Isn't the dual exhaust the reason why the spare tire is in the cargo area on the 55's? If so, I'll keep my single, hidden exhaust pipe in exchange for the cleaner look in my interior.
__________________ 2000 ML430
K&N air filter - Ate brakes - chrome grille, tailgate latch, logo on rims, instrument cluster rings - projector style lights w/xenon bulbs - white LED lights on licence plate - handpainted pinstripe - designo Java Shift Surround
Mostly aesthetic. If you examine most factory model changes that add dual exhaust you'll find the actual throughput of the system does not have a material change. There is usually a constriction added in the chain or it is not a true dual system but merely a cat- or exhaust-back dual.
Making any change to a modern stock vehicle results in some negative effects. In the case of exhaust systems when you open it up you are modifying the power curve. It does _NOT_ result in an across-the-board increase in power. What it does it drop the power, often dramatically, in the lower RPMs while increasing the power slightly in the higher RPMs.
Now, if you spend all of your time with the engine higher than 4,000 RPMs then you'll see a power increase. But since nobody does that in normal driving what 99.99% of the population will see is an actual decrease in power. But it will sound louder, they'll think it will look better, and they'll never want to admit that they got ripped off <g>.
if you have the 500 motor you will know it has more than enough torque and what it needs is more high end when you're flooring it. If you've floored the ML500 you know that past 4500 rpm there's more noise than sound with the restriction on the exhaust that it feels more resistant than actually free flowing until it upshifts.
i have a kleeman SC on the car and compared with a stock exhaust and a straight through design the difference was night and day.
I totally agree RUEY220 - I was just wondering why Mercedes didn't think it fit to equip the W163 ML430 and W163 ML500 (both V8s) with dual tail pipes from 1999-2005 (the relevant production years) but yet decided from 2006 onwards when the W164s came out to equip the W164 ML350 (base model with V6 engine) with dual tail pipes.
Surely it can't be that they suddenly saw the necessity to add dual tail pipes to their SUVs so as to get the added power from the engines?
Or is to keep up with the current trend (Acura, Nissan, Lexus, Toyota) to equip modern cars with dual tail pipes and make them look sporty and/or performance orientated?
i would say that they did it for the best of both worlds. Both for performance and for looks. The thing is though that if this was a fad, I seriously doubt that there will be a time where it is more asthetically pleasing to see a car with no muffler tips one muffler tip instead of 4. quad tips is the right amount of tips on the rear of the car.
Anything less than 4 tips is whimpy and counterproductive and anything more is tacky and overkill.
Now what ever happened to those chrome bikini women people used to stick on the back of their cars in the early 90's.
If you've floored the ML500 you know that past 4500 rpm there's more noise than sound with the restriction on the exhaust that it feels more resistant than actually free flowing until it upshifts.
Can I deduce from the above statement that you are saying the ML500 should have twin exhausts too? - I would agree with you.
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