I had my injen ses on for about 4 months with no problems, aside from the constant fiberglass blow. I installed megan resonated test pipes the other day and pounded the heat shields flat because i was worried the pipes might make contact under acceleration, and had no rattles for 2 whole days. Today i started hearing a rattling sound whenever i got off the gas above 3k, im not sure if its an issue with the test pipes or something farther down the car, any advice, ideas? would rubber undercoat spray withstand the heat if i sprayed it on the heat shields and rear crosmember thing halfway down the car?

 

are you sure it's a rattle from parts contacting?

catless exhausts and sometimes hi-flow cats can sound really raspy and sound like things are rattling under deceleration and engine braking.

 

they are resonated test pipes and there is no rasp at all, plus this just started today....

 

check the driver's side pipe. I have Helix pipes and the Injen SES and I found that under certain conditions, the rear flange of the left pipe contacted the body member. it caused a rattle against the body a couple times. I got the car back in the shop, put it on a lift and adjusted to pipe. no more rattle.

 

the flange on the test pipe, or fartehr down the car?

 

I'd bet it is your heat shield that the pipes are touching. Your engine moves around on the engine mounts more than you might imagine. The headers are fixed to that and then the cats or straight pipes are connected to the headers. You end up getting a slight engine movement which translates into a larger displacement of your straight pipes.

Example: Hold a broom or mop completely horizontal. Rotate the handle 3-5 degrees and watch how much the other end moves vertically. The movement is a function of angle and the length of the handle.

Thus, slight angular rotations of your engine = large displacements of your cats or test pipes.

 

If you bend the OEM heatshields to close to the body they could rattle. There should be adequate air gap between the pipe<->shield<->body.
Also the ridges in the shields help keep them from rattiling, don't smash them flat.

 

i would think smashing them flat could only help from contact, anyways if it is the test pipes hitting my shields, wu should i do?

 

I have that irritating rattle also when I installed my test pipes... I couldn't figure out where it was coming from... so I just learned to live with it... I little embarassing when getting of the throttle.. but oh well...

 

chuck, the flange where the test pipe attaches to the exhaust system. mine contacted the body there

 

I really think that it is the resonator itself that is on the pipes!!!
Seems you get what you pay for.
However......I'm loving my Kinetix hi flow cats!!!
They sound much better.

 

i got some high temp silicone rated at 700 degreez from work today. Later tonite or tomrrow im going to get it back up on the ramps and see where its hitting, and apply some thick lines of silicone on the heat shield, ill let u guys know how this goes, my manager assures me it will fix the rattle.

 

thx xstarpro, i will see if that is the problem when im under there

 

xstarpro, i will never doubt u again, you were dead on, one resonator sounds like there is a loose BB in it. I called megan racing and they told me to call back at the begining of april and will have a newer version, and will send me a new set.