When it came round to fitting them, I was unable to find my lock nut key. Either it was lost the last time it was at the dealer, or when it last had tyres fitted (as I have not needed to remove the wheels in recent times).
Anyway, I had to get a new one, so I coughed up for it:
The rear brakes were due for replacement (the fronts still have a bit of life left, so I will do these at a later stage).
Here are some pics of the rear setup:
Pulling the disc off, revealed the handbrake shoes, with no real wear at all:
The old disc next to the new one:
Pads and retaining clip:
I can also confirm that the OEM pads which were removed were Textar pads.
Fitted:
So far so good, there have been no squeaks or squeals, and everything appears to have bedded in nicely.
Sadly - my locking nut which was 48 hours old grew a pair of legs and walked off again! So I've organised (another) replacement from John.
Then onto some fun stuff, I had a few hours of free time (with no kids or wife in the area), so I decided to pop the car onto the ramps and change the rear muffler to the BMWP Muffler which I purchased last year.
Some pics of the stock setup:
A cut is made just behind the axle:
Stock muffler next to the BMWP muffler:
Fitted:
Driving impressions:
So far so good. On cold startup, it has a much throatier sound, but when it settles down into the warm idle, you barely hear it at all. Driving around at low rpms and partial throttle, there is a lovely burble and "overlap" of the sounds on each gear change. For those of you into cooking / baking, the easiest way I can describe it is like when you fold cream / whipped egg whites into a cake mixture - now if you imagine the exhaust sounds are the egg whites, its as if these are being blended into each other.
Full throttle runs are a different story. There is a noticeable roar from the back, particularly when crossing past 5000rpm. It really is awesome. It is not overly intrusive in the cabin either, the best way to enjoy the sound is from outside the car. On the overrun, there are some reminders of BMW exhausts of past models - it reminds me a little bit of my uncles old E30 325i.
There is also some mild snap, crackle and pop now and then, which was less apparent on the stock exhaust.
In summary, having thought about it, this type of mod is fitting in line with the other mods available from BMW Performance. It is a subtle, but noticeable difference. It is not in-your-face or intrusive, and ultimately just makes the smile your dial that little bit broader.
In a similar fashion as the BMW PPK kit for the N54/N55 engines only bumps up power slightly - it is noticeable (whereas there are other tunes which unlock much bigger gains). The same can be said for the exhaust. It just adds that little bit extra, as opposed to full aftermarket systems which really unlock the decibels (refinement is another story).
I've created some videos, which I will upload in due course. I just need to get the file sizes down to a manageable level.
raise:
