Catless downpipes for 335i

[jamesmcd 10]

Hey all,

I’ve acquired an NZ New 2009 335i (E90) and I’m looking into doing catless downpipes. My understanding is that being a 2009 car it’s ok. 

Could I get some suggestions as to what kit I should buy? And where from? Nothing extravagant... 

I’ll get a local euro mechanic to do the swap out. 

Many thanks!

[KwS 2425]

Is it an N54 or N55, obviously one lacking a turbo means a different downpipe. There has been a lot of discussion on here, so worth doing a search.

[jamesmcd 10]

It's an N54, twin turbo.

[jasera94 29]

I bought a pair off Aliexpress which were mandrel bent for like $300-350 shipped. installed myself on jack stands and went well without issues.

[jamesmcd 10]

28 minutes ago, jasera94 said:

I bought a pair off Aliexpress which were mandrel bent for like $300-350 shipped. installed myself on jack stands and went well without issues.

I was thinking about Amazon or eBay. Is the popping and extra noise enjoyable or does it get old fairly quickly in your experience? 

[blake12 23]

I got VRSF ones delivered for under $400 nz from their website. 

Keep in mind that the mechanic fee will likely be upwards of $4-500 depending on how easy it is. They are c**ts to put on. 
I paid 8 hours labour to get mine installed with some sparkplugs  . do it yourself if you can be bothered. 
I could never hear my rattly wastegates but as soon as the downpipes went on I could here them really loud on idle and cold start. 

The reason for running catless downpipes is so you can up the boost and run MHD stage 2 or higher. 
With a stock exhaust there is basically no difference to sound, definitely no pops and bangs or anything. It's just a slightly deeper sound with them on, but not louder with stock exhaust. 
You do hear the turbos spool abit louder with catless dp's. 

You can flash burble mod if you want pops and bangs - at your own risk. 
If all your after is pops and bangs you don't need downpipes, just flash the burble on aggressive. You'll likely mess your cats up pretty quick and some people argue it's terrible for your turbos. 

If it sounds like my view on the downpipes is negative, it's not, they are great bang for buck and really open up the car for tuning potential. 
I just don't think there is any point in them if your not going to run MHD 2/2+, or a custom tune. Putting that much boost through the car WILL show other weaknesses if there are any. 

Edited December 16, 2018 by blake12

[jamesmcd 10]

Is there any power advantage to putting on catless pipes? I’m actually not a big fan of the pops – I was worried that catless would cause this. Would keep stock exhaust and I don’t see myself doing any other mods at this stage. Maybe a better air system in future. 

[KwS 2425]

I have catless dp with standard exhaust on my e91, and without burble tune there are no pops at all. Has a nice sound to it. 

[jamesmcd 10]

Any issues with Check Engine lights or other fault codes?

[jasera94 29]

7 hours ago, jamesmcd said:

I was thinking about Amazon or eBay. Is the popping and extra noise enjoyable or does it get old fairly quickly in your experience? 

No pops or bangs without MHD stage 2 - (Which you would need new spark plugs and coil packs for..  in most cases.) without that they did not sound much different to stock. No Engine light for 500 or 700kms I believe? They also caused a tad more turbo rattle. 

[KwS 2425]

4 hours ago, jasera94 said:

No pops or bangs without MHD stage 2 - (Which you would need new spark plugs and coil packs for..  in most cases.) without that they did not sound much different to stock. No Engine light for 500 or 700kms I believe? They also caused a tad more turbo rattle. 

Even stage 2+ (which mine is on) doesnt pop and crackle without turning up burble tune. The stock exhaust does a good job of containing that.

[blake12 23]

On 12/17/2018 at 12:42 PM, jamesmcd said:

Any issues with Check Engine lights or other fault codes?

Not with MHD tune. It disables the check. Without it you will have a light show but it shouldn't matter. 
The sound wont be an issue at all on stock exhaust. 

They claim power increase just from the downpipes, but I didn't notice much. Just seems like the turbos spool up abit easier. 
If your not on MHD start with that. The difference from stock to 1+/2 is massive. Feels like a different car, and a true animal. 

If you just want power, your order of mods depends on how much you want but generally :
stronger chargepipe and MHD 1/1+ 
bigger intercooler if you are on 1+ doing alot of pulls in hot weather, or tracking 
downpipes and MHD 2/2+ . You should be nearing 380-390hp at the wheels here. 
Then probably e85.

I have downpipes and chargepipe installed, but am just back to running the standard MHD stage 1 tune now. I find it more than powerful for daily driving. I found I started wishing for a LSD and better suspension at stage 2, and decided to reign it in because it's a cruiser, not a track car. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by blake12

[jamesmcd 10]

Cheers. So random question while I’ve got some 335i drivers here... this 335i that’s coming my way has no iDrive system, but it does have Bluetooth. Does a 2009 support streaming music from my iPhone XR by any chance? I.e. Spotify. 

[str8_6 275]

None of the e90’s supported Bluetooth streaming unfortunately 

[jamesmcd 10]

Ah ok, do they have an aux input ready to go? 

Edit... Checked around, seems they all do. Sweet. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by jamesmcd

[Herbmiester 923]

2009 with no Idrive, that's interesting. 

[jamesmcd 10]

46 minutes ago, Herbmiester said:

2009 with no Idrive, that's interesting. 

You’re telling me. I was a bit surprised to, but then decided I don’t really care about iDrive, and my X1 has it anyway so it’s not like I’m missing out on something in my life  

Car being delivered tomorrow - photo attached taken a month ago. It’s an SE model.

[qube 3570]

no idrive no problems

its good you've got the msport steering wheel which is a million times better than normal on the E90.

Im not a fan of the standard leather seats though, feels cheap and unsupported

[jamesmcd 10]

2 hours ago, qube said:

no idrive no problems

its good you've got the msport steering wheel which is a million times better than normal on the E90.

Im not a fan of the standard leather seats though, feels cheap and unsupported

Just got the car. There is an Aux input but no USB. Seems strange on a 2009? I’m getting the feeling that this is one of those cases where it’s a 2007 or 2008 produced car sold NZ New as 2009...

[qube 3570]

the registered year is irrelevant in this case.

what is the registration of the car?

 

Regarding USB input, what we did with our 2005 E90 was to retrofit the stereo unit from a 2011(?) model to get USB and bluetooth calling function but in the process lost the hifi quality sound. 

 

[jamesmcd 10]

32 minutes ago, qube said:

the registered year is irrelevant in this case.

what is the registration of the car?

 

Regarding USB input, what we did with our 2005 E90 was to retrofit the stereo unit from a 2011(?) model to get USB and bluetooth calling function but in the process lost the hifi quality sound. 

 

Sent PM with rego 

[AlexL 1]

On 12/17/2018 at 4:58 PM, jasera94 said:

No pops or bangs without MHD stage 2 - (Which you would need new spark plugs and coil packs for..  in most cases.) without that they did not sound much different to stock. No Engine light for 500 or 700kms I believe? They also caused a tad more turbo rattle. 

How do you not have no pops and bangs? My car is standard exaust and tune and it pops and bangs on decel and sometimes on upshift

[KwS 2425]

Pretty sure that isnt stock? My decatted E91 wouldnt pop and bang without turning it up in MHD. Standard exhaust other than decats.

[jamesmcd 10]

Who did your DPs? Did you gut the stock pipes or get real catless ones?

[KwS 2425]

Car came with them fitted, but they were stainless downpipes, not gutted stock ones.