I have the Berk exhaust on my car since March this year, so I figured it might be time to contribute this review thread.
First off, it looks like I’m the odd one out here. As instead of adding HFC’s to my CBE, I got rid of them to go back to stock cats.
This what I had: first the Berk HFC's alone, then added the Berk Cat Back Exhaust and now I'm down to just the Berk CBE.
Sound
1. Just HFC: Louder and "rawer" sound then stock, but there also was the rasp and hiss noises. This made it sound a bit "ricy" to me.
2. HFC + CBE: Great sound, sounded like a real race car. Deep, raw and racy (NOT Ricy). But very LOUD, too loud for me. It really attracted attention when you stepped on it, as I found out the hard way, got a ticket for loud exhaust. There was no drone but when accelerating hard the interior panels in the back started vibrating/rattling with the sound, that's how loud it was. Also, there rasp and hiss were still there but not as obvious as with just HFC’s. So with this set up being too loud for my taste and still having the rasp/hiss made me decide to go back to stock cats.
3. Just Berk CBE: Perfect, just right for me, nice deep sound, sounds like a real sports car but no longer an all out race car. No drone and you only really hear it when you step on it. Nice and quiet while highway cruising 50 to 80 mph.
If there was a system where I can switch between HFC + CBE and CBE only, I would get it. HFC + CBE for track work and spirited driving, the CBE only for daily driving and long road trips. Unfortunately that doesn't exist, but I am very happy with the just the Berk CBE.
My car with BCE and HFC can be seen and heard here:
Comparison Vid: Stock, Stillen, and Berk :)
Delivery, Install and Fitment
I had some issues with the delivery of the system but that has been discussed before and Berk took care of that, so props to them for the customer service.
Install
Because the weather was still crappy in March and because I didn’t feel like crawling around on a cold garage floor, I had a local shop install the exhaust. There are some pics of the install below (pics by Adalsky, thanks dude!).
Fitment
I believe the issues have been solved with the newer systems, but mine did not fit perfectly. The left hand exhaust tip sat slightly lower then the right hand one. The mechanic at the shop tried his best to align the tips, but he could not get it right without messing around with hangers and adding spacers. So I told him to let it be for now.
However, it kept bugging me that the alignment wasn’t perfect, so when I read Dembflyer’s post (
BERK Catback Exhaust System installs/reviews) this summer, I decided to do something about it. And sure enough, when I took a closer look I noticed I had the exact same issues as Dembflyer had with his exhaust: the hanger on the left side mid pipe did not line up with the bracket, even worse; the hanger wasn’t even in the rubber mount any more! I modified the bracket, so I could move it closer to the exhaust hanger by about half an inch. The hanger didn’t come out of the rubber mount since then. (even after a full track day…) I also added a couple of spacers under the right hand muffler bracket to move the right hand tip down a bit, now the tips are even again.
To conclude I can say I’m very happy with the exhaust. The sound is perfect; this is what the car should have sounded like from the factory. I still get compliments on how good it sounds, even from my neighbors. It also looks good, nice stock like but with a little added bling from the stainless muffler peeking out underneath the bumper. Fitment issues are solved now. Yes, these could have been solved by Berk in the first place, but every new product that comes out will have some issues, so I’m not too worried about it. Besides these issues, the quality of the system is good. Nice welds and all flanges line up perfectly.
Pics:
