[idrive328i]

It was time, I was miserable driving with the stock exhaust sound and I needed to get a new exhaust, badly.

Just like everyone here on the forum, I have been researching almost every day for the past month, reading reviews of all the different exhausts, and countlessly listening to all the youtube videos over and over and over. You name it I’ve looked into Meisterschaft, Agency Power, Active Autowerke, AFE, and the list goes on and on. So, I came across a thread by another member, about the ARK Grip exhaust, and immediately liked their design with the extra helmholtz chamber design near the rear muffler.

Since I live close to ARK, I decided to stop by and check out the exhaust. The quality of the exhaust is definitely premium. Full 3” catback exhaust, beautiful welds, and uses v-band clamps. After I saw the exhaust I decided to pull the trigger and get it installed that day. Luckily they were having a sale on the exhaust, so the price was reasonable for a catback.

Note: If you drive a 6MT, you will need to modify the hanger on the midpipe. The guys at ARK did it real quick for me and only took 10 min. to cut and weld. If you have an automatic, you guys do not need to modify anything.

For those of you who have been researching for an exhaust for your F30 328i, I strongly recommend getting the ARK Performance GRiP Exhaust. I personally think this exhaust has the perfect exhaust note/growl/burble for the 328i sedan. At the same time, there is none/barely any drone at low-high cruising speeds, yet sounds awesome from the outside with a heavy foot on throttle. I’ve had friends and family in the backseat and no complaints of piercing drone to the ears. Performance wise, I feel the car pulls a lot better from 2nd to 3rd gear. Btw I drive a 2012 6MT 328i.

It’s been about 2 weeks driving with the new exhaust, and I have no complaints at all. The only thing that you might be concerned is having to reposition the hanger (for 6MT owners), but any muffler shop can do that. For me, I wasn’t bothered by it since you will not be able to see it, or have any effect on the performance or sound of the exhaust.

Since there weren’t many people on here with the ARK exhaust or have enough reviews, I wanted to share my thoughts and hopefully this will help anyone on here who have been searching and trying to decide on which exhaust they should get. With the new exhaust I now enjoy and love driving my car everyday! It’s waaaaaaay better than driving with the crappy and boring stock exhaust.

I hope this review was helpful and I apologize for the crappy pictures and videos using my phone, so please do not judge me =)

[expertsedan]

Hope they can come with a xdrive version! I ask the guy in ARK, he told me that I have to do some adjustment with the center pipe in order to fit my 428xi…… I am now consider to get a supersprint exhaust instead

[BeachsideF30]

Shit...that sounds DAMN good, I just wonder how it would sound with the 8sp in between shifts, some of the exhausts have that "fart" crackling in between. Also what was the sale price on it?

[teapain]

Nice write-up and vids. Sounds great. Little to no-drone, eh? Hm...Interesting design there, too. Wonder if that design actually goes to help reduce droning...

Any noticeable performance gains? How much?

[F30 Epal]

Nice! Love the way it sounds! Since I'll be in SoCal sometime in December, I wonder if I can just do a walk-in and buy the exhaust and have them install it lol

[MyFragileHalogen]

Sounds great! Price is not cheap....on their website, but I am wondering how it would sound in person especially inside the car. Maybe they have a test car at their CA office?

[GOLFFRR]

wow that turned out great OP, sounds mean!

[S4NoMore]

Originally Posted by teapain

Wonder if that design actually goes to help reduce droning...

If you google Helmholtz resonance, there's a variety of information out there. In theory it can be used to tune out a particular frequency of sound, but of course this must be researched properly. I'd be curious to hear some in-car cruising footage.

At $1500 I would expect that it's a good system. But then again, I'd expect to not have to modify it to fit my 6-speed car... that's crappy.

[idrive328i]

Originally Posted by expertsedan

Hope they can come with a xdrive version! I ask the guy in ARK, he told me that I have to do some adjustment with the center pipe in order to fit my 428xi…… I am now consider to get a supersprint exhaust instead

When I was talking to the guys at ARK the exhaust for the 428i is available within 1-2 months. Not sure if the exhaust lines are same or different with between 428i vs the xi model.

Originally Posted by BeachsideF30

Shit...that sounds DAMN good, I just wonder how it would sound with the 8sp in between shifts, some of the exhausts have that "fart" crackling in between. Also what was the sale price on it?

Thanks!! I first heard about the ARK exhaust from this thread. The videos should give you an idea how it sounds for the automatic
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=978314

So on their website, the catback price is $1,444.15 but they are having a special sale with a $100.00 off coupon. So in total I paid $1,344.15 + tax and they installed the exhaust for free =)

Originally Posted by teapain

Nice write-up and vids. Sounds great. Little to no-drone, eh? Hm...Interesting design there, too. Wonder if that design actually goes to help reduce droning...

Any noticeable performance gains? How much?

Thanks!! I really love the sound of the exhaust!! And from the inside-cabin I'm really surprised how quiet it is for an aftermarket exhaust.
You definitely do not get that annoying and constant drone pitch around 2K-4K rpms. And I can have conversations with passengers sitting in the back without any problems.
Believe me, I've experienced and driven many cars with aftermarket exhaust systems where it drones so bad, that after a 30 minute car ride, you get a headache or you need to turn up your music to block-out the drone.
For performance, I do feel the car pulls more for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears, but it could be all mental. One of these days I will take the car to the dyno, so we shall see =)

Originally Posted by F30 Epal

Nice! Love the way it sounds! Since I'll be in SoCal sometime in December, I wonder if I can just do a walk-in and buy the exhaust and have them install it lol

Trust me, you will be super happy with this system and yes, you can pick-up the exhaust and get it installed from them directly. Just keep in mind they are not open on the weekends.

Originally Posted by MyFragileHalogen

Sounds great! Price is not cheap....on their website, but I am wondering how it would sound in person especially inside the car. Maybe they have a test car at their CA office?

Where are you located?? I'm not sure if they have a car you can hear in person. You might want to call and ask them.

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

wow that turned out great OP, sounds mean!

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by S4NoMore

If you google Helmholtz resonance, there's a variety of information out there. In theory it can be used to tune out a particular frequency of sound, but of course this must be researched properly. I'd be curious to hear some in-car cruising footage.

At $1500 I would expect that it's a good system. But then again, I'd expect to not have to modify it to fit my 6-speed car... that's crappy.

When I get some free time, I will try to borrow my friend's go pro camera and record some in-cabin footage. So I paid $1460 including sales tax and installation, which I thought was reasonable for a full catback. Thank god, it was not an axle-back only, otherwise I would have looked for a different brand.
I'm not sure if this is true or not, but ARK says the hanger position location on the mid-pipe is different for the 6MT model compared to the models with an automatic transmission. ARK said that when they designed the exhaust. the car they used was an automatic. So yeah at that moment I didn't care if they needed to modify it, because they were not going to charge me. But if this is all true and in fact different, I now wonder if anyone with a 6MT had to modify their exhaust, and if other companies offer a different exhaust based on your type of tranny.

[expertsedan]

They said due to the xdrive transfer box in the middle of the chassis the center pipe will be different from non xdrive version. And they not planing to build a exhaust for xdrive so maybe I will not have a chance to try this nice system……

[S4NoMore]

Originally Posted by idrive328i

But if this is all true and in fact different, I now wonder if anyone with a 6MT had to modify their exhaust, and if other companies offer a different exhaust based on your type of tranny.

This is the first actual cat-back exhaust I've seen, most are axle-back and retain the factory mid-section so that complication doesn't apply. I would probably be inclined to pursue it if they offered an axle-back section for <$1k.

[MCL_F32]

Originally Posted by expertsedan

They said due to the xdrive transfer box in the middle of the chassis the center pipe will be different from non xdrive version. And they not planing to build a exhaust for xdrive so maybe I will not have a chance to try this nice system……

Feel your pain brother This exhaust sounds great after hearing a couple of aftermarket one from vid clips. No one seems to making exhausts for x-drive or performance parts in general, but this exhaust system sounds mean.

I'm thinking of doing custom next yr. I know Remus has one for x-drive but it's Axle back and doesn't sound so impressing IMO.

[Forgiven]

I think making some custom adjustments on this beauty is worth it but that's just my opinion though.

[expertsedan]

Originally Posted by MCL_F32

Feel your pain brother This exhaust sounds great after hearing a couple of aftermarket one from vid clips. No one seems to making exhausts for x-drive or performance parts in general, but this exhaust system sounds mean.

I'm thinking of doing custom next yr. I know Remus has one for x-drive but it's Axle back and doesn't sound so impressing IMO.

I'm planning go with the super sprint hope its sounds good !

[MyFragileHalogen]

Originally Posted by idrive328i

Where are you located?? I'm not sure if they have a car you can hear in person. You might want to call and ask them.

LA. Looking forward to hearing some in-car recordings.

[idrive328i]

Originally Posted by S4NoMore

This is the first actual cat-back exhaust I've seen, most are axle-back and retain the factory mid-section so that complication doesn't apply. I would probably be inclined to pursue it if they offered an axle-back section for <$1k.

The exhaust lines are the same but not sure why BMW made the location of the hanger on the front pipe different on the 6MT. Supersprint offers two different front pipes depending on what tranny you have.

http://www.supersprint.com/en/IT/pro...093E280BA.aspx

http://www.supersprint.com/en/IT/pro...093E280BA.aspx

Originally Posted by MCL_F32

Feel your pain brother This exhaust sounds great after hearing a couple of aftermarket one from vid clips. No one seems to making exhausts for x-drive or performance parts in general, but this exhaust system sounds mean. :cool!

I'm thinking of doing custom next yr. I know Remus has one for x-drive but it's Axle back and doesn't sound so impressing IMO.

When I was at ARK getting the exhaust, they mentioned they were looking for a local X-Drive model to see how their exhaust would fit and possibly develop a catback for the X-drive. If you live in socal and willing to help them out, ask for Mike.

Originally Posted by Forgiven

I think making some custom adjustments on this beauty is worth it but that's just my opinion though.

Not sure what adjustments are needed, but if they are simple enough and cheap to do at a muffler shop, I definitely recommend this exhaust.

Originally Posted by MyFragileHalogen

LA. Looking forward to hearing some in-car recordings.

Sweet, I live in Rancho Cucamonga. I'll try to get the in-cabin footage asap.

[Nd4spd03]

Sounds awesome. Great videos.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Sounds Great!!
By the way,we are the newest Ark Performance vendors

[idrive328i]

Originally Posted by Nd4spd03

Sounds awesome. Great videos.

Thanks!! I'm still enjoying my car with this exhaust =)

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

Sounds Great!!
By the way,we are the newest Ark Performance vendors

Nice and congrats, the guys at ARK are awesome!

[idrive328i]

So, ARK was asking me if I knew anyone with a 428i. They have the GRiP exhaust system they would like to test and take some photos and get video footage for a discounted price. If anyone is interested contact ARK directly and ask for Mike.

[MyFragileHalogen]

Hopefully someone in LA gets it installed and give me a chance to sit on his passenger seat to hear it.

[expertsedan]

I am defiantly interested!

Originally Posted by idrive328i

So, ARK was asking me if I knew anyone with a 428i. They have the GRiP exhaust system they would like to test and take some photos and get video footage for a discounted price. If anyone is interested contact ARK directly and ask for Mike.