nless

So I just got my car about a month ago and i've been driving the hell out of it. I really enjoy it. So i'm going to get the car tuned as for which tune I'm not sure of. So i have a few questions to the owners.
1st is to those who have down pipes esp in the NYS area. Has putting down pipes cause you to fail emissions? if not which ones did you get? i heard wiestec are the only ture down pipes.
2nd a really noob question. How do I perform the snap crackle and pop do I just rev in M mode in one gear and let the car slow down? can it be done in S+ or S mode? Also to do the cool but pointless tunnel run do I just drive thru one in one gear?
3rd I would like to black out some parts of the car. such as the chrome window trim any ideas on how to? I thought about plastidip. but a friend of mine said it might look horrible.

CarHopper

1. You'll fail inspections with catless downpipes. You need catted. I live in NY, run catless, and am going through that headache now where I have to go retune / swap downpipes to pass inspection.

2. Revving out and letting the car decelerate in M itself will help with snap and crackle. But as long as your exhaust is in stock form it'll be tame. I'd start by removing the resonator as well. Like I said, I'm catless but also deleted my resonator and its loud. Like, really loud.

3. Here are part numbers for OEM night package window trim that will fit your car:

Front bottom left 2127250365, right 2127250465
Rear bottom left 2127350165, right 2127350265
Top left 2126901900, right 2126902000

nless

Rehabguy

After you went catless and tuned... was there a CEL? I ask out of curiosity. Aside from wheels and tires and AFE filters, my car is stock. I too live in NYC and my previous car, a WRX, had pretty much every bolt on under the sun and I used to pass inspection every time so long as I took care of the CEL (via OBD2 scanner and iphone app, no less) the car used to occasionally throw. I was under the impression that as long as your readiness codes were intact and there was no CEL on the dash one'd pass.

nless

CerBErusM113

My .02 when I went Catless I felt a substantial bump in mid range torque once the tune adjusted. Up top this car has always been kind of wild with a tune, the Torque in 4th gear (when you aren't heat soaked) is downright scary. But that being said, I went with a Cat delete and no downpipes. I felt the extra $ saved could be put towards other mods. And for the record, I cut my cats at the low end and gutted them, that threw a CEL for me, then after getting them welded up and driving it for a day the CEL went away. I have a Eurocharged Stage 2 tune, nice that my o2 sensors are still on since in VA they just do a visual. And my secondary o2s are still functioning.

nless

so you need to get the car retuned when you get downpipes?

CerBErusM113

You need a Stage 2 tune for catless downpipes if you are not already running it. I was already running it prior.

CarHopper

I just had those bits painted on mine. The trunk, door handles, and front grille are painted. Trim is OEM as 15+ night package trim is actually black.

No CEL because it is disabled through the tune. Therefore, the monitors do not set to ready. If you didn't have the tune turn off the CEL you'd get one but I suppose could just clear it and roll the dice getting through a cycle catless and being good to go for NY inspection. Personally, I hate having a CEL lit up so that's why I went this route.

Yes, to maximize / optimize gains on downpipes you want a tune.

Rehabguy

Which tune did you go with? I'd be pretty upset about having to go through all this hassle if I were you. I'd think that a tune would be to have your ECU think all is well and that'd equate to NO CEL... not just tell the ECU to switch off CEL.

CarHopper

I have Eurocharged.

And I know / hear you. As far as I know, there is no way to "trick" our ECU's so that the CEL stays off and the monitors set. Audi / BMW seem to have the tuning support for this, however, we do not. Hell, we can't even OBDII handheld tune on this platform yet... ECU must be pulled. I am just 3 hours away from EC, however, so it's really just a day worth of time and a couple hundred dollars so meh. But yes, I agree, I would think the support should be there so the CEL is off but monitors still set but that is just not the case.

We do have other options though. You can buy a second ECU that you swap for inspection purposes that you leave untouched. Another route could also be o2 spacers on the downpipes but again this is a bit of a roll of the dice.

Again though, the support just isn't there. All things considered, I do love my EC tune and other than the inspection hassle everything has been great.