[RobA]

I've had an extremely annoying exhaust rattle develop recently. I know that this is a common complaint and I've searched through a number of threads, but I haven't found anything that looks like the same issue that I'm experiencing.

The rattle comes from the middle of the car and is loudest on startup and acceleration at low RPMs. I'm 99% sure it is coming from the pipe contacting the brace in the picture below.



There is a solid inch of play in the pipe over that bracket, and the pipe is easily moveable.

The play extends all the way back to the cat



I traced the exhaust from the front to the back and did not see anything broken, loose, or missing. However, I cannot imagine that the exhaust pipe was meant to rest on that metal bracket, so I assume I'm just completely missing something.

Any advice on what I should look for would be much appreciated.

[Fred Conoway]

The exhaust definitely should not be touching the structural central brace. It even looks like there are some wear marks from exhaust to brace contact. I would say that is the source of your rattle right there. Impossible to tell from these photos if anything is broken, but you'll want to check to see if any of the exhaust clamps are broken or loose. Is this the stock exhaust or the M performance exhaust?

[RobA]

Thanks. It is the M-Performance exhaust. The exhaust clamps looked good to me but I'll go back and check them again.

[Track/S]

I think the exhaust has been moved to the outside of the clamp, you should loosen the clamp and push the exhaust further in.

[Fred Conoway]

Originally Posted by Track/S

I think the exhaust has been moved to the outside of the clamp, you should loosen the clamp and push the exhaust further in.

Agreed. Those clamps require quite a lot of torque and the constant heat cycling with expansion and contraction may have loosened things up a bit

[RobA]

I had never considered that. I'm going to check it out today. Thanks for the advice!