tdtaylor7

Hey All,

I recently bought a ‘12 E550 with the 4.6 biturbo ( love it!) but it is extremely quiet and tamed as stock. Just want to open it up a bit to hear that burble but don’t want to make a huge racket as I live in an apartment community. Don’t want a lot of highway drone or to break the bank either. I’ve been watching videos on different mods and I like the sound and noise level of the muffler delete. Any recommendations??

pierrejoliat

I believe many members have found the sound they want with the resonators delete and an X pipe, leaving the muffler intact. there are lots of threads on the topic and hopefully answers for you!

NOTA AMG has experience along these lines, as do others.

nota_amg

yeah, just depends on how loud you want it. If you just want to hear a little more, do the large resonator delete. If you want it to sound great, remove both resonators and install a 2.5" x-pipe. If you want it to be annoying, remove everything but the cats and run 2.5" straight pipes. If you want it to be obnoxious, do like I did and go 3" catless downpipes with 3 chamber "flowmaster" style mufflers...lol

PM me if you have any specific questions

RDE38

Different engine, but on my 2011 e550 I removed the mid resonator and put in an x-pipe and replaced the rear mufflers with magnaflows. Sounds great. I may remove the secondary cats at some point to see if there is a difference.

tdtaylor7

Nice! I know that 5.5 is gonna have a bit of a different tone than my 4.6 biturbo but I’m sure it’d be great. Do you mind how much it ran you for your resonator swap with the x pipe?

RDE38

I got a generic x-pipe from amazon for about $25. No need to get a name brand for just piping. I don't remember exactly what I paid the shop to cut out the resonator and weld in the xpipe but probably $50-$100. You are not going to notice much of anything though if you just do the x-pipe. You'll most likely want to remove the secondary cats, which are just extra resonators, or replace your rear mufflers at the same time.

tdtaylor7

Definitely, I’m looking at doing something with the stock muffler is too at the same time. Do you have any links or videos to your exhaust? Would love to hear how it sounds with your set up

RDE38

Sure, here is my setup: x-pipe with magnaflow mufflers, secondary cats still in place.

tdtaylor7

Sweet! Would you happen to have a link to those magnaflow mufflers?

alan_e550

Ive been considering doing something similar on my 2011 too. Could you send a video of how it sounds?

tdtaylor7

He posted the video right above lol

The Truth

You can also check out the J pipe setup as well which is what I went with.

RDE38

These are the magnaflows I went with. https://www.ebay.com/itm/MagnaFlow-X....m46890.l49292

Davery

Really? The quotes I received for welding in straight pipes in place of the resonators was $400-700.

RDE38

That’s ridiculous. Call around to a few places because it’s a quick simple job. Shouldn’t be more than $100.

Davery

Maybe where you live, but not where I live. I checked 6-8 places.

mbvolvo92

Went through the same question as you on my 2012 E550. Told my MB mechanic up here it sounded too much like my mother's E350 (lack of sound) and not like a V8. They recommended an x-pipe. It has a nice low growl on cold start-up while still maintaining the quiet characteristics of a MB on the highway. Cost a tad over $300 at a muffler shop for the x-pipe and new exhaust pipes. Ask your MB mechanic for a rec.

nota_amg

I had to go out of the city into a neighboring small town to get mine done. Same thing...no one wanted to touch it for less than $600...absolutely ridiculous. Including my MBH 3" downpipes I only have about $1400 in my entire system.

Look for an exhaust shop in an old gas station with a lift outside...they're the best!

RDE38

Wow, I had no idea people could charge that kind of money for some simple welding.

nota_amg

You can charge all you want, I'm not paying you to do it. I've got too many connections from +20 years in the automotive/machine repair industry to pay someone else's "stupid-tax"...lol

alan_e550

Well said. At this point, it’s not about the price of parts, more or less. Obviously I’ll save money when there’s money to be saved. However, It’s about finding a mechanic you can trust who doesn’t charge the “kiss my a$$ because you don’t have a lift or the tools” cost.

Davery

It is welding stainless that is the issue. I found a bolt on x pipe, but my normal mechanic will not tough it. he is worried about fitment issues.

tdtaylor7

im gonna check this out. I don’t want to impact the warranty I’m getting though will removing the resonators have that effect?

tdtaylor7

Hey quick question because I want to look into these I’m just worried they won’t fit my car but I couldn’t help noticing it says it doesn’t for yours either! Did you have to do anything technical to get em on?

alan_e550

I have the same car and noticed that too. I’m assuming it’ll fit and it’s just ebay not being the most reliable source to tell you what fits and doesn’t. I’ll be buying these within the next 2 months so I’ll update you on it!