Is it worthy to buy a branded exhaust?

[toge.teru]

Hi,

I am thinking to get a HKS hi power for my 94 300zx, but while i was budgeting, i realized paying for $600 seems not worthy at all. I could use this money on wheels and tires instead of boom boom sounds. I found some ebay exhaust which made by stainless steel and also has deep sounds. I am just worried about the ebay's quality. I hate doing extra job on exhaust since I am going to install by myself. Thus, Does anyone have a bad experience on buying ebay catback for your car? If you do, please share your story with us. Thank you.

Thank you people,

[Nick Merrone]

Yeah, you don't need name brand...Try ebay. but find one that has good reviews..thats what i did. Mines fine, compared it to my brothers friends APEXI N1 to my APEXI n1..only difference is the name on the muffler...You'll be fine installing it in the driveway, as long as you've got jack stands and a jack...

[Gcoupenit]

You can find some good items on ebay but then again there is some cheap a** s*** on there too. Me personally i would find the best deal but also having in mind good quality. Whats the point of buying a cheap exhaust when you'll have to replace it within a year or two. So what im saying is don't buy some random exhaust get one that has a good reputation.(HKS,INJEN,)

[1stgenrocks]

as long as you get one that has good reviews the only possible downside to a cheap exhaust might be quality control type issues where a flange doesnt line up perfect or you need to tweak a hanger or something like that. i highly doubt any exhaust is gonna die in a year considering the stock aluminized steel last longer then that.

[Gcoupenit]

Originally Posted by 1stgenrocks

as long as you get one that has good reviews the only possible downside to a cheap exhaust might be quality control type issues where a flange doesnt line up perfect or you need to tweak a hanger or something like that. i highly doubt any exhaust is gonna die in a year considering the stock aluminized steel last longer then that.

Cheap exhaust = cheap welds
Cheap welds = equal breakage

[Nick Merrone]

Originally Posted by Gcoupenit

Cheap exhaust = cheap welds
Cheap welds = equal breakage

not true.

mine was REALLY cheap..GREAT welds.

[mxrage]

try tsudo. they are a reputable(if u could say that) ebay brand

[Gcoupenit]

There's really no point with arguing with you. You have your opinion i have mine. You get what you pay for.

[drew32]

I believe name brand exhaust is by far better than eBay exhaust, and worth the price. I used to have eBay exhaust on my 300zx and it was very raspy. I went to a 300zx meet and got to hear what name brand exhaust sounded like and i gotta say it sounds better. On top of that there is a lot of testing that goes into exhaust from a brand like HKS or Apexi. eBay exhaust isnt tested for performance. This is why I decided on HKS exhaust for my RX-7 rather than just getting a cheaper eBay version.

Always remember you get what you pay for.

[Gcoupenit]

Originally Posted by drew32

I believe name brand exhaust is by far better than eBay exhaust, and worth the price. I used to have eBay exhaust on my 300zx and it was very raspy. I went to a 300zx meet and got to hear what name brand exhaust sounded like and i gotta say it sounds better. On top of that there is a lot of testing that goes into exhaust from a brand like HKS or Apexi. eBay exhaust isnt tested for performance. This is why I decided on HKS exhaust for my RX-7 rather than just getting a cheaper eBay version.

Always remember you get what you pay for.

Thank you

[rich33389]

I'm sure you can get an ebay exhaust and put in whatever resonators and mufflers you want(name brand) and it will sound just as good as name brand ones.
In my opinion, as long as the car is turbo it should sound good with any exhaust, now if its NA, thats another story.

[1stgenrocks]

Originally Posted by rich33389

I'm sure you can get an ebay exhaust and put in whatever resonators and mufflers you want(name brand) and it will sound just as good as name brand ones.
In my opinion, as long as the car is turbo it should sound good with any exhaust, now if its NA, thats another story.

i was just about to come back and say that. most cheap exhaust are just a blatent copy of a name brand exhaust anyway. and ive seen plenty of cheap exhausts that held up just fine through DDing all winter and salt and all that crap. i cant see how anyone thinks that spending double or triple the price just so it says hks on it is worthwhile

[MJSWRX]

If its a turbo car make sure you have a legit name brand DP , exhaust is piping as long as its good steel than your good, i run an hks down pipe with an ebay cat back on my wrx and i have no problems and a great sound

[TurboTagTeam]

Originally Posted by Nick Merrone

not true.

mine was REALLY cheap..GREAT welds.

ORLY? Your a welder? Just because welds LOOK good does not mean they are good. Most people don't even know what a good weld looks like.

I could lay a bean that looks absolutely perfect but has ZERO penetration.

It's all about the penetration

Most everything that's cheap on EBAY SUCKS big time. Especially exhausts. Flanges that are too thin. Horrible fitment. Crappy chinese metal.....SUCKS. Support the REAL companies in the industry.

[CleanNeon98]

^^^I'm with this guy.

[abrok99]

buy it. but i hope you know your slowly terminating the big companies that do the research and spend all the money just for some one to copy it.

but go for what you want

[92sileighty]

Originally Posted by TurboTagTeam

ORLY? Your a welder? Just because welds LOOK good does not mean they are good. Most people don't even know what a good weld looks like.

I could lay a bean that looks absolutely perfect but has ZERO penetration.

It's all about the penetration

Most everything that's cheap on EBAY SUCKS big time. Especially exhausts. Flanges that are too thin. Horrible fitment. Crappy chinese metal.....SUCKS. Support the REAL companies in the industry.

don't buy knock off shi*t. it's cheap? hmm i wonder why? will last all of 6 months. you love your car? treat her right.

[Cardriverx]

buy a bunch of 3 inch pipeing and a deicent muffler. Go to a muffler shop and tell them you want a mandrel bent exhaust, show them how you want it. But if you want to go with ebay, most stainless exhausts are pretty good, I see no reason not to get one. Id never spend over $400 on a exhaust.

Cheap and good quality.

[TurboTagTeam]

Originally Posted by Cardriverx

buy a bunch of 3 inch pipeing and a deicent muffler. Go to a muffler shop and tell them you want a mandrel bent exhaust, show them how you want it. But if you want to go with ebay, most stainless exhausts are pretty good, I see no reason not to get one. Id never spend over $400 on a exhaust.

Cheap and good quality.

I can gurantee you that no muffler shop has a 2.5 or 3in manderal bender. A manderal bender is EXTREAMLY expensive. At one time Apexi was the only high performance car company in Japan with a 3in manderal bender. They're THAT expensive.

The DIY way to make a good exhaust would be to get all your pre-manderal bent piping from Vibrant performance then get everything welded. But if your using all stainless piping, you better get it TIG welded or you'r defeating the purpose of using stainless....all the welds will rust anyway.

But after all that...you may as well just buy a whole exhaust system

[Renegade_]

In my opinion, go for a good exhaust. You can definitely get someone to fab an exhaust for you and get it done cheap, but at the very same time I want at least a resonator in my exhaust other than a muffler haha - no straight pipes here.

I got an HKS Hi-Power for my SR and catless, it sounds great. Idle is smooth and rumbly and you can tell they designed the exhaust well. Its quality man, the big companies won't put out garbage. HKS is one of the most solid companies and Im probably gonna buy their exhaust for any car I own from here on out since I know they do it great.