Hello, A while back I replaced a holy stock exhaust with a nice MagnaFlow SS on my wife's 2006 Cooper. I thought it sounded great and without the aid of any scientific instrumentation thought I noticed some extra top end rush. My wife was less than happy with the extra noise and doesn't push her car high enough to notice any performance benefits. To be fair she's given it about 10,000 miles (1 year) but informed me last Friday that she's had enough. The stock exhausts are pretty expensive for how long they last (IMHO). Her original was absolutely shot before 40,000 miles. Does anyone make an aftermarket cat back system that is closer to the noise level of the stock exhaust or am I stuck with what the Mini came with? Any sources for more reasonable stock exhaust parts that anyone can recommend? Thanks in advance for your time.
Doug

 

They must use a lot of salt on the roads up there in New York state. 40,000 seems abysmal.

Have you checked with a local exhaust shop? They could probably install a generic muffler. It would be quiet too. They might offer some in stainless steel. They might have some kind of high-temp rust proofing for the outside of the muffler. Granted it will eventually rust from the inside out, but I suspect that salt killed yours prematurely.

I can find the stock R50 exhaust on Pelican Parts for $562.25, which is pretty high if it only lasts you 40k.

 

Yeah we love our road salt around here and I'm sure that's what did the muffler section in as early as it did. My other cars have gone quite a bit farther though so it's probably a materials choice that's working against me. The price you had from Pelican was actually quite a bit cheaper than the other stock exhaust I found. When I looked up Pelican though their webpage didn't show any whole exhaust parts just hangers, gaskets, and clamps. Do you have a link you could post? Thanks.
Doug