Hello everyone, While driving my 550, sometimes I'd hear a metallic rattle. I figured the sound would be from a loose bolt on the exhaust. But upon having it looked at, I found out the central exhaust silencer/muffler needs to be replaced. This isn't something that needs to happen now, but I'm curious about options. These are the options I can think of at the moment: 1) Just replace the part. 2) Central silencer/muffler delete and straight pipe from the cats to the left and right mufflers. 3) install high-flow cats, do a central silencer/muffler delete and straight pipe from the cats to the left and right mufflers Has anybody ever done anything like options 2 or 3? If so, what were the results? Obviously, the car will be a lot louder, but any thoughts on how this effect the car's value or performance? Also, does anyone have any ideas about how much these options differ from one another in regards to cost?
When I deleted the center resonator and replaced it with straight pipes to the rear section it was a yawner as far as noticing any difference in sound or performance seat of the pants wise.
The real research on the 550 exhaust is from the banned guy on the other forum. Search for it. He has the best quality solution. Personally, I'm happy with stock just under 500hp. Being an old guy driving a GT car the last thing I want is exhaust noise to say hey "I'm over here."
My 550 rule is men over 50, bold, and/or have grey hair need to lay off the loud exhaust sounds. It will make them look ridiculous. The 550 alone with stock mufflers is all you need. Women are exempt from that rule.
Haha, what's the rule for men in their late 20s? Also, should have mentioned, when I bought my car a previous owner had already put on Tubi Exhaust.
I have had about six different set-ups on my 550. Now I have Hyperflow sports catalyzers (causes no SLOW DOWN messange) + Quicksilver X-pipe + OEM rear mufflers. First of all I would say that the central muffler/resonator might be good to have if you plan to run continiously at 150 mph. which is no problem in Europe. It takes away quite a bit of sound at high revs. In my opinion, it is just a piece of s*it and is absolutely not needed. The car will not make much more noise when you take it off at normal cruising revs or at idle. The sports silencers give some more sound to the car but not very noticable either. It is the rear mufflers what are the real silencer. In fact, these silencers are quite good and makes the right tone/sound for the car, they are very well build and they are very restrictive... So if you want more sound on low revs, put on some sport mufflers or just put on a Ypipe instead of them. If you want more sound also at high revs, replace the center section too. If you want more power and sound at high revs and still have a comfortable Ferrari without drone (resonance), keep your rear mufflers with the valves (when closed, they give you noticable more low rev power/torque) and change to good «muted» sportscar sound when open and the frequenzy rises due to higher revs. This is my opinion, and I have driven many 550s. If you like, you can buy my Hyperflow Cats and center for resonable money, as I am going with a totally different exhaust this winter.
Men in their late 20s can do anything they damn please to get it out of their system and not do crazy things when they're over 50.
Drive maturely if that means you also date 35+y/o successful classy women? Otherwise there is a 488 for you...
I echo Dave's findings. Maybe there is 15hp there with a tubi and that will push you over the magic 500hp. I did that with my 1st 550. My 2nd (current) 550 is stock. Because there was so little difference I did not have the energy to make the change. There is significant weight savings going not OEM. On this board I weighed it all for you. I don't know where that data is but you can search for it. I have a 550 tubi now and just left my car that way. If I ever get the energy to make a racy change I would do Fiammmmenghi Engineering headers and center resonator delete with the dual H pipe and my tubis. More likely, I would stay legal and copy Fiammmmenghi's center delete pipe and run my 550 tubis. Straight pipes make more power but the dual H takes out the drone of the 550 tubi. 575 tubi does not have the drone supposedly but that's not what I have. I could make the center resonator delete in about 2 hours and so far I'm just too lazy to do it. If I was an experimenter and wanted power and noise and big weightloss I would make a real center muffler and straight pipes out the back. Wow! This board really does not like this past banned user. You can't even mention his name hence the 4 m's I put in his name. What is next burning books? Sorry for the PR detour.
Thanks to everyone for your advice. It is very useful and I will now check out the local tire shops to see what is available. John
Thanks everyone for the ideas! When it comes time to actually make a change, I'll post my updates here. In the mean time, if anyone has any additional suggestions, let me know!
That's interesting, do you have the stock Left and right mufflers? Also, do you mind if I ask if the cost for straight piping was similar to replacing the center resonator?
Yes, I still have the stock mufflers, as I recall the cost of the two center pipes was around $800, They were from Bradan
Hi Carl, I replaced the resonator with straight thru pipes made at a muffler shop. The resonance was so bad that I went back to the resonator. But it seems if I put in a couple of cross pipes to convert the straight pipes an H-pipe that the resonance would be gone? Are there particular placement locations for the cross pipes?
I concur! Same as my 550 with x pipe and sport mufflers that are valved, Kreissieg Titanium setup....works best for sport sound and then shut off the valves when you would like some peace and quite
Right, FBB. Jim, the first generation Tubis will have no embossing on them. A few are embossed 550. The second generation Tubis are embossed 575. I have straight center pipes and second generation Tubi mufflers on my car and there is no resonance... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good to know, I'll have to take a look. A few questions: What kind of power gains did you notice from straight piping to the tubis? How much weight was lost by doing this? What was the difference with the sound?
Hi Michael, I didn't dyno my car before or after I went from the stock configuration to center straight pipes and second generation Tubis. My straight pipes were made up for me in 321 Stainless Steel nine years ago, prior to Bradan making them available but the dyno graph I posted last week should apply to my car as well. FBB did a weight comparison several years ago: 550 exhaust...so I got bored today The result was a pleasant burble at idle, no resonance at highway speeds, and an aggressive growl when I get on the gas pedal. Barry