I installed my newly purchased Cattman catback exhaust this past weekend. Now there is a rattling or banging sound coming from somewhere in the rear. I can't seem to find the source anywhere. I thought it might have been the heat shield hitting the piping between the gas tank and the pipe, so I bent the heat shield away from the pipe and towards the gas tank. The rattling still happens. I thought maybe the piping was swinging sideways and hitting the hanger post used for the midpipe. I covered the end of that post with rubber and the rattling still happened. It dosen't look like the muffler section is hitting anything. I can't figure it out. I have read about putting hose clamps around the hangers, but it dosen't seem like that would solve this particular problem. The rattling happens even over the smallest of road side bumps and cracks. Any thoughts or ideas on how to solve this problem would greatly apprieciated. Thanks.

 

Did you remove your crossmember? Also, the hoseclamps would probably get rid of that. You put it around your rear section hangers and adjust them till they don't rattle/bang anymore. I have heavy duty zip ties on mine, but changing to hose clamps sometime soon. They have a better grip. My b-pipe hits up against the side of the car when i make left turns cause the zip ties start to come off. It's annoying.

 

theres a few things. like Paramy said it could be the smaller of the 2 cross members that crosses the exhaust. another thing is where the exhaust goes up and above the rear axle/suspension whatever, it could be banging into the arm back there. finally, my Cattman was actually hitting somewhere in the floor area/tunnel. a local exhaust shop took care of it for me and stopped the banging, which was happening over most bumps and hard cornering.

good luck

 

Did you remove your crossmember?

All the crossmember pieces are under the car. I had to have Midas do the install since the rusted bolts were too much to deal with. I assume they took off some crossmember pieces for the job, and then reinstalled them upon completion.

 

Mine is gone. I recommend removing that first to see if it solves your problem. Pretty simple to do, and no effects from it that I've ever heard of.

 

What is the purpose of that cross member undertneath the midpipe?

 

Typically, removing the crossmember and installing the clamps around the hangers eliminates the rattling.

 

I have the same darn problem, at times. It does not do it all the time though. Is the cross member in any of these photo's? This is where my noise seems to come from.

 

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No, the cross member to be removed is the one directly below the b-pipe. Some people have succeeded in using washers to increase the clearance between the cross member and the b-pipe as well to eliminate the rattling.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will have to try some of these ideas out.

 

After I put on my FrankenCar B, my Stillen rear section was banging at the same spot as Snolife, at the over axle bend. I didn't remove anything, just used hose clamps around the hangers and no more noise. Cheap and easy fix.

 

Maximas are pretty new to me, but I had an annoying squeek/rattle from the custom exhaust on my Bronco that I was able to fix.

Get under the car with a small rubber mallet and lightly tap all the components until you find the noise.

Much better to be sure where the noise is coming from before removing anything. You could remove something, then start driving it again only to find out that it didn't fix the problem. Then you're crawling back under there again.

Good Luck!
fh

 

I've been on the Org for a while, but it's time for me to ask a noob question.

Will removing the crossmember compromise the car's rigidity? We're always searching for ways to increase stiffness and improve handling. Removing an underbody crossmember seems counterintuitive.

 

I was thinking the same thing, but I am getting to the point where I will try anything.