Product Description
Mini Cooper S Stainless Steel Cat Back Exhaust. This system is completely polished 304 stainless steel. From the cat back it has a 2.5″ diameter pipe with a center muffler/resonator and a single rear muffler. Single oval tip is 2.75″ tall (Twin tip pictured which is NLA). Tip position is adjustable so you can be sure it will fit the factory opening.
We designed this system with a single rear muffler because we feel a 1600cc engine does not need 2 rear mufflers, especially since we’re using 2.5″ tubing. I believe Dinan came to the same conclusion. This design works great, saves a lot of weight, is easier to install and maintain. Sound level is slightly louder than factory and with deeper tone. Installation is easy as our system uses the factory hangers and bolts directly to the factory catalytic converter.
Please specify a manufacturing month/year of the car.
Note: There was a change in the hangers in January 2004. If your MINI has a 1/2004 production date, please email photos of the REMOVED exhaust system to pmccarthy.iem@gmail.com to verify what version you need.
Kevin Antrosiglio (verified owner) –
Hands down the best sounding exhaust for R53. My review only gets 3 stars because it took two weeks to ship. After 1 week I called and was told it was shipping that day. A week later I called again and was told the delay was because they are custom made to order. Kind of misleading for the website to say “in stock” with no mention of there being this kind of delay to make the system. Fitment also left something to be desired. Had to bend multiple brackets to get it to fit right.
Alden Horowitz (verified owner) –
This is an excellent exhaust, for the price I don’t think there are any comparable options. It has an enormous resonator (more than twice the size of the OEM one) which kills any drone and high pitched raspy sounds. The result is a low burbling and burly sound that is sporty without being loud or obnoxious. It’s much lighter than the stock exhaust, partially because it only has one muffler. There’s no reason the little 4-cylinder Mini engine should need a double muffler like they came from the factory. The welds are well done, I don’t see any spatter or potential leaks. The only issue with this system is fitment – the big resonator all the way through to the muffler fit perfectly without any issues, but the exhaust tip was crooked. It took some time and effort with a butane torch and a long wrench to bend the last exhaust hanger into the right position, both to center the exhaust tip and angle it straight out the back. The included exhaust clamps are high quality and allow adjustment in the right places to make tweaking the fitment possible. The only other complaint I can imagine for this exhaust is that it is too quiet. I like it, but I admit it is hard to hear the exhaust from inside the car over the sound of the R53’s supercharger. Also, this kit did not come with a new exhaust flange gasket for the connection to the catalytic converter, so grab one of those from the auto parts store for a few dollars. Ireland Engineering makes the best r53 exhaust under $700. Installed on my 2005 Mini Cooper S.