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      12-04-2023, 02:55 PM   #1
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F90 Catback Suggestions

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Hello all - I am wondering if anyone knows which company makes the quietest catback for the f90 platform that has little to no drone at highway speeds. (When the exhaust valves are closed)

I drove the car stock for the first 5000 or so miles of ownership and decided that this car deserves to have a louder exhaust. Ended up doing some research and found that catless secondary downpipes are a cheap and easy solution to this problem, so I had them installed. Although the secondaries did increase the exhaust volume a little, it mostly showed me just how useless the stock exhaust valves are. Seriously, there is very little difference between valves open and valves closed in my opinion. Additionally, against what anyone else says, there is a solid drone at around 1800-2100rpm (75-85mph in 8th) which is a little annoying since the car is whisper quiet at other rpms.

I looked into a few companies (AWE and GTHaus seem to stand out the most), but I am unsure if those would only make things worse since they do not have resonators. Does anyone with these exhausts notice a bad drone at highway speeds?

Last edited by oreo_carName; 12-04-2023 at 03:00 PM..
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      12-05-2023, 11:08 AM   #2
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Check out our exhaust . It's pretty quiet with the valves closed and 100% of the exhaust is forced through the muffler section.


https://mad-us.com/mad-bmw-f90-m5-full-catback-exhaust/
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      12-05-2023, 11:17 AM   #3
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Lots of excellent options, including Dinan, REMUS, Valvetronic and MAD.

MAD is the best value for the money in my opinion
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      12-05-2023, 04:37 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oreo_carName View Post
Hello all - I am wondering if anyone knows which company makes the quietest catback for the f90 platform that has little to no drone at highway speeds. (When the exhaust valves are closed)

I drove the car stock for the first 5000 or so miles of ownership and decided that this car deserves to have a louder exhaust. Ended up doing some research and found that catless secondary downpipes are a cheap and easy solution to this problem, so I had them installed. Although the secondaries did increase the exhaust volume a little, it mostly showed me just how useless the stock exhaust valves are. Seriously, there is very little difference between valves open and valves closed in my opinion. Additionally, against what anyone else says, there is a solid drone at around 1800-2100rpm (75-85mph in 8th) which is a little annoying since the car is whisper quiet at other rpms.

I looked into a few companies (AWE and GTHaus seem to stand out the most), but I am unsure if those would only make things worse since they do not have resonators. Does anyone with these exhausts notice a bad drone at highway speeds?
most people do awe/eisenmann race/ gthaus sgt. but they are basically straight pipe and likely makes the drone worse.

Remus is like straightpipe except theres 1 helmholtz resonators on each side, which gets rid of low freq sounds like drone. But it gets obnoxiously loud + raspy when u start touching primary cats. This is because its a "True dual" setup. No H pipe no x pipe

or get any valved exhausts like fabspeed, gthaus GTC, Fi, Mad, valvtronic, ipe, armytrix.
These can go quieter or quiet as oem when the valve is closed, but never recommend going full throttle with closed valve setting.
depending on the brand and how they engineered their muffler, theres gonna be a lot of backpressure, and u dont want that went the car is revving out.

Akra is just expensive just minimal sound increase + very refined sound (not tinny, raspy, and cheap sounding). but the valve function is noticable than oem.

Dinan exhaust is copy of akra. minimal sound increase.

also if u want a higher pitch smooth exotic tone go with a setup with an x pipe. (eisenmann, awe, fi, valvtronic, gthaus)

If u r looking for a v8 growl go for a setup that has H pipe for the mid pipe. (Mpe, Akra)
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      12-05-2023, 06:37 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com View Post
Check out our exhaust . It's pretty quiet with the valves closed and 100% of the exhaust is forced through the muffler section.


https://mad-us.com/mad-bmw-f90-m5-full-catback-exhaust/
I actually have the MAD secondaries installed and love the quality. I watched some videos of the MAD catback, but it seemed like the valves closed was still much louder than stock. (Referenced video below)

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      12-05-2023, 06:41 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com View Post
Lots of excellent options, including Dinan, REMUS, Valvetronic and MAD.

MAD is the best value for the money in my opinion
I really love my MAD secondaries, but as said in the above reply, the catback seems loud when the valves are closed. Would love to hear more clips of it, or even hear it in person, but it is a relatively new product so that makes things difficult

Completely forgot to check out Dinan...thank you for the recommendations!

Last edited by oreo_carName; 12-05-2023 at 08:13 PM..
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      12-05-2023, 06:47 PM   #7
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I have MAD secondaries and Fi catback exhaust (which keeps valve functionality too). Looks great. Sounds OK. I’ve heard a few different exhausts on the F90 and none of them knock my socks off. I think it’s the nature of the car. Sounds OK but not amazing regardless of what exhaust from my experience. Keeping the valves is nice. Super quiet when you want it. I’d imagine prob the same effect across exhaust brands. I’ve had some people argue with me on here but thought my M550i’s exhaust sounded better. Prob all preference. Listening to clips online also does no real justice so it’s hard to really make decision based on anything but price, looks, valve functionality, and opinions unless you can hear it first hand. Good luck. 😄
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      12-05-2023, 06:51 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stlthnmrdrd View Post
most people do awe/eisenmann race/ gthaus sgt. but they are basically straight pipe and likely makes the drone worse.

Remus is like straightpipe except theres 1 helmholtz resonators on each side, which gets rid of low freq sounds like drone. But it gets obnoxiously loud + raspy when u start touching primary cats. This is because its a "True dual" setup. No H pipe no x pipe

or get any valved exhausts like fabspeed, gthaus GTC, Fi, Mad, valvtronic, ipe, armytrix.
These can go quieter or quiet as oem when the valve is closed, but never recommend going full throttle with closed valve setting.
depending on the brand and how they engineered their muffler, theres gonna be a lot of backpressure, and u dont want that went the car is revving out.

Akra is just expensive just minimal sound increase + very refined sound (not tinny, raspy, and cheap sounding). but the valve function is noticable than oem.

Dinan exhaust is copy of akra. minimal sound increase.

also if u want a higher pitch smooth exotic tone go with a setup with an x pipe. (eisenmann, awe, fi, valvtronic, gthaus)

If u r looking for a v8 growl go for a setup that has H pipe for the mid pipe. (Mpe, Akra)
Interesting to know about the Remus, had no idea there is a resonator in it. Also, I am planning on keeping the primary cats stock since I am not planning on tuning the car, but I know just how insanely loud catless M5's are hahaha.

Akra sounds solid, but 8k+ is a hard pill to swallow for it. I forgot to mention in the above post, but I do have an X-Pipe in the car with the resonators still in place. (Long story, was not intentional). Definitely smoothed out the exhaust note (which I really love) so I will definitely look for something with an x-pipe. Appreciate all of the feedback here!


What are your thoughts on just keeping the resonator/x-pipe setup and going with an axle back instead? I noticed that both Dinan and GTHaus (possibly more) offer an axle back instead of a full catback, so I am wondering if that might be a better route to go down instead.
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      12-05-2023, 06:53 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crypto View Post
I have MAD secondaries and Fi catback exhaust (which keeps valve functionality too). Looks great. Sounds OK. I’ve heard a few different exhausts on the F90 and none of them knock my socks off. I think it’s the nature of the car. Sounds OK but not amazing regardless of what exhaust from my experience. Keeping the valves is nice. Super quiet when you want it. I’d imagine prob the same effect across exhaust brands. I’ve had some people argue with me on here but thought my M550i’s exhaust sounded better. Prob all preference. Listening to clips online also does no real justice so it’s hard to really make decision based on anything but price, looks, valve functionality, and opinions unless you can hear it first hand. Good luck. 😄
Thank you for the feedback and agree with you on the m550 opinion. More of a throaty v8 compared to the unique higher pitched v8 in the m5. Do you notice a lot of drone with that setup at highway speeds?
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      12-05-2023, 06:57 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oreo_carName View Post
Thank you for the feedback and agree with you on the m550 opinion. More of a throaty v8 compared to the unique higher pitched v8 in the m5. Do you notice a lot of drone with that setup at highway speeds?
Np!
Not at all during highway speeds. All the juice with nice sound and any burbles/backfire is basically 1st - 3rd gear you get decent sound WOT after that. Then generally if you are at a normal cruising speed in a gear not designed for optimal roll racing there’s no noticeable drone from my experience.
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      12-05-2023, 07:01 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crypto View Post
Np!
Not at all during highway speeds. All the juice with nice sound and any burbles/backfire is basically 1st - 3rd gear you get decent sound WOT after that. Then generally if you are at a normal cruising RPM there’s no noticeable drone from my experience.
These cars really scream at higher RPM's. Glad to hear that a valved catback would not drone (or at least not have a lot of drone) at highway speeds!
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      12-05-2023, 10:29 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oreo_carName View Post
Interesting to know about the Remus, had no idea there is a resonator in it. Also, I am planning on keeping the primary cats stock since I am not planning on tuning the car, but I know just how insanely loud catless M5's are hahaha.

Akra sounds solid, but 8k+ is a hard pill to swallow for it. I forgot to mention in the above post, but I do have an X-Pipe in the car with the resonators still in place. (Long story, was not intentional). Definitely smoothed out the exhaust note (which I really love) so I will definitely look for something with an x-pipe. Appreciate all of the feedback here!


What are your thoughts on just keeping the resonator/x-pipe setup and going with an axle back instead? I noticed that both Dinan and GTHaus (possibly more) offer an axle back instead of a full catback, so I am wondering if that might be a better route to go down instead.
The perfect setup would be going valvetronic tbh. It really give you exactly what you are looking for, but it is expensive. You can try messaging them for a forum discount or lower the price by only selling u the axle back if possible.

If not I would just go with Gthaus "GTC" NOT "SGT"
I remember reading way back in forums saying the GTC valve closed is very civilized and quiet, but I dont know if it is as quiet as Valvetronic or Fi quiet.

Good thing is GThaus offers just the axle back and cost less than valvetronic and fi exhaust.



In the video he demonstrates how quiet it gets, which is impressive.
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      12-06-2023, 05:00 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oreo_carName View Post
I actually have the MAD secondaries installed and love the quality. I watched some videos of the MAD catback, but it seemed like the valves closed was still much louder than stock. (Referenced video below)

Not sure the car was ever in comfort. Also keep in mind this video was shot with a shotgun mic which is designed to pick exactly what its pointed at so the volume is slightly louder than it would be in real life.

I'll try and get a video for you showing the difference between valve sopena nd closed.
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Last edited by Info@mad-us.com; 12-06-2023 at 05:11 PM..
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      12-07-2023, 02:22 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oreo_carName View Post
Hello all - I am wondering if anyone knows which company makes the quietest catback for the f90 platform that has little to no drone at highway speeds. (When the exhaust valves are closed)

I drove the car stock for the first 5000 or so miles of ownership and decided that this car deserves to have a louder exhaust. Ended up doing some research and found that catless secondary downpipes are a cheap and easy solution to this problem, so I had them installed. Although the secondaries did increase the exhaust volume a little, it mostly showed me just how useless the stock exhaust valves are. Seriously, there is very little difference between valves open and valves closed in my opinion. Additionally, against what anyone else says, there is a solid drone at around 1800-2100rpm (75-85mph in 8th) which is a little annoying since the car is whisper quiet at other rpms.

I looked into a few companies (AWE and GTHaus seem to stand out the most), but I am unsure if those would only make things worse since they do not have resonators. Does anyone with these exhausts notice a bad drone at highway speeds?
I made this quick video for you showing the difference between valves closed and valves open on a completely stock car like the Gray one in the video above.

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      12-07-2023, 05:18 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stlthnmrdrd View Post
most people do awe/eisenmann race/ gthaus sgt. but they are basically straight pipe and likely makes the drone worse.

Remus is like straightpipe except theres 1 helmholtz resonators on each side, which gets rid of low freq sounds like drone. But it gets obnoxiously loud + raspy when u start touching primary cats. This is because its a "True dual" setup. No H pipe no x pipe

or get any valved exhausts like fabspeed, gthaus GTC, Fi, Mad, valvtronic, ipe, armytrix.
These can go quieter or quiet as oem when the valve is closed, but never recommend going full throttle with closed valve setting.
depending on the brand and how they engineered their muffler, theres gonna be a lot of backpressure, and u dont want that went the car is revving out.

Akra is just expensive just minimal sound increase + very refined sound (not tinny, raspy, and cheap sounding). but the valve function is noticable than oem.

Dinan exhaust is copy of akra. minimal sound increase.

also if u want a higher pitch smooth exotic tone go with a setup with an x pipe. (eisenmann, awe, fi, valvtronic, gthaus)

If u r looking for a v8 growl go for a setup that has H pipe for the mid pipe. (Mpe, Akra)
Dinan is a copy of akra? Dinan is SS and Akra is Ti.

Id say that Akra and MPE are closer to each other in terms of sound.
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      12-07-2023, 05:19 PM   #16
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My 2 cents:

1. MPE (most expensive) 2. GTHAUS / Meisterschaft 3. AWE
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      12-07-2023, 05:22 PM   #17
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These 2 clips are the most aggressive, loudest, best sounding F90 I've heard on the internet without the annoying Rasp of FULL catless. highly suggest you all watch these 2 videos. The key seems to be primary catless dp's and some type of catted secondary to eliminate that rasp but still get full sound.



and

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      12-08-2023, 11:17 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 916_M5 View Post
Dinan is a copy of akra? Dinan is SS and Akra is Ti.

Id say that Akra and MPE are closer to each other in terms of sound.
What I meant to say is the exhaust layout is same

I think the Mpe is way louder than akra and sounds hollow and raspier compared to akra

The mpe layout is like eisenmann where its a straight pipe design. Awe doesnt have the back box so you hear more exhaust rather than the turbo whistle. The back box resonator of the mpe mutes some tones and brings out the turbo whistle. Out of all exhausts ive heard, mpe brings out the turbo whistle the most.
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      12-12-2023, 04:23 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stlthnmrdrd View Post
The perfect setup would be going valvetronic tbh. It really give you exactly what you are looking for, but it is expensive. You can try messaging them for a forum discount or lower the price by only selling u the axle back if possible.

If not I would just go with Gthaus "GTC" NOT "SGT"
I remember reading way back in forums saying the GTC valve closed is very civilized and quiet, but I dont know if it is as quiet as Valvetronic or Fi quiet.

Good thing is GThaus offers just the axle back and cost less than valvetronic and fi exhaust.



In the video he demonstrates how quiet it gets, which is impressive.
Valvetronic does make solid catbacks, annoying they only make a titanium one for the m5. Seems like a solid price for titanium, but 5k is still a hard pill to swallow haha.
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      12-12-2023, 04:24 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Info@mad-us.com View Post
I made this quick video for you showing the difference between valves closed and valves open on a completely stock car like the Gray one in the video above.

WOW! That is a much bigger difference than anticipated. Will really have to consider the MAD catback now, and I know it would pair well with my MAD secondaries.
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      12-12-2023, 04:28 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 916_M5 View Post
My 2 cents:

1. MPE (most expensive) 2. GTHAUS / Meisterschaft 3. AWE
MPE does sound solid (was able to hear it in person on a local cs). A few of my friends also recommended either GTHaus or AWE switchpath, both seem to be very high quality examples (with a solid price difference lol).

Those M5 in the video sound awesome too! Louder than I need in a daily driver though haha

Thank you for the recs!
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      12-12-2023, 08:55 PM   #22
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Quote:
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WOW! That is a much bigger difference than anticipated. Will really have to consider the MAD catback now, and I know it would pair well with my MAD secondaries.
Told ya
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