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Tune and or downpipes?

6K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  EMF Audio (McMedics) 
#1 ·
Okay so i’m pretty sure I’m getting in tune from M engineering for my 12 C. A tune is $3000 for 70 hp. That comes out to 1 horsepower per $43. It looks like downpipe’s are about $4000 for catted ones which is what I want but only yield about 30 hp tops maybe? That’s about 1 horsepower per $133. Plus there’s the labor to install it so if you add that it’s probably closer to $160 per horsepower. Obviously a tune is the best bang for the buck.

Right now I’m thinking of only going with the tune. But let me ask are catted a downpipe‘s worth the money. Also I am quite satisfied with the loudness of the sport exhaust on my 12 C, how much louder is it going to be with the catted down pipes? Finally has anyone seen the cat a downpipe‘s from TopSpeed that run about $1900 for the set. Any thoughts on these?
 
#2 ·
Okay so i’m pretty sure I’m getting in tune from M engineering for my 12 C. A tune is $3000 for 70 hp. That comes out to 1 horsepower per $43. It looks like downpipe’s are about $4000 for catted ones which is what I want but only yield about 30 hp tops maybe? That’s about 1 horsepower per $133. Plus there’s the labor to install it so if you add that it’s probably closer to $160 per horsepower. Obviously a tune is the best bang for the buck.

Right now I’m thinking of only going with the tune. But let me ask are catted a downpipe‘s worth the money. Also I am quite satisfied with the loudness of the sport exhaust on my 12 C, how much louder is it going to be with the catted down pipes? Finally has anyone seen the cat a downpipe‘s from TopSpeed that run about $1900 for the set. Any thoughts on these?
A tune is the best bang for the buck, period, on ANY car. There is no exhaust or fuel change add-on that will get near a tune for nearly every car. The only reason to change catted downpipes is to support other mods, IE bigger turbos. You may see a throttle response change with the other downpipes but not as drastic as catless. You might make it a little louder with high flow cats, if that's what you're after. I'm not saying lower cost downpipes are bad, but traditionally the cheaper option may have fitment issues. I suspect the $1,900 one might not have very good cats on them so look into that.
 
#13 ·
owning a car that had any modifications to the anti pollution system is legal,driving it on public roads is NOT!
and it's not because a county does not have any emissions testing,that another county in the same state doesn't.
The epa is pretty clear even on replacement cats, either an approved one( tested under fed guidelines) or OEM only.
all other cats do not meet the letter of the law even if vehicle passes smog test!
 
#14 ·
Coming back to the question on tuning and cats - if you're going to tune and want the maximum performance and safety, then you should really do both together.

If you have to do one or the other - then just the tune and the tuner shouldn't go too crazy - those cats will be getting hot on sustained full throttle runs, so the tuner should keep that in mind if you do a lot of fast highway driving.

If you do just the cats and don't tune, your ECU will be compensating for the changes you've made which it can do very well, but everything it is compensating has reduced it's potential to save your engine if there's another problem down the line.
 
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#16 ·
Some anecdotal info here, I was tuned with stock cats and catback and had no issues, then I did catless downpipes and catback without changing the tune and again, no issues.
Excellent points about heat and the cats. I have seen numerous instances where cats have melted/clogged/blown out due to overheating. I believe Thorney motorsports has a video explaining the issues of tuning these turbo cars with cheap catalytic converters and damages caused by static revving the engine etc. My 2 cents if you get a tune also get "free flowing" downpipes
I think the bouncing off the rev limiter while not moving is more of a Lamborghini thing, I don't see it with McLaren owners.
 
#15 ·
Excellent points about heat and the cats. I have seen numerous instances where cats have melted/clogged/blown out due to overheating. I believe Thorney motorsports has a video explaining the issues of tuning these turbo cars with cheap catalytic converters and damages caused by static revving the engine etc. My 2 cents if you get a tune also get "free flowing" downpipes
 
#19 ·
Having 93 available everywhere I'd call that the standard tune, and we can totally give you tunes for things you don't have yet so you don't have to touch it later (including race gas). For catless on the smog thing, you could probably just pay someone off to get past it, that's what everyone else does, but I don't have a smell. You've been in my car, even outside the car you don't smell it.
I guess you haven’t seen any 600LT youtube or Instagram videos. Hell, one rally I was on, there were 5 other 600LTs besides mine. They all lined up and did the flame revs for about 5 minutes outside the hotel at 10 at night (I didn’t join in for a multitude of reasons). McLaren’s aren’t anymore immune from that than any other exotic

*(Off topic, but interesting none the less, for there supposedly being so few 600LTs, I see more of them around at events than I do any other Mac)
600LT's are the only ones I've seen it, because they roast marshmallows because it shoots fire factory. I'm not around any 600LT's here, I only know of 1. The other McLaren's around here don't do it, but you bet the Lambos do.
 
#25 ·
This is just a tune, and a real response to the first experience of @Dano to it.

 
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