My Experience With CPE and their long-tube headers

[xtmesisx]

Greetings everyone. Some of you may have seen me post on 6club or 6crew sometime in the last 6 years, but for those that haven't my name is Tim. I have a cautionary tale I'd like to share with you about my woes with CPE and the headers I purchased from them. This has been posted on 6crew and 6club already, so if you've already seen this I apologize in advance.

Without further adieu...

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I purchased a set of long-tube headers from CPE back in December 2009 through a 6club group buy. I've had reoccurring issues with the catted y-pipe since the initial purchase of exhaust system. Here's my story... it's a long one.

Initial installation

By the end of April 2010 I had saved enough money to get the headers and catted y-pipe installed by my mechanic. During the installation I got two calls from my mechanic. The first was that we were missing parts (CPE got them promptly shipped out) and the second was the y-pipe was too short. The mechanic said that he need to pull on the exhaust and use extra gaskets to get everything lined up.

As an aside the mechanic noted the EGR bung on the Bank 1 (rear) manifold was off by a few inches as well, but this ended up not being that big of a deal because he was able to heat and bend the EGR tube to fit. CanyonRider had the same problem with his install.

The first failure

Within the first six months of the installation I noticed that my exhaust note was getting progressively louder (November 2010). Turns out this was the issue:

As you can see the bracing failed. We assumed this was due to the excessive strain placed on the y-pipe from the length discrepancy.

I emailed CPE in March 2011 and told them about the issues. They performed the necessary warranty repairs on the y-pipe by making it a bit longer and removing the bracing so the pipe could "move more freely."

When my mechanic received the repaired y-pipe he noted that the pipe was, in fact, longer, but still wasn't quite long enough, and said that I'd probably have issues again.

The second failure

One month later (April 2011) I heard the exhaust leak coming back so I took the car back to the mechanic. This time some welds had failed and the pipes were starting to pull out of the collector (union). This is what the pipe looked like off of the car before we send it in for the second repair (note the arrows and lack of bracing):

So I shipped the y-pipe back down to Maryland a second time, had it repaired, re-installed by my mechanic, and by the beginning of May 2011 I had the car back on the road in time for my 550 miles adventure to North Carolina for my internship. You'll be able to see the repair job in the next couple sets of pictures; they basically tack welded bits of metal to collector for support (I guess).

The third failure

It was almost one month to the day that my y-pipe failed a THIRD time in June 2011 (the second time in 2 months), and this failure was the worst yet. This time the Bank 1 pipe had PULLED COMPLETELY OUT OF THE COLLECTOR.

I contacted CPE yet again about this and asked if there'd be anyway for me to drive up to Maryland and have them repair the pipe on the car since something was clearly not working. I threw out a couple of dates to come up, but only one date worked for them and there was a caveat; I'd have to do the work myself since they wouldn't have anyone available to wrench on the car. Yes. You read that correctly.

When I declined that offer they told me to mail it in again, but I declined that was well. I explained to them I no longer had the luxury of borrowing my parent's car while mine was down and that I couldn't afford to rent a car on an intern's salary. They threatened to void my warranty if I took the car somewhere else to get repaired, but I opted to take that route anyway since getting the pipe repaired on the car cost less than half of what it did to file a "free" warranty claim.

The fourth failure

This time the y-pipe held up for 6 months before it failed again in December 2011.

You can see the repair weld from the shop in NC in the upper left corner of the first picture; it's totally fine. Right beneath it, however, you can see the welds on the collector (CPE's repair job) had failed again.

I contacted CPE about this in January 2012 and asked for a partial refund for the price of the y-pipe so I could get a new one made elsewhere. This is the chain of events that transpired from this point on (this is mostly paraphrased for brevity):

• Josh: Send it on it and we will try to give it another combination for you.
• Me: That's not really going to work for me man.... I'd like a partial refund.
• One month goes by with no response
• Me: Josh. Did you get my last response? It's quoted below.
• Josh: No I will look at it.
• One more week goes by
• Me: It's been a little over a week so I was just wondering what the status was on this.
• Josh: I can send you an off-road pipe. We don not give refunds on used parts.
• Me: (novella explaining my situation AGAIN and asking for either a new catted pipe or a refund)
• One more month goes by with no response. It's late April 2012 now.
• Me: Just wondering if you read my last response. I sent it over a month ago.
• Josh: we cannot offer you money back. only repairs or replacement for the orginal owner.
• Me: (long response reiterating that I'd like a new catted pipe or a refund)
• Josh: Okay. I'll send you an offroad pipe.
• Me: I DON'T WANT AN OFFROAD PIPE. I PAID FOR A CATTED PIPE.
• Josh: There's something wrong with your car. I do not have any catted pipes in stock and don’t know when the next time we are running them, but I do have an offroad pipe. Even if I did have catted pipe I feel that the same thing will happen again.
• Me: That. Or maybe... MAYBE there's something wrong with the y-pipe you sold me. You know, since it hasn't fit from day 1.
• End of correspondence

Conclusion
At the end of May 2012 I ended up getting a local exhaust shop to fab me up a brand new y-pipe for the $300.

The reason I'm posting this is because CPE is always singing about their quality, American-made parts with a lifetime warranty, and they've always been known for having good customer service. These are the reasons I purchased their headers over cheaper options, but I'm here saying I've had the absolute opposite experience with them. Yeah they warrantied the pipe each time, but it cost me $100 a pop to get it fixed (shipping and labor for my mechanic) to get it done. At this point the total amount of money I've spent repairing this y-pipe comes in around $550. The total amount I've on this exhaust system all together is nearly $1800.

I'm just really disappointed that CPE doesn't really stand behind their products like they claim to. I’ve sent Josh one final email asking for reimbursement for the cost to fab the y-pipe OR a refund for the cost of the catted y-pipe, but I hardly expect a response.

Thanks for listening.

 

[tweiss3]

As you know, I had similar issues with their wishbone mount, at which point I chucked it (actually I believe Gregg has it)

 

[xtmesisx]

As you know, I had similar issues with their wishbone mount, at which point I chucked it (actually I believe Gregg has it)

ORLY? I not sure if I was privy to that dilemma.

 

[xtmesisx]

So here's an update.

A few hours after posting up on MSF I received an email from Josh about sending my y-pipe in for repair. I figured posting up on MSF did what I intended and reopened the lines of communication. I told him (like I had months earlier via email) that I ended up getting a brand new y-pipe fabricated at a local shop.

I brought up the cost of repairs again ($600) and mentioned I thought reimbursement might be appropriate. Josh said (again) that a refund wouldn't happen, but that he could offer me parts. His initial offer was a motor mount, filter, or a pre-filter. Since I already owned all those parts he asked me what else I'd like. I asked about a couple different things they sold for the Speeds, but I was told I could only pick from the 4 things they sell for the my car (regular 6) or generic parts like filters, exhaust flanges, mufflers, bent pipes, etc.

Over the next two weeks we worked out what parts I would take in lieu of a refund and finally decided on a motor mount, an intake filter, and 4 of the Vibrant o2 sensor tuning kits they resell. The next morning I received this email:

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I responded that I was fully planning on posting up that CPE ended up trying to make it right by sending me parts I could resell. His response was:

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I messaged back asking why they'd rather cover the situation up than hit it head on and turn it into a positive PR move. Josh responded:

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I messaged back saying that my integrity was not for sale and that even if I could delete the thread I wouldn't. Josh's response was:

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At this point I'm fairly certain that constructive communication is unlikely. I'm also fairly certain that any manufacturer with a modicum of customer service would provide an adequate replacement or a refund if one of their customers experienced 4 massive defects a product within 2 years of purchase (assuming the product carried a lifetime warranty like CPE's parts do). CPE has offered neither of these, but instead continues to only offer repair of an obviously defective product as the only option, which results in out-of-pocket expenses for me every time.

Also, I have no idea how this thread is considered threatening. The story itself might be a threat to their operating income, but CPE/Josh wrote that story... I just told it.

 

[Perro del Sol]

I have my headers on my 6 waging when they were first introduced and I have not issue one. Nor have I had any issue with any of their products on either of our 2004 6's. The mere fact that they continually tried to resolve the issue shows a commitment to you as a customer. It is a shame that you only cane on this board to post your issues with them, basically you shot yourself in the foot by doing so. I wish you luck in your dealings.

 

[xtmesisx]

I have my headers on my 6 waging when they were first introduced and I have not issue one. Nor have I had any issue with any of their products on either of our 2004 6's. The mere fact that they continually tried to resolve the issue shows a commitment to you as a customer. It is a shame that you only cane on this board to post your issues with them, basically you shot yourself in the foot by doing so. I wish you luck in your dealings.

Thanks for your input man. I actually posted up here because I was under the impression that CPE was a sponsor here and I was hoping I could get them to return my emails. The lag time between my last email response from Josh and this thread was nearly 2 months. Like you I haven't had any issues with my other CPE products, but the true measure of a company is how they deal with the occasional defect, not the stuff that doesn't break.

You're right that they did continue to offer and fix the pipe, but the problem was that the costs of getting it repaired for "free" under warranty were really starting to add up. I'd have to take my car to the shop, get the pipe removed, ship it on my own dime down to them, wait a couple of days with no car, then pay my mechanic to re-install the pipe. If that happened once or maybe twice over the lifetime of the part I could understand, but my y-pipe broken 4 times in less than 2 years. In fact, there was only one month in between the second and third failures.

From day one the y-pipe never really fit, and I was only ever asking for a refund on the original cost of the y-pipe so I could get a new y-pipe made by somebody else. I was also open to getting a replacement y-pipe from them as well, but I was told them didn't stock them any more so I'd have to take a catless y-pipe (with no mention of reimbursing for cost difference between the catted and catless pipes).

Overall I've spent $600 repairing a $1300 exhaust system in less than 2 years of ownership. That doesn't seem right to me.