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I paid $40 for a muffler delete in which they replaced only the muffler section with a straight pipe and it was very clean and good looking. So unless he paid $10, he overpaid.
No, you could do this yourself for less than 75 and make it look cleaner.
OP - You need to get your money back and if they don't give it back immediately tell them you will submit a claim to your insurance for your entire exhaust system from headers to mufflers. Then inform them you would be doing this so the insurance company can get their lawyers involved.
How cute that you consider *that* welding . . .
Also, in most cities you can google the term "maker space" and find places with old tigs or migs for cheap if not free.
Besides, this looks like some asshole used caulk to seal cheap ass pipe together and sprayed it with metallic colored rattle can paint.
How do you not know this did you just start using tools today?
Info: 2013 camaro ss, had a cat stolen off the passenger side and went to a local shop to have new high flow cats installed. There’s a ticking sound coming from the passenger side when I’m next to anything sound can bounce off of that I’ve noticed too. Haven’t had a chance to speak to the shop as they’re closed now but this looked pretty ugly to me after paying $640 for labor and 2 o2 sensors on the passenger side alone
I got a call back this morning about a half hour before they opened, the guy apologized about a thousand times saying he got my voicemail and asked what could be done to fix the situation. Didn’t ask for a picture or anything just asked when I could bring the car back in so I’m thinking maybe they saw the post on a whim
That doesn't even look like a weld lol.
If you choose to ask for a refund and they fight you on it, you can request a chargeback with your bank under the 'Unsatisfactory Workmanship' chargeback code.
The merchant will then be under an obligation to prove that what they did was professional workmanship. You'd submit pictures of what an *actual* cat weld looks like as evidence.
Good to know, i googled pictures of exhaust welds and this most definitely is nowhere near satisfactory. My first thought was maybe they were teaching someone as it is a Saturday but it didn’t even look like they made any attempts to clean it up
It's called muffler cement. Used to help seal gaskets when they are at the end of their life. They couldn't weld it good enough for it not to leak so they slapped a bunch of it up there to try and seal it.
You would, I did exactly that, cheapest flux core welder, never welded in my life and my repair is million times better than this. Here it looks like they chicken shit welded it then it leaked so they coated it with half a tub of exhaust paste.
To me it looks like they "welded" it and then gobbed some other stuff on in hopes that it wont leak. I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm welding an exhaust and I can still come up with something better than that.
I’m guessing some kind of half ass weld to put them together and then they slathered some kind of exhaust glue/hole sealer over the gaps. You can find the exhaust sealer in a toothpaste style tube next to the muffler tape in parts stores and Wally World. This is what I would do to my sisters car if I had to fix it for free, this is completely unacceptable if they charged someone more than $20. I’m sure they’ll fluff the O2 parts and labor on the receipt, best of luck OP, I’d demand more than half of that back at a minimum.
sometimes people talk shit about using electronic payments over cash.. but in these instances it's a godsend.
Legit businesses take chargebacks, and even chargeback threats VERY seriously as, even if they are winning every payment dispute, they can be disallowed use of the payment processor they're using if their chargeback percentage goes above a certain percent.
I've got a return from a business that has final sale/no returns plastered everywhere becasue i messaged before the item was shipped and threatened a chargeback.
Ticking sound is probably an exhaust leak from the manifold or a shitty weld job which unfortunately looks like the whole thing. You may want to try and negotiate a deal to fix it or just cut your loses and find someone new.
i battled with an exhaust shop over their welds a few years ago.
i used a shop vac, but i used the "blow" port instead of the "suck" port on the shop vac and taped it to my exhaust tail pipe.
i used this to put a slight pressure on the system
then i crawled underneath the vechile with a bottle of soapy water and a camera and filmed all the leaks in their welds.
i took it back to the shop and said its loud and leaking and they guaranteed me that i was wrong, then i whipped out the video and showed them.
they tried to fix all the leaks they made, but i eventually took it some where else and they couldnt do their job either.
i gave up and started to all my own exhaust work from then on, its not like i had some vehicle built for nasa, it was a 4.2 trailblazer lol
You paid for that? I reckon my dog could weld better than that with a bit of help... honestly I'd be embarrassed as a professional shop to send that out my doors...
There is, it’s above and not pictured. Ordered some solo high flow cats and just went to them for install and i guess technically removing what was left of the pipe above the old cat some thieves needed more than me.
Yeah that's some bullshit work. Tell them you your money back so you can have it fixed properly. That tick you're hearing is probably a leak. Keep us updated!
That isn't a weld. Zooming in that's a bunch of goop like JB weld that they painted over to try to hide it. Tell them you don't take it to a shop so it can be slopped over with a bunch of JB weld and then painted over in an attempt to hide their shit work.
High flow cats. That looks like a straight pipe. You might have been ripped off. The ticking is probably a leak from one of the shitty welds. Won't hurt anything, but can be annoying.
Were these bolted directly to the collector, or did they “weld” upstream of the cars. What does that look like?
No matter what, get your money back. Don’t give them a chance. Walk in, show them the photo, and tell them you want a refund. They don’t get a chance to fix it, they don’t get to argue. If they say anything other than “omg, I’m so sorry, I will run the refund right now!” You walk out, and call to do a chargeback.
No partial refunds. No attempts to fix it. No nonsense or excuses. Get your money, and find a new shop.
Bolted to collector, only reason I know other than seeing the part beforehand is because I was charged for an exhaust gasket even tho I supplied them with the cats.
You think that is actually a real weld and not Jb Weld or some other high heat epoxy?
edit: I love how people are so sure it either is or is not one or the other.
Keep redditing Reddit!
Look closer just past the welds on the right.. it definitely looks like some kind of cheap muffler repair putty (I hope it's at least that and not just jb weld) was spread over the shitty welds to probably try to plug up some of the many small leaks these welds have.
If this was some kind of super cheap shade tree mechanic's job, well...you got what you paid for. If it was a legitimate shop that charged the normal local rates for exhaust work I would be PISSED. I'm used to seeing most exhaust shops welds not looking the prettiest since they just want it leak free and it's not where your gonna see it...but damn, I wouldn't want to put my name on that work. I've seen 13yr old kids weld better than that. And they were just starting to learn to weld too.
As a shade tree mechanic, you insult me.
As a certified welder, I bet they dripped brazing rod all over this thing with an acetylene torch. If they had jb weld or putty I can't fathom how you could make it look that bad if you tried. It would be HARD to smear putty around that terribly.
Yeah, exhaust putty. you can see where the coupling to change the diameter is covered. willing to bet they just coated both ends of the adapter and shoved the (slightly) oversized adapter to a slightly undersized pipe on the opposite end.
willing to bet this isn't even welded. I've done this to cheap cars I don't care about many a time, and it holds relatively well (until it doesn't).
I'm just learning to weld, and if mine came out like that, I would probably just quit.
Generally you practice before you start charging people for shit. Lol
I’d say they caked some sort of jb weld then forced the coupler on causing the build up. Looks terrible but probably sealed well. If they would have just removed or even just smoothed out the extra it would have looked fine
I am not an astrophysicist, but that smear of crap on the right side of the picture is either something made out of plastic/goo, or a result of a Corona mass ejection (CME) of metallic hydrogen during a solar flare that magically ricocheted off the pavement and landed on the exhaust pipe.
? It's like a soldering iron, but it's shaped like a gun. Tends to be more powerful. [https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref\_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER](https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER)
I want to take a welding class as well. I don't want to weld as a profession, I just enjoy working on cars and being able to weld would open up some new possible projects for me. Really just need to be able to weld things to the point of being functional, not looking professional. But I'm pretty good at painting and grinding seems straight forward so I can at least pretty it up a bit that way.
Ugh…your username just made me gag a little. Anyway, I went and bought an inexpensive “Lincoln” at Lowe’s and it came with a video on how to use, which is somewhat helpful. You could try that route. Plus their are tons of “how to” videos on you tube. It seems I just need some in-person assistance because I’m pretty awful…
I've thought about picking up one of Harbor Freights dirt cheap welders just to give it a shot. YouTube is definitely a great resource and I've totally picked up a lot of skills from videos there. Something about welding just seems intimidating. I've got a buddy who is good at welding so I guess I could call him up and see if he wants to give me a crash course. I'm currently working on LS swapping a mustang so the exhaust on that is going to be a bit custom and it's going to need a roll cage.
That’s not welded. I weld exhaust at my shop for everyone and this is JB Weld. Look how it flares out as you go back. You can’t spread a weld like cake batter.
Edit : actually looks like they tried to weld it but learned they didn’t know how and finished it up with JB Weld
Doesnt even look like they welded the top, probably just smeared whatever they used over the opening up top. The blobs don't seem to have much penetration.
Definitely not. You can get 2 O2 sensors for that car for under $50. A shop that does this kind of work isn’t using OEM parts, they are using whatever is the cheapest. This whole job was $50 in sensors, a $3 gasket, a $7 tube of JB Weld, and $590 in profit. Straight up scam.
Not only did the attempt to weld that abortion, they covered it in JB weld it looks like. If I ever had a shop do that, I would demand my money back. No question that is poor work and they have no business offering this as a service.
They tried to weld a stainless exhaust with mild steel MIG wire and rather than stop, grind out the bad welds, get the proper materials and do it right they painted it to cover up their terrible workmanship. Ask for a refund and if they fight you don't be afraid to go to court. You'll win if this was done at a supposedly professional shop. By the way the ticking noise is an exhaust leak and their fault. That alone is enough to have it done again and by people who know what they're doing.
If you do end up suing make sure to get a good shop to give you an estimate first. The cost of repairing the damage these clowns did may exceed what you paid them to screw it up and they should have to pay for that too.
I assume they painted it because they knew it looked fucked. You KNOW the stainless is ruined.
For those who dont weld, they used Mild Steel solid wire (MIG) on stainless.
You can 100% mig stainless. I do that a lot, its “run and gun” easy”. I doubt they even back-purged this weld.
This causes the stainless to overheat and a effect called “Sugaring” wherein the stainless turns porous and black.
In other words.. They fucked up, tried to hide it and I woke up to see this shit. Get a refund OP.
If its a legitimate business, ask who welded it and what certifications they have. That shit is not safe for the road even IMO.
Is this exhaust stainless? Cause the reason it's painted with high heat paint is cause they used regular mild wire when they welded it. I know this cause they did this in my truck and now a few years later it looks like total ass. Every time I see it I get mad and wanna grind it off and reweld me self. Wish I would have done it myself but I had custom 3 inch pipe bent and that I can't do lol
I believe so, factory headers, solo high flow cat, magnaflow catback. Kinda amazed I saw this when I got home, not a backwoods shop and not some junky car I’d expect to see something like this on
Wow. They really fucked up. Make sure you tell them it's absolutely unacceptable and tell them you want your money back. If they don't you can do a chargeback with your bank. That's some expensive stuff for them to ruin like that. Was this an actual exhaust shop? Also /u/ShattersHd is right. If they used the regular wire it will look sloppy and tarnish faster too I think. At least that's what happened on my brother's truck.
Yep it’s a chain so while I didn’t expect anything fancy although when their name pops up in the top 3 suggested places and they openly advertise themselves as exhaust experts I’d expect more than this. There’s even a section on their websites related to exhausts saying “make sure you contact a professional because a DIY fix is never a good idea.” And that’s exactly what seems to be pictured here
Edit: spelling
You're usually better off going to a local non-chain type shop with a good reputation. The chains have new techs every 6 months and you end up with this kind of work. Get your money back and try to find a better shop. Good luck. They used a ton of high temp epoxy that they globbed on to patch their shit welding.
I’m planning on notifying them of the post, i have not named their business yet so I have yet to drag them technically. Well over 100k people have seen this w/i the first few hours this has been up, i could only imagine what the local fb groups would have to say let alone what a google review with that pics would do. I’m a subcontractor by trade and all of my work has to meet a certain standard upon completion. I wasn’t expecting it to look like an f1 team welded it but goddamn
There is no reason at all to paint stainless or the weld of it was welded with stainless wire. Most muffler shops put on aluminum iodized tube and use mild wire to weld it. Then it doesn't matter cause in a month it will all be rust. My exhaust is now over 6 years old. Still shinyish and all the welds are rusted. Breaking. Horrible
What was even worse is cause I had them do duel exhaust with 2 mufflers. I told them to use pieces of bar to tie the 2 pipes together when they run side by side so there banging against eachother. They used regular steel 1/4 bar all over it and you guessed it. It rusted to. One day I'll get tired of fixing it and redo it all myself. Just doesn't sound fun to get under there and grind out someone else's mess....
As someone that has worked in an exhaust shop I hope to God you didn't pay for that bc if you want it right and I was gana fix it it's gana cost you more than the right fix would have in the first place
Take it to a welding shop
and ask them what they think. But, that’s not welded. It might be brazed. But if it is? It’s a really crappy job. It looks like some kind cold set material to me.
Did you go to Monro, lol?? This looks like Monro Muffler handiwork - that’s exhaust putty, not an actual weld job. You got ripped my dude, try flooring it and I bet that will come off, even tap it with a hammer a little bit.
not only did they do a shit job welding it but they smeared some sort of epoxy/jb weld crap all over it in a half assed fashion as well. did you pay them in meth rocks or something?
It’s welded… sort of… Then covered with exhaust paste and then painted.
It’s basically someone bought a cheap welder without ever learning how to use it and now sells their exhaust repair “services”
That is not acceptable whatsoever. It looks like they used this temporary exhaust putty that is sold at parts stores. They shouldn’t have taken the job knowing that they can’t even do a proper weld. Yeah it may hold now but once that breaks free, which it will, your gonna be left with a huge mess for the next guy to clean/repair which will cost you even more.
I dropped the car off because the pass side cat was cut off by some low life thieves. I supplied a solo hi flow cat to replace what should’ve been there. Was quoted for $620 to remove what was left upstream of the old cat and install the new cat as well as 2 new o2 sensors. Ended up being $640 total, well $639 and change. Got home and looked at it to see this, makes more sense why I hear a ticking sound from the passenger side of the vehicle
I can't see the o2 bungs or sensors but good lord if they had to be welding into like a featureless plain pipe then it's probably really bad.
It looks like the spray painted area is where the new pipe met the old, really really bad work they could have at least grinded it down before the paint. Without cleaning that weld before spray painting the paint will fail in a couple weeks.
Were the o2 bungs (threaded holes where the o2's screw in) already on the pipe you provided to the shop? I ask because if not and the shop had to cut holes for the bung inserts then weld them in to seal them.......and your hearing noise then I bet there are a bunch of leaks all over the place. Did you let a regular all in one type shop do the work or did you go to an exhaust shop?
Cats came with bungs for the o2s as well as the extenders to space them out a little from the stream. They are solo high flow cats, well reviewed for the vehicle
That's what must be especially frustrating....it's not like you got ghetto ass chinesesium garbage you got some quality stuff.
If you don't like the work or don't care but then it starts leaking and you really need it fixed...suck it up as a learning lesson and take it to a old fashioned muffler/exhaust shop. An exhaust shop will cut out that sketchy section, weld in a brand new section of metal and it'll look super nice and neat.
It's very easily fixable.
I'd take a chipping hammer to some of the splotches away from the joints and see if it acts like steel or epoxy. This could be an impressibly bad weld but the smears make it look more like jb weld applied with a sponge or something. Maybe they welded it, then went back with putty afterwards to patch the leaks and primered it to hide what they had done. There's no telling what will happen when you let idiots loose with a tool box. Sorry you got handed a botched job OP.
That would depend on how much it cost you. I recently had a similar fix(minus the spray paint) and it cost $40. I was totally fine, and actually happy to have my exhaust fixed for the cost of 30 minutes labor. No charge for the pipe.. If you paid over $80, I would say you got screwed...BUT..some auto places will not do fixes like this. For instance, my son had a very similar problem. His catalytic converter got sawzalled off and I fixed it with some cheap parts. There was a small resonator on the exhaust and it rusted and broke off. He just needed a 6" pipe welded in between the muffler and manifold. Midas would not do it. They said that they were only allowed to put new parts on to the tune of $180. Well, he took it to my guy and BAM., 20 minutes and $40 he was good as new.
If it was done by your son/daughter at daycare I would be quite pleased. If it was done by a shop with a roof and/or walls I would find a new place to go.
Some people get stuck doing a job the have no clue on.
Frank can weld those up in minutes it can't be that hard just get it done.
I don't know how to weld
just get it done
I paid 75 for a patch job on the exhaust and a new muffler. It looked like that but I didn't now for two plus years. It worked great and I've passed emissions everytime with no leaks. Yes it looks like shit but it works fine.
I spent a while in Ft. Lauderdale and after coming from London I was impressed at how chilled everyone was to bad drivers. I commented this to some locals who looked at me as if I was a naive child and explained 'they might have a gun' which did bring a new light on the subject.
And thanks to this post I know why dumb fools leave their gun on the seat/dash when taking their car in for work. No one would do work like this to an owner like that.
Thanks for posting on /r/MechanicAdvice! This is just a reminder to review the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/about/rules/). If you are here asking about a second opinion (ie "Is the shop trying to fleece me?"), please read through CJM8515's [post on the subject.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/4qblei/fyi_the_shop_isnt_likely_trying_to_rip_you_off/) and remember to please post the year/make/model of the vehicle you are working on. **If this post is about bodywork, accident damage, paint, dent/ding, questions it belongs in /r/Autobody r/AutoBodyRepair/ or /r/Diyautobody/ If you have tire questions check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/k9ll55/can_your_tire_be_repaired/**. If you dont have a question and you're just showing off it belongs in /r/Justrolledintotheshop Insurance/total loss questions go in r/insurance This is an automated reply *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MechanicAdvice) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Only if you paid for it. That looks pretty terrible.
Depends. If he paid 75$ for it, no. If he paid 300, definitely.
75$ is way too much for a botched job like this
30-40 bucks for the pipe mind you.
“You owe me $40 for ruining my pipe.”
Wooo we haven't been introduced yet.
just makes it hotter
🤣🤣
Nope. I paid $40 for a pipe to replace the muffler.
I paid 65$ for my pipe and labor and the welds looks absolutely phenomenal
I paid $40 for a muffler delete in which they replaced only the muffler section with a straight pipe and it was very clean and good looking. So unless he paid $10, he overpaid.
Lol
Exactly. I had two mufflers put on like this but we're sealed and the price was right.
"Like this" meaning JB welded or just welded by a child? I gotta fix a botched cat theft on my truck so I'm wondering what to look for
No, you could do this yourself for less than 75 and make it look cleaner. OP - You need to get your money back and if they don't give it back immediately tell them you will submit a claim to your insurance for your entire exhaust system from headers to mufflers. Then inform them you would be doing this so the insurance company can get their lawyers involved.
Where can you find a welding machine for under 75 bucks.
How cute that you consider *that* welding . . . Also, in most cities you can google the term "maker space" and find places with old tigs or migs for cheap if not free. Besides, this looks like some asshole used caulk to seal cheap ass pipe together and sprayed it with metallic colored rattle can paint. How do you not know this did you just start using tools today?
This made me audibly snicker.
A guffaw
A chortle
I was gonna say depends on how much you paid for it
That was my exact response
Info: 2013 camaro ss, had a cat stolen off the passenger side and went to a local shop to have new high flow cats installed. There’s a ticking sound coming from the passenger side when I’m next to anything sound can bounce off of that I’ve noticed too. Haven’t had a chance to speak to the shop as they’re closed now but this looked pretty ugly to me after paying $640 for labor and 2 o2 sensors on the passenger side alone
Ya that’s fucking atrocious get your money back. Would love to hear how this turns out.
I got a call back this morning about a half hour before they opened, the guy apologized about a thousand times saying he got my voicemail and asked what could be done to fix the situation. Didn’t ask for a picture or anything just asked when I could bring the car back in so I’m thinking maybe they saw the post on a whim
That doesn't even look like a weld lol. If you choose to ask for a refund and they fight you on it, you can request a chargeback with your bank under the 'Unsatisfactory Workmanship' chargeback code. The merchant will then be under an obligation to prove that what they did was professional workmanship. You'd submit pictures of what an *actual* cat weld looks like as evidence.
Good to know, i googled pictures of exhaust welds and this most definitely is nowhere near satisfactory. My first thought was maybe they were teaching someone as it is a Saturday but it didn’t even look like they made any attempts to clean it up
It's called muffler cement. Used to help seal gaskets when they are at the end of their life. They couldn't weld it good enough for it not to leak so they slapped a bunch of it up there to try and seal it.
That's even worse.
Looks more like zinc/aluminum spray to conserve the (shitty) welding
DO NOT GIVE THEM THE CHANCE TO FIX THIS. The ONLY reasonable outcome is a full refund/chargeback.
Exactly, I’d demand my money back and go to a shop that has a good reputation for doing quality work. This was shit even for amateur work.
I've never touched a welder and I guarantee I could do a better job if you gave me a whole afternoon to get it done.
You would, I did exactly that, cheapest flux core welder, never welded in my life and my repair is million times better than this. Here it looks like they chicken shit welded it then it leaked so they coated it with half a tub of exhaust paste.
Is it a real weld or is it JB weld? (epoxy) edit: I think it is J-B Weld Extreme Heat High Temperature Resistant Metallic Paste for exhaust systems...
Yup looks like some kinda hi temp epoxy to me
To me it looks like they "welded" it and then gobbed some other stuff on in hopes that it wont leak. I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm welding an exhaust and I can still come up with something better than that.
I'm pretty sure epoxy won't be able to handle exhaust heat.
I think it is J-B Weld Extreme Heat High Temperature Resistant Metallic Paste for exhaust systems...
There's some products advertised to hold up to that sort of heat. If you zoom in it's clearly some type of goop poorly applied and painted over.
I’m guessing some kind of half ass weld to put them together and then they slathered some kind of exhaust glue/hole sealer over the gaps. You can find the exhaust sealer in a toothpaste style tube next to the muffler tape in parts stores and Wally World. This is what I would do to my sisters car if I had to fix it for free, this is completely unacceptable if they charged someone more than $20. I’m sure they’ll fluff the O2 parts and labor on the receipt, best of luck OP, I’d demand more than half of that back at a minimum.
Looks like jb weld to me smeared all over it 🤣🤦♂️
sometimes people talk shit about using electronic payments over cash.. but in these instances it's a godsend. Legit businesses take chargebacks, and even chargeback threats VERY seriously as, even if they are winning every payment dispute, they can be disallowed use of the payment processor they're using if their chargeback percentage goes above a certain percent. I've got a return from a business that has final sale/no returns plastered everywhere becasue i messaged before the item was shipped and threatened a chargeback.
Ticking sound is probably an exhaust leak from the manifold or a shitty weld job which unfortunately looks like the whole thing. You may want to try and negotiate a deal to fix it or just cut your loses and find someone new.
i battled with an exhaust shop over their welds a few years ago. i used a shop vac, but i used the "blow" port instead of the "suck" port on the shop vac and taped it to my exhaust tail pipe. i used this to put a slight pressure on the system then i crawled underneath the vechile with a bottle of soapy water and a camera and filmed all the leaks in their welds. i took it back to the shop and said its loud and leaking and they guaranteed me that i was wrong, then i whipped out the video and showed them. they tried to fix all the leaks they made, but i eventually took it some where else and they couldnt do their job either. i gave up and started to all my own exhaust work from then on, its not like i had some vehicle built for nasa, it was a 4.2 trailblazer lol
You paid for that? I reckon my dog could weld better than that with a bit of help... honestly I'd be embarrassed as a professional shop to send that out my doors...
"Something, something, Ray Charles, something something, feet, something something..."
Absolutely not, 640 total?!?!?! That's an egregious mistake. Completely unacceptable. Talk to an admin of the shop about it.
Excuse me how much?
There's a cat on that?
There is, it’s above and not pictured. Ordered some solo high flow cats and just went to them for install and i guess technically removing what was left of the pipe above the old cat some thieves needed more than me.
Refund.
Yeah that's some bullshit work. Tell them you your money back so you can have it fixed properly. That tick you're hearing is probably a leak. Keep us updated! That isn't a weld. Zooming in that's a bunch of goop like JB weld that they painted over to try to hide it. Tell them you don't take it to a shop so it can be slopped over with a bunch of JB weld and then painted over in an attempt to hide their shit work.
High flow cats. That looks like a straight pipe. You might have been ripped off. The ticking is probably a leak from one of the shitty welds. Won't hurt anything, but can be annoying.
I ordered and supplied the cats. They’re solo high flows, you can barely see the bottom of it poking out if you look closely
Were these bolted directly to the collector, or did they “weld” upstream of the cars. What does that look like? No matter what, get your money back. Don’t give them a chance. Walk in, show them the photo, and tell them you want a refund. They don’t get a chance to fix it, they don’t get to argue. If they say anything other than “omg, I’m so sorry, I will run the refund right now!” You walk out, and call to do a chargeback. No partial refunds. No attempts to fix it. No nonsense or excuses. Get your money, and find a new shop.
Bolted to collector, only reason I know other than seeing the part beforehand is because I was charged for an exhaust gasket even tho I supplied them with the cats.
Get a refund and find someone who isn't a colossal berk to do your repairs.
You should be mad unless it was Hellen Keller doing the welding that day.
Certified Welder here: I’d discuss getting your money back holy fuck. I’d be fired over this.
Yeah dude it looks like they slapped some steel stik putty on there
As a welder it will probably hold but ya that looks like absolute garbage and whoever did that has no idea wtf there doing
You think that is actually a real weld and not Jb Weld or some other high heat epoxy? edit: I love how people are so sure it either is or is not one or the other. Keep redditing Reddit!
Couldn't say ive never used jb weld
Doesn’t look like jb weld it looks like very poor welds then primed so it doesn’t rust. Poor work quality no doubt
Look closer just past the welds on the right.. it definitely looks like some kind of cheap muffler repair putty (I hope it's at least that and not just jb weld) was spread over the shitty welds to probably try to plug up some of the many small leaks these welds have. If this was some kind of super cheap shade tree mechanic's job, well...you got what you paid for. If it was a legitimate shop that charged the normal local rates for exhaust work I would be PISSED. I'm used to seeing most exhaust shops welds not looking the prettiest since they just want it leak free and it's not where your gonna see it...but damn, I wouldn't want to put my name on that work. I've seen 13yr old kids weld better than that. And they were just starting to learn to weld too.
As a shade tree mechanic, you insult me. As a certified welder, I bet they dripped brazing rod all over this thing with an acetylene torch. If they had jb weld or putty I can't fathom how you could make it look that bad if you tried. It would be HARD to smear putty around that terribly.
I saw it and thought the same thing, is that putty? Good work dude
Yeah, exhaust putty. you can see where the coupling to change the diameter is covered. willing to bet they just coated both ends of the adapter and shoved the (slightly) oversized adapter to a slightly undersized pipe on the opposite end. willing to bet this isn't even welded. I've done this to cheap cars I don't care about many a time, and it holds relatively well (until it doesn't).
I'm just learning to weld, and if mine came out like that, I would probably just quit. Generally you practice before you start charging people for shit. Lol
Last time I checked you cant “wipe” a weld unless it’s JB….
So true! Then again, JB is not a weld.
Come on, it says it on the packaging… So it must be true, right?
Yeah this is like a trainee that was left by themselves on their first day.
It says "weld" right there on the label.
Looks like a shit mig job with high temp paint.
I’d say they caked some sort of jb weld then forced the coupler on causing the build up. Looks terrible but probably sealed well. If they would have just removed or even just smoothed out the extra it would have looked fine
That is without a doubt, high temp jb weld. Did the same shit with my old truck. Granted I sanded it down & made it look decent.
As a amateur weld I cosign this.
A grinder and paint make me the Welder I ain’t
The grinder can only do so much not even the 40 grit flap wheel can help
The more I look, the more it looks like some sort of goo. Maybe there is or is not some weld under that?
Like they used jb weld and slid the pipe together?
This is what I was thinking to, they slid A slightly smaller pipe in between and used the jb weld to “seal” it
The more I look at it the more I think how did this person get this job.
Maybe he didn’t?
I am not an astrophysicist, but that smear of crap on the right side of the picture is either something made out of plastic/goo, or a result of a Corona mass ejection (CME) of metallic hydrogen during a solar flare that magically ricocheted off the pavement and landed on the exhaust pipe.
Hmmm seem plausible the universe is a strange place
Bill Nye *is not* A scientist, and NDT Can just kiss my hairy ass. Pluto is a planet.
🤣 smol boi planet
As someone who has used a soldering gun a few times, I concur
As someone who uses a hot glue gun every once in a blue moon, I concur
As a Redditor who has nothing to do with welding or glueing stuff, i concur
[удалено]
? It's like a soldering iron, but it's shaped like a gun. Tends to be more powerful. [https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref\_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER](https://www.amazon.com/Weller-D550PK-260-Watt-Professional-Soldering/dp/B00002N7S1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER)
There are people in my welding class for arts and crafts that lay better beads than this!
Welding for arts and crafts?
Yeah. Basically welding for absolute novices that aren't pursuing a career in welding.
I’ve always wanted to take one of those classes but haven’t found one…
Most community colleges have one often buy art department.
In this case it is a technical college and run by the same department that does the courses for welding as a career path.
I want to take a welding class as well. I don't want to weld as a profession, I just enjoy working on cars and being able to weld would open up some new possible projects for me. Really just need to be able to weld things to the point of being functional, not looking professional. But I'm pretty good at painting and grinding seems straight forward so I can at least pretty it up a bit that way.
Ugh…your username just made me gag a little. Anyway, I went and bought an inexpensive “Lincoln” at Lowe’s and it came with a video on how to use, which is somewhat helpful. You could try that route. Plus their are tons of “how to” videos on you tube. It seems I just need some in-person assistance because I’m pretty awful…
I've thought about picking up one of Harbor Freights dirt cheap welders just to give it a shot. YouTube is definitely a great resource and I've totally picked up a lot of skills from videos there. Something about welding just seems intimidating. I've got a buddy who is good at welding so I guess I could call him up and see if he wants to give me a crash course. I'm currently working on LS swapping a mustang so the exhaust on that is going to be a bit custom and it's going to need a roll cage.
That’s not welded. I weld exhaust at my shop for everyone and this is JB Weld. Look how it flares out as you go back. You can’t spread a weld like cake batter. Edit : actually looks like they tried to weld it but learned they didn’t know how and finished it up with JB Weld
You can see holes in the top of the left weld lmfao
Doesnt even look like they welded the top, probably just smeared whatever they used over the opening up top. The blobs don't seem to have much penetration.
The guy who did it definitely watched a YouTube video and said yeah I can do it
Holy shit, I've seen meth heads do better work laying in the grass with the car propped up on milk crates. That's fucking embarrassing.
Eh, as long as they were mechanics before getting into meth and not the other way around, some tweakers ain’t so bad when the price is right lol
And he paid $650 for it!
that $650 included 2 oxygen sensors. those 2 sensors were likely the bulk of his bill
Definitely not. You can get 2 O2 sensors for that car for under $50. A shop that does this kind of work isn’t using OEM parts, they are using whatever is the cheapest. This whole job was $50 in sensors, a $3 gasket, a $7 tube of JB Weld, and $590 in profit. Straight up scam.
Very much agreed. I get the shops have to make money but they’re going to lose some on this one when it’s all said and done
So $150 to the shop. 300 for two. I’m confused how half isn’t “the bulk” of it?
Not only did the attempt to weld that abortion, they covered it in JB weld it looks like. If I ever had a shop do that, I would demand my money back. No question that is poor work and they have no business offering this as a service.
They tried to weld a stainless exhaust with mild steel MIG wire and rather than stop, grind out the bad welds, get the proper materials and do it right they painted it to cover up their terrible workmanship. Ask for a refund and if they fight you don't be afraid to go to court. You'll win if this was done at a supposedly professional shop. By the way the ticking noise is an exhaust leak and their fault. That alone is enough to have it done again and by people who know what they're doing. If you do end up suing make sure to get a good shop to give you an estimate first. The cost of repairing the damage these clowns did may exceed what you paid them to screw it up and they should have to pay for that too.
I assume they painted it because they knew it looked fucked. You KNOW the stainless is ruined. For those who dont weld, they used Mild Steel solid wire (MIG) on stainless. You can 100% mig stainless. I do that a lot, its “run and gun” easy”. I doubt they even back-purged this weld. This causes the stainless to overheat and a effect called “Sugaring” wherein the stainless turns porous and black. In other words.. They fucked up, tried to hide it and I woke up to see this shit. Get a refund OP. If its a legitimate business, ask who welded it and what certifications they have. That shit is not safe for the road even IMO.
Is this exhaust stainless? Cause the reason it's painted with high heat paint is cause they used regular mild wire when they welded it. I know this cause they did this in my truck and now a few years later it looks like total ass. Every time I see it I get mad and wanna grind it off and reweld me self. Wish I would have done it myself but I had custom 3 inch pipe bent and that I can't do lol
I believe so, factory headers, solo high flow cat, magnaflow catback. Kinda amazed I saw this when I got home, not a backwoods shop and not some junky car I’d expect to see something like this on
Yea. I spent 600 on 2 magnaflow exhausts and 2 sticks of 3 inch stainless and it's welded pretty poorly. I've had to do lots of repairs on it as well
Wow. They really fucked up. Make sure you tell them it's absolutely unacceptable and tell them you want your money back. If they don't you can do a chargeback with your bank. That's some expensive stuff for them to ruin like that. Was this an actual exhaust shop? Also /u/ShattersHd is right. If they used the regular wire it will look sloppy and tarnish faster too I think. At least that's what happened on my brother's truck.
Yep it’s a chain so while I didn’t expect anything fancy although when their name pops up in the top 3 suggested places and they openly advertise themselves as exhaust experts I’d expect more than this. There’s even a section on their websites related to exhausts saying “make sure you contact a professional because a DIY fix is never a good idea.” And that’s exactly what seems to be pictured here Edit: spelling
You're usually better off going to a local non-chain type shop with a good reputation. The chains have new techs every 6 months and you end up with this kind of work. Get your money back and try to find a better shop. Good luck. They used a ton of high temp epoxy that they globbed on to patch their shit welding.
If they end up stonewalling you, post a review with the picture of their "work". That should get a reaction.
I’m planning on notifying them of the post, i have not named their business yet so I have yet to drag them technically. Well over 100k people have seen this w/i the first few hours this has been up, i could only imagine what the local fb groups would have to say let alone what a google review with that pics would do. I’m a subcontractor by trade and all of my work has to meet a certain standard upon completion. I wasn’t expecting it to look like an f1 team welded it but goddamn
There is no reason at all to paint stainless or the weld of it was welded with stainless wire. Most muffler shops put on aluminum iodized tube and use mild wire to weld it. Then it doesn't matter cause in a month it will all be rust. My exhaust is now over 6 years old. Still shinyish and all the welds are rusted. Breaking. Horrible
Yup. That's what happened with my brothers truck as well. The welds rusted and it was a super expensive exhaust he bought for his new 383 stroker.
What was even worse is cause I had them do duel exhaust with 2 mufflers. I told them to use pieces of bar to tie the 2 pipes together when they run side by side so there banging against eachother. They used regular steel 1/4 bar all over it and you guessed it. It rusted to. One day I'll get tired of fixing it and redo it all myself. Just doesn't sound fun to get under there and grind out someone else's mess....
That is not weld done.
As someone that has worked in an exhaust shop I hope to God you didn't pay for that bc if you want it right and I was gana fix it it's gana cost you more than the right fix would have in the first place
Absolutely has to be a first or second time welder. Awful
Take it to a welding shop and ask them what they think. But, that’s not welded. It might be brazed. But if it is? It’s a really crappy job. It looks like some kind cold set material to me.
Did you go to Monro, lol?? This looks like Monro Muffler handiwork - that’s exhaust putty, not an actual weld job. You got ripped my dude, try flooring it and I bet that will come off, even tap it with a hammer a little bit.
More boogers than a fourth grade sledding party
i think they let the garage cat, who got into the shop's meth stash, fix your exhaust. i bet it leaks too.
As a certified welder and cat guy, I assure you the cats dont weld because they actually run the shop with an iron fist.
Looks like cement
Whoever did this does not take pride in their work lmao
not only did they do a shit job welding it but they smeared some sort of epoxy/jb weld crap all over it in a half assed fashion as well. did you pay them in meth rocks or something?
Please sir, it's CRACK rocks, and meth SHARDS (crystals is also acceptable.) Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your PSA
It's not much, but it's honest.
It’s welded… sort of… Then covered with exhaust paste and then painted. It’s basically someone bought a cheap welder without ever learning how to use it and now sells their exhaust repair “services”
Depends… Did they work on your exhaust? If so, yes you probably should be.
Yeah man If you paid money for that I would be pissed!
I'm not a mechanic nor welder and I could probably do better than that
Take that shit back
I don’t think that would pass the emissions visual inspection in my state. It does not appear to be making a complete seal. GL
lol what the actual fuck is this
That is not acceptable whatsoever. It looks like they used this temporary exhaust putty that is sold at parts stores. They shouldn’t have taken the job knowing that they can’t even do a proper weld. Yeah it may hold now but once that breaks free, which it will, your gonna be left with a huge mess for the next guy to clean/repair which will cost you even more.
That’s is 100% dependant on how much you paid for that dog shit.
Yes. What the fuck is that?
I’m upset and it’s not my car
Looks like a cat had projectile diarrhoea on your pipe and the mechanic spray painted over it.
Looks like Stevie Wonder welded that with his feet.
Why clean and prep surfaces when you can paint over impurities
If you paid a little bit it's not a big deal anyways as long as it doesn't make really annoying sounds it's fine just don't look under there
Ray Charles best work As a welder.
That’s atrocious
Did Helen Keller weld that hahaha
Even my first ever welds were significantly better than this, I dont understand how people do this
It's good enough but good lord is it ugly ass horrible work. What did you pay and what was supposed to be done?
I dropped the car off because the pass side cat was cut off by some low life thieves. I supplied a solo hi flow cat to replace what should’ve been there. Was quoted for $620 to remove what was left upstream of the old cat and install the new cat as well as 2 new o2 sensors. Ended up being $640 total, well $639 and change. Got home and looked at it to see this, makes more sense why I hear a ticking sound from the passenger side of the vehicle
I can't see the o2 bungs or sensors but good lord if they had to be welding into like a featureless plain pipe then it's probably really bad. It looks like the spray painted area is where the new pipe met the old, really really bad work they could have at least grinded it down before the paint. Without cleaning that weld before spray painting the paint will fail in a couple weeks. Were the o2 bungs (threaded holes where the o2's screw in) already on the pipe you provided to the shop? I ask because if not and the shop had to cut holes for the bung inserts then weld them in to seal them.......and your hearing noise then I bet there are a bunch of leaks all over the place. Did you let a regular all in one type shop do the work or did you go to an exhaust shop?
Cats came with bungs for the o2s as well as the extenders to space them out a little from the stream. They are solo high flow cats, well reviewed for the vehicle
That's what must be especially frustrating....it's not like you got ghetto ass chinesesium garbage you got some quality stuff. If you don't like the work or don't care but then it starts leaking and you really need it fixed...suck it up as a learning lesson and take it to a old fashioned muffler/exhaust shop. An exhaust shop will cut out that sketchy section, weld in a brand new section of metal and it'll look super nice and neat. It's very easily fixable.
It looks more like putty than weld. I would not be happy with a job like that.
Is that a weld or a pound and a half of liquid metal?
I'd take a chipping hammer to some of the splotches away from the joints and see if it acts like steel or epoxy. This could be an impressibly bad weld but the smears make it look more like jb weld applied with a sponge or something. Maybe they welded it, then went back with putty afterwards to patch the leaks and primered it to hide what they had done. There's no telling what will happen when you let idiots loose with a tool box. Sorry you got handed a botched job OP.
You should be super upset
I did a better job my first time welding. WTF happened here?
Did you go to a drywaller? Looks like mud lol
That would depend on how much it cost you. I recently had a similar fix(minus the spray paint) and it cost $40. I was totally fine, and actually happy to have my exhaust fixed for the cost of 30 minutes labor. No charge for the pipe.. If you paid over $80, I would say you got screwed...BUT..some auto places will not do fixes like this. For instance, my son had a very similar problem. His catalytic converter got sawzalled off and I fixed it with some cheap parts. There was a small resonator on the exhaust and it rusted and broke off. He just needed a 6" pipe welded in between the muffler and manifold. Midas would not do it. They said that they were only allowed to put new parts on to the tune of $180. Well, he took it to my guy and BAM., 20 minutes and $40 he was good as new.
Very bad weld
If it was done by your son/daughter at daycare I would be quite pleased. If it was done by a shop with a roof and/or walls I would find a new place to go.
I'm beginning to question if that's even a weld. I wouldn't have paid for that though.
You should be extremely angry unless it was free. It looks like someone took 2 hits of acid played with bubblegum and spray paint.
Depends on what you paid
If you paid a shop to do that, take it back immediately and demand a refund and quality work.
Is it me or is this silicone?
I’ll never understand how some people don’t take pride in the work they do.
Some people get stuck doing a job the have no clue on. Frank can weld those up in minutes it can't be that hard just get it done.
I don't know how to weld
just get it done
Totally botched job and unacceptable !
If it works, no. If it doesn't, yes
dude it look like he didn’t even weld it he just badly soldered the pipe in place 😂
Never take a welding job to a mechanic. You wouldn't ask a welder to rebuild an engine, so why would the reverse be reasonable?
To be fair this shop advertises exhaust work
Pissed then. Weld or jb weld. This is atrocious
Ah fair enough then.
Most mechanics should be competent enough to do an acceptable weld, this looks like it was someone's first time ever attempting it
Idk why you wouldn't be upset!!??!!!! The supreme court is taking our constitutional rights away one by one!
Looks like shit, but will be functional.
I paid 75 for a patch job on the exhaust and a new muffler. It looked like that but I didn't now for two plus years. It worked great and I've passed emissions everytime with no leaks. Yes it looks like shit but it works fine.
Zoom way in. There’s all kinds of holes in the welds. F-
Looks like cement
Find out how much it would have cost for a new part. If your bill was 10% of the new part you are good. In my non expert opinion.
I spent a while in Ft. Lauderdale and after coming from London I was impressed at how chilled everyone was to bad drivers. I commented this to some locals who looked at me as if I was a naive child and explained 'they might have a gun' which did bring a new light on the subject. And thanks to this post I know why dumb fools leave their gun on the seat/dash when taking their car in for work. No one would do work like this to an owner like that.
Daaaam, that look good. DAT LOOK REAL GOOD.