Well, it appears that the Strats, Milteks, and Madness exhaust are all backordered and have been for some time now. That leaves me a little time to ask all of you this question... Of these three, who has what, and what is your opion of these. Loudness, tone and any droning? This will be going on my R53. I have already done a intake, and 17% pulley. Just waiting for exhaust and then a tune.

Any recomendations for the tune? There seems to be a few options on this also. Of course every shop you talk to does it the best Thanks

 

Anyone

 

There's plenty of threads that cover this subject.

Also the following link can be very useful:
http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f24/...t-gallery-347/

 

Gamm, thanks for the link. Could you tell me how to locate threads that are directly related to exhaust subject? I cannot seem to find a "search" option here anywhere. Am I missing it? That would be a big help. I hate starting new threads when the subject has already been covered. Thanks

 

I had a custom 2.25" made... sounds like Borla but weighs and costs less!

 

IMHO the Mini already has a 2.5" stock exhaust. Maybe just look into a "one ball" or just re-pipe factory exhaust to a aftermarket muffler. I am sure you can save tons of money as well. Spending $300++ on a aftermarket exhaust (when some are only 2.25") is alot of money for someone like me to spend on a budget.

I like my $15 one ball exhaust mod

Good luck!

 

I liked my one ball mod... But love my Invidia Cat Back more!

Great rumble on the Invidia but the One Ball did have a nice mellow tone to it - Definitely louder than stock.

 

Here is a link to my last run @ MOTD this year. My exhaust is listed in the sig. $400 installed, sounds great when you're running it hard but you can hardly notice it going down the highway...... just what I wanted. Motor on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8eL5...&feature=share

 

I like Remus group A ehaust myself, but quite pricey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEd-7FpqikI
http://www.remususa.com/epages/remus...ts/7549025504F

 

Between my two R53s I have had OEM S, JCW, JCW without Resonator, Borla Sport/Race, and Milltek. The choice depends on what you are looking for in an exhaust. To me the Borla Sport was the best sounding but droned a little in the cabin at certain RPMs/Loads. The Borla was OK on my 2003 but had a little too much drone in my 2006 GP with no rear seat or rear insulation. The OEM S is way too quiet. I think the JCW is still a little too quiet plus the diameter is a little on the small side and there is a compressed section to accommodate convertibles. I thought the JCW without the Resonator was a little too snap/crackle/pop on my 2006, might be OK on the years before MINI added the deacceleration pop. The Milltek is a good compromise. According to Way the Stratmosphere is the same as the Milltek but less expensive. From what I remember when I talked to George about the Mini Madness (now Madness Motorworks) he said it is about the same sound as the JCW but the Madness is larger pipe diameter than JCW. The Madness also has the compressed section like the JCW.

 

I've had the Stratmosphere system on my car for about 6 months now and I love it. It sounded great when it was mated up to my stock manifold and cat. The manifold cracked in half, and I replaced it was an OBXr header and replaced the cat with a straight pipe. It sounds awesome now. Definitely louder than just the cat back setup, but only when you're on the gas. Cruising around and idle its damn near quiet.

 

The OEM exhaust on the R53 is 2.25" ID from cat to first muffler.

 

Keep in mind how many highway miles you put on. I have a straight-out-the-back double-glasspack (3"x18" louvered, louvers pointing into exhaust flow) assembly that I'm sure can compete with the best for power gains, and it makes a beautiful sound driving around town. But spend an hour on the highway, as we often do for skiing or cycling, and you arrive feeling lobotomized. (Couple that with the stiffness of the car, and my wife can barely stand it at all...) All aftermarket exhausts are going to drone a bit; how much you can stand is up to you. They tend to drone only in the power range needed for cruising, too: my exhaust sounds great under sixty and over a hundred, but it's just punishing in between.

With all that said, I have a brand-new stock exhaust in the garage, just waiting to be installed. I'll take the five HP loss or whatever for the relative silence.

 

Magnaflow?

 

I have tried many different exhaust setups

Alta, Webb Motorsports 3" Prototype, Ireland Engineering, Borla sport, Miltek.

But guess what I am sticking with at the end,


Magnaflow..

Its noise level is just right at the point where its not TOO loud but its definitely not a quite system.

 

HERE to bump my new BORLA sport cat-back. It was easy to install and sounds better than I expected it to.
The drone on the highway is minimal compared to the numbers it gives. If you travel with the radio on even slightly, you won't even notice it. But if you want everyone to hear it, it won't take much for their heads to turn.

I originally thought that this little 1.6L engine would sound pretty "ricey" with smaller mufflers, but BORLA did a great job. It has a "gruffy" sound, like a hardened and battle-tested sound. My brother has a BORLA (sold as a TRD) muffler and I was impressed with the music it made. Anyway, I'm just hear to say if you are looking for a great sounding muffler and not a fart can, you won't be disappointed with this one.

heres to getting headers and downpipe...

 

I second that...sounds pretty hairy with RMW head/headers minus cat...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3SS9Yh8vu8&feature=plcp

 

Since everyone kind of strayed off from the 3 exhausts you requested for, I may have to jump in and promote the Super Sprint exhaust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpuZxctanKk&feature=plcp

A extremely refined exhaust. Louder than the JCW, but not too loud. No drone. Absolutely my favorite.

 

i love my invidia n1 system. it sounds great but ended up snapping the bracket at the very end that helps to separate the tips from touching. i had to re weld the bracket back on and the weld job i did looks like crap but i dont really care since you cant even see it. it was my first weld so im still patting myself on the back. i cant say too much about drone since i took my cat out and have solid motor mounts so the whole inside cabin drones like a **** but i love the drone. i ended up getting a ticket a couple weeks ago for being too loud and when i took my system off i noticed that inside the resonator the beehive looking pipe was staring to warp like it was melted or something. not much i can really do about it i guess thats what i get for taking out the cat maybe i can contact invidia or something and be like wtf? not really sure where i was going with all this but hope the info helps! ohh yeah and the burnt blue tips look freaking awesome! by far the best looking tips in my opinion.

 

I sure do appreciate all the comments on your exhaust. I went with the Miltek and I'll give you my take on it...

It arrived nicely packaged and in perfect shape. There wer NO instructions what so ever. Installing it was pretty straightforward, but some tips on removing the old would have been nice. I got the job done, and the new system fit perfectly.

Fired it up and I am very pleased with the sound. Sitting at idle and driving "normal" (whatever that may be) the exhaust is fairly quite. Once you start getting on it, the music comes to life!! LOVE the sound. Nice and deep, mellow tone.

Also looks awesome, no more VW Beetle looking tailpipes to look at either.

As for performance, I suppose it helps, but are you going to ride in a car with aftermarket exhaust and say "Holy s**t what a power gain!!" I don't think so. This was just another step on my way to a mild build up. I've done a DDM CAI, 17% pulley, colder plugs and now exhaust. (All from WMW by the way) I'm seriosly considering getting a tune from him also, just so I won't say "hmmm, would that put the iceing on the cake" I do think that that would tie it all together.

Next are some 18" wheels, dimpled and slotted rotors, EBC red stuff pads, and a 22mm rear sway bar. I've already purchased these items just haven't installed them yet. Till then.....Do it once...Do it right!!!!

 

Hang on there - that's pretty much the main reason I modified the exhaust in the first place! :-D I'm not as into mods that don't add something in the "performance" area, but I'm all for Do it once...Do it right!!!! Your asking a lot of questions early in the experience is key to getting what you want out of your plan. Everyone has their "plan" for their car, and "you-ifying" the Mini is a great part of the ownership experience. Glad it worked well for you!

 

Opinions are all over the place in this thread, but just thought I'd add my $.02...

I absolutely love love love how my JCW exhaust+RMW header sounds. It's near silent when cruising around, zero drone...but once you're on it, it can definitely turn heads. I was worried that staying with the JCW exhaust would be too quiet, but simply not the case, it sounds fantastic. Have had many compliments on the sound/tone also. Mine may be a little louder though due to the high-lift cam...regardless it sounds glorious.

As far as other aftermarket catbacks, I've heard nearly all of them in person...and Invidia is always my favorite. Cleanest sounding tone out of anything out there.

 

You can still pick up the Invidia N1 kit for $630: http://www.eurosportdesign.com/p-120...k-exhaust.aspx. It's not overly loud and has a sporty tone. Plenty of YouTube videos to sample to see how it sounds.

 

Gonna install Altas sport catback exhaust here soon, anyone got one? A couple vids i saw of it blew me away, these were mini's with just the catback, stock manifold and cat.

 

53LVMini, here are some pages of my experience with the Alta exhaust that you may find of interest:
http://home.comcast.net/~rwkeating/a...taexhaust.html
http://home.comcast.net/~rwkeating/a...aexhaust2.html
http://home.comcast.net/~rwkeating/a...aexhaust3.html