When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
American Racing Headers is running a sale on all Mercedes header and exhaust systems through October 31st. This sale includes 10% off and free shipping to the lower 48 states applied at checkout!
Visit our website to see our Mercedes Header offerings for the E63, E55, and SLS vehicles.
if you guys could get your system closer to 2200.00 shipped that would be a winner, considering right now you can get a set of MBH long tubes which have better fit than any set out there for 2100 and they come a guarantee of making 40 rwhp, and if u want their midpipe its 550 with free shipping as well. I have heard some bad things bout rubbing of the ARH system and that worries me, just wishing that people would stop adding the mercedes taxes.
I have bought many headers from american racing for my old LS1 camaros and TAs, an old mustang and the systems were NOWHERE near 3000 dollars. These are not new E55s, these are cheap cars now and most of us are paying 8 to 12k for the car and spending 3k for a header midpipe system is pretty steep without the entire exhaust with mufflers as well. I mean my dam BMW entire exhaust system header, midpipes, 200 cell cats, all mandrel bent with a nice muffler was only 875 bucks shipped, just saying.
Last edited by E55amg0220; 10-11-2017 at 06:41 PM.
if you guys could get your system closer to 2200.00 shipped that would be a winner, considering right now you can get a set of MBH long tubes which have better fit than any set out there for 2100 and they come a guarantee of making 40 rwhp, and if u want their midpipe its 550 with free shipping as well. I have heard some bad things bout rubbing of the ARH system and that worries me, just wishing that people would stop adding the mercedes taxes.
I have bought many headers from american racing for my old LS1 camaros and TAs, an old mustang and the systems were NOWHERE near 3000 dollars. These are not new E55s, these are cheap cars now and most of us are paying 8 to 12k for the car and spending 3k for a header midpipe system is pretty steep without the entire exhaust with mufflers as well. I mean my dam BMW entire exhaust system header, midpipes, 200 cell cats, all mandrel bent with a nice muffler was only 875 bucks shipped, just saying.
+1 I have Kleemann mid header paid $1K 7 years ago. $3K for header doesn't make sense unless the SLS or AMG GT...
FYI, the merge collectors on the ARH alone cost more than the total materials/labor used on the Kleemanns. This is like comparing a Camry to your AMG.
And comparing the ARH and the MBH header is like comparing a finely tuned lambo to a generic mustang but yet here we are. Like i said MBH is 2100 right now normally 2700 for just the headers .... add the midpipe 500 thats still cheaper than the ARH system an both are giving free shipping. I figure if they are gunna do a sale .... make it a sale mbh is taking 800+ off the cost of both not just 10%.
Instead of getting upset, just buy the MBH. I love mine!
Not upset brother just hate when they say sale, but really not so much of a sale! Heck if they could get the price down instead of adding the mercedes tax itd be a win for alot of us, cus from what I see there is NO difference between the mustang system or the mercedes system where materials are concerned just the design .... its not costing them 2000 more to make it over the stang system.
Not all of us that own these cars and have loads of money .... im a married middle class guy with 4 kiddoes, school and debt just ahve expensive tastes lol, fell in love with the merc back when it came out just couldnt afford 80k for it, but when it came in at 12k these days thats doable. So all im saying is just cause something says Mercedes doesnt mean it should be double the price lol.
But yes I am planning on the MBH and their midpipe such a work of art but heck had ARH came on and said hey for the first 10 buyers we are selling our system with free shipping for 2000 i woulda been all over it. Like I said ive used their stuff on many of my LS1 cars and stangs from the past but it was never this expensive, so if im gunna spend the money ill go with the BEST and one that comes with a written guarentee of 40+ at the rear wheels or more
Last edited by E55amg0220; 10-12-2017 at 11:48 AM.
I hear that, my friend! I know if you get the MBH you will be happy. I'm also a big fan of ARH and will probably buy their setup for my Lightning. They seem like some real good dudes and maybe they'll take into consideration your perspective. Good stuff Sir!
Walking on egg shells here, I wouldn’t want to ding a sponsor, but you make a very good point. These cars are not being sold to corporate CEOs at this point. “Know your customer” might apply here.
Walking on egg shells here, I wouldn’t want to ding a sponsor, but you make a very good point. These cars are not being sold to corporate CEOs at this point. “Know your customer” might apply here.
Case in point: I payed 10,000 for my 2005 E55 with 100K miles and a salvage title.... to build and race and daily drive(Not solely, I have plenty of back ups for down time ). These headers would be almost 1/3 of what I payed for the car
I had Kleemann’s then went to MBH ,header **** lol, ARH needs to adjust for value of these cars now, or maybe they don’t care , I had ARH do some work on my Center section awhile back ,long story but they wound up doing it for free because of a “ miscommunication “ lol
the sales guy must have told me 10 times “ ya know we can build you a nice set of headers for your car “ yeah no s..t, I have a nice set dude lol
MBH nice quality product,they delivered on time also
Which mids?! I just ordered some ECs, I hope it wasn't a mistake
They're EC, Kleeman gets theirs made at the same spot apparently, they're all chinese afaik.
My problem was not the headers themselves, rather the gaskets and hardware they came with at the collectors (the 3 bolt flanges), to some extent, see below for a nice story. TLDR: Get quality parts and quality hardware, and pick the shop to do the work carefully. Do it once and do it right.
Mine came apart on the highway, I had a mid section built to replace the chop shop mess from the previous owner removing the res and cats, it looked like dog ****.
Story:
-Had them installed at a shop recommended in the AMG FB group by a local who has modded his car to oblivion
-The shop installed my headers and had a third party come in to do the rest of the pipes. They looked good for the price I paid ($360 for the headers, and $270 for the rest of the pipes + poverty X pipe)
-Apparently the third party didn't tighten the nuts on the collectors very well, nor was the hardware locking friendly (only locknuts, but they did a terrible job)
-I drove the car home an hour away, and later in the afternoon installed my tune
-Started driving to the highway which is about 35min away to test out my car
-On the way to the highway after installing the tune, I get a CEL for secondary O2 sensors... weird, I pull over and erase the code, keep going
-Hop on the highway, get going with my test, notice the car got a bit louder towards the end of the 10 mile test, I get off the highway
-I hear loud grinding when I started driving again from the stop light at the exit, immediately pull over
-Park car, rev, hear stupid loud grinding....
-Drove the car home slowly (for about 40 minutes)
-Next day I get under and see that 4 out of 6 nuts are missing, 3 on one side, 1 on the other, and the pipes are hanging by the bolts themselves
-Reinstall bolts and new aluminium gaskets to replace the burnt out super thin EC ones, tighten them twice, but the post cat o2 sensors still show I'm leaking
---Funny part is, erasing the CELs and driving on the highway does not pop up the CEL again, if I drive the car in the city at 40-55mph, I will get the CEL
Overall the car is louder inside now most likely from the thin walled headers. I can hear quiet ticking at idle, most likely because of the headers. It almost sounds like a diesel. Now the hard part for me is that I can't tell if that ticking was there when I first got the headers installed or it popped up after I did my hard test with the flanges wide open on the highway, or if it's simply from Eurocharged's tune, OR if that's just how the car sounds because it has thinner pipe headers instead of the double insulated stock ones... I just chalk it up to "it's a 12 year old car, modified, it's gonna make some noise". That being said I am just going to code out the secondaries after I try swapping the gaskets to the paper kind you can get at the parts store. Maybe they will seal better, I fear I still have a leak.
When I first start the car in the morning it sounds a lot louder in the mid section while the pipes are cold which kinda makes me think I'm still leaking at the collectors, even with the more expensive aluminium gaskets, so I'll get under the car tomorrow morning and have my room mate start it while I lay underneath to feel up if there's a leak at the collector flanges, then go from there.
Biggest fear is that I might be leaking at the heads themselves...
So for your headers: do the work yourself or hire a shop that you know for sure will double check, tripple check, and do the job right. The installation savings were not worth the headache for me unfortunately. If I could do it all over again I'd put the pipes in myself or take it to this reputable indy that's legendary in our area.
Next I'll just wait for ARH or MBH to drop in price and just replace the whole deal with their pipes including the mid section. Before I do that I must verify my engine is worth investing in somehow.
Thank you all reading our thread and taking the time to give your input. We are sorry to hear that some of the Chinese headers are not fitting well and are causing issues. It does take a lot of time to perfect something especially when it's made by hand and not robotically welded overseas. We strive to provide the best products for the best prices, while making sure to stand behind them and the community on the track and on the street. We are 100% USA made, and in order to keep our operation running we do have to charge more than some other brands. We know that these headers are not for everyone, especially older cars which have been passed down to their 2nd-3rd owners now.
Well John by your response i do see you didnt bother to read much of what was being said, an thats ok .... why address the concern when u can pass it off to chinese headers ..... not once did anyone mention chinese headers. I stated that YOUR ARH have been commented as rubbing or hitting parts of the e55. Not to mention i said and showed that YOUR header+ Xpipe system for even brand new 2017 mustang ( which when new parts seem to be at their highest normally coming down after a few years case in point https://www.ebay.com/i/261346830628?chn=ps&dispItem=1 this is for the same type of system an only 1398 bucks with free shipping for an older 05 mustang ) so i stated that both above and the 2017 are 1 7/8 piping long tubes same collectors similar Xpipe an all are free shipping. Yet for some reason the mercedes E55 is more than double the cost. I agree it takes time an money to design but thats been done years an years ago just dont get how it can cost any more to make a set of e55 long tubes vs a set of long tubes for a camaro ls1 or a mustang.
An if its all done by hand then theres no changing the tooling on machines so that shouldnt cause an increase in cost either so I guess where im confused is when is ARH gunna price e55 systems to the value and age of the car?? If your gunna have a sale .... have an actual SALE and show the community your want to help out the middle man not the guy that bought these back in the day that could afford an 80k car. These are 10 to 14k cars nowadays and owned by the little guys mainly .... least the ones that daily driver them. But hey guess im just the voice of nobody looking for some reason to keep spending the hard earned money with you versus going with a company like MBH that actually does do everything by hand, supports the community by having real sales and offers free shipping to the states as well.
Last edited by E55amg0220; 10-13-2017 at 02:03 PM.
I have bought many headers from american racing for my old LS1 camaros and TAs, an old mustang and the systems were NOWHERE near 3000 dollars.
If you've bought ARH headers before, then you know they're some of the best performing and quality headers you can buy for the domestic market. Your implication seems to be that the guys over there are trying to price gouge us because we own Mercedes, but I'd argue the prices are what they are simply because of economies of scale. It's no secret that the W211 AMGs are old and relatively cheap-- the ARH guys aren't delusional. They just have to charge more for the E55 headers than say LS3 headers because they probably sell dozens (hundreds?) of LS3 headers for every E55 set they sell. I find it remarkable that they even bothered to come out with LT's for the E55. I believe there were even fewer 55K's built than my SS, and that doesn't count the G8 GXP's, C6's, and Camaros that use the same drivetrain.
@ARH Thank you for giving the E55 community another quality option because at this point it's really just you and MBH, afaik.
Oh im not arguing that they do good work but i have had many that own a set tell me that they hit an vibrate on the e55 so maybe its time to redesign if that is the case. But comparing a set of MBH longtubes too a set of ARH is a night and day difference in fit, finish, and heck MBH comes with a hp guarentee. But i considered ARH when looking but not at the price they want over similar systems they produce, an that i have bought. Not to mention when i hear from numerous guys they rub an hit, that scares me too.
Ill not argue that they sell 100s of stang and ls1 headers over e55 for every 1 of our cars, we had just a 3 year run at best. But as said above by ARH they hand weld an assemble so no tooling change is needed to make a set of e55 over a set of ls1 so yes they are price gouging if the material costs an labor costs are the same as a set of ls1 or stang as i have already shown.
But hey im just a low income family guy who loves to tinker an ive been wking an tuning more cars in my 44 years then most have over 2 lifetimes. An ever since this small year of owning my first merc i have seen the mecedes tax on everything from pulleys, tunes, to exhaust systems, i understand u can make an sell more ls1 or stang or ctsv etc etc parts over these mercs but come on .... these are 15 year old cars an dont and shouldnt command such higher than normal costs. Wanna add 10 even 20% because ur not gunna sell as many .... ok cool, but 100% over similar things is ridiculous when it costs no more to make!! Just my 2 cents worth.
Last edited by E55amg0220; 10-13-2017 at 04:39 PM.
I find it remarkable that they even bothered to come out with LT's for the E55.
I believe TTM probably sold them a story about there being more demand than there actually was. Bruce led us to believe that he was the one that got them going on the platform.
Initially the ARH had a fitment issue with the #8 primary tube hitting the steering shaft. This is why I choose MBH instead. Although I wish the MBH were as long as the ARH (collector merge starts in the vertical, whereas ARH are true long tubes), but they do give added ground clearance when you go low. Also, at the time I preferred the idea of the MBH 1.75" primary diameter and considerable proven results.
PS would love to see someone built us some equal length stepped headers...for the sound alone!
I'm in the market for an exhaust system, and wonder where Weistec system stands when compared to ARH and MBH, in your opinion. Thank you
We cannot speak badly of other companies, All we can do it give you the facts about our system and help you to make the best decision based on your needs. I can tell you that our systems are made in the USA using the highest quality components and are not thin walled piping which may lead to expensive labor charges when they crack. We have been racing for decades and only build products that are meant to last under extreme abuse on track and on the circuit.
Our reviews and praise by our customers speaks for itself. For some great sound clips and dyno reviews, please hop on youtube and do a quick search. You wont be disappointed!
10-11-2017, 05:53 PM
). These headers would be almost 1/3 of what I payed for the car 
