alex070707

Ok, as quite a few people on these forums I also decided to mod my exhaust to get a bit more sound out of it.

The car in question is a 2009 W221 S500 (S550 for the US) with the M273 5.5l engine. This, however would also be useful for the other similar NA engines in the MB family.

The goal was(is) as follows: get more sound out of it at WOT while maintaining the dead silent cruise.
Not, under no circumstance will I allow ANY drone or make it obnoxiously loud. Stock S63 AMG sound is as loud as I want it to go and is pretty much the sound I'm after.


Now, given all this, the options I found online are as follows:

1. Resonator delete only.
2. Resonator and second cat delete; straight pipes.
3. Resonator and second cat delete; X pipe in place of secondaries.
4. Resonator and second cat delete; H pipe.
5. Muffler delete with J pipe and keep everything else stock.
6. Muffler delete with J pipe and maybe delete secondaries for straight pipe.
7. Original S63/S65 exhaust system.
8. Aftermarket mufflers with one of the variations of resonator delete.

Now....I'd love to go with an OEM AMG system (7.), however where I live, they are very, very hard to find since people ****** them up real quick and I sure as heck ain't paying a grand + for a pair of cans, which I can order custom for far less if need be.
So.....after a lot (really a lot) of reading and watching youtube videos, I decided to start at resonator delete (1.), then, if I'ts not enough, straight pipe the secondaries as well (2.) and if I'm not happy work from there.

Now, I don't have sound clips here but I'll try my best to explain how each one sounds. All the work has been done in 2 local exhaust shops, so here goes:

1. (resonator delete only, replaced by straight pipe): This took a grand total of 10 minutes and the result was a better (louder) cold start sound and now I could actually hear the engine, only at WOT above 2.5k RPM, however I was getting a (albeit quiet) hint of a stuttering sound (kinda diesel like), which I could hear only when I stand right behind the car , here is a video that captures the sound:

.

Not a hint of it on the inside or anything, absolutely no drone. So far so good, but still pretty much 50% quieter than a stock S63 AMG and quite a different sound. Power wise: maybe a bit of a loss of torque but no idea honestly.

2. (resonator and second cat delete; straight pipes): So...this was next logical step; the result? Good, quite good. Awesome (AMG-ish) cold start sound, still silent from the inside at idle and cruising speed and real nice at WOT, maybe 10% quieter than a stock S63 AMG at WOT. From the outside, it was definitely louder than 1., however it wasn't really the AMG sound I wanted (kinda muscle car sounding, with a bit of rasp) and this mod had one (in my opinion) big problem: From the back of the car it sounds like a diesel truck at idle. Annoying stuttering sound. You can't hear it on the inside or standing next to the car, but knowing it's there - it really got me crazy. I drove like this for about a month (give or take 1000 km) and after a lot of reading, I realized that the lack of a connection between the 2 exhaust pipes was most likely the culprit. Power wise: same as 1.

So.....of to 3. we go.

I ordered a Magnaflow 2.5" X-pipe and went to a different exhaust shop (recommended by a friend).

The sound? Almost there! It was definitely louder than stock which just sounded like air being blown out, however it was much quieter than the straight pipes, cruising and even applying throttle was dead silent. On the bright side....the stuttering was basically gone, unfortunately so was half the noise. Cold start was still nice, inside was dead silent at cruising speed and idle, outside was maybe 40% louder than stock. Overall maybe 60% quieter than a stock S63 AMG. Something interesting: At low RPM it really had that AMG bark to it (although quiet), however at WOT it sounded higher pitched than i'd like and the AMG bark was gone.
Here is a video that showcases pretty well how it sounds:


Power wise? Maybe a bit more power at the top end.


At this point I was almost certain that AMG mufflers were the only way to go from here, however the guy at the new exhaust shop recommended the following:


4. Resonator and second cat delete; H pipe. I agreed to give it a try and we arrived at the following:
He suggested we keep the straight pipes and add a 38mm H-pipe right at the bend after the primary cats (the point where the pipes pretty much point at eachother.
This is the moment when I actually decided to take a picture right before they put the H-pipe. I have attached an image and marked where the H-pipe went.



The guy also said (which I confirmed after) that this is how older 55 AMG models were set up from the factory.

The result? Basically perfect except a bit too quiet still. Now it sounds very AMG-ish on cold start, it has a nice, quiet rumble at idle which I can only hear from behind the car, no stuttering sound whatsoever and still deep and rumbly at WOT. The downside is that it's maybe 20% louder than the X-pipe so very quiet still, so maybe 30% quieter than stock S63. With the windows up I can barely hear it unless I apply more than 40% throttle. Windows down? AWESOME!
I couldn't find a video anywhere on the internet of that setup and most people put H-pipes where the second cats were. My exhaust guy said that although it does work, it's much less effective then that particular spot where he placed it.
Power wise? The best till now. A slight gain troughout the whole range.

Edit: Here is a quick sound clip. I'll get a cold start tomorrow morning! Sorry for the 0 visibility, didn't have much time to set it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40xGWRdc6Gs

Now, although this does sound absolutely perfect, i'd simply like it a bit louder, so I'm going to take one of the following approaches:

1. Getting S65 mufflers. I found a guy who crashed his S65 and is parting it and selling it. If he gives me a good deal on the mufflers, this is what I'll try.
2. Ordering custom made mufflers, which will be a 1:1 replica of the W211 E63 ones, since these and the E55 are the only AMG mufflers I've ever seen the insides of.

I'll update this thread with sound clips of my current setup and any steps I take will be well documented.
Out of sheer curiosity, I found a copy of my OEM mufflers at a junkyard, so I will get around to cutting those open just to see how they are designed as well and I may also mod them, who knows.

If anybody here can send me a picture of the insides of any good sounding AMG (or maybe even Eisenmann) mufflers, I'll buy you a beer. If they are C63 W204 mufflers? Make that 2 beers!

ivanof900

alex070707

You have no drone with a muffler delete? I find that very hard to believe since I can pretty much hear it on all youtube videos.
I do agree that the mufflers are holding back the sound a lot, however they are also holding back the drone.

ivanof900

dwillia3476

Are you saying you left the resonator on, and if so did you at least do a h pipe in replace if the mufflers?

ShiroUwU

put stock mufflers back on (my car didn't come with primary resonators it came factory with an x-pipe) Put an H-Pipe after the primary cats (before secondary)
It's still quiet as the main mufflers act as a resonator. (Sport package 2011) But at-lest it doesn't drone but 80% of the sound went with it. Pulling off the line and cruising is dead silent. even if you get on it you can't really hear it either.
Was hoping to get the same sound so I wouldn't have to deal with drone from 1250-2000 rpms.

Videos Bellow:

Currently on 4:
Muffler Delete:

BenzV12

That' sounds very cool

TripleDown

I replaced only the mufflers and tail pipes with Top Speed units in my M273 powered SL550 and the result is amazing. A little more rumble at idle but it turns into a snarling beast as the revs and throttle increase. I would say leave the upstream alone (it is a beautifully made high quality system after all) and try better (or no) mufflers.

I do get a slight drone at very low rpm (1200-1500) and light/moderate throttle but that only serves to remind me to downshift and not lug the motor.

https://topspeedauto.com/stainless-steel-exhaust/

mikieb

The only thing that I did to my 07 S550 is a muffler delete. My exhaust shop suggested starting there and moving forward if I wanted different sound. I was very happy with just mufflers gone. No H/X pipe nothing. Slight drone in cabin, but 4 people can still have a normal convo in the cabin at 75mph on the freeway.

ShiroUwU

I refuse to have any drone in cabin. I'm going to keep stock mufflers and just do cut outs from qtp/ecs for the startup note and under 45mph. After 45mph it started to drone and on highway it will be closed or 85%shut.

I had muffler delete and was horrible. (Startup was nice and bellow 45mph) then went aftermarket magmaflows and still drone so..

Marco antonio

So im doing the 2nd cat delete, resonator delete and noticed today under the car that the piping to the resonator flattens out. There is abar going across that is in the way and my mechanic is thinking about losing the bar or altering it for the 2.25 str8 pipe to the mufflers. Is that what you did? Or did you lose the mounting bar altogether? Or did you keep the flattened part of the resonator and weld onto it. Im thinking there is power loss from the pipes being squished like that