MagnaFlow Cat-Back Exhaust System Stainless Steel 3" With 4.5" Polished Tips Focus RS 2016-2018

I've been going back and forth for a few days, trying to figure out what the first major modification will be to our new Focus RS. Originally I was going to do a tune on the car, then decided more to lean towards the exhaust system. The main reason why is, I've got to admit, Ford actually got me on this car. We took it for a ride when we first got it, and I was amazed how deep the exhaust was. It actually sounded really good.

Turns out, I wasn't hearing the exhaust system, I was hearing the sound Ford was pumping through the speakers. I'm not a big fan of a fake exhaust. I'm going to make this car sound good for real, so today I'm going to install this MagnaFlow stainless steel exhaust system.

This MagnaFlow Cat-Back exhaust will be a direct replacement for the factory system. It uses the original V Band style clamps. It's made of full stainless steel, front to back, with 3 inch mandrel bent pipes, putting through a large single muffler in the rear, and a set of beautiful 4 and a half inch polished tips. The tips are rolled to give them a nice custom look, along with having the MagnaFlow logo etched on the top.

Just like the factory system, the power valve will hook up to this, making the system fully adjustable. It's just going to be a lot more tone than our factory exhaust.

For this installation, you'll need a lift or a jack and jack stands, a quarter inch ratchet, 8 millimeter socket, 3/8 ratchet, short extension, 10 millimeter socket, 13 millimeter socket, 16 millimeter socket, 8 millimeter wrench, small pry bar, exhaust hanger removal tool, sawzall, and safety glasses.

Before we get started with the installation, I do want to mention, you will have to cut. The factory system will have to be cut in this area here, to remove it from the car. Freddy is going to give me a hand with this. He usually handles our truck stuff, but he's a big fan of the RS, and he's a turbo guy. He's been dying to work on this car. He's going to give me a hand. Before we get busy with the cutting though, there's one step before that.

The first step in the process is to disconnect the valve. You're going to have to do that to remove the exhaust. In my opinion though, also just take it off the car. That way nothing happens to it, and then we'll put it over on our MagnaFlow.

What you want to do is cut it, and get as close as you can to the rear suspension area. Right after this bend, that will make it the easiest to remove the system from the car.

Now with the exhaust cut, we begin the removal process. We're going to move the flange up front here, and this one hanger in the middle, and remove the mid-pipe. With the clamp loose, we're going to move the hanger back here to make it easier to get the pipe off. The front pipe off to remove the rear muffler assembly, there's going to be three hangers. There's one up top here, then two more in the back.

Now we can start installing our MagnaFlow system. We're going to start with the front pipe and the hanger. You're going to be using the factory clamp to connect to the down pipe. Now we're going to take the mid-axle pipe here, and feed it over. Again, put it up in the factory clamp. Then we'll connect to the front pipe using the clamp supplied by MagnaFlow.

We're going to move the electronics and spring now over to the new valve. With the spring sitting like that, so you can get an idea. Basically, it's going to go up into place like that. Make sure you get it in the notches. Then the controller will go on top of it. You'll know you get it, because it will sort of pop into place when you have it right, and sit flat against this plate.

Now our muffler assembly is ready to go on the car. We're going to put the muffler up into place. This is most definitely a two person job if you can. It's kind of a pain to hold it and get it in the hangers. We're going to put the clamp on for the muffler to the mid-pipe. Now, if this doesn't line up or if there's a heavy gap on one side, you may have to open the mid-pipe up next to the front pipe, loosen it up, and just twist the pipe slightly, until it lines up.

Now that all the pipes are in place, we're going to reinstall the connection for the valve. Go back through and make sure everything is tight, and your installation is finished.

Before we take it out for a test drive, we're going to go into the trunk, and disconnect the unit that actually powers the sound that you hear through the speakers. Because we want to hear the MagnaFlow, not the fake sound from Ford.

The system fits nice, looks pretty good, now let's see how it sounds.

It definitely has a deeper tone than the factory system, and for once, that sound is coming from the exhaust, not the speakers.

It's funny, we have the MagnaFlow now. Now we have a nice legit high end exhaust on the car, and it kind of sounds like the fake sound before. Having driven the car a few more times with the fake exhaust hooked up, it's very obvious. You can hear it through the speaker, it's like, "Wow, it does sound good", but you're not hearing the exhaust, because the factory exhaust was extremely quiet. This is way different. It's still not loud. It's not boomy or droney or anything like that, but it has that deep sound that you had from the fake exhaust. But it's legit this time.

Actually, I almost feel when driving it, now that we have the fake sound turned off, that the MagnaFlow might be a little bit quieter. There's less volume inside. Which definitely is not a bad thing. Reading up on some of the groups and forums and stuff that are out there for the RS, a lot of people are of the same opinion that the factory system is almost too droney. When I was doing some research on FocusRS.org, they listed on theirs a couple guys that were talking about this. The one guy is actually where I saw how to disconnect, and then make the sound go away. He'd actually connected a couple of the speakers, not all of them, which made it sound better, and not be as obtrusive.

Me personally though, I'd rather just hear actual exhaust tone, as opposed to fake. Here we are, highway speed, just cruising along with the MagnaFlow system, and I'm happy to say, it doesn't drone. It really is very quiet at highway speeds. You don't even know it's back there.

Now you downshift, go through the RPMs, and when you accelerate you hear it, but on the highway, it pretty much goes away.

It sounds good through the whole RPM band. It never gets overly loud, it never gets really intrusive in the cabin. But it's got a nice tone to it.

Even trying to cruise it at 2 grand, keep it consistent there, where you would get your normal drone, there's none at all.

The MagnaFlow exhaust fits well, looks really good on the car, and sounds like it actually should. Now we're going to hear the exhaust, and not the crappy sound through the speakers. Installation is pretty straight forward, taking no more than about 2 hours. You'll be back on the road in no time.