Hi i am new to the minis and i dont know much so im going to ask on here i was wondering if it would be worth it to put a new after market exhaust kit on my 07 mini. Please let me know your comments and thoughts on this thanks!!

 

Well, depends on what your "worth" is to you.
Do you want increased noise or tone out of the car?
Are you expecting performance increase from installing such?
Do you care if you have muffler drone?

If you use the very powerful search function on this forum, you'll find several results on the following.
Search the archives and you'll easily find the answers to your question.

- Erik

 

 

Usually the exaust is more about sound than performance.....per hp gain from doing a typical catback is pretty low per hp....so other mods are usually done first for pure hp per $$ spent. But getting the RIGHT exaust on a car can make it feel very different, cause the sounds change the experance so much.

 

If I want a better sound would a muffler change help? And so far you guys have been very helpful thank you

 

If you want better sound just remove the resonator. An exhaust wont add any noticeable power unless you get a tune.

 

Slap a DP on the MINI. Delete your 2nd cat and put a nice muffler from performancepeddler.com. If you want performance! I bought my magnaflow muffler from them and the 4 inch tips. Good luck man!

 

A few things Newminiowner... NAM is a forum where we can "gather" to ask for help, opinions, thoughts and give advice, opinions and thoughts. If you are on the asking side we need to know what we have to work with. In your case here, do you have an "S" model MINI or not? What do you want to get out of this spending of money.... errr... mod? What other mods do you have? Again, what are you looking for? That's very important so that you don't throw away your hard earned cash. All that said, I personally believe your time would be best spent in self study before you start asking too many questions. You will appreciate your MINI much more if you are the one making all of the decisions on how to improve it rather than asking people what you should do. Not that you seem to be asking what to do but there seems to be more and more that are these days. Bluefox is correct in that the NAM archives have answered the exact question you asked many times over. The archives are a rich source of knowledge. I'm not so sold on NAM's search function however. I use Google and make "NAM" a search term. General Google searches are good to just learn basics and some theory AND to find vendors. There is also something to be said for reading product descriptions on vendor sites. I ordered The Dread Pirate from the factory a little over two years ago. At 47, it was the first time I had ever bought a car that way. I downloaded the manual from the MINI site and read some part of it every day. I joined NAM and read for hours! I have added a bunch or parts and pieces and have many more to go. I have studied, compared, contrasted, decided, re-decided, changed my mind about every one. In the end I know what I have and why I have it. My MINI is my creation, no one else's and I like it that way.

My advice? Study a little about exhausts. Decide if you have a "S" model or not. DO a Google search on "mini cooper s exhausts" and go from there. We'll still be around to answer questions.

If I sound a little preachy, I apologize. I'm coming down from the flu and I'm old and cranky!

Good luck, welcome and Motor On!

Jerry

 

You won't get much power from the exhaust without a tune as I'm sure someone has probably mentioned. What I did with my MCS is slap a 3" straight pipe from the downpine-back and put two 4" tips on the end. It sounds like a spitfire and pops nicely. It is really loud and has set alarms off and there is some drone on the highway but I don't mind. The best part was that all of it cost $150 (compared to $700-900 for catback systems) and I passed emissions without a problem. I then tuned it the ECU and there is a little more power but the biggest difference is in throttle response and less time for the turbo to spool up. One thing that you may want to consider is getting an electrice exhaust cut-out. Then have an exhaust shop put it on. Then with the flip of a switch you can go from a quiet stock exhaust to essentially no exhaust. Hope this helps.

 

From what I've read, and with experience on other cars, these turbos don't flow enough exhaust to run a 3" exhaust. Also, from dyno numbers, exhausts, for what they're worth, are probably the most inefficient power adder that you can buy (price wise) for your Mini. Downpipe, FMIC, and a tune is where you should concentrate.

 

Thank you all for the help!

 

I made the switch from stock to a miltek and couldn't be happier

 

While I'm in no way arguing your point (I agree completely) and I'm not too knowledgeable with turbos, would it not make sense to go with a 3" exhaust if you intend to upgrade the turbo (such as Alta's upgrade)? Would there be any performance loss doing a 3" now and the turbo upgrade later?