I've got an 850 Turbo and noticed some excessive noise coming from the front of the car. I brought it to a muffler shop and they showed me where it was leaking from. It was leaking from the "flex" straw area of the downpipe which unfortunately is one assembly with the cat. I priced OEM parts at $500. Is this common on a Volvo with 167k (miles)? Since my Cat isn't bad, I was wondering if they make kits that allow me to just replace the "flex?" If not then I'm looking to go down another road. That would be buying and aftermarket downpipe. I already have a Supersprint downpipe. Now is the OEM downpipe 2.25" or 2.5"? Now is there a large performance difference between the 2.25 and the 2.5 or even the 3.0? Most importantly if I do an upgrade I don't want to increase noise; would a 2.5 or 3.0 cause increased noise? What downpipe size would you recommend with the cat back exhaust I have? And what brand/dealer has the best price? I'd appreciate as much information as possible.


Thank You
Sandro P. Seminara
seminara@enteract.com

As to your question of performance the larger the pipe the faster your turbo will spool i.e. more power sooner depending on your exhaust arrangement you could move up to a 3" pipe and you may not notice a sound increase talk to people with a 3" turbo to tip and see what they say

It had happen to me once, found a custom pipe shop and I am pretty sure they carried different sizes of "flex pipe", cost me less then $100.

I would assume that the muffler shop could make an adapter/fix for the [roblem.