Mr. Benzito

I went to a local muffler and exhaust specialist today, looking to upgrade my muffler, cat, etc. and they were suggesting that I go with a magnaflow that looks like the following:



I was quoted a price of $350 Cdn ($275US) for just the muffler alone, the cat I believe was around $250 Cdn ($200US), and stainless steel piping was around $100 Cdn ($80US). Now, I figure that I can get other brand name stuff and just order it off the net and take it to the guy, and although he might not be too pleased, and just charge me a bit more for the labour I could still get it cheaper. I guess what I'm asking is if anyone has any opinions about magnaflow, and if they are any good, and as well any other suggestions they may have. No offense to anyone who has purchased them, but I do not want to buy a no-name universal muffler off of ebay only because I know the guy won't work with a name that he does not know.

I suggested Remus to him, which truthfully I think looks and may perform better, but he said that there was still not that big of a difference with them, and that they were made more specifically for BMW's, VW, etc.

That being said, and suggestions??

Bernanke

remus are pretty conservative and are usually pretty quiet. magnaflow is alright too, i assume you are gonna keep the stock resonator?

Ya i got "no-name" muffler off ebay but it turned out awesome, What made my exhaust so much louder is that i chose to take off the resonator as well so i have to reengineer the exhaust system with more resonance tuning. If you aren't gonna change the resonator you won't be able to tell a difference between any of them really.

Mr. Benzito

I looked at the business card that the guy gave me with all the mods that he was talking about. I quoted some prices wrong, and forgot a few things so here we go again:

Cat back and Stainless Steel Piping $240
Stainless Steel Magnaflow resonator $140
Magnaflow dual tip oval muffler $320

For a total of $700. So to better inform, I will be changing the resonator after all. Now because this isn't my line of expertise, and this is going to sound mighty stupid so I'll take my licks, but could someone please clarify something for me. What exactly is a cat back? It is the catalytic converter? If so, what is the size that our w140's use?

And once again, now with this new info, does it make any difference to go with Remus or any other brand that someone may reccommend?

Mr. Benzito

As well, it probably doesn't really matter since its only a pic, but this was the exhaust he was selling me, not the one in the above pic...



Not much different, just that it's oval tip and not really a square tip

Bernanke

personally I would go with Remus over Magnaflow. Remus actually makes alot of the higher end ehxausts as well in the same facility they just put them under different names. remus is definately the more refined.

Personally I dislike square tip, i think oval or circle is best, oval on a W140 would look good and most AMG's have oval tips too so its more a mercedes style.

How long is the resonator? Resonator length is key. I first got a single 10" resonator and it was WAY too loud and droned so much it gave me headaches, I then did dual inline 10" (two in a row) and those are the sound files i posted up. Each 10" resonator really only has 8" inches of insulation material. So i opted for a custom 34" resonator b/c thats a full 32" of material which is nearly 4 times the original and double my current setup. it is one single peice and it will fit perfectly on 300se betwen cat flange and rear axle (diff).

ALso be sure to use mandrel bent piping. very key, you want the full system to be 2.5" all the way through to prevent any bottle necks. you will notice a big gain in torque and car will not feel nearly as restrictive and "choked" as it does in stock form.

Cat back is referring to a system literally meaning in back of the cat so past the cat. my system i designed is a cat back system. The resonator and muffler are both after the rear catalytic exhaust flange so you can unbolt the whole rear "cat-back" section. that is the section I modified (as you can see in the pictures)

maci911

700.00 why not go with original brabus exhaust

Bernanke

exactly, $700 is way too much, personally its a ripoff in my eyes. I can build a system that outperforms that for $200-250 installed but thats me.

Mandrel bent piping from Jegs = $17.49
Exhaust $50 shipped from ebay
Resonator $54 shipped

parts total = 121.49 + labor (which isn't that much) then you just have them spray the whole exhaust with black exhaust paint to prepare from the elements (which you can get for like $10 at any autoparts store for two cans). so about $200-250 tops.

The key to good sound is all in the resonator, resonator is what refines the quality of the sound, Muffler is what controls the volumn of the sound.

Mr. Benzito

I was thinking about going with the Brabus, but I have only seen one website that actually has it, and it was a used one taken off a vehicle, which really isn't a problem, but I'm in Canada and shipping is a *****.

This is why I was stating the currency that I was being quoted. That is, $700 Canadian being approx. $560 USD. A lot of places on ebay do not want to ship to Canada, and those who do not only like to overcharge and make money off of the shipping, but don't realize that I have to pay a duty charge for anything that crosses the border. Now mind you, some people actually declare a lower value which helps at times but regardless...

Understand that any product that anyone in the US gets, you usually get it at at 40% cheaper rate than in Canada, simply becuase of duty and markup.

So, not withstanding the cat back and piping that I'm being charged $190 USD, I can purchase the resonator and the muffler, which is where I'm looking for opinions.

tyzik

For 7 bills u can definetly go for a Brabus exhaust, much better quality and sound......If u want to have a custom one build, and dont want to put up with all the hastles, i recommend checking all the muffler shops near by....u can get a awesome deal if u find the ight one.........

As for the Remus, I remember as being a pretty loud muffler on a 95 740il i used to have, but a deep throaty sound.....

Mr. Benzito

Well since everyone is saying that I can get the Remus exhaust for $700 could someone tell me a website that has it either than bestdealsonwhls.com

I also plan on going to some other muffler shops to compare costs, but first I might just buy some of the parts off of ebay. I just have to figure out what I need to purchase.

Bernanke

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WD1V

there are more on ebay too.

Mr. Benzito

Thanks, actually saw a couple Remus mufflers on ebay that I liked. A little bit more money than the magnaflow. Now either than the muffler, I have to figure out what else I could purchase off ebay to cut down the costs

Bernanke

well Jegs also has mandrel bend piping and 24" stainless steel resonators, so you could actually get alot of it rom Jegs.com they have great prices and shipping is lightening quick.

Mr. Benzito

Thanks for the website. Sort of hard for the newbie to navigate around and see exactly what I need, but nevertheless still sifting through it. It looks more and more as if I'm going with the magnaflow muffler, and I found a few universal catalytic converters, now only to find out the size needed. The final thing to investigate is the resonator.

Omey, the one u have, I remember reading something about it being custom? Correct me if I'm wrong, otherwise is 24" the size that our vehicle takes?

Another thing, what if I use the stock resonator, will that be an issue if I change the muffler and catalytic converter?

Bernanke

Mine is a custom 34" resonator made for me and it cost only $45 for the 34" long peice, 34" is about as long as you can go (cuz the whole body is 38" long with 2" extentions on each side). you can use a 24" if you have a quieter muffler that has more sound deadening capabilities, the housing on the ebay exhaust is very small so it cannot muffles nearly as much as say a remus or magnaflow or etc so 24" may be plenty in that scenario. I would definately recommend high flow cats. If you want you can redo the entire system. There is also a middle Y-pipe but i dont know exactly what it is, it looks like a huge y shaped resonator but im not sure if its a resonator or a cat, i can't really tell. I'm assuming its a resonator. so you can reuse that or go custom on that as well. its up to you. Luckily there is alot room on W140's to do exhaust work so you have alot of options you can do and alot of room to work with. Changing all the components is not a problem at all in terms of sound, high flow cats should still help plenty but also allow for more airflow which is key for exhaust tuning. Sound wise you just have to be sure you get a set of resonators/mufflers that match well with each other. For example my 1st generation exahust i did had only a 10" resonator with Ebay exhaust and there was hardly any sound/resonance muffling. so i upgraded to 2, but still not enough, but this custom one will be equivalent to 4 so it will be plenty. If i had a larger muffler it wouldn't be as necessary to get such a long resonator but i think together they will work great. Volume wise its not too bad at all its just the resonance that irritates me now.