Help! Is it worth it?

Ok, so I just took delivery of an FMF Powercore 4.

But upon reading the instructions and (mainly) disclaimers, I have to admit I feel a slight hesitation.

I've put an aftermarket exhaust on every single motor vehicle I've owned, from a Suzuki SV650 to my 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek. But something about reading the disclaimers on the FMF instructions makes me a bit of a skeptic.

For instance:

Without the stock exhaust's heat shield, I don't think I'll be bring my wife along anywhere as a passenger.

Also, what's the deal with repacking? Come on! The directions recommend repacking every 20-30 hours of use! I'll do that in a month! I'm not going to repack the freaking fiberglass ever, let alone once a month!

Mayve the stock exhaust will break itself in and become a bit more appealing in time?

I'm very confused. I've never hesitated for a second about changing out the stock exhaust for a throatier, louder on. But oddly, I am now!

Help!!! What are your thoughts /opinions / experiences? Any of you regret going with an aftermarket pipe? Any of you think I'm just being a big ol' p*ssy?

I've changed the packing on my Q4 once. I think I put about 9000 miles on it before I changed it. I'll go dig up the thread where I show what it looked like when I pulled the old crap out. Not as bad as I thought it would be.    

https://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t8979-fmf-q4-exhaust-repack-melted-coupling-spacer?highlight=repack <-- clicky

Re-packing isn't that big of a deal really. 20-30 hours is insane and I doubt anyone here abides by that.

Your only real issue is the heat shield.

That's your call. I think a few people have fashioned their own heat shields, but honestly.....riding a passenger on one of these bikes for more than an hour or so is just not a whole lot of fun.

Motokid, what prompted you to repack? Did your bike start sounding differently? Performing differently? Or just for sh*ts and gigs?

And thanks for the link and the pics of your repack. I must say that whole spacer fusing thing leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth. Repacking sure doesn't look like fun.

My 2 cents on repacking.

Do it when the pipe gets louder, this can take a long very time if you dont get the packing wet or ride wide open all the time, those two things kill the packing quickly.

Guys do way more work than nessasary to do it.

You dont have to take the mid pipe off the bike at all.

Take the bolt out that holds the muffler part onto the subframe and the 4 allen head bolts that hold the muffler together than pull it apart, you may need to tap on it a bit, leaving the mid pipe hooked up makes this even easier. Then you remove the old packing from the muffler core and put the new stuff on it, tape it in place so it stays there then slide the muffler back together and reinstall all the bolts. I use silicone where the pipe slides together and on the threads of the allen head bolts so they dont fall out.

You can also buy the satintune (sp) pipe, it doesnt need repacked ever, but its louder and very expensive.

PortlandWRider wrote:

Also, what's the deal with repacking? Come on! The directions recommend repacking every 20-30 hours of use! I'll do that in a month! I'm not going to repack the freaking fiberglass ever, let alone once a month!

C'mon, get a grip.
You make it sound like you never heard of somebody repacking a fiberglass-wrapped muffler before.
This is nothing new and nothing to be so hesitant about unless you have a phobia about picking up a wrench.

The instructions are erring on the side of caution because, believe it or not, there are hard motocross racers out there who probably would need to have their race bike muffler repacked at that time interval.

On my bikes, once a year has worked for me.
Makes a good rainy day project and it's not that hard.

Whoa there, YZEtc! I have no problem whatsoever picking up a wrench, but I sure don't want to take a wrench to that muffler once a month. I prefer to ride my bike much more often then work on it, hence why I bought a WR in the first place: low maintenance. If I really wanted to spend more time in the garage then out on the road I would have bought a Royal Enfield.

I was more so trying to pick the brains of folks who already have an FMF muffler, whether or not they liked it or regretted purchasing it. I like how low-maintenance the bike is and I do not really want to make it high maintenance, and if it were actually true that the fiberglass needed replacement every 30 hours that would indeed make the bike a lot more higher maintenance.

I was just wondering if maybe I should have spent more money on a muffler that was not so high maintenance that is all. I have decided of course to go ahead and install the FMF on my bike and will be doing so tomorrow morning. I a pretty conservative rider. I am rarely if ever going to bounce off of the rev limiter, and I do not plan to ride the living daylights out of the bike, so I am hoping that, like mentioned above, I could just replace the fiberglass packing once a year or so.

You'll be fine with once a year for normal riding.
Enjoy the bike. :)

PortlandWRider wrote:

Motokid, what prompted you to repack? Did your bike start sounding differently? Performing differently? Or just for sh*ts and gigs?

I live in Delaware. Every two years I have to take bike through inspection. They actually do a noise level test on motorcycles. I did not want to risk failing the test, and I had not changed the packing from when I bought the pipe which had been almost two years by the time inspection came around.

So I figured it was time.

Did not notice any noise or performance difference from old to new. As you can see from my pictures, most of the original packing was still pretty decent.

Put the FMF Powercore 4 on first thing this past Sat. morning. Easy as cake. Took a while to figure out how to remove the servo cables and that stinkin midpipe bolt FMF supplies was too short, forcing me to hit home depot. But otherwise, it all went quickly and smoothly.

I couldn't be happier I did it! The sound!!! And the increase in power and throttle response is uncanny!! My brother's WR250R is still totally stock, and when we switched on a ride this weekend I couldn't believe the difference the FMF pipe made. It is like a whole new bike.

PortlandWRider wrote:

Put the FMF Powercore 4 on first thing this past Sat. morning. Easy as cake. Took a while to figure out how to remove the servo cables and that stinkin midpipe bolt FMF supplies was too short, forcing me to hit home depot. But otherwise, it all went quickly and smoothly.

I couldn't be happier I did it! The sound!!! And the increase in power and throttle response is uncanny!! My brother's WR250R is still totally stock, and when we switched on a ride this weekend I couldn't believe the difference the FMF pipe made. It is like a whole new bike.

Install a fuel programmer and you will really be impressed...