While I know this is a widely discussed topic and I know there are many threads regarding this and I have read through a ton of them, I'm curious to know what people are doing today as people discover new things all the time.
I have an Eisenmann Race muffler on my w208 CLK55, and it sounds very good, but I want it to be louder as its not that much louder than stock (sounds much better though). I have heard of some people complaining of drone and/or loss of back pressure and low end torque due to removing the resonator and/or secondary cats which I would like to avoid. I have also heard of some people saying that does not happen and it actually increases performance. What do you all recommend?
Tldr;
I want to increase exhaust sound w/o losing performance and avoiding drone
on my C43 i removed the secondary cats and resonators and its pretty loud, but not obnoxious. and not alot of drone on the highway.
if you want to increase the sound i would remove the secondary cats, those will give you the most sound increase, and then resonators after that. you wont lose performance due to backpressure though, the primary cats and the muffler will give you more than enough backpressure to not lose performance IMO.
headers would be great but the price for the good ones is just offensive.
on my CLK i dont think i will mess with the exhaust much though, i considered the eisenmann muffler for a more refined sound, but i dont want 2 loud cars so i might do the muffler and remove resonators at most.
As much as I would love a set of Headers I won't pay retail. Waiting for a used one to pop up. High flow secondary cats I have considered but is there any benefit to high flow cats or would a cat delete and x or y pipe be better?
on my C43 i removed the secondary cats and resonators and its pretty loud, but not obnoxious. and not alot of drone on the highway.
if you want to increase the sound i would remove the secondary cats, those will give you the most sound increase, and then resonators after that. you wont lose performance due to backpressure though, the primary cats and the muffler will give you more than enough backpressure to not lose performance IMO.
headers would be great but the price for the good ones is just offensive.
on my CLK i dont think i will mess with the exhaust much though, i considered the eisenmann muffler for a more refined sound, but i dont want 2 loud cars so i might do the muffler and remove resonators at most.
Good to know.
And I highly recommend the Eisenmann muffler as it sounds amazing without being much louder than stock. The sound is much more aggressive and muscley.
Without getting really into it, the term "backpressure" is 99% BS. Period. Full stop.
If you want louder as simple as possible, A)secondary cats and res delete or B)just buy aftermarket mufflers and weld them in instead. SLP loudmouth's if you really want loud.
If you choose A, various companies now make a "resonated X" which is a crossover resonator if you're worried about drone.
Good to know.
And I highly recommend the Eisenmann muffler as it sounds amazing without being much louder than stock. The sound is much more aggressive and muscley.
where did you get your eisenmann muffler? anywhere that had a nice price? i would like to get one but all the parts im buying for the CLK i just got is adding up quick! haha, pelican has it for $1250... pretty pricey for a nice sound when you can cut out the cats and resonator and get a custom pipe made to make it louder for $500
I was forced to use an OBX header with custom downpipes, Deleted cats and the sound is superb.
I get a mild drone at start up and wild sound when opening the throttle hard.
Resonator and muffler stock. Mild idle and commute sounds.
Note: with headers tuning required plus I modified the collectors on the OBX.
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