #57
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Y'all with issues once its warm are making me wonder if I am hearing the same things you're hearing and I just don't mind it.

There are definitely unpleasent sounds to my ears at times but 99.9% of them are only for first few mins after a cold start. To me that makes them a non-issue.
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      07-01-2021, 04:34 PM   #58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StephGOD View Post
Holmes870 pawelczyk7 zjldmd since you three are the only ones who voted as not having experienced this same raspy noise issue on your own cars, I'm curious which aftermarket muffler each of you are running with the EL mid pipe?
MPE on mine
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      07-01-2021, 04:36 PM   #59
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Turned cat warming off on DME (since I'm a '19) and now it's quiet on start in efficient. Now it's livable for me. Not the ideal fix, but good enough for me.
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      07-01-2021, 04:44 PM   #60
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StephGOD View Post
Holmes870 pawelczyk7 zjldmd since you three are the only ones who voted as not having experienced this same raspy noise issue on your own cars, I'm curious which aftermarket muffler each of you are running with the EL mid pipe?
i also posted some light pull vids on the AA Equal length ( stock muffler and downpipes ) feed a few days ago
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      07-01-2021, 04:55 PM   #61
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wah View Post
I will also mention that this sound never shows up at the shop because unless the car has been sitting for hours, even slightly warm, it sounds fine.

Sounded great warm
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      07-01-2021, 05:32 PM   #62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
Since I somehow became the messenger in this, I would like to hear customer feedback on this.
Hi Mike, unfortunately, since ONLYACTIVE isn't too active on these forums, you have become the de-facto messenger. Since you're in contact with them, it might do some great Customer Service PSA if ONLYACTIVE were to comment on acknowledging this issue and what steps they're taking to remedy this wide-spread problem.

The good news is, since this is a very prevailing issue mustering a lot of noise, AA will undoubtedly address it since they are a stand up organization...which ultimately will result in more orders for both the vendors and manufacturer. Case in point: there is an AA EL for sale in the classifieds, and no-one is jumping on it. Had this come available earlier in the year (before this issue has risen) many of us here on this forum would have bought it (due to superlative initial batch success and current long wait-time).

Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
Is what Active said accurate? meaning you only hear the rattle on cold start or sport mode at 2K
Primarily, yes, but for treaceability, I will summarize all known/documented use cases below:

1. tinny/raspy noise occurs at cold start-up and around 2k RPM

2. NOTE: the tinny/raspy noise doesn’t happen EVERY COLD START nor EVERY TIME RPMs hit ~2k…
a. to me at least, while in 1st gear and clutched in (I’m 6sp), or in neutral, and revving past 2k RPM: approx.. 70% of the time the noise occurs
b. so this isn’t 100% repeatable…about 30% of the use cases, all sounds fantastic. Understanding why this doesn't occur 100% on all cold starts and every time the RPMs hit 2k, might lead to a timely resolution.

3. occurring on cold engines and also on warm engines. I have experienced some cold starts that were quite nice...just as expected. Only yesterday, I was with the family doing a Costco run…the startup sounded like someone fired a 22 caliber pistol. Scared the crap out of my family…wife even asked: is that normal, what's wrong with your car???

4. most users reported setups using stock downpipes and stock back muffler, but also on a few aftermarket mufflers, 1-2 owners even using AA’s own valved exhaust
a. most users are AA EL non-resonated, but some resonated ELs also reported same issue

5. This is 100% true all the time: Sport+ or Sport modes automatically engage the tinny/raspy sound around 2k RPMs (have not experienced it in efficient mode…and seriously, why would I drive in efficient to further gag the car’s noises???)

6. BOTH under load (i.e. starting off from a red light) and stationary revs

And last question...it seems that the most recent AA EL mid-pipes have a different design or build than the original one. Can anyone comment what changed?
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      07-01-2021, 05:44 PM   #63
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Quote:
Originally Posted by epic View Post
I just called AA and spoke with them for about 10min on the topic. This is what they told me.

Currently, they do not have any fix for this and the unfortunate thing is they suggest we just let the car idle until the tone dissipates. They seem to think the raspy sound is more prevalent on the F87 platform due to the shorter overall exhaust piping.
For me at least, that didn't work yesterday. I started the car (been sitting overnight), didn't rev it and let it run on its own for a good 3-4 mins. I then drove off slowly in efficient (no tinny sound so far). After additional 4-5 mins of driving in Efficient mode, I switched to Sport+ and immediately the raspy tone returned around 2k RPM. Bumped to Sport mode...same effect.

Later in the day, the cold(ish) start sounded like a handgun went off.
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      07-01-2021, 05:47 PM   #64
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ESB View Post
Y'all with issues once its warm are making me wonder if I am hearing the same things you're hearing and I just don't mind it.

There are definitely unpleasent sounds to my ears at times but 99.9% of them are only for first few mins after a cold start. To me that makes them a non-issue.
It seems there is some (unknown) design or manufacturing changes between the earlier batches and the latest one; most of us here have recently (late May, June) received their ELs, and I think you got yours in spring.
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      07-01-2021, 07:12 PM   #65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Supadice View Post
Sounded great warm
Sounds better once the valves open up... I wish I took videos. I noticed the CS keeps the valves closed for a few minutes even in sport+ during the cold start sequence. In my m4 the valves opened up as soon as I hit the gas in sport+ even if it was still cold.
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      07-01-2021, 08:38 PM   #66
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Mike@x-ph.com and ONLYACTIVE

I am certain that I speak for the majority of EL owners here; we are NOT directing our less-than-friendly comments at either of you…clearly we realize that this tinny/raspy noise wasn't created on purpose.

We are simply voicing our disappointment that, after waiting solid few months for the AA EL midpipe, the resulting exhaust setup doesn't sound like the test vehicles or the original batches we heard earlier, or in some instance, it sounds worse than OEM setup (i.e. it doesn't live up to the hype…YET!!!).

Mike@x-ph & Active Autowerks: you guys consistently deliver and support our mod craze, and we are grateful for that….so we would appreciate any continued dialogue in arriving to rapid resolution. To that end, a lot of us have been providing data points and use cases that might lead to the culprit…so advise what else we can do to assist!

Cheers!!
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