Went to a local muffler shop

They quoted me $312 to remove the resonators and add an x-pipe. Does that sound right?

Which shop? Will they give you a discount for two? Was it Peter?

Northlake Muffler. I'm going to try and visit Peter in the next couple of days. Will check to see if there's a discount for 2.

Originally Posted by shtaka

They quoted me $312 to remove the resonators and add an x-pipe. Does that sound right?

well i'm in LA my shop charge me only $30 or $40 for remove the 2 can resonatores and box one in the middle and put x pipe
$312 i think it's too much

Over $300 just to cut and weld some metal pipes? Wow! I think that guy is adding the BMW tax, or should I say the 6 series tax. It's a job that takes a few minutes and looking at pics of 6 series exhaust pipes...I say there's not much difference than say a Civic. Yes I admit I fixed up japanese imports.

I paid $60 for the x-pipe and $100 for the labor to remove all three resonators and install x-pipe here in Marietta, GA (Atlanta suburb). the highest quote I got for the total job was $200, so your price does seem high. Check around for a better deal.

Went to see Peter today at Road n Race. He will put a quote together an call me Monday. Mjposner I mentioned your name and told you'd be interested too if the price was right. He remembers your M3. I'll let you know what he comes back with. Peter seems like nice guy with a nice little shop. Good find.
BTW I'm writing this from the Starbucks in Wellington!

I called every local muffler shop and got the same pricing. Some guys have done it for $150 in other areas but no luck here. One thing to consider is buying a x-pipe from Summit Racing and then having your shop install it. Search on the board for SUMMIT and you will see where some other guys went this route. It reduced the quoted price from the shop and did give a better total cost, but still not as inexpensive as I would want it to be.

http://www.summitracing.com/search?k...e%202.25&dds=1

You sitting down? $858.20! I think he is very meticulous and exhausts aren't his specialty. I'm going to try and get a third quote, but am leaning toward the Northlake Muffler guys since stuff like this is their bread and butter.

On a more positive note, did my first commute to Ft. Lauderdale today and averaged 26-27 mpg in rush hour traffic both ways. Not bad.

Wow, Peter's crazy. Did you tell him the $312. price. part of that maybe some fancy x-pipe Supersprint wants $1,160 for this: http://www.bimmerzone.com/BMW_Perfor...022788513.html

Did he quote a brand name for the part?

Peter didn't call me directly, it was his office manager and I was in the car and couldn't take notes, but I do remember that she said he would have to take the whole exhaust system off the car to work on it. Do you think that's necessary? I know the stainless x-pipe from Magnaflow is about $100. I don't know what stainless pipes cost, assuming that's what he would use.

Even the guys who quoted $150 to folks in other areas removed the exhaust, you have to weld the pipe in.

I called a BMW performance shop here in town and the quoted $500 or so. Muffler shops quoted around $250. And if I bought the X-Pipe myself and took it in to them they quoted around $150.

Any muffler shop can do this...

Re removal - When they deleted my resonators, they didn't completely remove the exhaust system. Although complete removal probably makes the welding easier, they accessed mine by removing the support brackets and dropping the rear half of the system (but left it attached to the engine) which made enough clearance to do the circular welds around the x and straight pipes... Maybe that approach kept the labor cost a little lower.

My shop did not remove the entire exhaust. They just removed the frame brace and cut out the resonators before re-welding in the new pipes.