Bi66s

hey guys i want a deeper roar out my clk500 i was wondering what you guys think about the quad set up with no mufflers and no resonator i dont want the car to sound like a Honda or scion found a shop in my area to do it for $450 with magnaflow quad tips and because i live in ny i want it to sound like the car came with it not ****ty

lowpost

I hear no muffler and no resonator would be loud as f@&$. My eisenmann race was unbearably loud with no resonator - had to put it back on.

Bi66s

what about deleting the cats and muffler or just muffler this is my DD dont want it to be annoying loud i was also thinking about doing a cat delete and dynomax race mufflers like this video i found on youtube but strayed away due to it being to big to fit on the right side

Kevwood

If you leave all 4 cats in place and the OEM resonator but delete the muffler I think it would sound pretty good and quite throaty.

Bi66s

thanks kev i think thats the route im gonna take

Rudeney

So, here's the $64,000 question...are there actually four cats, or are what we call "secondary cats" actually just resonators? I know they can be removed without any ECM issues, and pictures I have seen of them removed and cut open make them look just like resonators - the pipe is open with perforations into the "can". Does anyone really know? I can;t find any official info. MBZ just call the whole pipe the "catalytic converter system".

togaclk55

These are my "secondaries"

Kevwood

Up to '06 there are 4 actuall cats, when they went to the 5.5 (550) in '07 they went with 2 primaries then 2 bubble resonators in lieu of the secondary cats.

lazlion99

Ditto.
Btw, I always wonder how exhaust sound wound change if I were to replace oem resonators with a long free flow magnaflow mid muffler.

Kevwood

Thats what I have but with all the other exhaust and engine mods I've done, I'm positive it's going to sound a lot different on an n/a car. In theory, I would guess that it would pick up a little volume and a slightly deeper tone because you are then funneling the sound though a single larger chamber.

lazlion99

Makes perfect sense!
How about if I were to keep the 2 bubble resonators, take out the last resonator and to replace it with a magnaflow free flow, would it possibly tone donw by about 5 dba? LOL
I know many here would be inclined to louder exhaust (e.g. Karan. LOL) but I am actually looking to reduce the exhaust volume by just a tiny bit for my day-to-day driving, and not to scare the cr@p out of my rather conservative peers I share office garage space with. LOL

Kevwood

I also prefer a "powerful yet not ignorant"sounding exhaust system and I think thats exactly what I have now. As for removing and replacing the last resonator, I highly doubt it's going to change anything at all - its quite an insignificant item. I would just remove it altogether if I were you.

gaazmon

Is it worth just removing the main (larger) resonator or better to remove all 3 on a CLK550? Has anyone just removed larger resonator and put a straight pipe in it's place but left the 2 bubble ones? What's the sound (tone) and volume (loudness) differences? My other concern was passing smog in CA but it should be fine since all 3 are resonators correct?

gaazmon

Well I bit the bullet and did it too. Just had my resonator and bubble resonators (aka 2nd cats as people call them). I can also confirm that according to my exhaust shop the two round things are just resonators and not 2nd cats on these 550 cars. He looked inside of it for 3 seconds and knew it was a resonator. Honestly it's not that much louder, but definitely does add some volume and deeper tone. No drone whatsoever. I highly recommend it. Nice cheap mod. Car sounds great. Love it