[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by Red_sir

Those AA exhaust welds are good, much better than some of their other stuff...

Wow. I'm surprised AA sent out a DP like that.

My AA DP was (is) beautiful.

[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by IanH

ever used an exhaust cutter? makes a super clean cut easily and then you just get a sleeve clamp if you ever want to put it back together.

Anyway... I'd probably think those welds are fine in Vegas.

Yeah, no wintertime road salt here.

What tips did you go with ?

[IanH]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

Yeah, no wintertime road salt here.

What tips did you go with ?

I got brushed stainless becuase normally I dont like the exhaust getting lost visually in the back of the car. But I bought the exhaust before I even had my car... I am considering finding some other tips instead since there is zero chrome/silver on the car whatsoever.

I'll install it first and see, cant hurt to try it.

[VegasG42]

Light Rev - Parking Garage

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

[VegasG42]

Normal Driving - Parking Garage - BME CAI , AA DP

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

[IanH]

What do the slash cut tips look like on the car? Do you know are they 93mm or 100mm tip OD?

See a lot of exhausts come with straight cut, but I usually like a slash cut...

[VegasG42]

Originally Posted by IanH

What do the slash cut tips look like on the car? Do you know are they 93mm or 100mm tip OD?

See a lot of exhausts come with straight cut, but I usually like a slash cut...

Outer part of the tips about 90 mm.

[VegasG42]

And by the way - for anyone listening to the sound clips with only a phone - don't bother , You can't even hear anything

[IanH]

Looks awesome with a slash cut. Thanks!

[ifound2pac]

Originally Posted by VegasG42

It is big, and one solid piece. So storage solutions are limited.

My solution -

Attachment 3625943

Just make sure the bike hangers are in the studs.

I might need to ask the exhaust shop to cut mine up so I can store it away in a box for a rainy day, just in case*

[ifound2pac]

I just bought the Valvetronic OEM (by title at least) from Alibaba. It's being made now, and hopefully delivered sometime in January along with my carbon spoiler. Not going to do downpipe anytime soon, too much money for the AA downpipe and it occasionally throws people a transient CEL as well.

$1150 from Jiangxi Boska. I went with the extra $100 for the M style carbon exterior tips with chrome lining

[kudos]

Originally Posted by ifound2pac

I just bought the Valvetronic OEM (by title at least) from Alibaba. It's being made now, and hopefully delivered sometime in January along with my carbon spoiler. Not going to do downpipe anytime soon, too much money for the AA downpipe and it occasionally throws people a transient CEL as well.

$1150 from Jiangxi Boska. I went with the extra $100 for the M style carbon exterior tips with chrome lining

Please keep us updated and post sound clips when you get it.

[IanH]

5 bucks says that these fail a magnet test... probably not the titanium ones tho. But if you're just gonna own the car a couple years in the south and dont care about resale of the part then I guess it doesnt matter.

[ifound2pac]

Yep I'll get clips when it's installed

[ifound2pac]

Many of the products you use day to day are made in China. Some are good, some are bad. Many of the exhausts you can buy are also made in China and just have a USA label stuck on them. But yeah I guess you can be like that. I'll keep you updated. Ian

Planning to keep the car far more than a couple years tho. Not expecting to change to an LC500 till 2030

[IanH]

The exhaust is posted pictures of is made in China, at least as far as I know, but it also passes a magnet test and has much higher quality construction.

Don't confuse my point, which is that you are not saving money just by peeling the US brand's profit off the price of the exhaust. You are getting a lower quality product, with no us warranty or support and absolutely no way to return it.

If you peel this exhaust off your car once you go to trade it in and it's all rusted it's not going to be resold, it's going in the trash. Only time can tell you this and jumping on the band wagon with absolutely no track record or long term info is a major caveat emptor situation.

[ifound2pac]

Originally Posted by IanH

The exhaust is posted pictures of is made in China, at least as far as I know, but it also passes a magnet test and has much higher quality construction.

Don't confuse my point, which is that you are not saving money just by peeling the US brand's profit off the price of the exhaust. You are getting a lower quality product, with no us warranty or support and absolutely no way to return it.

If you peel this exhaust off your car once you go to trade it in and it's all rusted it's not going to be resold, it's going in the trash. Only time can tell you this and jumping on the band wagon with absolutely no track record or long term info is a major caveat emptor situation.

But my man,

There's no evidence to show it's of markedly lower quality. No evidence to show that it isn't treated well and won't stand the test of time. It's only $1k, hell I'll just leave it on the car when it comes time to sell the car in better part of a decade and the car will be close to 150k miles.

There is simply nothing that an OEM does to treat the steel that much better that it deserves a 300% Mark up. If you think that's true, that's great and I hope you buy them. But I know the majority of them just produce their stuff in China and stick a label on it, and I'm happy to take a small risk and buy this. At the end of the day even if the exhaust fails, I could buy two or three more just like it and only then would I have paid what one exhaust cost me from the OEM lol.

Sometimes it's good to just be happy for people and say "Nice, hope the quality holds up— keep up updated it's great to have options and find hidden treasures". These companies are already taking the piss, we shouldnt defend them for shitty practices of over pricing and drop shipping

[ifound2pac]

Originally Posted by IanH

The level of ignorance in your post around material construction and manufacturing process is not even able to be addressed.

Enjoy your knock off exhaust, happy for you and hope it helps you keep up with your car payment!

You had zero evidence of anything wrong with the material construction involved with the product besides...the fact that it's made in China? The welds are fine, too, as even you said.

I'm not being a dick I'm literally just looking for why you're so salty about this lol. So mad about what people do with their own money when obviously we understand we're taking a small risk. It's an exhaust not an engine. Relax.

Also take a gander at this image. You can literally order from the same company directly l

[kudos]

Originally Posted by IanH

The exhaust is posted pictures of is made in China, at least as far as I know, but it also passes a magnet test and has much higher quality construction.

Don't confuse my point, which is that you are not saving money just by peeling the US brand's profit off the price of the exhaust. You are getting a lower quality product, with no us warranty or support and absolutely no way to return it.

If you peel this exhaust off your car once you go to trade it in and it's all rusted it's not going to be resold, it's going in the trash. Only time can tell you this and jumping on the band wagon with absolutely no track record or long term info is a major caveat emptor situation.

Curious about your thoughts on the titanium version from the other thread in comparison to this steel one?

[IanH]

Originally Posted by kudos

Curious about your thoughts on the titanium version from the other thread in comparison to this steel one?

I'm interested to see pictures of that exhaust, but if the welds are legit then it's probably got much more longevity than a low grade stainless part. (Low grade referring to the quality of the steel tubing not the manufacturing)

There's always the chance that the titanium is not actually titanium, or so thin that it is prone to cracking. Titanium is far more brittle and notch sensitive than steel, so it can be more susceptible to small damage that expands to a bigger problem. If you've got a leaking or cracked titanium exhaust, you will have a VERY hard time finding someone with the tools or knowledge to repair it.

One thing you notice about all these exhausts from Ali is that they have way more connection joints than the ones from the official brands, that's because they aren't jigged as a full unit and need that extra degree of freedom for fitment. Every clamp/slip joint is a spot for leaks later down the line. The clamps will rust up, even in the south and won't loosen after a while. So, in general, the fewer slip joints the better.

The welds that we see on the alibaba steel exhaust appear to be MIG or lower quality TIG which can mean that the welds themselves are susceptible to rust from all of the extra welding substrate left on the joint.

My experience in manufacturing has a little background in weld process validation. It's one of the hardest manufacturing processes to do correctly, and the quality of the welds really matters in the context of overall strength and longevity. Two welds can look to the naked eye "just as strong" but one of them will break at 1/4 the load.

[VegasG42]

My friends, please take a moment to look at the M340i Alibaba success stories thread. Lots of pictures and videos.

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2095221

At this point, there are hundreds of people successfully running the Alibaba sourced exhausts.

[Red_sir]

Originally Posted by IanH

I'm interested to see pictures of that exhaust, but if the welds are legit then it's probably got much more longevity than a low grade stainless part. (Low grade referring to the quality of the steel tubing not the manufacturing)

There's always the chance that the titanium is not actually titanium, or so thin that it is prone to cracking. Titanium is far more brittle and notch sensitive than steel, so it can be more susceptible to small damage that expands to a bigger problem. If you've got a leaking or cracked titanium exhaust, you will have a VERY hard time finding someone with the tools or knowledge to repair it.

One thing you notice about all these exhausts from Ali is that they have way more connection joints than the ones from the official brands, that's because they aren't jigged as a full unit and need that extra degree of freedom for fitment. Every clamp/slip joint is a spot for leaks later down the line. The clamps will rust up, even in the south and won't loosen after a while. So, in general, the fewer slip joints the better.

The welds that we see on the alibaba steel exhaust appear to be MIG or lower quality TIG which can mean that the welds themselves are susceptible to rust from all of the extra welding substrate left on the joint.

My experience in manufacturing has a little background in weld process validation. It's one of the hardest manufacturing processes to do correctly, and the quality of the welds really matters in the context of overall strength and longevity. Two welds can look to the naked eye "just as strong" but one of them will break at 1/4 the load.

You don't know the grade of stainless used. Stop ASSuming.

You also contradict yourself when you say you can't judge a weld with the naked eye yet that is what you are doing here. Judging with a very inexperienced eye I might add since you can't tell if those are GMAW or GTAW welds.