35t Center Resonator Delete: Worth Every Penny!
 

Hi Guys,

For a while now I've been thinking about deleting the two center resonators on my XE. I posted a few times about it with some speculation as to what the effects would be.

Well, I finally bit the bullet. I had a shop do cut them out and weld in straight pipe.

Here is a summary of the effects:

• Significant increase in volume (it will turn heads)
• Significant increase in rasp/growl. When you shift gears at the higher rev range under load, you get this nice crackly raspy sound. Just amazing.
• A decent increase in crackles/pops. I think these were there always, and deleting the resonators has the effect of making them louder/more noticeable. Especially if you let off in the higher rev range, the pops are LOUD.
• Literally ZERO drone. Absolutely none. In fact, when cruising on the highway, I doubt there is a perceptible difference in the stock exhaust and the exhaust without resonators.

Overall, I am extremely pleased. And it only cost me $120.

I think this is how the car was meant to sound from the factory, to be honest. I would guess the resonators were there simply to differentiate the XE and the F-type tonally (JLR don't want the XE stealing the F-types thunder!).

If there are any forum members with a V6 F-type in the Austin area, send me a PM. I'd love to do a side-by-side comparison on video for the forum. I'd wager they sound almost identical with this mod.

Video to follow shortly!

Cheers

I can't help but think that your mod reduced a little restriction and a little weight. Any perceptible power gains?

I'm in Austin too...do you mind sharing who did the work for you, and would you recommend them?

Hey Austin7,

I had a shop called Youniversal Auto Care on Pleasant Valley do the mod, simply because it was a couple blocks from where I live and they quoted me a reasonable price. They also have decent reviews on Google. They were very friendly and took care with the install - even going so far as to make sure the rear exhaust pipes were perfectly symmetrical (which is actually an improvement over the factory installation). Ask for John.

Regarding weight/restriction: those two center mufflers do weigh a bit (11.2 lbs according to my scale at home). They don't seem to restrictive, because the main pipe is just straight through. The car definitely seems faster but that's probably 99% due to me laying into the throttle to get that sweet sound.

I've put a photo of the inside of the resonators below. Also attaching a photo of where the cut was made in case anyone wants to duplicate this.

I'd be happy to meet up and compare exhaust sounds. You have the VAP tune, so you don't have a rev-limiter in park, while I still do. But I think a few fly-by shots would suffice for comparison!


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Here is a video, as promised. (Sorry about the wind noise!)

I tried to do a mild launch as well as some full-throttle fly-by passes. Bounced off the rev limiter in 1st a few times so you all could get an idea of the red-line crackling shift sound. Also, notice the loud popping when I left off the throttle towards the top of 2nd gear!

Warm start and static revs

to be honest I fail to see any difference from my stock exhaust.

Huh, maybe the resonators were just ornamental?

Really though, the tone itself is not hugely different. But it is much much louder. Of course that won’t come across on camera without a stock car to compare it to. Also the popping on overrun, while present on the stock exhaust, is much louder now.

I have a couple videos of the stock exhaust fly by that I will upload so that you can get a better idea. Not a perfect A to B test but the difference will be obvious.

that maybe so but when I stood outside my car (my friend's son rev'd the engine) it sounded pretty much the same as in your video. It may sound different in person. I just listened to the parked video again and it even feels like mine pops more and the pops are more profound.

With the tune, that may be. Mine isn’t tuned. You can rev yours out to red line in park, mine is still limited to 4k rpm.

ahh ok, that may indeed explain it

Comparison to stock exhaust
 

I must be crazy but to me the car sounded better stock. The pops were also clearer with the resonators attached. The resonator delete just made it sound like you have a hole in the exhaust or something. Ho do you get it to pop while driving by the way? I never heard the pops on the road with mine, I must not be a good racer :P

What I'm doing in these videos is holding the gear past red-line, so the rev limiter kicks in and it makes that sound. Is that what you're talking about with popping? If you mean the loud crackle/pop sound: it was really difficult to get the crackle sound out of the stock exhaust. Much easier without the resonators. One way is to just lightly tap the throttle after you let all the way off.

I have the VAP as well and it sounds similar to my exhaust, the tune that was performed on mine adds pops and crackles. I wonder what it would be like with a combined resonator delete and the tune

Only one way to find out.

It's already pretty loud as it is, and I'm coming from a straight cat back exhaust on an old Lexus so I'm enjoying the quietnessish.

If I still had gearhead friends I would've done it in a heartbeat

I can sympathize with that. My other car is a '99 Corvette with modified exhaust (practically straight piped) and its insanely loud. There's something nice about the refined yet sporty sound of the XE after taking the vette for a weekend drive. Even with the center muffler/resonator gone, it can't touch the vette for volume.

Hi Whitefpace. I would agree with your assessment that none of the deep tone has been lost. Towards the higher end of the rev range, the deep tone is still there but the higher-pitched tones have been increased as well. I would say it remains really well balanced.