I finally bit the bullet and removed my resonator tonight on my 06 5AT. There are plenty of threads explaining all the steps on here so I won't go crazy with how I did it, but I'll leave a few thoughts. I drove around for about an hour, half city, half highway, to see how I liked the results.

1) I managed to do it without removing the bumper or the wheel
2) To accomplish this I had to peel back a bit of the bumper, bit of the splash shield, and a bit of the wheel well
3) Also had to jack up the car at the end to actually get the resonator out through the bottom
4) This took me three hours
5) All the resonator threads on this board were extremely helpful
6) I probably would have given up if it weren't for all the people on here that had done it sucessfully
7) If I had to do it again, I would just remove the whole bumper and be done with it much much quicker
8) Working outside, in the dark, in the cold, sucks
9) The ratcheting box wrench is pretty essential if you're not taking off the bumper
10) The hardest part for me was getting the J pipe out of the rubber hose that leads to the air filter box, not sure if this is because it was so cold or what. It was EXTREMELY tight

And for the results
1) Driving around town like normal, there is no extra noise unless you are really really listening for it
2) Anywhere above 3K RPM the engine sounds like it has balls now
3) The sound from 3K to 3.5K was waaay loud at first. I actually didn't like it. Not sure if it grew on me or if the ECU relearned the airflow but after a few runs I liked the sound much more
4) Noticeable but subtle difference in power from roughly 2.5K - 4K rpm
5) Couldn't notice a difference in power above 4K rpm right away, but it might be there
6) Need to get a K&N filter now!
7) Not sure if I'm going to get an Icebox anymore. I was pretty hell bent on it up until this point

As I said, if you're not removing the bumper, it's a pretty good idea to pick up an unofficial "B-Bolt" remover tool. This can be had from your local hardware store for under 10 bucks.



Also, I noticed that my J pipe didn't have a bolt attaching it to the resonator like a lot of pictures on this board show. Maybe this was a change in 06+ because I saw an 07 on this board with the same thing.



All in all I had a great time and I am happy with the results, although I'll see how I like it over the coming weeks. If you are considering doing this, just take off the bumper!

 

i totally agree with taking the bumper off. it makes life a whole lot easier. when i took mine off, i took off the bumper with the car on the ramp and it took me no longer than 30mins.

 

will the k&n make that much of a difference? in noise and gains?

 

Is there any drone on the freeway?

I did this with my old CL and was happy with the results, I might end up doing it to my 6mt

 

you should remove that last inlet pipe in the engine bay as it serves no purpose once you remove the resonator and j-pipe. #21 in the diagram. that is, if you haven't done it already.

 

I think it would help a little. The K&N is freer flowing.


No drone cruising on the highway. But if you drop the hammer down on the highway, you'll hear the "balls"

Crap you're right. I was so happy to finally get the thing out I didn't realize I left a part in there. I think I'll wait till the weekend when I can work on this in the light to go down there again.