~Barn~
Sat May 30th, 2009, 06:36 PM
So I had an exhaust put onto my MS6 today, and although I ended up being pleased with the results in the end, it kinda took a bit too much hoop jumping for my liking.
The price was fair enough, but if you need an exhaust install, or exhaust work, you might want to look elsewhere.
Long story short, it was a pre-fab catback system from Magnaflow. A two muffler setup, with dual outlets. The exhaust tips themselves actually come out through the lower bumper diffuser/facia, so proper alignment is kinda something you notice.
Well the dude bolts and hangs up the system, and lowers the car, and only the right exhaust tip is centered. The left (read: driver's side) is completely out of whack, actually touching the bumper diffuser. It's recessed slightly into the facia, rather than the right side exhaust tip, which protruded a few centimeters; and lastly, where it's resting at the lower left, it's all plastic.
Basically if it would have been left as-was, it would have melted shit, and looked horrible. For a quote/unquote "professional", paid install, it was about as close to a hack job, as you could ask for.
I asked the guy if there was anything that could be done, because I wasn't happy with it, and it was met with a resounding "No". "It's a kit..." he says, "they don't really ever fit right". I kinda got upset, because that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Big-J was with me, and this just struck me (or both of us actually) as odd, because the guy didn't even acknowledge the issue in the first place, and then when I ask about it, he doesn't offer any solution, only two weak excuses.
I expressed my displeasure calmly enough, and "Jim" at Mighty Muffler was seemingly at a loss for ideas. It was like this was his first day on the job, and I was kinda getting ticked that he seemed unwilling at first to brainstorm a solution. He was practially asking Big-J and me what we should do, like he's never seen this particular issue in his line of work!
So yeah. Finally he raised the lift back up, and I basicially start hinting at the fact that I was suprised he had virtually no suggestions as to how to fix this, seeing as how I assumed he's done this kinda thing before. I mean this is HIS INDUSTRY after all, and I made it known to him, that he was coming across as somewhat clueless, in the face of what seemed like a marginal malfunction. Eventually, he ended up cutting some of the plumbing, pre-left-muffler, and welding a sleeve onto it, and all of 20 minutes later, I had matching exiting tips. That's all that it really needed. A little tip-of-the-trade type tweak.
So yeah.... good in the end, and I can't speak for anybody else..... But if you take your gear to a professional "anybody", they should have enough wisdom to see a problem, acknowledge a problem, and offer a solution to a problem. I am not here to help you figure out things, that are at the very core of what you do for a living, and what I brought you to work on, in the first place. I don't want to have to bounce ideas back and forth, and convince you that something isn't good-enough, just because I'm somebody who's not satisfied with dodgy work. :no:
Good on him I guess, for eventually fixing it, but if I wouldn't have spoken up, he would have let me roll right out of there, without word-one. Not a cool way to run your ship.
The price was fair enough, but if you need an exhaust install, or exhaust work, you might want to look elsewhere.
Long story short, it was a pre-fab catback system from Magnaflow. A two muffler setup, with dual outlets. The exhaust tips themselves actually come out through the lower bumper diffuser/facia, so proper alignment is kinda something you notice.
Well the dude bolts and hangs up the system, and lowers the car, and only the right exhaust tip is centered. The left (read: driver's side) is completely out of whack, actually touching the bumper diffuser. It's recessed slightly into the facia, rather than the right side exhaust tip, which protruded a few centimeters; and lastly, where it's resting at the lower left, it's all plastic.
Basically if it would have been left as-was, it would have melted shit, and looked horrible. For a quote/unquote "professional", paid install, it was about as close to a hack job, as you could ask for.
I asked the guy if there was anything that could be done, because I wasn't happy with it, and it was met with a resounding "No". "It's a kit..." he says, "they don't really ever fit right". I kinda got upset, because that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Big-J was with me, and this just struck me (or both of us actually) as odd, because the guy didn't even acknowledge the issue in the first place, and then when I ask about it, he doesn't offer any solution, only two weak excuses.
I expressed my displeasure calmly enough, and "Jim" at Mighty Muffler was seemingly at a loss for ideas. It was like this was his first day on the job, and I was kinda getting ticked that he seemed unwilling at first to brainstorm a solution. He was practially asking Big-J and me what we should do, like he's never seen this particular issue in his line of work!
So yeah. Finally he raised the lift back up, and I basicially start hinting at the fact that I was suprised he had virtually no suggestions as to how to fix this, seeing as how I assumed he's done this kinda thing before. I mean this is HIS INDUSTRY after all, and I made it known to him, that he was coming across as somewhat clueless, in the face of what seemed like a marginal malfunction. Eventually, he ended up cutting some of the plumbing, pre-left-muffler, and welding a sleeve onto it, and all of 20 minutes later, I had matching exiting tips. That's all that it really needed. A little tip-of-the-trade type tweak.
So yeah.... good in the end, and I can't speak for anybody else..... But if you take your gear to a professional "anybody", they should have enough wisdom to see a problem, acknowledge a problem, and offer a solution to a problem. I am not here to help you figure out things, that are at the very core of what you do for a living, and what I brought you to work on, in the first place. I don't want to have to bounce ideas back and forth, and convince you that something isn't good-enough, just because I'm somebody who's not satisfied with dodgy work. :no:
Good on him I guess, for eventually fixing it, but if I wouldn't have spoken up, he would have let me roll right out of there, without word-one. Not a cool way to run your ship.