I need to replace the muffler on my 2006 2.4 HHR. The exhaust sounds horrible, exspecially around 2K rpm's. I have two concerns with this project:

1) How hard is it to just replace the muffler and not the whole exhaust?

2) Does anyone know any online retailers that will ship to APO addresses?

Thanks,

 

Call around to local muffler shops, they normally have stuff in stock and can switch it out in a matter of 15 minutes

 

First thing that springs to mind Nick is have you had the vehicle on a lift while its running?

The most common source of exhaust noise on the HHR is actually a failure of the flex joint in the downpipe from the exhaust manifold to the catalytic converter, when that goes it makes quite a racket. Before thinking about replacing the exhaust I'd check the downpipe first.

Since the system on and HHR is one piece from the flange at the rear of the converter to the tailpipe, replacing the muffler only is something that would require some cutting and piecing back together.

Have you checked with a local muffler shop for the price on a new system? You might find that replacing everything is cheaper in the long run that just doing the muffler or resonator if they turn out to be the issue.

Most muffler shops will check the system for free and you'll know for sure where the failure is before spending money you don't need to spend.

 

Finding a local shop will be interesting since we are stationed in Germany. Working through the language barrier is one thing but, finding a shop that will work on American cars is another. I believe that Opel is the Germany version of GM; someone correct me if I'm wrong. I have checked with the auto shop on-post and it's $800 just for parts; still have to have to add in labor costs too.

 

OK being in Germany makes it more interesting for sure. Opel is a division of GM, but Chevrolet does have a European arm with dealers in Germany, England, France, etc. Here's the contact page for Chevrolet in England, maybe they can help you out with GM parts if you decide to go that way.

http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/contact/

Magnaflow has a European arm for their performance exhausts, so they should be able to ship to your APO.

http://www.magnaflow.eu/

Borla is a European company originally, so they have dealers in Germany.

http://www.borla.com/locator/international.aspx#Germany

Unfortunately having a domestic American vehicle overseas is a bugger when it comes to getting parts, I have friends in Germany and I've sent them an e-mail to see if they know of any good sources of American parts...they have Mustangs, so they might be of some help. If they have any ideas I'll PM you with their e-mail address so you can talk back and forth.

 

Another source of GM/Chevrolet parts in Germany is place called Car Parts Euro, here's a link to their site.

http://www.carpartseuro.com/

 

Thanks for the help, I'll check out those webpages.

 

i got a whole stock exhaust system from the cat back

 

$650.00 to ship to Germany FTW!

 

If I can find a company that will ship to an APO address, you don't have to pay international shipping. You only have to pay domestic shipping, the catch is that you can't ship using FEDEX / UPS, only USPS.