Stainless exhaust for R52 MCS - which do you recommend?

[chillax]

Hi guys,

Only just bought my MCS convertible but the exhaust is on its way out big time! Got a couple of quotes for standard steel replacemnts and coming in at £500 to £650 just for a standard exahust.

The last garage to give a quote said that would be a better option to buy a stainless cat back exhaust and they would just charge labour to fit it. Said it would cost a lot less and also last a hella lot longer.

Sooooo, here's my requirements for the exhaust:

Needs to be as quiet as possible, as close to OEM (yeah, i'm of a "certain age" now, too old for all that noisy stuff!)
look/fit the same as oem
decent quality

Spotted a Malian system, any good and how quiet are they?

Let me know your experience with different ones, what to avoid etc and if they are available locally to me (or can be delivered) in Scottish borders.

Thanks in advance

Dave

[badwolf340]

Most places that make S/S Ex also fit try someone like stainless creations

[chillax]

Yeah, know we have a Powerflow fitter (East Coast Motors) not far from here but he couldn't give me a price over the phone for a stainless one fitted, has to see the car first. Ostles in Gala have given us a price for fitting a stainless one if we source one ourselves, not many garages do that to be fair so was hoping to get one delivered then take it all down and get it fitted by them. Will give powerflow another call and see what they say as I have had a powerflow on my aerodeck for years and never had any problems with it...nice and quiet too

[Crombers]

I've got the full Playmini exhaust on my R50, sports manifold to slash cut back box. It's all been on the car since 2006 at roughly 40K and it's that old that Playmini no longer offer it (now at 85K). I will say that a SS option is by far your best bet. I sourced my exhaust system second hand from two NMS folks at separate times and local garages fitted them no problem :thumbs up:

[chillax]

yes mate, deffo thinking if we're gonna change it, for the money a stainless system is a no brainer. Do it once, do it right!

[MINI William]

Can’t suggest a quiet exhaust I’m afraid, most folks fit a sportier exhaust on their car. I had a scorpion exhaust on my R53 and it was loud but sounded lovely.

[chillax]

Yeah, afraid I'm getting too old for the noisy exhausts now, find I like it to be much more subtle nowadays. Thinking of Powerflow as I know I could get one built to the spec I want....trouble is it costs far more than an off the shelf one.

[Gogs]

I’m in the same boat with my R53. Having looked into a few options I think I’m going to go with a resonated Scorpion stainless exhaust. I like the look of the Monaco tailpipes as they seem to fit nicely with the bumper. I’ve also heard a few soundclips and it seems relatively quiet compared to some systems out there.

[chillax]

Agree Gogs, A few of the soundclips I've heard the scorpion does sound quieter, although it might just be the recording I guess. Scorpion has always had a good rep too.

[Gogs]

I think the key is to get a resonated exhaust system as it won’t sound raspy/tinny and will help keep the overall volume down.