any ideas on 2003 W211 E500 exhaust options?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 43
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
now that ive been looking around, allot of people do the X pipe resonator replacement and secondary cat delete or swap out with a magnaflow 2 in 2 out muffler.. I wonder what that would sound like with stock mufflers and if it would be better to just swap out the mufflers and leave it at that.. Just wondering what the benefits would be in each method.. 
Or I could do X-pipe resonator exchange/delete and then two super 10 series flowmaster mufflers.. Hmm decisions decisions.. lol
Or I could do X-pipe resonator exchange/delete and then two super 10 series flowmaster mufflers.. Hmm decisions decisions.. lol
Last edited by HUDS_E500; Jun 6, 2013 at 01:26 AM.
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From: 301
2003 W211 E500
I did the xpipe but I swapped out my OEM E500 exhaust for an OEM E55 system. If you do decide to remove the secondary cats (I think that's what they're called) please don't straight pipe it if you don't want drone and rasp. Some type of magnaflow of your liking will compliment it better.
Thread Starter
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
I believe Im gonna go with a couple straight through no baffles Magnaflow mufflers and do the resonator delete and slap a X-pipe in its place.. I think that`ll be a solid start..
And I cant see paying 92$ for a magnaflow X-pipe when I can get one from lawson for 34$..
Ill post a vid when I get her done..
And I cant see paying 92$ for a magnaflow X-pipe when I can get one from lawson for 34$..
Ill post a vid when I get her done..
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From: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
2014 BMW M235i
Can't wait to hear how it sounds! Just make sure the parts you are buying are high quality and/or have good reviews and you should be sounding much better (and louder) in no time 
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E55, E320 CDI , CLA250, Jag XJ Supersport
Thread Starter
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Joined: Oct 2012
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
Well, sorry for the delay been busy as hell.. Anyways, I sure wish i could have found someone to do my exhaust project for 70$! I tried calling the very few local yocals here in my area and by the time i get off and dealt with all their "super busy" and only one guy working and cant even answer a phone and all the other excuses bs.. And also you know, of course that everyone of them i called said they had to look at it as soon as i described what i wanted done and when "mercedes" was mentioned I guess dollar signs were cha-chinging in their head.. it was just hard to get by a muffler shop with a 40 hour a week job so they could look at it by the time they closed.. So i gave up on the local "small or independent" muffler shop and said screw it, im calling meineke.. The guy seemed to know what he was doing and told me he would do it like it should be done, and it would be right.. no half *** ****.. took a couple weeks to get the $ and get it in the shop and time off from work (took almost 6 hours) that day cost me 222$ to do a X-pipe/resonator swapout and replace the 2 stock mufflers with 2 20" magnaflow straight through mufflers.. :-/ but he did an awesome job.. Sounds incredible.. Pics and vid to follow..!
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From: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
2014 BMW M235i
Subscribed for a video, can't wait to hear it. Even if the video quality suffers try to do it with a camcorder and not a phone as I learned so the mic won't distort the quality.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2012
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
OK! finally i know youre saying.. lol
Here it is.. i have an inside and outside audio file.. hope this gives you an idea of how well it sounds.. all i did was resonator delete and put in its place an X pipe and stock muffler delete and add 2 20" magnaflow straight through mufflers.. and it all is tucked up into the area where the stock mufflers fit You can barely see a sliver of the magnaflows.. couldnt have gotten a bigger muffer in that area.. pretty good guesstimation I must say.. lol
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From: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
2014 BMW M235i
Definitely sounds deep and muscle-car like, if that's the sound you were going for you nailed it. I like how inside you really don't get much of a drone or obnoxious sound, just some underlying exhaust notes. Good job man.
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
Thanks man I am pretty satisfied with it too and I still have my old resonator and mufflers if I really wanted to change it back. Just wanted to do something affordable for me and I would have loved to go the amg muffler and tips route but this works just as fine. Maybe someday I guess I could put on an amg bumper with the muffler cut outs in the bumper but probably not. I prefer keeping it as close to stock as I can. Although I have been contemplating getting an aftermarket grill with the star in the center but not sure.. Love my car! Had it almost a year and I still take it out a couple times a week to just have bonding time. The newness hasn't worn out and that definitely says something on how much of a driving experience she really is.
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From: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
2014 BMW M235i
Oh god I (and many members here would agree) how horrible the star grill looks on the W211 especially the pre-facelift, don't do it. It ruins the front facia of the car in my opinion. I agree with you though, I've learned to love this car quick and the daily drive or canyon run never fails to impress.
Thread Starter
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
Oh god I (and many members here would agree) how horrible the star grill looks on the W211 especially the pre-facelift, don't do it. It ruins the front facia of the car in my opinion. I agree with you though, I've learned to love this car quick and the daily drive or canyon run never fails to impress.
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From: Virginia
2003 E500
Wel onto another issue plaguing me.. I think I'm one of the many having AGM issues, mainly the AGM not shutting down and killing my battery. It is an intermittent issue. I've noticed something, when it starts acting up the snap crackle pop pop corn machine starts up outta my sub. And I've noticed before when I shut the car off I've heard a very quiet hiss from the rear sub like the amp is still on. My car has been goin good for a couple few months now but this morning (heading out to work) after letting her sit yesterday the battery was dead.. Around 10v.. This sucks!! Guess I'll be looking for the AGM fuse and pulling that *****.. I've missed enough work already with damn dead batteries and this car.. Argh!
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2003 E500 Sport RWD
@JaspinP A resonator delete will - in my opinion - rarely get you the tone you want. A secondary cat delete will be raspy from what I've heard in person. The drone noise is a result of complex frequency issues in regards to the harmonics of the exhaust pulses. The way to remove this noise for the most part and make the noise inside the cabin more docile is to create a J-Pipe. A J-pipe is a Helmholtz resonator that you can use once you do a muffler delete. When you do a muffler delete you straight pipe the section where the muffler used to be and then cut a hole in the pipe, attaching a ~28-30 inch piece of pipe that is blocked off at one end. It doesn't vent any exhaust gasses and is closed off, but it acts as a noise canceler for the droning frequencies. You will still get some drone, but nothing that bad and it actually sounds very nice inside the cabin as 90% of the uncomfortable noise will be cancelled by the exhaust pulses. Resonator, secondary cat delete, and muffler delete are very basic modifications that will NOT reduce reliability or cause mechanical issues. Anything cat-back is really not electronically monitored and is fairly dumb in the grand scheme of things, so it shouldn't cause any issues unless you really mess something up in the install.
@Huds_E500 You could definitely do that and get that muffler but be warned of three things. First off, that isn't a very trustworthy brand from what I've been reading so spend some more to get a good muffler if you want to keep the stock look. Second, it will not be much louder. Third, with tips such as those you have to modify the rear bumper as without the sport package, the E500 has the hidden exhaust tips so there is no way to have those exhaust tips running to the back properly unless you change the bumper out or cut a section out and fit an E55 style diffuser. Unless you are under the car, you won't be able to see anything if you do a J-pipe though simple as that.
@Huds_E500 You could definitely do that and get that muffler but be warned of three things. First off, that isn't a very trustworthy brand from what I've been reading so spend some more to get a good muffler if you want to keep the stock look. Second, it will not be much louder. Third, with tips such as those you have to modify the rear bumper as without the sport package, the E500 has the hidden exhaust tips so there is no way to have those exhaust tips running to the back properly unless you change the bumper out or cut a section out and fit an E55 style diffuser. Unless you are under the car, you won't be able to see anything if you do a J-pipe though simple as that.
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14 550 sedan
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...althrough.html !!!
Man I should totally record how mine sounds but all I have is a phone to record.
Man I should totally record how mine sounds but all I have is a phone to record.
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From: South CA (LA, 818) & North CA (SJ, 408)
2003 E500
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From: Orange County
2004 W211 E55 AMG
