Benz-O-Rama

Ok, so here's what happened.

Took the car the body shop that was doing the fabrication for me. I pull open, meet the owner for the first time and open my trunk for him to show him the exhaust. The first words out of his mouth were "Um, what do you want me to do with that?" I said "Uhhhhhhh, connect the exhaust, and cutout the bumper, like we talked about on the phone." He said that he was under the impression that I was bringing him a brand new, headers-back system, that he would just bolt on and cut the bumper.


Rewind 2 weeks ago. I took the car to his shop for him to see what I wanted done. He wasn't there but his mechanic was. I showed him the exhaust, talked about the cutouts and his response was "no problem." I received a phone call from the owner a couple hours later saying that he talked to his mechanic and the price would be between 300-400 for everything. I made an appointment and anxiously awaited the day to come.


Back to the present. So, I'm standing there with the owner with a stupid look on my face thinking what kind of idiot are you? But I didn't say anything like that because I knew I still needed him for the bumper cutouts. He came up with 3 options.

1. He could estimate where the exhaust tips would be, and do the cutouts first. I could then take the car to an exhaust shop and get it hung.

2. Get the exhaust put on with the tips hanging below the bumper. Bring to him, he'll measure, take the bumper off the car, do the cutouts and replace the bumper and raise the exhaust.

3. Remove the bumper first. Drive the car with no bumper to the exhaust shop and get the exhaust put on then bring the car back to him for the cutouts and replace the bumper.


Ok, so I wasn't happy with any of these options and I'm thinking to myself who I can sell the exhaust to now. It was just too much of a pain in the ***. I leave and go on my way to work. On the way, I pass a Midas muffler shop. There is a guy there that did some custom work for me in the past so I just stopped in to talk to him to see what he thought. I told him what I wanted he said "****, I'll cut the bumper for you and hang it now if you want" WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! So, I asked him if he was going to completely hack up my bumper and he was confident that it wouldn't look bad. So, I thought to myself that even if it doesn't look great, I could always take it back to the body shop to get cleaned up. So I told him to do it.

The only caveat is that since it was a Midas, he was unable to remove any emissions components. So, all of the cats are still there and the resonator. I'll need to find another shop to take that stuff off. The car has a little more grunt to it but not alot more. Unfortunately, my tires have worn uneven and have gotten a bit loud so it's even less noticeable.

Here's how it turned out. Not bad, actually. I snapped some quick pics last night when i was walking the dog. So sorry for the night shots.

W211 Ryda

Hard to see with those dark pics, but looks pretty good in the 2nd pic! Nice...clean cut from what I see. You know we're gonna demand for more pics.

christiaan

not bad! i think the cuts look good imo...
take some pics when its day !

Can you take pics of what you removed? i am thinking i should have taken away the middle thing, i think its the resonator, but im not sure...

c.

Benz-O-Rama

I'll get some day shots soon. It's raining here now, so probably this weekend.

He wasn't able to delete anything due to Maryland law. But yes, the thing in the middle is the resonator. I'll probably remove the secondary cats and the resonator when time comes.

GusGusZ

Where did you get them installed im from Baltimore

Benz-O-Rama

I get them installed at a Midas in Germantown, Maryland.

mpx220

For a Midas shop they actually did a pretty good job with the cut outs!

Looks good!

Benz-O-Rama

Thanks!

Yeah, It was a bit of a leap of faith letting them do it. But I was fully prepared to take it back to that body shop to have them clean it up. I was elated that it wasn't necessary.

mpx220

Just curious...how long did it take and was it cheaper because Midas did it and not the body shop?

STmaven

looks good...

Benz-O-Rama

It only took them a couple of hours for the whole thing. They charged me 253.00. CHEAP!

ksc

the Midas guy sure did a good job with the cutouts... it looks clean.

now i need to pony up some faith to let a guy hack into my bumper.

V DuBb

is there a lot of growl to it? i think we need a sound clip lol

V12Godspeed

Man you better take some cleaner shots, I can't see jack...you know I will give you hell now.

Benz-O-Rama

Thanks for the comments guys. And yes, sound clips once I get the cats out!


Here are some daytime pics

gdestiny

Looks real good. Cant wait to hear after the cat delete.

SSM AMG

Damn that was a great job. Midas did good. Can't even tell it's not factory. If I didn't get an amg, that would be my first mod.

PS debage

Abboushi

that looks Sick. Absolutely the best setup on a non AMG bumper the cuts came out Super clean

christiaan

sweeet!.. it lookes nice and clean! The cut outs where perfect

Dogshine

hows it sound?

Bobby E5

looks great!!!

NCE500

That is a very clean looking install.

I toyed with doing that mod to my 05, but ultimately chickened out over cutting the bumper. You have proven that it can be done...and it looks pretty much like OEM when done well. Very nice!

V DuBb

Sound Clip! Sound Clip! Sound Clip! Sound Clip! Sound Clip! yeah sorry.. haha

KosherBenz

looks sick!

Benz-O-Rama

Thanks for all of the comments guys. I'm extremely pleased with the way it looks and sounds. It's just a bit throatier at startup but doesn't sound too different during normal driving. But at wide open throttle it sounds great.

I'll try to get some sound clips up before weeks end.