Genuine exhaust

[Dragon]

I was sourcing a complete exhaust system for my 1997 W202. MB quotes £800 alone just for the catalyst and almost £2,000 for a complete. I went to one of these motor factor, they quoted £250 for a complete and £197 without the catalyst. My question is does it worth going to one of these motor factor? I had a bad experience going to one of these motor factor when I had my mark III Escort in olden days. Not only it noisy, it needed replacement after a year. Has time changed?

 

[verytalldave]

I suspect the MB will be made from either stainless, or as a minimum, far better quality materials. But whether it 8-10 times better is a matter only you can decide.
Do you get a guarantee for the Motor Factors system? If so, how long?
And what about the Merecedes one?
If the MF system lasts 18 months, and the MB system lasts the same length of time as the original one lasted (10 years), then theres not much in it cost/duration wise.
The deciding factor has be whether you dont mind the hassle of putting a new system on every 18 months or whether you would prefer the "fit and forget" approach of the MB system.
Also, do you plan to keep the car for another 10 years?
If you plan to sell soon, perhaps the MF route might be the most financially sensible.

 

[Roger Jones]

Define "the complete"? I am staggered by the £2000 figure. When I changed the back section on my E320 Coupé, the MB price was about 10% higher than the highest Euro Car Parts price, after discount.

If the motor factors you refer to are Euro Car Parts or GSF, they deal in good products with a sensible life expectancy. With manufacturers such as Eberspache and HJS you are talking about OEM quality. In the Euro system you can see which of several options is an OEM product (they include manufacturer's names too):

"If you have more than one part number showing on the search results page - check the first 8 digits, if they are identical in more than 1 of the parts showing, the difference between them is their make. For example: 332456780, 332456781 and 332456785 are all water pumps for a Saab except '0' indicates 'Original Equipment Manufacture', '1' indicates 'Alternative Quality Brand' and '5' indicates 'Genuine Part'."

I doubt that the MB system has stainless-steel components.

 

[grober]

Again at the age of your car--1997 and depending on how long you want to keep it would point you towards the after market suppliers. BUT don't just go down the road to the nearest motor factors. Choose to source from a Mercedes AFTER MARKET SPECIALIST such as ECP or GSF. EBERSPARCHER are a good make and supplied MB with exhausts for many years. MB exhausts of that vintage were normally mild steel. If you want to get a St/st system there are specialists who will make one up for you from a range of component parts. Check up the posts on the forum for names.

edit roger beat me to it.

 

[R/T.E49]

Just be careful where you get it from, ie, OE manufacturer is going to be better. I had a cheap non gen exhaust on my 95 C200, including cat, it not only sounded like a randy hoover, the cat was next to useless and did not pass the mot.

 

[vijilants]

I am surprised at that cost - what model W202 ? My W202 has twin cats and the price for the cats is about £800.

The difference is this - The merc exhaust will cause you no problems re noise and performance and will last for ages. They are very good quality.

The other option I would take would be to go to somewhere like Longlife and have a Stainless steel system made up by them.

These are guaranteed for life, and work out to be cheaper.

I wouldn't fit Kwick Fit exhausts - what you pay for is what you get - they dont last long, sound awful, and sometimes hinder performance.


Also if Mercedes are charging you soo much find out how much of it is parts and how much is fitting labour costs. You can get this fitted far far cheaper by a decent mechanic for a lot less.

 

[kth286]

depends which car you have.

the early 202018 180 car comes to approx £1,410 parts retail including VAT.

So I guess nearly £600 for fitting.

The later 202078 180 car comes to £890 parts. To make that up to £2k would be an enormous amount for fitting.

 

[Roger Jones]

Stainless-steel exhausts are noisy. I had one fitted to my non-MB; had to take it back to be tuned down to absolute minimum noise level and, even then, it was more noisy than the original, although not intolerably so.

 

[Dragon]

If MB exhausts are not stainless steel what are they made of? Does it make economic sense to spend £1,500 for an exhaust when the value of a 97 C180 W202 is worths under £2,000?

 

[R/T.E49]

Well that depends on the value YOU put on the car.

 

[vijilants]

If MB exhausts are not stainless steel what are they made of? Does it make economic sense to spend £1,500 for an exhaust when the value of a 97 C180 W202 is worths under £2,000?

Then why don't you hunt around and see if you can find a decent 2nd hand exhaust ?

 

[television]

The 2 boxes on a 112 engined car are £1500

There are many more firms that make boxes than those mentioned so far

 

[GRAV888]

I have a rear box from my old 202 that was on the car for 2 months before I fitted a different system.
It was bought from MB and is made by Walker.
You can have it free if it's any good to you and you can collect.

 

[vijilants]

I have a rear box from my old 202 that was on the car for 2 months before I fitted a different system.
It was bought from MB and is made by Walker.
You can have it free if it's any good to you and you can collect.

There you go....can't get cheaper than that eh !!!!

 

[verytalldave]

There you go....can't get cheaper than that eh !!!!

Have you notced where GRAV888 lives ? ? ? ? ? ?...............

Probably be cheaper to buy one made from rolled gold...........

 

[vijilants]

Have you notced where GRAV888 lives ? ? ? ? ? ?...............

Probably be cheaper to buy one made from rolled gold...........

Damn !!!! No I didn't !!!!

Still, if you got a cheap return and brought it back as hand luggage ??? Don't think you will be too popular with the person next to you on the plane though

 

[Dragon]

Where are you I may collect the exhaust?

 

[Adam230K]

I've been through this exact ordeal before. I went and bought a catalyst from some random exhausts' company and it was the biggest mistake i'd ever made, was noisy as hell and it didnt pass the MOT.

But if the catalyst on your car has gone, i've seen more than one person on here say that you can remedy it by opening up the catalyst (much like a tin of bins), emptying it out, and welding it shut. This eliminates the noise and aparently it can pass an MOT (cant speak from personal experience though, as i haven't done this).

But what i decided to do was get a sports exhaust system, which i purchased from MIJ Performance, £500 pounds from the manifold all the way to the back, including the nice looking stainless steel tips. This is slightly noisier than usual tho . But i owned the car for another 31miles after buying this system and i have to say, it ran like a dream, and passed the next 2 MOT's before i part-exchanged it for a w202 c230K.

Definately beats having to pay £2000, or in my case, even just £870 (when i was quoted at the time) for the catalyst.

 

[GRAV888]

Where are you I may collect the exhaust?

Oops, I forgot to change the location back again.
All fixed now. I'm in the UK at the moment

 

[Dragon]

Round trip about 200 miles. Maybe shorter if they build a tunnel between Southend and the Medway.