jg 368 48

my dad has a 2007 bmw x5 4.8i fully loaded and i love driving it! i have a 99 rx300 awd. one thing i love about it (more specific topic) is the engine/exhaust sound. i want it! here's a clip (not of an 07, but sounds the same)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B-2u_KxydOE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=na8EB26j45Y

how do i make my car's exhaust make that noise?! muffler tip? new muffler? if so, what make and model exactly? i don't want something overpowering, loud, obnoxious, etc. i want something that has a slight deep rumble to it. from my pathetic knowledge about these things i believe some kind of new exhaust something or a cold air intake could give me these results. i need some help and info!!

-thanks

jg 368 48

also...is there a benefit from having solo or dual exhausts? (exhaust pipes on just one side, or on both sides, and in some situations two muffler tips on each side like on the x5's in these videos)

--thanks!!

jg 368 48

what do you think about magnaflow mufflers? i was looking under cardomain.com --> universal mufflers then scrolling to magnaflows (specifically the dual ones). if i wanted a new muffler, is this the only part i need? or is there something else required to make it work?

--thanks

jg 368 48

also, is x type exhaust (dual exhaust on left AND right side)? or is only straight possible? can the tip be mounted in a similar fashion as on many cars, including the x5, as seen below?

herehttp://www.4x4x4.com/Images/bmw/X5ExhaustW2.jpg

salimshah

Exhausts, serve a purpose of safely exiting the burnt gases (can be poisonous) away from the cabin and cut down on the noise caused by explosions in chambers.

Over time, they have been improved to actively cut down on emission and have further restricted the exhaust flow [it is illegal to modify this portion and/or the replacement must meet the established standards].

Essentially it is headers, catalytic converter, muffler and ducting (pipe) and it suspension. Composition of the metal used is important too as the all components are susceptible to corrosion/rust from outside-in and inside-out.

You can replace each piece, muffler being the easiest. [The tips are mostly aesthetic]. There is a resonance that sets up in the exhaust system and the cabin [engine rpm based]. Before anyone modifies the exhaust, they need to check this out as it can be very annoying if it happens to be at your crusing speed.

If you want to get into re-plumbing of the pipes, consult a muffler shop. You really have to work on the routing (including ground clearance) and suspension.

Since we have a single output on RX, I doubt that the "X" component you mention exists. I would expect a "Y".

Magnaflow is good brand. It is stated that a more free flowing exhaust gives you additional hp (upto 5%). I switched the stock exhaust on GS to Ltuned. Other than the sound, I can not tell ... may be improvement is the same as leaving the thick user manual at home.

My feeling has been that you start with a free flowing exhaust before you make any intake mods. This is based on hunch. You can get better advice form people who have actually done the mods.

Salim

Lexmex

The guy who parks next to me has a 4.8 X5, and I know the sound really well (have driven it, too).

I think at least one member I remember on here did do a double exhaust with one muffler on each side. I was going to do this and then suddently the way I went down to the exhaust shop, I realized to get more power I need the piping as straight as possible, and have the y pipe that you see here in the picture below.

You would have to as you can see, make a pretty wide turn to get to the left rear side with a dual muffler. Ideally, this does give some more hp, but now much. I think when they did this with the 1st gen MDX, they got less than 10 hp by doing that, plus you add extra weight in the form of the piping and extra muffler, which could negate more gains.

An X-pipe also would be a little difficult to do, and really won't help much. X-pipes are really more in the case of a front to back exhaust system, not when going straight from the resonator back to the muffler, and help to equalize exhaust pressure between the two sides. Ideally in my setup, I could probably have a small horizontal pipe going connecting at the midpoint of the y-pipe between the resonator and the muffler, but not much to bother with.

However, getting back to sound. A large function of the sound is the engine type. The RX300 makes a very distinctive sound, (VW VR6 engines also make a distinct sound I can identify with my eyes closed).

Listen to my video on this solo run at the track and listen to the point right when it passes the camera, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u0ZYT0bFwg

Now listen to this video from our good colleagues in Japan of their Harrier, also a 3.0 engine when they pass the camera, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9evfMKaJbws

Now my colleague in Japan might not have (probably 99.9% sure of this), the same power modifications, but he does have the advantage of being probably much closer to sea level than I am, thus the power output would probably be very close between our to vehicles given my altitude.

You notice the sound? Listen to a 1MZFE Highlander under wide open throttle and you may hear something similar, though probably not quite as loud.

Both my colleague in Japan and I have exhaust modifications, his being in the form of a muffler and mine being in the form of the modifications you see on page 3 of my car domain page.

In the end, you aren't going to be able to change too much in the way the exhaust sounds, given the type of engine, and the X5 4.8 is way more powerful.

However, you can get closer. Exhaust tips really won't do much at all, except add weight and aesthetics. The first key point is opening up the exhaust. That means a direct flow muffler. The Magnaflow you indicated above (from my read of it) will help. I don't know that it will get as deep a growl, probably a little higher pitch looking at the design. To get a deeper growl it has to be a little wider (wider going top to bottom, rather than side to side, meaning it has to be more oval than the one shown). The one you indicated is free flowing so that is at least a plus. One muffler that did have a good growl was the one made by Rod Millen for the RX300, but it is much tougher to find now.

As far as the resonator, I wouldn't touch that just yet, messing around with it (as I have learned) can create a bad rasp if you don't know what you are doing.

The other end of the equation is obviously more firepower up front and that means an intake. There are several of them out there, several of the members here have made and customized their own, including myself, off the original TunedRX300 lower air intake. Some have bought the Weapon-R dragon intake, http://weapon-r.com/english/index.ph...oducts_id=5713 (I don't like it based on personal experience...mostly the filter is the issue) or have bought customized piping. My personal favorite for the price is the Weapon-R secret intake, http://weapon-r.com/english/index.ph...oducts_id=5325 and its design is a little more conducive toward bringing in the air over the stock intake, and that will show its effects out the tailpipe.

The only other intake that intrigues me very much, but very costly is the CP-E intake for the 1MZFE Solara, http://www.cp-e.com/2017.html and this has been fitted to at least a Sienna and is tuneable, but I probably would use some other cheaper tuning option in my case.

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The moral here is that you can only get so far given the limitations of the engine.

tcheung87

JG you need to first read and understand salim and Lexmex's comments about the exhaust system and how exhaust tone is tuned. It is a complicated process and trying to mimic the X5's exhaust tone is difficult because the engine and exhaust system on the X5 is very different from that of our RX's. I'm not saying it cannot be done but it requires a lot of work.

The Toyota 1MZ-FE has a very nice tone already, so I would recommend bringing that out instead. With that I have a Magnaflow exhaust on my RX300 and I think it sounds fantastic, very deep growl on the low end and springs to life as I climb the RPM band.

-tc

tcheung87

Here's an angled shot.

jg 368 48

oo ic...i thought an x type exhaust was nothing more that mufflers on both sides...my mistake! lexmex...love the sound!! tchaeung87...i do realize it will be very very difficult, however, i wouldn't dare touch something like this. i would absolutely HAVE to take it to a body shop because i don't know the first thing about this!

ok, so overall, what i've picked up out of this conversation to really help me a lot, is that i need a muffler with a larger tip. could someone send me a picture/make and model of the perfect muffler for what i need?

so do you think my best bet of getting that desired sound is to do something with my muffler (preferably dual) and add a secret weapon weapon r cold air intake right?

can i get something like this?

--thanks for the help!

TunedRX300

If you do a search, the muffler selection and pictures are discussed multiple times in the past.
A kind suggestion is to use the search tool, doing simple research (search in CL or Google/Wikipedia) shows you respect the valuable discussions and information that others already spent time in the past. A little effort on your part will also get more replies from other members.

Lexmex

As TunedRX300 mentioned there are quite a lot of designs that members have used in the past using the search tool. Probably a search along the line muffler and seeing which threads have a paperclip attached to them that indicate there is a picture.

A muffler with a larger tip won't do it, may change pitch of sound, but ever, and I do mean ever so slightly.

If I were going to do this is would have to be a more oval muffler as I mentioned above, direct flow coupled with an intake like the Secret Weapon. However, it will be closer to a deep growl, but it won't be that of the X5. I know that sound very well, and it is touch to mimic without the right engine.

jg 368 48

so would something like this work? would this get me the results i desire (or close enough)?i got this by searching! how coulda thought


this pick came from here

--thanks

Lexmex

That Borla would probably muffle more sound. Keep in mind, the objective of a muffler is just that...to muffle sound and only through careful design can you get something that gets that growl.

Ah yes, that second picture, I remember that thread. However, that particular exhaust in my judgement would result in a higher growl, not a lower one. The mufflers are tinier and not as high in up down/height..

As I said earlier, you can get down the path, but you won't ever reach what the X5 is. Even if you could ram more power into the RX300, even more than I have, you literally would need a V8 to get the sound you want. Reason I say this is that I used to have a track friends with a 4Runner (runs just under 1 second faster than my RX300, since it has a V8) and the sound is pretty distinct from a V6.

jg 368 48

right i completely understand that i wont ever reach the x5's sound...especially the 4.8i like my dads...i mean it has 350hp!!! i still want to get closer...in my opinion anything closer to it and further away from the nothing-stock sound will be better! could u send me some threads and products (exhaust, not air intake) that would do what i'm looking for? i keep searching but i dont really know what im doing!

Lexmex

Take a search under Millen in this thread and it will talk about one of the style of exhausts I am talking. I use to have an APC Intimidator 1020 model that did close to that sound, cheap, but effective.

As far as Intake, you need to move away from the stock air box and be able to bring in air faster, there isn't much in the way of a thread, all of what I put on page 6 of my car domain page gives an idea. If their ain't an input of air, there ain't going to be sound coming out the back.