Just wanted to let fellow members know about an issue I had with the Borla exhaust and how it was resolved.

When the exhaust was first installed, power and sound was good but there was a clunking noise whenever I hit bumps or dips. When I did the old bend-over visual inspection, I could not find anything loose. I took it back to the installer (La Bree Motorsports) and discovered the two pipes parallel to the drive shaft were very close to the "M" brace (or "W" depending on how you look at it). In order to resolve this issue the installer had to loosen the bolts and twist the pipes into proper form. It also took quite a bit of muscle to do.

Currently, my pipes are about a 3/8ths to 1/2 inch above the brace. The clunking sound is gone, except for when I run over exceptionally large dips at speed (on accident, of course ).

If Borla is reading this, I think you should give a slight upward bend at the 'S' on the pipes coming from the cats. That way, you are guaranteed clearance going all the way back.

I'll end by saying the La Bree gave me excellent customer service and really went out of their way to correct this issue. Hope this helps.

Jae

 

BY turning these pipes do you beleive that tension is now in the pipes where they attach at the hangers?

 

I'm not quite sure what part of the pipe you are referring to (the hook that goes into the rubber? the weld at the hook and pipe?) But, my first inclination is to say no to both. The hangers are just place holders. If I had to make a guess, I'd say the most tension is any point where two pipes join and is held together by the clamp. As long as the bolt on the clamp is tight, the pipes will stay in the position you will it to.

 

Thanks for the reply, thats the answer I was looking for.

 

I had mine professionally installed and welded in place just to avoid thiskind of problem. I just completed an autocross and as you know you get a lot of tossing of the car and large suspension travel. No problem with any clearence problems or tips not being square with the back bumper.

This problem seems to me to be related to the installation.

 

If you read my other thread, I too have problems with Borla because of my pipes actually sitting on that same "M" brace. What I did was create a bracket to lift the entire left side of the muffler to clear that brace. And no matter how I twist the second piece, it still sits on that brace. And yes, it takes a lot of muscle to twist that second piece.

I spoke to Borla and they are sending me new pieces that attaches to the cats.

 

I did my own install. Not one problem. No clunks or noises (except for the sweet exhaust note). Everything fit perfectly as long as you have the right twist on the pipes. The pipes are rock solid.

 

I agree that a poor installation will lead to funny noises and even degraded performance. On the other hand, I think Borla should produce a product that is fool-proof to prevent people from augmenting the product with extra braces/welds/etc. In reality, no two boxed exhausts will have exactly the same spec ('precision' may be a better word) bends and each installation has a degree of error. I was unfortunate enough to get a set that left very little room for error. Lucky for Borla (and not so lucky for us) it is too much trouble for customers to return an exhaust once it is installed. Hopefully, my experience can help Borla owners diagnose and fix this issue.