I don't believe what you're hearing is from the exhaust system, the x-pipe blends the pulses between the banks which lessens the rasp. Having had my Berk's for just over a year and discovered they're broken inside I'm no longer a fan. Haven't decided what I'm going to do yet but it won't be Berks! MotorDynes ART pipes might be a better option for both of us. Then just swap them out for the OE cats for the yearly inspection....choices?
Gary

 

I'm sure you already know all about the ART pipes. But take it from someone who has owned both the Berks and the ART pipes, go for the ARTs. You won't regret it. The main reason that I got the Berks was because I was worried about the smell / being bothered by the police. I haven't had issues with either. You can certainly tell a difference in smell between the HFC and the ART pipes, but it isn't enough for it to bother me. I got used to it, and now I quite like it haha.

There is certainly a performance gain over the Berks as well. Says my butt dyno anyway.

I did my inspection, and then put on the ART pipes. If you have a buddy with a shop, or can get it done cheap, it's def worth the hassle. My friend and I actually got the swap down to about 30 minutes (I couldn't make up my mind, and I did different combinations -__-).

The tone is awesome too, def makes it deeper and enhances it. A friend of mine just got regular Berk test pipes, sounds like absolute ***.

The best thing about the ART pipes? They'll last forever. I don't have to worry about any cat material going bad! There's nothing to ruin!

 

A lot of people seem to like the MagnaFlow resonated x-pipe to get rid of rasp. http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...e=main&id=9514 It's even used with the FI exhaust. You would have to cut out the Stillen X section and have this welded in.

 

im not too familiar with the stillen and honestly not gonna look it up right now..if u use a y pipe with that exhaust just switch it out for a motordyne xyz with resonator attachment, or change to a y pipe exhaust and run that y pipe, if it doesnt use a y pipe and is true dual then id add a resonator on each side somewhere or splice in an x..i ran berks with my nismo cat back with the motordyne xyz/w resonator in place of the nismo y pipe and it sounded amazing on my Z..i now am running invidia gemini with stock cats on the G and its a quiet exhaust with a nice tone that would probably sound good with hfc and not rasp but i can say that the nismo s tune cat back with xyzw/resonator and with berks had no rasp and sounded great.

 

^^also for the comment above that i just read..i went thru 2 sets of bek hfc because of them failing and breaking inside before i finally went with test pipes over about a 7 month period of time..then the test pipes eventually cracked on the brackets on both sides..junk

 

When I got my berks I was pumped.. it drove awesome and then started noticing the sound and it got louder.. now I think one of them are jacked cause the exhaust sounds way raspier than just a few months ago when I first put them on.

Im giving up on the berks and getting some oem cats to go with my ARK dts. Sucks though cause the cars picks up quicker with em.

400 + 125 to install then another 125 to take them off and put on my oems.. $700 mistake!

 

I'm gonna end up trying that magnaflow x pipe but hopefully it's not a waste of money :/

 

Here's a heads up for you members thinking of doing this....^....the Stillen exhaust was made/designed by Magnaflow so the crossover or x-pipe is the same one you'd be putting in....if you own the Stillen dual exhaust. If you have the HKS like mine it's a very good addition and eliminates the crossover flaw HKS has....Gary

 

The magnaflow I linked to is the resonated tru-x muffler. So not the same...

 

Gary, remember a few months ago when I accidentally said Berks were failing and you said I was too new to the forum to be spreading rumours like that...lol

 

well i have Kinetix HFC, megan y pipe and stock muffler and i have horrible rasp so I'm going to try the magnaflow x pipe and hope it works!!

 

i dont get to much rasp with my berks and my HKS exhaust..although i think i gonna be selling my berks for some ART pipes because I hear nothing but good reviews about them

 

I had EXTREME rasp with my berks. I had it paired with the HKS rep. I decided to sell everything and go back to stock. A lot of money down the drain but I did recover some in the re-sail. I thought of doing the magnaflow x-pipe but just felt like that would be too much invested and I may still hate it.

 

I have a very similar issue with my megan exhaust on my sedan. Hearing other cars with just the y back megan it sounds awesome and deep. I have kinetix hfc and the megan and it's pretty raspy which I am pretty disappointed with. I just don't think I want to get rid of the HFC's though. Might just live with it.

 

I had rasp right after installing my berks some years ago, ended up being the Y-pipe.

I have ART pipes currently and love them!