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Reply: Borla for M3

Tom,
I'm on my third M3 exhaust and hope to save you some pain.
I'm not an expert and most of my info is hearsay as you have
already experienced. It's a very tough decision, but we also
all have  very different budgets. I knew of only two choices
when I first began looking. I knew that the Borla was well
made, stainless, and reputable. Whether you like the tips is 
personal preference. Also saw the Tri-flow ad in Roundel.
It costed $700 at the time. Makers of tri-flow stated that the
Borla only increased HP by about 5hp. That , of course
was a biased opinion. But, being alone and new to the BMW
 world, I was suckered into purchasing their exhaust with a
claim of 19 added HP. This however, was with the Autothority
 chip for which I ended up with the Dinan chip. Nevertheless,
construction was fairly good , made of stainless steel, and
bolted on with no modifications. However, being a 
perfectionist, I was disappointed that one tip was a mere 1/4
inch lower than the other. The exhaust was wonderfully
super loud,deep, aggressive and burblely. Soon, the 
Supersprint became popular, but the price went up $600 to
$900 making the TriFlow a better bargain. Due to budget
constraints, this made the decision for a few people on the
digest to buy the TriFlow.  Overall ,people really liked it,
The sound and subjective power increase. Then I began
hearing about chip developement based on the
Supersprint products and decided to change at a big
loss. Yes, I spent another  $900. Ouch! I was unhappy
with  the different level of the tips , plus I like the upswept
DTM style tips of the Supersprint.  I also heard
about some guys that flow tested a bunch of mufflers
for the M3 and found the Supersprint to be the best flowing.
The stock muffler was also found to be excellant and better
than some upgrades. I don't think Borla ranked very high.
The Supersprint was very well made and also had attachments
for the stock heat shield. The catch is that the pipe ends
required modification (cutting and welding) to fit, thus
increasing cost even further. Overall, I love the fit, looks,
construction , and sound. In  fact, I find it just as  quiet
as stock, plus it is very smooth. No sputtering and rhythm
undulations as with the TriFlow. I miss the loudness, but 
the radio sounds better now. With the direction I'm 
heading, this quietness won't last too long.(another story).

Bottom line, the best is what  you can afford, but the Supersprint
 would be the best choice if cost no object. Just make sure
you skip the step up cost which I had to take a loss. If the Borla
costed say $300, hey go for it.  That's $600 less plus
modification/installation costs. We all have different objectives,
and mine was to match as closely as possible the setup for
which JimC. as tuned the ultimate chip for the M3 with regards
to just bolt-ons and normal aspiration which he has already
reported on the digest.
 
Scott H.