-
Welcome to our new sponsor Lecatona, a brand dedicated to enhancing performance for VAG group sports cars, including SEAT, Audi, Volkswagen and Škoda. Specializing in High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP) upgrades.
People have had issues with
Fit of Lambda Probes - thus causing false fueling messages to ECU (Lean / Rich etc)
Colour of stainless going Gold / Biscuit colour on 'cheaper' units
Downpipe design needed development on blue flame as early units had failures.
For my money you are buying the exhaust for looks and sound only on the 1.8T unless your looking at stage 2+ or big turbo conversions.....so unless you want improvement to sound or looks it's one of the final things I would modify.....still each to their own. For me a £1,000 miltek system for +5bhp and better spool didn;t = good value for money......hence why I spent my £1,000 on suspension mod's
Fit of Lambda Probes - thus causing false fueling messages to ECU (Lean / Rich etc)
Colour of stainless going Gold / Biscuit colour on 'cheaper' units
Downpipe design needed development on blue flame as early units had failures.
For my money you are buying the exhaust for looks and sound only on the 1.8T unless your looking at stage 2+ or big turbo conversions.....so unless you want improvement to sound or looks it's one of the final things I would modify.....still each to their own. For me a £1,000 miltek system for +5bhp and better spool didn;t = good value for money......hence why I spent my £1,000 on suspension mod's
I went for custom only because the Tdi doesn't need a fancy sports cat etc. Wanted something that sounded a bit more fruity than stock and as above, couldn't justify paying out 'silly money' for a brand name system.
It's down to the quality of the welding / fitter - nothing to do with the product as such
It's down to the quality of the welding / fitter - nothing to do with the product as such
Exactly. What you need to remember is Powerflow is a franchise, it's something that any exhaust fabricator can buy into. So if you're local Powerflow franchise are good at what they do and know how to build quality exhausts, you're laughing! However, if they aren't so good you'll end up with a terrible product that wont last.
It's all down to the man behind the tools!
It's down to the quality of the welding / fitter - nothing to do with the product as such
Bingo, its the ability of the outfit or franchisee to make the best use of the components & equipement they have.
Have seen load's shoddy workmanship, yet a 'few' good examples.
Thats not saying branded off the shelve will be better, seen some examples of a cetain populer company and the build quality is diabolical......
powerflow and the like suffer because of a few "cowboy" fitters and the like.
As I couldnt bring myself to go for one, and then find out the hard way that the fitter sucked (i couldnt find one that came recommended by EVERYONE) i went for branded aftermarket. Very glad i did too.
As I couldnt bring myself to go for one, and then find out the hard way that the fitter sucked (i couldnt find one that came recommended by EVERYONE) i went for branded aftermarket. Very glad i did too.
paul26982
Guest
Well i've had a custom from MIJ Perfromance on every car ive had astra celica s2k and cannot fault them, just what i wanted. But ive heard some horrors. the only custom place i can recommend is MIJ Performance in Walsall and ExhaustUK
I had a 'custom' exhaust system that was for a Mk2 Jetta GTi 8V. It was a second hand *******ised aftermarket Corrado system which was linked to fit, and it really didn't work well. This was pre-catalyst days so had none of the cat issues to content with. The car lacked torque as there was insufficient back pressure in the system, it sounded dreadful and to be honest was just a mess.
Although its easy to think that an exhaust is nothing more than a pipe to expel engine gases, and the bigger it is, the more performance you'll see top end, from my experiences it seems that there needs to be far more scientific approach to maximising flow rates within the system, controlling the back pressure levels retrospectively to the engine application, and then a really good company will tune the exhaust to give a decent soundtrack in the appropriate rev ranges.
If you can't afford to buy something aftermarket, then don't buy at all (or buy second hand), as you may end up wasting what budget you've got on something thats not fit for purpose. There are plenty of people on here who may agree with this, based on claims that were made relating to a 'custom' system for the LCR which turned out not to be all that was hoped for. If it was easy, eveyone would be doing it.
Although its easy to think that an exhaust is nothing more than a pipe to expel engine gases, and the bigger it is, the more performance you'll see top end, from my experiences it seems that there needs to be far more scientific approach to maximising flow rates within the system, controlling the back pressure levels retrospectively to the engine application, and then a really good company will tune the exhaust to give a decent soundtrack in the appropriate rev ranges.
If you can't afford to buy something aftermarket, then don't buy at all (or buy second hand), as you may end up wasting what budget you've got on something thats not fit for purpose. There are plenty of people on here who may agree with this, based on claims that were made relating to a 'custom' system for the LCR which turned out not to be all that was hoped for. If it was easy, eveyone would be doing it.
Last edited:
As stated above powerflow suffer from the fact that some of the franchises are cowboys. If you get a good one you can get a good exhaust for a reasonable price. I got a powerflow on mine when I bought my LCR. Looks good and luckily I got a good job. However, I'm looking to change it in the new year as it is too loud and drones.....
In that case I don't need to alter my first post, make sure you buy it for
- the look you want
- the sound you want
I can prove you'll get sod all extra power (maybe slightly better spooling) OEM exhaust is fine for up to 300bhp IMO
paul26982
Guest
my ideal would be something like blueflame or miltek, but for so much money for not much gains, not worth while, hence thinking about custom.
just scared about possible hassle and poor quality people mention about, but i'm not going big bore, mega noise huge pipes etc. just something subtle over stock and slightly deeper and noticeable, would i loose power on custom?
just scared about possible hassle and poor quality people mention about, but i'm not going big bore, mega noise huge pipes etc. just something subtle over stock and slightly deeper and noticeable, would i loose power on custom?
Similar threads
