[Timothy Ma]

Hello Guys,

I was just wondering about the muffler system on the 400. The brochures I have seen state that the muffler system is an "attractive stainless steel" unit. The european models prior to the K3 and now K4 had some problems and therefore Suzuki improved the desigh for better reliability.

Well if the muffler is stainless then I would think a quick but dirty test would be to place a magnet on it. If it sticks then the muffler is plain steel...if not then it is stainless. I tried this on a K3 muffler and it seems to me that it is just "plain" steel. Why would Suzuki advertise it then as stainless?

How about the 650? Is the muffler on this model stainless or just plain steel? Maybe my knowledge of steel is limited. Anyone with a K4 tried this? Timothy

 

[roy_ryall]

What problems are the K4 having? How long have they been available in Europe?

 

[Timothy Ma]

No problems

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that the K4 had problems...I meant the models prior to the K3 and K4. Apparently, their mufflers were self destructing after 10K miles and so lots of folks were going to the after market items. Suzuki OEM parts were too expensive!

This is most likely why they changed the muffler to stainless steel, starting with the 2002 model year (K3). But I don't think the muffler is stainless steel. Unless there are some types of stainless (grade?) that have a certain amount of iron (therefore magnetic) with the durability of stainless steel that I don't know about. Is Suzuki falsely advertising this?

Timothy

 

[Russ Schaeffer]

Yes, there are corrosion resistant steels with iron in them. The 300 series stainless are nonferrous but the hardenable 400 series has iron in it. Knife blades would be an example of a hard stainless steel.

Thanx
Russ

 

[Timothy Ma]

Hardened steel

So then I take that the type of material used for the mufflers on the K3 and K4 models, 400 and 650, are a form of "stainless" and therefore will last the lifetime of the vehicle. I know earlier models (1999 to 2000) had some trouble with muffler durability. If you look closely at the pictures of these models, the mufflers are a chromed canister (not the 650 because last year was its first year of production). Timothy

 

[Richard]

Stainless

What makes you think that a stainless steel muffler will last a life time??? On cars they typically last six to eight years, or less for high milage vehicles.

Stainless steel is Stain Less not stain free. The exhust coming off a modern engine is highly corosive and nothing, and I do mean nothing known today can stand up to it forever. There are materials that will last a lot longer, but I don't think anyone would use a $100,000 muffler on a seven or eight thousand dollar bike or even a $100,000 car. Both Mercedes and Rolls Royce mufflers wear out due to corosion and they both use high quality stainless steel.

 

[Timothy Ma]

Muffler longevity...

I guess I just assumed that if the muffler was stainless it won't rust and therefore would last forever. I do know the earlier versions of the 400 had a higher than normal failure rates with the stock muffler and so most people were replacing them at around 10K miles. I was glad to hear that for 2003 and 2004 the muffler was constructed out of stainless and therefore should last longer if not really long time. I guess time will tell.

Regards...Timothy