xclens

I have been looking into the possibility of changing out the exhaust system for something a little bit more... well... louder. Not to make it sound like a Dodge Ram, but more like a sports car. (I say "looking into", because I have still not received my 2011 SL550 from the States! I still have a few more weeks before it arrives...)

I found this exhaust system on eBay, from Great Britain (which is nice since I live in Sweden):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401354554970?ul_noapp=true

The seller has thus far been very good with communication, which is not always the case with online sellers.

Has anyone here added something similar to this? Are you satisfied with the purchase? With shipping it is close to $2,000 so it needs to be a fairly huge difference compared to factory if I am going to invest that kind of money on something that 'superficial'..

Also, my uncle, who has a lot of nice Jaguars, say that he has heard that some Jaguar models are purposely made to sound louder at start, so that you get that "VROOOOM" noise when you first turn the key. Is that possible to do with an SL, perhaps via Star Diagnostics? Just had to ask...

skylolow

Have you tried just deleting out the secondary cats and resonators?

Seems to be a very easy thing to do with a lot of people liking the sound. I think I'd start there unless you can get some sound files of the exhaust system your looking at.

gaazmon

The stock 09-12 SL550 exhaust is not bad imo. I was pleasantly surprised when I bought it. The mufflers are quite small, which I believe adds to the sporty sound. Underneath, the car has two primary cats, two bubble resonators (which are attached together with a bracket), an x-pipe, and the two mufflers. The M272/M273 engines (Unlike the M112/M113) do not have secondary cats (They are hollow). All I did was take out the two bubble resonators and put it in two straight pipes. I like the sound a lot. Really sporty when you get up on it, but not obnoxious. Compared to my CLK550, it is a bit more refined and not as muscle carish and doesn't have the slight low end rasp and small lose of torque (My CLK has only one muffler and no x-pipe).

Some vehicles have a flap to control the mufflers opening such as closing one side of the exhaust or the mufflers have two outlets inside with the inner one usually closed and open up during full throttle. I don't believe the R230 ever had anything like that.

xclens

Thank you for both of your answers, gaazmon and skylolow! This is beyond my expertise when it comes to cars. But I do know that I have the 273 engine.

The only issue would be the yearly vehicle checkups in Sweden. They can be quite a-n-a-l! Would it change the emission readings at all? Even if it did, I'm guessing it's still within the allowed range, considering we still have old pickups & SUVs on the roads...

skylolow

If you take off just the resonators I highly doubt it would change any emissions. Talk to a few exhaust shops in your area and find one that will do the work(should be less than about $250 US Dollars). They'll be able to tell you for sure if it will effect your emission standards as I have no ideal how strict Sweden is on it.

Resonators removed will still sound stock just about 15%-20% louder.

xclens

Thanks, skylolow! I have been viewing different before & after videos on YouTube of various Mercedes owners who have removed their resonators, and wow, what a difference! I will 100% surely do this. This will in fact be my first project. I will post before & after videos here in the forum.

mercedes SL 500

I'm wearing brabus exhausts and have deleted the front mufflers here on my NA V8 SL 500 (R230)

if you want sound probably you should go for hand made exhausts and racing mufflers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ3D...ature=youtu.be

here is my NA V8 SL 500 (R230) doing pull. (not high quality sound).