MagnaFlow straight through muffler

ZexTL said:

Just got mine installed for total $260, the sound is quite, smooth outside, but pretty annoying for me inside from 2000 to 2750 rmp when accelerating. Beside that range, it's quite enough for me. Don't feel any significant power gain. It looks pretty nice. I will have an additional resonator on from Midas. According to Mola, it will eliminate most of the noise.

http://www.magnaflow.com/03mirrorstreet.htm , mine is the 14833.

Click to expand...

Have you added the resonator (Glass Pack from Midas) yet?
Adding the resonator/glass pack will remove most of the harsh noise inside the car however dont expect stock sound from the straight thru mufflers.

There's still a growl however I was content with the noise when they added the glass pack.






Well, today I've removed that muffler with a normal one to look like stock again. A full circle but my wife had some input into this...
Long story but I've gone through a few exhaust changes on the TL.


Mola

Hey Guys,


Let me share the complete story about my TL's exhaust... saga.
I've posted a small part here and there but this might explain a lot of things and could be good info for those looking at exhausts.

Objective:

I wanted a nicer looking exhaust tip with a better engine noise from the TL.
I like SuperSprint exhausts however they dont make a direct fit unit for the TL's. And they run about $500 so it's more than I wanted to spend.

Here's what a SuperSprint exhaust looks like


Note:

The Acura TL is my wife's daily driver and I drive the BMW 528i as my daily. I recently removed my resonator on the 528i and love the extra growl without the Ricer sound. I can only hear it during idle and that's pretty much it.

The Idea:

So I got an idea to replicate a similar sound on the Acura TL (wife's daily car) so I purchased this muffler off of ebay.


Muffler Cost $105
Installation $ 40

Now I was set and the noise from the outside was great however the noise inside sucked. I didn't score any points with the wife either with the extra noise.


During this time I've found that the last item (muffler) on an exhaust system makes a large impact to the final sound and volume.
Also I've been told my many people that ALL straight thru mufflers were made to make Lots of Sound. The Ricer Exhaust Noise...

The Fix:

To Salvage the situation since I liked the looks of the Exhaust Tip by installing a resonator(Glass Pack) after the cats which removed MOST of the noise and from the outside the noise was slight and from the inside it sounded fine.

If this was my car, I would have kept this setup however... by this time, the wife wasn't too thrilled w/ a ricer sound and just gave me dirty looks at this point.
Lots of ideas got tossed around, even the idea of putting it on the BMW.

Muffler Cost $105
Installation $ 40
Resonator Install $ 88

Unexpected Result:

With the free flowing exhaust system, I've found that the RPM picks up much quicker than before. I'm not saying it gave me more HP or pickup since I couldn't tell but I did notice that the RPM picked up from 0~3000 RPM much quicker than before.
It seemed more responsive but was not 100%


Resolution:

I was down to couple of option then decided to cut my losses since the wife wasn't speaking to me.
I ended up going back to Midas and having them put on their normal muffler with dual tips.

The exhaust was quiet and the wife was happy.

Muffler Cost $105
Installation $ 40
Resonator Install $ 88
New Midas Muffler $120
-------------------------------------
Total $ 353


For the cost of $353 I've learned a few things.

1) Dont rice out the wife's car without asking.
2) All Free Flowing (Straight thru pipe) exhaust makes a ton of noise
3) Free Flowing exhaust makes a difference in RPM responsiveness.

When the Midas muffler went in at the end, I noticed the RPM from 0~3000 was slower on reaching 3,000 (same as stock).

I just wish I would have paid attention to the RPM Before I started this whole project to provide a definitive answer or much more faster it reaches 3,000 from 0.


:-/