Active Autowerke exhaust asymmetry? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

v8venom · 11th April 2008, 09:19

greetings fellow board members...

i recently purchased an active autowerke signature exhaust after querying experiences from other M5board members.
unfortunately though, i found that after installation, the setup is very uneven.... and yes it was professionally installed.

consequently i contacted active autowerke to help rectify this issue... and after several emails and phone calls i was told in writing that active autowerke would offer partial refund to help cover additional labor needed to remedy the asymmetry. i felt that was a good gesture to show their quality of customer service. however, after several subsquent communication efforts, active autowerke has RETRACTED their initial offer and would only consider any refund or exchange after they had their engineers "inspect" the exhaust.

as a customer located in southern california, you can imagine how impractical and inconvenient this would be. think about the additional labor to remove the exhaust... the down time the car would have... the shipping of the system back to florida... then to only to be at the mercy of active autowerke's judgement to whether they would offer any refund or exchange?

i feel that the M5board has been a good filter and a fairly reliable forum that weeds out inappropriate vendors. furthermore, many M5board members have helped provide vendors like active autowerke with good business and i anticipated the active autowerke would reciprocate this goodwill to the M5board.

based on this belief, i trusted active autowerke and had confidence that they would deliver a first rate product along first rate customer service.
to my dismay, active autowerke has mishandled my purchase and left an M5board member hanging.

i think there are other competitive exhaust setups available, including evosport, the up coming race precision, eisenmann, supersprint, dinan, etc....

to be honest i like the exhaust but i believe it is defective. i feel that i have made a mistake with the purchase mostly due to customer treatment and unwillingness to pair good product with good service.

i don't know how many others out there on the M5board have purchased the AA signature exhaust are having the same problem. please share your experience with me so that perhaps active autowerke will know how much the M5board means to their sales.

and if competitor vendors are listening... feel free to chime in. i would like to hear how you would handle a situation like this.

i've attached several photos to demonstrate the defect.

the LEFT exhaust/muffler points DOWN and MEDIALLY (in). the RIGHT exhaust/muffler points straight (on a vertical axis) but points LATERALLY (out).

on IMG_1633, you can see that the tips of the LEFT side have a downward slant.
on IMG_1634copy, if you compare the two sides, you will see that the downward projection of the tips. and although more subtle you can discern the gap between each outside tip and the plastic bumper cover surrounding the exhaust tips is different. the photo is taken from a pretty well centered position to show the asymmetry.
on IMG_1635, you can see the LEFT tips protrude more and point MEDIALLY (inward) than those on the RIGHT (IMG_1636).
images IMG_1637/1638 will be more obvious of LEFT tips' MEDIAL tilt.

onesixeight · 11th April 2008, 12:54

I definitely see what you're talking about. That would make me pretty upset too.

I am considering the purchase of this system, but will hold off until I hear how this situation plays out.

Rab Dog · 11th April 2008, 13:08

Viet thanks for sharing your experience with AA and I’m sorry this happened to you since I also told u my experience before u purchased the exhaust thinking AA got exhaust alignment fixed! I as well have a very similar experience with AA when this system was first released last year to the market.

· Received system with two left mufflers
· Had to take pictures and took about two weeks to solve because another buyer in · Finally installed the system to find out its no aligned correctly · Advised AA about this problem they told me its user or installer error
· Went back to installer to try to find and the told me they have to but and re-weld both mufflers to align correctly.
· Took pictures for AA of exhaust exactly as u see In the previous post pictures and also included pics from car on lift
· AA again told me all there exhaust are put on a Jig before they ship to double check went back and forth finally no result
· I finally took it to a shop and cut both mufflers off re-aligned adjust the mounts on muffler as well and fix the problem with a few hundred dollars out of my pocket
· Again I contacted AA send them pictures of what took place to fix the problem and ask them if they can give me a discount or some money off AA software with no response
· Resent email 3-times finally gave up!!!!!

Omar and Kirk were involved in this whole issue and are fully aware of what happened and to this day still have not fixed there M5 exhaust alignment problems… Last week I got a PM from Kirk after I posted some info on a previous post that the exhaust is not aligned correctly. They asked me what wrong and what they can do I sent them all the previous email from 4-months with all the pics and again did not get a response.

I have lost all confidence and trust in Active Autoworkes unethical business practices and customer service.

Personally I’m a business owner of a global distribution company and my company has grown to the size today because of the service and mission to please it customers no matter how big or small the business!

AA obviously doesn’t believe in that Motto!

P.S. I still love the exhaust after I fixed it but should not have had to go though this experience to get where I am today!!

andrewsherman · 11th April 2008, 13:20

That is outrageous! I certainly have no beef with a compmnay wanting to inspect the product to ensure that it is their issue and not an install issue, but given the situation here, I would think that they should be willing to do that based off of photos. They have basically offerred you something that is no offer at all b/c of the impracticallity of it. What makes it worse is that this should not be surprising to them since others have experienced the same issues with their exhaust.

I was considering thier software, but I wouldn't buy anything from them at this point. Maybe that will change when I hear their side of the story (doubtful) or based on how they end up handling this.

You would think that sponsors would be following the threads on this board and realize the commercial suicide (at least with respect to business from this board) they are committing when they screw a board member.

6speed · 11th April 2008, 15:45

I'm usaully not one to jump on these threads just because of the repetitive responses but damn, that looks like sh*t. I'm sure AA will step up to the plate and resolve this issue as it certainly looks like a defective product.

Cheers ///

Michael_s · 11th April 2008, 15:54

Sorry to hear about your experience. As a south florida dweller and member of this board that owns an M5 and M3 I will support you and publicly state that AA needs to do the right thing here or lose my business. In fact my M3 is my track car and I was going to add an AA supercharger in the next couple of months. Unless there is a satifactory response posted in the near future, I will not get it done at AA. Please keep this thread updated. Business practices like this will not be tolerated by the members of this board.

On a side note, did you pay by credit card? I assume so as you live in CA. Give them a call, explain the situation.

ACTIVE AUTOWERKE · 11th April 2008, 17:27

Active Autowerke is honoring the exhaust warranty and is asking that the exhaust be sent to AA for inspection (as per AA Warranty Instructions). We have installed a good number of these units in house without any issues at all and we have also shipped out a good amount worlwide without any fitment issues. All of our exhaust units/systems are test fitted on jigs inhouse before being shipped to prevent these situations from happening.Unfortunately since this is a Full/Complete Exhaust system you cannot make a decision based on pictures alone. Once we recieve the system we will inspect immediately and rectify the situation or advise if there was an install error. Our # 1 goal is to ensure that our customers are happy and satisfied with our products. We appreciate you cooperation in this manner and look forward to getting the situation solved. Thanks.

v8venom · 11th April 2008, 17:42

thanks kirk for reinforcing my post... Now you've heard it from the horse's mouth.

How are you looking forward to getting this issue resolved?
deter nonlocal customers from pursuing this further by asking them to send the parts back?

I think andrewsherman said it best ... Commercial suicide!

I can't wait to hear from other board members and other board sponsors.

But I guess active autowerke is too good or too deaf for the M5board community to do the honorable deed that the told me in writing before they went back on their word.

kees · 11th April 2008, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by v8venom

consequently i contacted active autowerke to help rectify this issue... and after several emails and phone calls i was told in writing that active autowerke would offer partial refund to help cover additional labor needed to remedy the asymmetry. i felt that was a good gesture to show their quality of customer service. however, after several subsquent communication efforts, active autowerke has RETRACTED their initial offer and would only consider any refund or exchange after they had their engineers "inspect" the exhaust.

as a customer located in southern california, you can imagine how impractical and inconvenient this would be. think about the additional labor to remove the exhaust... the down time the car would have... the shipping of the system back to florida... then to only to be at the mercy of active autowerke's judgement to whether they would offer any refund or exchange?

This seems quite fair as it is very much possible to install a perfectly symmetrical exhaust asymmetrically.

ACTIVE AUTOWERKE · 11th April 2008, 18:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by v8venom

thanks kirk for reinforcing my post... Now you've heard it from the horse's mouth.

How are you looking forward to getting this issue resolved?
deter nonlocal customers from pursuing this further by asking them to send the parts back?

I think andrewsherman said it best ... Commercial suicide!

I can't wait to hear from other board members and other board sponsors.

But I guess active autowerke is too good or too deaf for the M5board community to do the honorable deed that the told me in writing before they went back on their word.

Viet,

Any retailer in this country will require you to present any product claimed defective in an effort to correct or replace the product. If your only objective is to bash the company then so be it, but we are simply asking that you let us rectify this situation by adhering to our warranty policy.

You can also reach me directly at 305.233.9300. ext 232

Omar M.
Director of Sales