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Hey guys, I want to share some info that you may or may not find useful but hopefully someone benefits from at some point
I was planning on cutting out the center resonator and welding in straight pipes over the weekend but curiosity got the best of me after I came across some threads about gutting the factory mufflers. I decided after finding nothing but speculation to find out what was inside the stock resonator. Unsurprisingly it is very similar to the stock mufflers in terms of the sound deadening material. What is interesting is that the tubing running through it is almost identical in size to the rest of the exhaust, the only difference being the perforations in the tube like what is found in the mufflers.
After my investigation I yanked out as much sound deadening as possible and welded the resonator back together. The results are pretty much as expected... Not much difference in sound other than more noise on the overrun when decelerating. I did this with the plan to run straight pipes if it didn't turn out like I wanted but between removing the sound deadening from the mufflers and the resonator I'll probably leave the exhaust alone for a while with the exception of some headers in the future.
One way this may help some of you who are planning to remove the whole resonator is to instead cut away all of the resonator housing and then have an exhaust shop replace just the 5 inches or so of perforated tube on each side... This should lower the cost significantly if you cut away the housing yourself.
I feel like if you are planning on selling the car in the future, you'd want to hang onto the resonators for reinstall later. If you gut them and modify them, it'll be 10x harder to get back to OEM. Just my 2cents.
removing my resonator and replacing with straight pipes was $60
Yea I agree its not expensive to have done, I may still have mine replaced. I just wanted to see what was inside because all that was online was speculation... this was just a weekend experiment.
Like I said, this probably isnt going to matter to many people but I had some time on the weekend to mess around and this is what I found. And to whoever asked, no drone at all. The car sounds stock from inside. I'll try and get a video up later on.
Originally Posted by tumbler510
I feel like if you are planning on selling the car in the future, you'd want to hang onto the resonators for reinstall later. If you gut them and modify them, it'll be 10x harder to get back to OEM. Just my 2cents.
This is also true. I'm in a different position than most though as I dont plan on selling my cls, most likely just retiring it in a year or so when I buy another car so I have less concern than most with modifications.
Last edited by romeomikehotel; Aug 31, 2015 at 06:04 PM.
Thanks for posting the pix. Any info is good info. I just wish someone would cut open a c63 muffler. Someone somewhere must have a smashed one we can cut open
Delete resonator does not gain power but actually lose hp. It just made it sound louder. This is what my buddy said and he's mb master tech. Best way is to replace the exhaust system.
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