Dual Exhaust troubles

[rickshaw]

Magnaflow Dual Exhaust

This mod has not turned out as well as I had hoped it would. I just not happy with this shops work. The guy who did the work was a hack.

I went to a highly recommended local high performance muffler shop, they been around for 10 plus years.

I knew things were strange when he said he need my help since he was by himself.
I had to hold pipes as he tack welded them in place. I didn't mind, I'd rather do this than sit in the lobby.

I think things went bad when the right side coming too close to the tire, about 1 in. I made a stink about this. He then had to re-bend, hack and whack to get pipe away from the tire.

He started on this job at 1:30 PM and finally finished at 11:15 PM (9 hours, 45 minutes) later.
He had lots of interruptions.


Very bad splice on the right side. The pipes were not fitted properly and welded crooked.


The shop put pipe clamps over the welds on the two connections exiting the muffler, I believe this was a way to cover some of his mess.


Bad bending especially at the connection from the muffler to the right tail pipe. The pipe goes into muffler at a 20? angle

The Tips are not straight

All the arc welds are lumpy and rusting

The hanger on right side was made from tacking a bolt to the frame

The pipe size used is 2.25 in. The shop flared the pipe to fit the muffler

Magnaflow (14218) Polished Stainless Steel muffler 2.5 in. single in, 2.5 in. dual out
I wonder if muffler should have been 2.25 in. not 2.5 in.

The muffler was WAY too loud, but after a week it has been getting better.
(Cyronman) took a ride in it this weekend and thought it was too loud also.

The performance seems kind of flat, just loud when you step on it.

If I go back to this guy I believe he will make things worse and cost me bundle over what it already has.

Should I will go to another muffler shop to have them check this out?

[lasturbo]

Sorry to hear about your experience especially how particular/meticulous you are. It does not look like a Class A job as you have pointed out an maybe worse if he tries to fix it. Best of luck on the future result and let us know what happens.

[Sprey]

Sorry to hear about your experience especially how particular/meticulous you are. It does not look like a Class A job as you have pointed out an maybe worse if he tries to fix it. Best of luck on the future result and let us know what happens.

I agree ^

Some of the welds dont look the best. Lumpy and smoove wise.
But then again looking at them in person instead of a close up picture you can see the difference.

Tho the twin pipe on yours rick does look very good!

On the loudness When i had my old celicas muffer replaced with a straight through one it took about a week or 2 before it quietened down but when i want to get a wof (Warrant of fitness) it was too loud. Maybe a resonator a two in your new system might make it a bit quieter.

I remember one of Etlsports video when he got his exhaust done i think he said his got quieter after a few weeks. ( tho i maybe wrong )

Personaly if your not happy with the welding and quality of the job id take your vx somewhere else.

I remember paying double to fit a muffler on my old car at one shop than to get the cat removed on my vx at another shop.

But yea good luck.

[Ldub]

Calling the guy who did the work on your exhaust a "hack" may be a bit over complimentary...

I would call the manager of the shop tomorrow morning & explain the whole nine+ hour ordeal, then ask when it would be convenient for him to have a look at it for himself.

Let him know, in no uncertain terms, that you do not want the same tech who did this to have any part in the fix.
That is, IF you decide to give them a chance to make it right.

[Riff Raff]

Holy Cow, that looks absolutely terrible. I would contact the muffler shop business owner and see if he would fix it for free due to the shoddiness of work and wait for his response. If the owner says he's not going to do anything about it, then "tactifully" suggest that you may go to the State Attorney General Office for further assistance.

Another avenue of a possible solution may be the public news media like a local TV Channel News Station. Sometimes they have a "Consumer Fraud or Consumer Complaint" division that will actually send a TV News Camera Crew out to the bad business and do a featured news story on the issue. In the past, these are extremely effective. No business owner wants to be shown on film and interviews in a negative manner plastered on the evening TV news. So, this may be another tool of leverage in addition to the State Attorney General Office and even more effective as State Government move really slow, and TV News teams move really fast with fast results as they don't want the story to get old and stale.

Thus, my attack plan would be in this order:

(1): Talk to the muffler shop owner nicely and kindly ask him to "re-do" the total installation free of charge. If he agrees, then take no further action. If he doesn't agree, then "suggest" that you may be forced to take further action to include the State Attorney General Office and more importantly, his shop will be featured in a TV News Story about the shoddy work. If the muffler shop owner still refuses to comply, then you MUST take further action in steps 2 & 3 below (give the business owner "one last chance" to redeem himself before you actually drive away).

(2): Contact State Attorney General Office. Expect very slow results.

(3): Contact the biggest and most powerful TV News Station in your area and pursue a featured news story regarding the issue. Expect swift and immediate results, because the TV news media has a 100% success rate when exposing rip-off businesses in the local community.

In any event, I would not just lay down and eat-it. I would take action in a precise step-by-step manner. Be very nice and tactful in your communication with the muffler shop owner. Yelling and screaming solves nothing. When one step fails, you must take it to the next step until the issue is finally resolved. The TV News Story should be the absolute last resort; but if the business owner forces your hand, then it will get the job re-done for free. Plus, you'll get your pretty Dragon featured on the evening TV news!!! Let us know how things work out.

Lastly, you must have not read the latest "muffler threads". The overall viewpoint of this forum have determined that the Magnaflow Brand IS NOT the best muffler for the VX. The very best muffler by far for the VX is the now famous "Dynomax - Super Turbo" muffler. Do a forum "search" for DYNOMAX SUPER TURBO and specifically look for a thread entitled "Muffler Help Needed", then prepare yourself to be impressed.

[vt_maverick]

^-1. My thoughts:

(1) Unless you've done a really good business with these guys in the past, I think it's highly unlikely that they're going to be willing to start over from scratch. Shops have fixed time estimates for every service job they perform, and most will bill you for that number of hours no matter how long it really takes (this plus parts mark-ups are where shops make a profit). If they took 9.75 hours to perform the initial install they have, at a minimum, already lost all profit on the job; but more than likely they're actually in the hole several hundred dollars at this point. I have a hard time believing that the shop will choose to lose hundreds more to deinstall/reinstall, especially if (as mentioned above) you don't do a large amount of business with them. I agree with RiffRaff that you should definitely ask, but I would expect them to argue that the exhaust system is functional and that redoing it just to make it pretty is unreasonable.

(2) There are thousands of shops in any given state, and many do mediocre to shoddy work and get away with it every day. Highly unlikely that the law will intervene unless there's credible evidence that this is a massive scam that's ripping off lots of people, since it costs the attorney's office a ton of money to investigate and prosecute this kind of crime. Plus it's not like you needed a new alternator or some other critical repair and they sent you away with a dangerous misinstallation; you chose to do a performance/appearance mod that most citizens could never afford, and your complaint basically circles around the notion that it wasn't pretty enough. Unfortunately, from the AG's perspective, I don't think there's a compelling argument to even look into it, much less ever see results (slow or otherwise).

(3) Same reasons as (2), but for ratings rather than $$$. If the story isn't big enough to engage a wide audience, they're just not going to be interested.

I feel for you and do think you're getting ripped off, but I think the reality is that you're going to have to pay for it one way or the other. Personally I'd rather incur additional cost to have it done right by another shop than to take it back and hope they don't screw something else up in the process of fixing it. It's a crappy situation, but unfortunately I think you're stuck.

Sorry dude.

[Riff Raff]

Holy Cow, that looks absolutely terrible. I would contact the muffler shop business owner and see if he would fix it for free due to the shoddiness of work and wait for his response. If the owner says he's not going to do anything about it, then "tactifully" suggest that you may go to the State Attorney General Office for further assistance.

Another avenue of a possible solution may be the public news media like a local TV Channel News Station. Sometimes they have a "Consumer Fraud or Consumer Complaint" division that will actually send a TV News Camera Crew out to the bad business and do a featured news story on the issue. In the past, these are extremely effective. No business owner wants to be shown on film and interviews in a negative manner plastered on the evening TV news. So, this may be another tool of leverage in addition to the State Attorney General Office and even more effective as State Government move really slow, and TV News teams move really fast with fast results as they don't want the story to get old and stale.

Thus, my attack plan would be in this order:

(1): Talk to the muffler shop owner nicely and kindly ask him to "re-do" the total installation free of charge. If he agrees, then take no further action. If he doesn't agree, then "suggest" that you may be forced to take further action to include the State Attorney General Office and more importantly, his shop will be featured in a TV News Story about the shoddy work. If the muffler shop owner still refuses to comply, then you MUST take further action in steps 2 & 3 below (give the business owner "one last chance" to redeem himself before you actually drive away).

(2): Contact State Attorney General Office. Expect very slow results.

(3): Contact the biggest and most powerful TV News Station in your area and pursue a featured news story regarding the issue. Expect swift and immediate results, because the TV news media has a 100% success rate when exposing rip-off businesses in the local community.

In any event, I would not just lay down and eat-it. I would take action in a precise step-by-step manner. Be very nice and tactful in your communication with the muffler shop owner. Yelling and screaming solves nothing. When one step fails, you must take it to the next step until the issue is finally resolved. The TV News Story should be the absolute last resort; but if the business owner forces your hand, then it will get the job re-done for free. Plus, you'll get your pretty Dragon featured on the evening TV news!!! Let us know how things work out.

Lastly, you must have not read the latest "muffler threads". The overall viewpoint of this forum have determined that the Magnaflow Brand IS NOT the best muffler for the VX. The very best muffler by far for the VX is the now famous "Dynomax - Super Turbo" muffler. Do a forum "search" for DYNOMAX SUPER TURBO and specifically look for a thread entitled "Muffler Help Needed", then prepare yourself to be impressed.

Hmmm, now where did I put my big yellow phone book with the list of local "TV News Stations"??? Ah; yes, here it is-- K-RAT/TV.

[Triathlete]

Rickshaw...IF the guy decides to repair his mess make sure to be specific as to what you expect and get it in writing. Then tell him if he can not meet YOUR expectations that you will gladly accept a FULL reimbursment so that you can take it to someone that is actually qualified to do the quality work that you expect.
You should not have to pay anything extra for him to fix his mess!

[Y33TREKker]

I went to a highly recommended local high performance muffler shop, they been around for 10 plus years.

If this is the generally accepted reputation in the area of the business, it would be worth at least speaking with the owner about the work that was performed on your VX. You might try stopping back by to speak with the owner and set up a day/time to bring the VX back in when the person who did the original work isn't scheduled to be there.

At that time, have the owner himself take a look at the work and let him decide if that's the kind of work he wants representing his business, especially on something of a high-profile vehicle. A few simple remarks along the lines of having made the decision to bring your vehicle to his shop because of the high recommendations you'd received when asking around might be enough to let him know you're active in the local car scene too. (While I hesitate to use the word blackmail for this gambit, I'd say he would get the idea that you may be in a position to easily spread the word about his current work ).

If he's achieved a reputation for doing good work, I doubt he'd want his name associated with the work you received, and may agree to redo it to your (and his) satisfaction as a means of maintaining more future business.

If he doesn't, then it's simply a chance he'll be taking about the kind of reputation his business will maintain in the future. "Resting on past laurels" comes to mind.

[JoFotoz]

Crapppy work like that doesnt belong on your ride Gene...its not like you took them some Frankentein off road beater.

If you get no satisfaction from these guys after talking to them...I can suggest a custom exhaust/muffler shop here in San Diego just off the I-5 in Pacific Beach.

They have done two custom builds for me ..both dual systems..one on my Old Bronco and one on the ORW ,

....and IMO they are very good at what they do.

As for the "noise"...give it a few weeks to settle...
I wasnt too pleased with the ORW sound at first...but its mellowed now to a nice growl.


jo

[SomeBeach]

When I had poor work done on an engine rebuild I was going to take the guy to court but figured the judge would just rule he had to fix it. If this guy did this from scratch just imagine how bad it could be having him trying to fix it up. Only way I'd take it back is if another mechanic did the work.

[Kenny]

It is hit and miss with the shop depending on who is doing the actual work. I feel for ya. That is some shoddy welds.

Your runs look similar to mine, how did he get so close to the tire?? My rear pipes were a single piece, and the front to the cats were two sections. I had 2.25" flared to fit into the muffler and 2.5" on the outs. See pics.



The loudness did not go away for me. I went back a month later and had glass packs put on. Made a world of difference.
(mind the offroad damage )



Still too loud when I tromp on it. I'm now going to try a 20" Dynomax or Magnaflow - whichever one has more packing.
Will still keep the resonators (maybe replace if worn through).

Good Luck!
I do agree, if you have the personality for it, challenge the shop to redo it in a professional manner on their dime. They should be embarressed.

[VX KAT]

Research! Look up to see if they're a member of the Better Business Bureau. Even if they're NOT a member (which kind of says a lot right there), the BBB still often has some interesting info on complaints received. I've had occasions where I looked up a business on the BBB to see what I could find out. I did this with the auto shipping companies I was considering. That's one reason I found D.A.S. to be the best choice.

Anyway, if you find they have a bunch of complaints filed, you'll get to see how they were resolved (if they were a BBB member)....it will show if the shop failed to respond at all, or resolved it to the customer's satisfaction, and that sort of thing.

If they have a ton of complaints on file, or a history of not responding, you can pretty much predict what kind of response you're going to get.

You can also cite the BBB in conversation with the owner....yeah it's kind of
blackmail like TREKker mentioned, but it's really the only leverage you may have.

I've got the time if you want me to look up some BBB info I'd be happy to, just PM me name of shop and city.

[lasturbo]

Crapppy work like that doesnt belong on your ride Gene...its not like you took them some Frankentein off road beater.

If you get no satisfaction from these guys after talking to them...I can suggest a custom exhaust/muffler shop here in San Diego just off the I-5 in Pacific Beach.

They have done two custom builds for me ..both dual systems..one on my Old Bronco and one on the ORW ,

....and IMO they are very good at what they do.

As for the "noise"...give it a few weeks to settle...
I wasnt too pleased with the ORW sound at first...but its mellowed now to a nice growl.


jo

Is that Dualtone Jo???

[JoFotoz]

Yup Larry....thats the one.

Is that Dualtone Jo???

Richard & Rick are the guys to talk to there...
....they are experts in custom exhaust systems.

They do VERY good work IMO.....

jo