Matt from OG picks up an E46 M3

[S14]

Cats in section 1.
resonators in section 2.
stock muffler or SS street.

no rasp, nice and quiet.

copy that, I want to do cats anyways so it doesn't stink with the windows down.

[Thoglan]

the stock system is probably the worst sounding exhaust anywhere ever. they did not get it right from the factory.

Cant speak for the US spec cars, but with regards to euro m3s and CSLs, I assure you I have heard a lot worse. Almost every aftermarket exhaust for these cars sound like rubbish compared to a CSL. I have yet to hear a car that sounds better than a factory CSL.

[repoman89]

The CSL variant of the stock muffler is supposed to be five pounds lighter and it’s only like $900 last I checked. I’d be pretty tempted by that relatively terrible value proposition if my list of shit to do to my car was empty. Good thing it isn’t … regular peasant spec stock muffler for me for now. It’s probably raspy from the rear from the outside, but the SSv1 with cats certainly tames it and it’s all airbox both from the drivers seat and outside from the front of the car.

My current headers and section 1 plus the oversized section 2 with CSL spec muffler is my end goals exhaust for this car … last two sections will have to wait until I take care of higher priority things.

[tnord]

the stock system is probably the worst sounding exhaust anywhere ever. they did not get it right from the factory.

[Thoglan]

Cats in section 1.
resonators in section 2.
stock muffler or SS street.

no rasp, nice and quiet.

This is the way. Stock euro exhaust with airbox on my car. Been there done that with the loud systems. BMW had it right from factory imo.

[lemoose]

the best mod he has on the car is the airbox and he's going to negate that by messing around with all these aftermarket exhausts lol. the stock exhaust (particularly in euro spec) does a good enough job of getting the exhaust pulses through the tailpipes with very little fettering (resonance). the rasp is largely characteristic of the surgical precision and even spacing of these exhaust pulses through our near equal length headers and out the practically unresonated exhaust. the only remedy to eliminate rasp in these cars is to get some crap log headers lol

[tnord]

there are plenty of faults with our cars that it’s perfectly fair to point out.

but yes, as an overall package they’re pretty dang good.

[Tbonem3]

Our cars came out 20 years ago with 25 year old tech. They're brilliant.

[tnord]

I'm about 30min into the vid, having it as background noise.

Matt is diagnosed OCD, and I think has talked before about his anxiety. He's a quirky cat, and yes, gets "obsessed" over seemingly insignificant details, or faults in the case of the E46 M3. His opinion regarding the sound, is one shared by many. It is practically a deal breaker for me also. He's clearly exaggerating a bit (or just wrong) when he says the car is slow as hell compared to the E36 M3. And yeah, compared to his GT3, GT4, and modified E92 M3 this car would be pretty drama free or "boring" in comparison.

I seem to remember he was pretty bored with the E92 M3 at one point also. Then I think he put the Evolve carbon plenum on it and now he's never selling it.

So everybody take Matt's criticism in context, and wait until he throws $20k in parts at it. Then he'll feel like he did something and it's now exciting. It could be some small thing to the rest of us (tire nibs), but makes a huge difference in his mind.

Cats in section 1.
resonators in section 2.
stock muffler or SS street.

no rasp, nice and quiet.

I'd probably opt for the SS sport, but yeah. Cats + resonators is the solution.

[Obioban]

what do you suggest for a quiet muffler? since installing catless headers, my exhaust is horrid. I'm too old for that F&F noise.

Cats in section 1.
resonators in section 2.
stock muffler or SS street.

no rasp, nice and quiet.

[S14]

The sound in that video is 90% airbox-- that's why it sounds good.

A good sounding S54 has a quiet muffler and a loud airbox 100% of the time.

what do you suggest for a quiet muffler? since installing catless headers, my exhaust is horrid. I'm too old for that F&F noise.

[stephen]

He spent more time in the video talking about “de-nibbing” tires than about the way the car drives.

[yhp2009]

The thing is ppl held in higher stead disagree with basically his whole argument and place this as 1st among all M3s

^^ This
I try to be empathetic since he comes from the glorious sounds of the e92 m3. But when Matt says that he doesnt hear anything (at 8k rpm?) my bs meter starts to go off

[jet_dogg]

The thing to realize about Matt's opinions are context. When he says the car sucks, it's from the perspective of a gt3/gt4 owner. All of his opinions are from the vantage point of a porsche owner.

He's not wrong, stock m3s ain't really that great. When he say's it's dull, he's driving with the windows up and a/c on and, well, it is dull. Here I always drove with the windows down which adds to the drama.

He does seem to center his arguments around minor points like the clutch take-up and rasp and blows them exponentially out of proportion. I've seen him do this a number of times and he often does things he says he won't do.

I can work the clutch perfectly with the cdv but it really eats him up. I knew the rasp would do that as well but in all fairness it sounds shit stock from the outside. These two are enough "last straws" for him.

Signed,
the internet psychologist

[CrisSilberGrau]

I still can't get over the fact that people watch other people wash their car

Id watch you, wash your car, start a channel. DO IT.