I have a friend who just traded in his souped-up '99 Civic Si for a '97 BMW 540i. He felt the car was too quiet and wanted to modify the exhaust. However, he didn't have the extra cash to spend on a new exhaust, so instead, he REMOVED THE CENTER RESONATOR of the exhaust.

The sound is absolutely amazing and sounds just like an aftermarket exhaust.

I'm wondering if this same procedure is possible on the ES300. Has anyone done this before or know if this is possible on the ES?


peeeeeesh,

XenonES3

 

Yeah, I think it would be real easy. It's just bracketed between two rubber hoses, probably be easy enough just to take off one hose and the resonator and stretch the other hose over.

bR

 

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the empty box that's part of the intake. I've been working on my intake all week, so I've got it on the brain.

 

you can gut some holes in your exhaust to give yourself an exhaust leak; bigger wet fart sound.
it's a Lexus, not a performance rice-mobile.

 

w0rd up, quiter the better....

 

that's what i like about having my new air filter. it makes my car quiet, until i floor it. so i have the control over how it sounds. i wouldn't mind it sounding like a porche though

 

I don't mind having a performance exhaust on the ES, as long as it has a nice, deep growl- it has to be relatively quiet though. 'Speak softly and carry a big stick', haha.

 

I agree that it shouldn't sound like a riceburner. Mine is a little louder with the cone filter when you gun it, but not the same kind of obnoxcious banshee like sound of a Honda w/ exhaust.

 

If you really want a nice beefy sound that's not too obnoxious, you should just get an aftermarket intake. It'll run you $150 - $200 new, and it sounds bad ***. It's muffled a little bit by being in the engine bay, which I think is what avoids the obnoxious fat pipe, breaking windows kinda sound.

I just put a Ram Air attachment on mine, and it mellowed the sound out to a low rumble, I think when I finally upgrade the exhaust the combination of the three will be just right...

Later,
T-

 

your friend didn't have the $$$ for new exhaust?? did he PAID someone to cut the resonator and PAID to weld a new pipe to the muffler???

 

this is getting good now. i wanna hear this explanation. running to get popcorn and sit comfortably for xenon to "enlighten" us here....hahaha i'm so stupid.

 

i had a 540 before.. the resonator in 540 is not direct bolt on like other cars... in order to remove the resonator the pipe need to be cut..its NOT easy and its not cheap.. i still got the old stuff sitting in my garage...check it out

 

Yah, sorry here's some clarification. It wasn't the money that was the issue in installing an aftermarket exhaust, it's just that he already had bought an aftermarket exhaust for the 540i but couldn't use it--read on.

The whole problem was he swapped his old bumper for an M-technic (M5 style) bumper and the tips of the aftermarket exhaust interfered with the bumper, thus, he had to revert back to his old OEM exhaust (it fit wit the M-technic bumper). So...naturally--being 16 year oldz we wanted some more of an ooomph kinda feel, so he took the car to our local muffler shop and they performed the job of removing the resonator (i'm not sure about the process or how they did it). I haven't asked him about the cost of the whole job, but I'm sure he got a damn good deal because a friend of ours performed the job. But yah, it is true that the resonator had to be cut and new piping welded. It seems like a lotta people on this board already know the process.

Removin' the resonator hasn't given the car a 'ricey' sound. It now has a much deeper, richer tone, it sounds PHAT. After all, the whole reason he swapped from a Civic to a 540i in the first place was to avoid the ricey look. The only question bogglin' mah mind is how he got the cash do to do all this.

Anyway, hope that clears things up. YO and btw, thanks for the info on the intake, i'll look into that.

ALSO, CHECKOUT WWW.BMWTIPS.COM-- GO TO THE LINK FOR TIPS, THEN FOR M-TECHNIC/M5 STYLE BUMPER UPGRADE. SCROLL DOWN. THAT SHOWS A VERY SIMILIAR PROCESS THAT MAH FRIEND WENT THROUGH. This guy on the site had a SuperSPRINT exhaust in his 540i, but it didn't fit with his new M5 bumper, so he also reverted back to his OEM, removed the resonator, except he went a step further and had custom built tailpipes welded in to replace the stock for a more aggressive look. He says the exhaust without resonator sounds great too.

XenonES3

 

just to let everyone know, putting an muffler on an ES is not to cheap itself. There are no catback for this car, and if you look at the muffler, at least on mine, the catback tube comes into the side of the muffler. I went to get this priced out about a month ago, and they said they woyuld have to build a catback for my car because of this problem. Anyway the price was about $470 with evrything installed including the muffler. I opted to save my money for a new car.

Adam " Lexist "

 

I also have the euro M- kit on my 540 and had the same problem...so i had a muffler shop custom build my a exhaust that fit the M-bumper.. i replaced both POS factory cats with high flow..custom build X piipe, custom exhaust and custom tips..finally cut the bumper to make it fit and repaint it... it is a lot of works but this look the best out of 3 other set up i had before...oh yeah the car sound like a mustang cobra..SWEET~