apex'i exhaust rusted out and they wont do anything about it

[hiyaboa]

ive had my n1 exhaust for alittle more than 2 years(8,000-10,000miles max never driven in snow and maybe 5 times in rain) and it has a HUGE hole rusted in the back of the muffler but the coating is still on it so i must have rusted out from the inside so theres nothing i could have done to prevent this. I called apex'i today to ask about replacing the exhaust or maybe just the muffler and they said.."theirs nothing we can do...its past one year" now i find this to be absolutely retarded since i dont think there is anything i could have done to prevent it and i have not put it through anything that should cause this kind of rust. after several different tries i asked if there was anyone else i could possibly talk that could help me out or at least listen to what i have to say...his response... "no"....i was shocked by this response...just "no" thats it... WTF.... i would expect this level of customer support from Ractive or APC(btw i know people that have had both of these brands for atleast 3-4 years and had ZERO problems out of them) but not Apex'i....i spent the extra money for quality and a company that stands behind its products... i now see that i was wrong. i am definately going to think twice before buying anything from them again


If anyone out there can help me out with this situation or also has had the same problem let me know...enough people complain and they cant just ignore it!!

[johngriff]

Im really sorry to hear about this, and it is odd that a manufacture with reputation such as apex-i did not stand behind their component. If you find no resolution to this situation, P/M me and i will give you an unbelieveable deal on a new exhaust of you're choice.

John
No, you won't

[TurDz]

I think I can help explain.

From what I know, corrosion such as what you described can happen to anyone. In general though, for something like that to happen, you need an environment that accelerates corrosion.

Do you live in a rainy or snowy area? is it ever humid? I see you live in North Carolina, so at the very least, you are more susceptible to acid rain and pollution from the west coast.

Anyway, what probably happened was a small rock chipped the coating on your exhuast canister. Once this happened, bare iron was exposed. With pollution, acid rain, road salt, etc, there are chlorides in the air. When this comes in contact with that small chip, it causes a corrosive barrier (a precipitate from the metallic ions) and covers that portion completely (think of a very corrosive positive battery terminal).

When this happens, you deprive that local site of oxygen, and it become an anode, or something that starts giving electrons away. These electrons go to something called a cathode (or an electron acceptor). The cathode becomes the complete exhaust canister portion that is not damaged. Unfortunately, when these electrons leave, you are left with many positive hydrogen ions. The chlorides in the air and water find their way into this local site, and form a very damaging acidic mix and metallic ions, which is what caused the decay to what it is now.

There is more info here if you are interested:
http://electrochem.cwru.edu/ed/encycl/art-c02-corrosion.htm

I hope that helps.

[FRpilot]

besides, most companies dont warranty against normal wear and tear. i dont think sony will replace my old ps1 because it stopped reading cds.

[KOUKI KA-T]

You've had it for over 2 years... and you expected them to replace it???
It's a painted piece of metal exposed to the elements at all times. It's not a high quality exhaust to begin with, in fact it's one of the cheapest made ones. Buy a full stainless one next time, maybe you'll get another year out of it.

[slow_sr20]

this happened to my n1 as well-apex told me the same thing, honsetly i didn't think they would do anything any way worth a try though........just re-welded my can, it sounds the same. yeah it sucks but i've had to deal with worse things :axe:

[r32gtr]

yeah man, the same thing just happened to mine as well. rusted out right by the exhaust hanger closet to the wheel well. Although mine is a dd and has seen snow, but also had it for two years. I'm going to an ss or titanium exhaust system next myself. And i think my mechanic told me that HKS exhaust are the same way, they haven't changed the coated metal to ss yet but i guess he said greddy did.

[lucky7]

i bought a greddy SP2 3 years ago for this specific reason. i daily drive the car, ofcourse i live in michigan where the weather is shatty. for example, i drove home from the bar in 2" of fresh snow last night. at the intersections with no snow, you can see salt granuals from the salt trucks. i cringe everytime i drive when its slushy out... anyhow. so far my greddy, despite looking silly, it has held up pretty well. full stainless steel was the main attraction.

[mr_240sx]

sry to hear about your lose man!! ive had my n1 for 4 years now and the first year i drove it in the winter!!! our canadian winters use lots of road salt and im actually surprised that it hasnt started to rust yet! maybe its because i was my car everytime i come back from a ride!

[aznpoopy]

sorry to hear it... but this really shouldn't be a surprise to you.

if they had to replace every exhaust that developed a rust hole, they would either need to stop selling exhausts or run themselves out of business.

[mmdb]

Man that's terrible... From my knowledge apexi's exhaust aren't all stainless steel, hence I'm not surprised it rusted. Still that's no excuse. I've had my greddy SP for 10+ years (no lies) and not a single rust spot on it, although the fiberglass packing in the muffler is gone, no signs of rust. I'm sure it's not just you that's having this problem. Have you thought bout keeping the piping and getting another muffler?

[jookybanana]

i think this is common with catback apexi n1 style exhaust, alot of people i knew either had it rusted and fell apart, including me, i had mine for 3yrs and the whole back side of the canister rusted and fell off, i was amazed it still held together and not collapse, and it been garage kept but i think the few days of snow/salt affected it, also it started it really show signs of it falling apart is right after a road trip i took and when i came back the exhuast gases were exiting through the back side near my gas tank/rear wheel, well after that i replaced it with full stainless catback hoping this wil last a little longer

[Edgar]

Ive been hearing rumors about Apexi going under or what not but im not really sure on that situation.
We have great exhaust here at the shop we can hook you up for a great deal just send me a PM or email [email protected] and we will do our best to help you.

[hiyaboa]

im not really that annoyed that the exhaust rusted...im annoyed at how bad their customer sevice was..they didnt care ...not at all. They wouldnt even let me explain my situation fully...nothing... I have had to deal with many different companies over the years but ive never had an experience this poor.

another thing...if you look closely at the wording of their warranty terms some rust IS covered under the warranty.

"Warranties are limited to material and manufacturing defects only.
APEX Integration, Inc. will NOT honor warranty requests that involve
damages caused by the following:

• constant exposure to corrosive conditions, such as salt, mud, water"

this implies that as long as the product was not submitted to a "constant exposure" to these things... its covered...now as i see it..10,000 miles,no snow,very little rain, and garage kept does not fall under the category of "constant exposure". Now whether it was caused by a bad coating or a design that allowed water to pool up inside the back of the muffler, an area which is uncoated mild steal(i see this to be a pretty obvious design flaw that ive never seen in any other canister type japanese muffler(5zigen,greddy,hks) i dont know

[Edgar]

To be honest I dont think thier is anything you will be able to do if they already blew you off like that. I agree that is bad customer service in thier part but hey what can you do

[mrmephistopheles]

another thing...if you look closely at the wording of their warranty terms some rust IS covered under the warranty.

That'd be great if you weren't a full year PAST their warranty period.
Stop whining, seriously.
I know it sucks to have a good exhaust fail you after so short a time, but it's not necessarily the company's fault that it failed. It's illogical to be upset with them when you're the one asking them to honor a warranty that has lapsed.
You bought the item with the expressed understanding of its warranty period. If you weren't comfortable with that, you shouldn't have bought it.

I'll bet its because it was used so little that it failed sooner. Moisture probably accumulated inside the exhaust and found a low point and just ate away at the mild steel. If you'd driven it every day, you'd slow the process down.

[chmercer]

slow down on the post reply button meph, lol.

why not just take the exhaust to a welder and have them weld a piece of metal over the hole. easy.

[mrmephistopheles]

hahah eat my ass. Zilvia was going crazy-go-nuts.

[chmercer]

hah just playin around. yeah i figured somthing had gone haywire since it was down all day.

i cant edit my top post because im pinked, but i cant imagine it costing you more than 20 bucks to weld a metal square onto whereever you have a hole.

also why would you think it is bad customer service. cheap exhaust goes bad because its well outside the warranty. case closed.

[andrewmp6]

that sucks but some companys warrant only cover if they messed up making it and run out 2 weeks after you had it

[atom]

I also remember reading that since the apexi N1 angles up slightly it has a tendency to trap water in the canister so the rear/bottom of the canister is suspect to rust from the inside out.

Mine has rust on it too, I figure it'll eat it's way through in less than a year. Almost all decent exhausts are stainless nowadays so maybe it's time to upgrade.

[Ian]

When it comes down to it, if you buy a non stainless steel exhaust, you can't expect it to last longer than a year or two.


Next time get full stainless.

I'm rocking a used Bee*R exhaust that looks to be a solid 5 years old. I know the previous owner drove it in the snow for 2 winters in Virginia. (this means TONS of road salt all over it) No rust what so ever and my car is parked in the snow.

[FaLKoN240]

How many people do you think come to them with complaints of some kind of failure of the units they push? To them you're just another customer that wants a free handout. What do they owe you? Nothing. What do they get from you, if you got what you wanted? Nothing.

Don't expect so much and you won't be disappointed.

[BigVinnie]

$500 for an investment that goes down the shiter after 2years...
Doesn't sound like a well worth it investment.............
Not tryin to clown at all, but I think it is pretty funny how we discussed the rust issues in another forum, and for the price you would probably be better off with the ss autochrome for a little more than $200......

[projectRDM]

Exhausts rust, it's a fact of life. It sits under the car, gets debris flying all aginst it, traps water when it rains, and is exposed to noxious gases all the time. To expect them to warranty it after two years is stupid. I went through two Greddy units in three years, no complaints because after all they stipulated neither one was for road use, even though we know that's just covering them from being liable for breaking laws, and they served their purpose fine. Buy full stainless or fix the one you have.
Do you think if you bought a new OE exhaust they'd warranty it anywhere past a year? Why should anyone else be different?

[oO0OthinkO0Oo]

sorry to hear it man. i have apexi duals with no problems but i don't live in a rust prone area. but it seems that there is a "the world ows me" complex goin on here. they don't owe you anything, they probabily have to deal with hundreds possibily thousands of complaints just like yours. if your worried about losing money in an investment then you shouldn't spend the cash in the first place. would you feel differently if the phone opperator cried about your exhaust over the phone? sorry for being blunt about it :hahano:

[theicecreamdan]

$500 for an investment that goes down the shiter after 2years...
Doesn't sound like a well worth it investment
Its not an investment.

and since when is it bad customer service when a company is consistant with its policies? Im not sure how impressed I would be with apex'i as a company if you posted on here that they replaced a piece of mild steel that is constantly exposed to exhaust gases (very corrosive) and whatever elements you, some random schmoe (to them) say it was or wasn't exposed to.

• constant exposure to corrosive conditions, such as salt, mud, water"

"such as" could have been worded as "including but not limited to" and meant the same thing. constant exposure to corrosive conditions is the life of an exhaust system.

If you don't want a rusty exhaust, run an open header.

[samms95s14se]

That sucks and you spent all that money but atleast now you know just to get a cheapy exhaust like the SS Autochrome ones and if it last only a couple years then that was only like $9.00 a month for an exhaust.

[trsilvias13]

my friend works at a muffler shop. You are consider lucky to have a 1 year warrenty. My friend has a tail light warrenty, because once you leave and he dont see your tail lights no more, warrenty OVER.

[BigVinnie]

and since when is it bad customer service when a company is consistant with its policies? Im not sure how impressed I would be with apex'i as a company if you posted on here that they replaced a piece of mild steel that is constantly exposed to exhaust gases (very corrosive) and whatever elements you, some random schmoe (to them) say it was or wasn't exposed to.

• constant exposure to corrosive conditions, such as salt, mud, water"



APEXI is known for selling high quality and durable products though. If the exhaust pipe was aluminized,stainless steel, or even galvanized the exposure to those conditions wouldn't of happened the way it did.
I mean really, for $500 they could of atleast made a better product. What it takes to manufacture a product with a higher grade steel or even to aluminize it is literally pennies to the dollar. For $500 I think they should respect the consumers needs for product payment to quality.
To the FAG leaving me bad rep points, for a valid opinion of mine, FUCK you, you truely are a little dick homo.......

[anotherblusi]

I really don't understand why everyone is getting so worked up. He chose to buy a mild steel exhaust in a region more prone to rust. A simple rock chip to the exhaust pipe whether it be painted, aluminized, galvanized, or ceramic coated will expose bare metal. I mean who knows, maybe the day he got it he chipped it. In that case, its actually amazing it lasted 2 full years. Regardless rust damage to an exhaust is normal wear and tear. Its like complaining to a body shop after two years that your previously painted bumper is riddled with rock chips. You cannot prevent mother nature

I mean it sucks that your exhaust rusted up much quicker than you had anticipated, but you cannot blame apex'i for this. And I am sure everyone here would feel like crap too if their $500 exhaust rusted up in 2 years. But calling up apex'i for a new exhaust and looking for sympathy is just rediculous. Just take quick trip to the muffler shop and have them repair it for $20.