First time doing a review here, I doubt many many people review stuff these days but I'd like to share my experience with Berk and their resonated test pipes as of 2023-2024.. So October of 2023 I ordered a set Berks from Concept Z. I got them for $309 which seems to be the current price as of writing this. I really didn't want to go this route because they clearly do not come with spacers and I live in a state that plugs into your OBD to check "readiness" of o2 sensors yadda yadda. I purchased these for a few reasons, one being my previous test pipes from AAM exploded apart at the passenger side flange, and secondly because word of mouth agreed they were very good pipes.. Spoiler they were not..

All together I ordered the Berk resonated test pipes and "DNA 90-Degree o2 spacers" from Concept Z. Everything went well and I had a shop install the pipes. They didn't want to install the spacers and said I should do that myself to get them how I wanted. Fair enough, I was very happy with how the car sounded. SO much quieter without a baseball sized leak after the exhaust manifold haha.. Very long story short the DNA spacers were huge and garbage and probably only tested for manual transmission cars. The clearance was horrible and I spent about a month straight trying to mix them with some Chinese ones from Walmart online just to justify my time and purchase.. Somewhere in between all this BS I accidentally had one of my o2 sensors unscrew slightly and drag against the ground. This popped the o2 sensor fuse and left me code hunting. All in all a huge waste of time and money just to get spacers working.. And a learning experience!

So when they DID work, the Berks sounded decent. I'll link some driving . I'm sure depending on the catback your mileage will obviously vary. Drone was livable from what I remember, but any steep hills that bogged the engine definitely interrupted a conversation here and there. Highway and out of town driving was pretty nice.

Now onto more annoyance. As if chasing o2 sensor codes and spacers wasn't bad enough. Eventually the spacer setup that did work was short lived. The passenger side resonator welds decided to start cracking and created a leak which in turn threw a CEL. This crack slowly grew, which then turned into the resonator completely separating from the pipe/flange that bolted to the Y-Pipe. Pictured below,


This turned into me getting in contact with Berk via email. Luckily they were very helpful and had a brand new replacement sent out in the mail. (When my AAM's failed they made me send the failed pipe back to be repaired (which they did).. That was BS and I sold them when I got those back.) So I had the passenger pipe replaced and put on by the same shop. Later the drivers side upper flange started to leak giving another CEL.. By this point I realized the online consensus was that this was common for them to crack AND for the gaskets to leak.. Cool. Pay for what you get I guess. I soon realized my drivers side began cracking now.. Photo from today of that pipe.



At this point I was set on removing them as soon as possible and looking for better options. My standards had to be that- the new pipe needed to be a test pipe because I didn't want to retune at this time, resonated, and have the OEM transmission mount arms to hopefully keep everything mounted correctly. I ended up getting Motordyne Anti Reversion test pipes. These checked every box I had but instead of resonators they have a chamber with a pipe inside it to stop exhaust gasses from creeping back up the manifold. I'll review those once they're broken in because so far I really like them.

All in all my recommendation would be to spend the extra money and get a test pipe or HFC with exhaust hangers. I feel like Berk didn't account for the extra weight/strain in this area when bolted up to an aftermarket catback that doesn't have the OEM Y-Pipe hangers. So without any hangers in this area, I can only guess that weak welds and lots of stress and heat cycles causes them to fail.

 

12/2/24 Update: I've been in contact with Berk trying to get my drivers side replaced only to be turned down because they already replaced the passenger side. I tried explaining to them that all my motor mounts, transmission mounts, and every single possible thing that could have caused both sides to crack was most certainly a manufacturer defect considering both sides broke at the exact same weld that this was their fault, and I've since been left with no reply. Their last email was from 11/20/24. Needless to say you pay for what you get, and I most definitely won't get the same crappy experience with my replacement Motordyne pipes. I feel bad I wasted my time believing your product was of any quality. Both the original Berk from last year, and the replacement passenger pipe from MAY 2024 have loose resonators that rattle when you shake them. I never once ran my old pop map on the new replacement pipe so it makes absolutely no sense why the entire resonator on both suddenly shake and rattle like they aren't being held in properly. Can't say I'd ever recommend them unless you like rasp and welds breaking.

 

That was an unhappy read, however thanks for laying that out and sharing your project. I think your car sounds great under load, but when idling at speed and low RPM, it was a bit much.

Berk used to be one of the go-to manufacturers for cats and test-pipes on the G. So now it's almost 2025, and that was a long time ago. I've always recoiled a little from the "you get what you pay for" assessment, yet sometimes it really is that simple.

 

I'll definitely have to re-record with the new Motordyne test pipes. When I first installed them they sounded just like any resonated test pipe might, but now that they've broken in it's definitely louder.. I have a YT short on that channel from my phone of some revs but I still need to go for a ride with the GoPro. Unfortunately my mic setup makes it muffled to combat all that wind.

Usually that's how the cookie crumbles with my luck, not so much with AAM that was just bad luck I guess, but hopefully Motordyne shines. I've heard of their HFC failing in less than a year!