Best valved exhaust for Mercedes-Benz SL350 R230

Your vehicle.

All our exhausts for this generation, version by version, are brought together on one page: Mercedes SL R230 Valved Exhaust.

The R230-generation SL350 is Mercedes-Benz's grand touring roadster in its six-cylinder version. The one our product page covers is the last and liveliest: the facelifted 2008 model, with a 316 hp V6 engine. Here is what you need to know about it before choosing your exhaust.

Body style

R230, two-seater roadster with retractable hard top

Generation

R230 unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2001; facelift revealed in Geneva in March 2008; production ended in late 2011

SL350 versions

3.7-litre V6 with 245 hp until 2006, then M272 with 272 hp, then M272 with 316 hp from April 2008

Engine

M272, naturally aspirated V6 of 3,498 cc

Factory output

316 hp at 6,500 rpm; 360 Nm at 4,900 rpm; revs up to 7,200 rpm

Drivetrain

Rear-wheel drive; seven-speed 7G-Tronic automatic transmission as standard

Factory tips

Two trapezoidal dual tips

Product page coverage

Model years 2008 to 2011, VIN-confirmed

Three SL350s in ten years

The R230 generation was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2001, with a novelty that made its reputation: a hard top that folds electrically into the trunk and turns the coupé into a roadster. The first SL350 had a 3.7-litre V6 with 245 hp.

In 2006, a first update gave it the 3.5-litre M272 V6, with 272 hp, and the 7G-Tronic transmission; the roof mechanism then went from 20 to 16 seconds. Then, in March 2008, Mercedes-Benz presented the facelifted SL in Geneva, on sale from 5 April: a new front end with a wide grille, two bulges on the hood as a nod to the 1954 300 SL, and, for the SL350, a reworked V6 raised to 316 hp.

It is this last version that our product page covers, from 2008 until the end of production in December 2011, when the R231 took over. For an older SL350, with 245 or 272 hp, send us your VIN: we check what suits it before any manufacture.

The M272 V6 revised in 2008

For the facelift, Mercedes-Benz developed the 3.5-litre V6 on a simple principle: make it rev higher. The cylinder head was completely reworked, the valve timing modified, and the valves received new conical springs to withstand high revs. The engine can now turn up to 7,200 rpm.

The gain is clear: 316 hp instead of 272, reached at 6,500 rpm, and a torque of 360 Nm at 4,900 rpm. The SL350 goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.2 seconds, with a speed limited to 250 km/h. In exchange, this V6 gives its best in the revs: tests at the time noted that it only really pulls hard from about 5,500 rpm.

The drive stays with the rear wheels, through the 7G-Tronic automatic transmission, fitted as standard on the SL350 and able to blip the throttle on downshifts. Its big brother, the SL500 with its 5.5-litre V8, has its own product page and its own guide.

A voice you earn in the revs

A naturally aspirated V6 has no turbine or supercharger between its cylinders and the outlet: everything it produces goes through the exhaust. The SL350's has a clear timbre, which brightens further once the needle passes 5,000 rpm, with a melodious character that belongs only to it.

In 2008, Mercedes-Benz in fact worked on this sound. A small membrane in the intake makes the induction sing, and the engine management triggers slight detonations when you lift off, at mid-revs, to give the roadster a crackle on deceleration. These settings stay in place with the Rog exhaust: it simply gives the exhaust room to express itself.

What the factory exhaust holds back

The SL is above all a big touring roadster, and its factory exhaust was designed for comfort. Its mufflers are bulky, designed for noise regulations, and they erase a good part of what the V6 can do. On board, the intake tuned by Mercedes-Benz is audible; outside, the car stays in the background.

With the roof folded, the problem becomes obvious: from medium speeds, wind noise drowns out the engine, and the climb in revs, which is the whole charm of this V6, goes almost unnoticed. A valved exhaust answers this contradiction by leaving the choice: valves closed, the SL recovers its cruising calm; valves open, the V6 is finally heard right up to the red zone.

Valves and Rog remote

On this SL350, the Rog exhaust comes with its valves fitted and a two-button remote, whose small control unit sits in the trunk. The principle is simple: open, the valves stay open; closed, they stay closed, until your next gesture.

For a roadster, this way of working makes sense. You close to cross a village early in the morning or for a highway stage with the roof down; you open on a mountain pass or a clear back road, where the V6 can climb towards its 7,200 rpm.

This system depends on no setting of the SL: it behaves the same whatever program is chosen for the 7G-Tronic transmission, and whether the roof is closed or folded. The control stays in your hand, and only yours.

Roof down, roof up

The R230's hard top changes the way you hear the car. Closed, it isolates almost like a coupé: the exhaust stays distant, and that is where opening the valves is most noticeable. Folded in sixteen seconds, it lets the V6's song reach you unfiltered at low speed, before the wind takes over.

The facelifted SL350 received, at the same time, a neck heater built into the seats, borrowed from the SLK, which encourages open-top driving out of season. It is often in these conditions that you discover how much the factory exhaust held the engine back.

Tips, outlets and material

As standard, the facelifted SL350 carries two trapezoidal dual tips, one of the model's distinguishing features from 2008. On the product page, Rog tips are chosen in chrome, gloss black or blued titanium, and the exhaust can also be ordered without tips.

On the material side, 304 stainless steel gives the V6 a full sound and ages well, which matters for a roadster often stored in winter. Titanium, which makes the exhaust about 40% lighter for the same design, makes the note more crystalline in the revs, with three shades, brushed, gold and purple, all at the same price.

What the product page covers

The product page covers the SL350's rear exhaust, from the catalytic converter outlet to the tips. The standard catalytic converters stay in place, emissions control is not modified, and the control unit stays standard: no remap is needed, and the power does not change.

The exhaust is made by Rog from your VIN, in 20 working days. Your garage fits it without welding or cutting: your SL350 keeps its standard mechanics and gains the voice its V6 deserved.

Configure your exhaust.

How the exhaust is put together

On the SL350 R230, the Rog exhaust starts at the outlet of the standard catalytic converters and joins the tips, mufflers and remote-controlled valves included. Everything upstream, manifolds and catalytic converters included, stays that of your roadster.

Each choice explained in detail, from sound to material: How to configure your exhaust.

Three recommended configurations.

• Weekend drives

  • Stainless steel
  • Chrome tips
  • Rog remote

  For an SL350 taken out on fine days: the V6 makes itself heard as soon as the roof folds, and the chrome tips stay faithful to the roadster's look.

  View this configuration

• Grand touring for two

  • Stainless steel
  • Gloss black tips
  • Rog remote

  For long stages for two, roof closed on the highway and open on mountain passes: stainless steel goes the distance, and the valves close at the press of a button when the journey requires.

  View this configuration

• Lightweight V6

  • Brushed titanium
  • Blued titanium tips
  • Rog remote

  For those who want to hear the M272 climb to 7,200 rpm: titanium makes its note clearer and lightens the SL's rear, with matching tips.

  View this configuration

From order to fitting.

VIN, manufacture, delivery, fitting and warranty, step by step

Questions.

Further reading.

• All our Mercedes SL R230 exhausts
• Exhaust for V6 engines
• Mercedes-Benz SL500 R230 guide
• Mercedes-AMG SL63 R231 guide