Well I've had resonance ever since I installed my XS headers. Some days it is a lot, some days it's not as much, but lately it was getting worse in general. Well today I happened to go over a bumpy section of road a little faster than I should have and it jarred the car (I didn't bottom out but it was probably close to it). I drove to my destination (not particularly paying attention to the resonance), and got out of my car for about an hour. After getting back in my car to drive home, I noticed that the resonance was 100% GONE!!! We'll see tomorrow if it's gone for good or if my car was simply playing with my emotions.

 

I bet something has been loose this whole time and now you temporarily moved what has been loose enough to vibrate and cause resonance. I have the XS Headers and have never had any resonance of any kind at any point. I put them on last fall. My guess is if you hop under the car you'll find some areas that need a bit of tightening.

 

I have been having insane resonance for the past week. Lifted the car yesterday morning to find my O2 Sensos' threads were eaten up and it was just sitting in the bung

Gonna pick up a new one tomorrow, hopefully the bung's threads arent damaged, or I'm screwed...

 

This may be (the rear header bolts were the hardest to tighten) but I did retighten all the bolts 2 weeks after I installed them.

 

And....it's back. I'll have to check the bolts again and the O2 sensors.

 

if you have resonance that usually means something isnt lined up properly. Id loosen the bolts then retighten them.

 

I'll give that a try. Is there any particular order in which I should tighten things? i.e. first header manifold, then header to down pipe, then down pipe to cat. Or does the order not really matter?

 

Can overtightening the bolts somehow lead to resonance?

 

hey hey dont blame the rear headers......you got the finest tightenin them LOL

 

yea that sucks that it came back. But some days I get no resonance and other days its worse than before.

 

I know you guys don't want to hear this, but you get what you pay for. As long as the bolts are tight it won't contribute to noise. Now there are some guys, like Kris, that don't have resonance, but just about every other person I see posting on this site has resonance with their XS Power headers. For $100-$150 you're going to have to live with some unwanted noises. It's a crazy price for a great mod but it's not possible to have Ferrari quality with Kia pricing.

 

I solved mine...just add an extra washer to the O2 sensor, the O2 sensor doesnt fit tightly in the bung, and the oem washer isnt snug

 

Hmm didnt think about that. I will take a look at that.

 

I have a CL and I got excited when I read that someone may have gotten rid of the noise from hell. Your post is probably the best idea I've heard in months! I gotta check that out I can't believe it might be that simple.

 

No resonance on mine either......but then again I did have Kris help install them

 

The big key is to install every thing loose, then snug up every thing (that way you arent forcing anything) then go back and torque every thing to proper spec

 

Although I generally agree with you, people have paid upwards of $400 on Megan, Stone, and DC Sports headers which in some cases have led to resonance.

 

I had resonance at first, but I found that when I removed the hanger by the y-pipe, the resonance went away. I had a new hanger welded on a couple inches away from the original, and that has fixed the resonance ~95%. Don't really have much resonance at all now. I'd try disconnecting the hanger, if that takes care of the resonance, then have a new hanger welded at a different location. By doing so, it changes the natural frequency of the system and hopefully will get rid of or reduce the resonance.

 

I took the hanger off when I retightened the bolts a couple weeks after install. The resonance remained.

 

I understand that. With DC some of their first sets had some exhaust leaks; I think only 1 or 2 ppl reported resonance and it was unacceptable. So DC redesigned the header. That is what differentiates one company from another: the ability to recognize a problem and change it - customer service. But that being said, DC costs 3 times more than XS, so that's why I'm saying for $100-$150 you can't really expect more than what you have. They fit and generally ppl don't have exhaust leaks, which, based on previous companies like Megan, Stone, Alpha Werks, etc, is apparently hard to do consistently.

 

Any updates because mine is getting worse.

 

Washer didn't work? Did you try taking off the heat shield?

 

what heat shield??????

 

the heat shield over the cat could be rattling and causing your annoying noise.

 

i did not even think of that, but why would it vibrate now and not before the header install

 

i took the heat shield off cause it was rattling. but im havin a rediculous amount of raspy noise. when i rev my car when its in park, it acctually sounds like i have a blow off valve. i prolly should retighten all my bolts cause i may have a leak

 

Raspy and BOV don't really jive as the same sound. I've always noticed that with aftermarket headers there is a bit more of a "whooosh" sound but there shouldn't be an resonance or sounds of a raspy nature.

 

ok i tighten my cat and i notice the resonance is gone

 

This is great....drove all day and no resonance.........

 

HMM I still have this resonance that I need to get rid of. I've taken off the heat shield above the cat and still no luck. I guess I need to loosen everything and reinstall the headers. I will also get Salvo help me with that 02 sensor washer.

 

And my resonance is back.

 

check the cat maybe it came loose again?

KSuchdeve has some header wrap for the two of us, I'll let ya know how that goes when we get a chance to put it on.

 

ive had my xs headers for about 4 years now tho i paid ~250$ for them when they first came out.. theyve always had a hiss/ turbo sucking noise.. they were on my 99 3.0 cl first then my 02 tl-s. same sound.. tho mine isnt as loud as some of you guys make it sound i can barley hear it with the window open.. and try re-tapping your o2 bung.. i did that to mine when i replaced my o2 sensor (bung was pretty badly x threaded.) and the new o2 sensor went right in and tightned up. the obx headers back in the day had the same problem. good luck pimps.

 

Yea, sorry we still haven't got a chance to do that yet Paul. I still have it just sitting here in a box right next to my computer desk. We'll do it some day.

 

Its good....classes have been kickin my ass the past few weeks

 

I just removed the rubber support thing and no more resonance.

 

I hope it doesnt cause the header to crack. You should atleast go to a muffler shop or crawl under the car to realign the hanger so there is less stress on it and so that the header is supported.

 

When I first put my XS on I had a little resonance I think it was do to the fact that the flange holes on the header don't meet up real well with the stock exhaust after bolting it together it was putting tension on the header. So I drilled the flange holes out ( made them wider) and used bigger washers and my resonance went away.

 

I told you so. lol