I just had installed milltek exhaust on my MCSCa, I can't believe what headache it is.

First after installation my whole exhaust vibrated 1/2" vertically, checked all connections..fine,

Second, when driving it vibrated my interior like crazy.

Third, it was so loud that a cop pulled me over and gave me a warning

AND FINALLY, My steering wheel had a slight vibration on idle..

What a day I had...seems that the exhaust specialist places the blame on the vendor for faulty exhaust (of which i will not expose until this is settled), and the vendor is telling me that he never heard of this problem, it was installed incorrectly.

I paid already $150 for the install, and $989 for the exhaust...also, if i wanted to reinstall my old oem exhaust it would cost me another $100.


Has anyone experience the problems before? any suggestions are welcome.

btw, i have a RMW header, JCW CAI, and 15% pulley.

 

Hmm i have the RMW shorty header and the Miltek. It sounds fabulous.
I dont have any problems with it vibrating... I think that your install is botched. Mine dose move around at idle. i did notice that today after searching for a leak off the header. But the car dosent vibrate because of it.
However it dose vibrate do to the IE engine mount that i have.....

 

Think your installer needs to be returned....... Don't have the header but the Milltek has been worry free for over 20000 miles now.

 

Is the exhaust touching your bumper at all? I know that many of us have had to use a 3/4" stack of washers to lower the rear exhaust hangers to create some clearance.

As for the noise, which RMW header do you have? Street/race? I've had a Milltek for a couple of years and just recently added a Milltek header. The header has made the car much louder...the installer even commented that is sounds "intense." While I haven't heard either of the 2 RMW headers, I can't imagine the'd be much quieter.

As a side point, does $150 to install a cat-back seem a little high to anyone else? No reason it should take more than an hour for a qualified mechanic with a lift.

 

A little vibration is pretty much guaranteed when you get a catback.

 

Muffler shop did mine for $55 and thats making all new hangers and stuff.

 

I know it was too high, oh well...but just had pete from minspeed check the exhaust and said that was not normal. also, checking with the vendor to make sure they sent me the right exhaust for MCSCa.

I have the RMW shorty.

I'll keep you updated.

 

I've driven a Milltek + RMW Shorty and it sounds great and is no where near loud enough that you'd be getting pulled over for it. As you've already concluded, something is definitely wrong with it.

Let us know whats up with it!

 

Ehh Its loud enough to be happy with but not that bad... It took some getting use to thats all....

 

mine is a R53 and one of the first people to pick it up like 4yrs ago.

no issues on the install, no issues on noise or vibration. ive been
using 4 longer hangers that i bought from autozone since day one.
i did the install.

as mentioned above, your installer couldve botched the mid section
hanger install or not using the correct length hangers on the rear.
the were a few people that complained about cabin vibration/noise
and it was the exhaust tip hitting the rear valance (as mentioned
above).

 

Check if the hangers/flange of the cat-back were installed in the center of the rubber mounting. The installer could have placed it in either one of the side holes. These holes won't give you much support and will not fit snug to control vibration. If it is OK, it must be one of the few QC problems from Milltek.

 

got mine a month ago. nothing but smiles....no rattle, vibration, etc. i bet there's something wrong with the install. take it back to them asap and let them drive it. did they drive it after install? nothing but props for ralphy/eric/helix...but i wonderhow many have installed more millteks? hope it gets resolved quickly and let us know what the issue was

 

The rubber hangers are also easily torn when removing from the stock exhaust. PS: The going price around here is $75.00 to install but I DIYed.

 

You can also get replacement rubber hangers from Auto Zone that are a little longer and help keep the exhaust down off the rear valence.

 

Yea, I paid that much too (bolts & gasket shop parts included).

 

wow i had the milltek header and catback with no issues and was fairly quiet still

 

Mine vibrates now.... Crapppp. Its not cool.

 

should NEVER had read this thread silver!

 

Just had another opinion on the installation by another exhaust specialist, no installation problems found , but, it seems that it only happens when my car is in Low Idle or reverse, about 650 rpm, when pressing the gas while holding the brake up to 850 rpm it goes away..the funny thing is that I installed RMW header on my stock exhaust with no vibrations..I'm having someone else look out tomorrow, let you know.

The exhaust is not hitting anything..just excessive vibration.


I'm giving this one more shot, otherwise back it goes, stock back in. It's a shame cause i love the sound of the exhaust.

EDIT: Just curious what is the idle rpm of a mcs compared to mcsa is there a difference? does anyone have a supercharger (r52) automatic with this set up?

 

[quote=BTT;2386931]Just had another opinion on the installation by another exhaust specialist, no installation problems found , but, it seems that it only happens when my car is in Low Idle or reverse, about 650 rpm, when pressing the gas while holding the brake up to 850 rpm it goes away..the funny thing is that I installed RMW header on my stock exhaust with no vibrations..I'm having someone else look out tomorrow, let you know.

The exhaust is not hitting anything..just excessive vibration.


I'm giving this one more shot, otherwise back it goes, stock back in. It's a shame cause i love the sound of the exhaust.

EDIT: Just curious what is the idle rpm of a mcs compared to mcsa is there a difference? does anyone have a supercharger (r52) automatic with this set up?[/quote]

I have an MCSa with an alta intake, 15% pulley, and Miltek catback. The Miltek did start to rattle like the devil after 2 years. It sounded something like what you are describing, a very noisy and annoying rattle/vibration. Pete at Minspeed took care of it though, it turned out that the middle bracket that holds the resonator was causing the vibrations. Since this part is directly below the shifter it caused it to rattle like crazy. At first I thought the tranny went bad. When it was installed at first I did notice that it hung quite high, but I was able to get away with it by pushing the heat shields and slightly bending the hangers myself. It was fine until this past January. After it was reinstalled by Pete its been smooth sailing. No vibrations at all, just an awesome exhaust note.

Don't give up! It can be fixed!

 

This is what pete said...

I took Frank's car to a specialty muffler shop I use here locally. They have built complete systems for us and I can count on their expert work Frank's car is a 2008 MCS Cabrio automatic. Minspeed has installed a JCW Airbox and 15% pulley on the car recently. After our installations, Frank had the header and exhaust installed by another firm.


The Milltek was mounted perfectly-it has no body or heat shield contacts. The system clears the entire frame and the underbody brace comfortably. There is no contact. In other words, there is nothing "wrong", as far as we can see, with the exhaust system, from the catback.

Frank installed a header from another source. The header has a joint from the downpipe ahead of the cat. It appears this joint is not as flexible as the stock header and, at idle, the stiffness of the header/joint seems to cause the exhaust to "shake". When the aux cooling fan kicks in, and the idle goes up, the shake disappears along with the vibration.

We could experiment with spring-loaded bolts to try to reduce the problem. If that doesn't rectify the matter, the next potential solution might be a flex pipe installed along the straight pipe in the exhaust. Or, in the end, re-install the stock header and see if that flex-joint solves the problem. Frank did bring up was that he had the header installed with the stock system in place (before the Milltek) and had no vibration/shake issues. My guess is that the weight of the stock system absorbed a lot of the vibration.
Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss this further or come up with another idea on the "fix".



I am frustrated everyone just pointing fingers with no resolution!!! I am giving this one more shot with another exhaust company and that will be it. Then all hell is going to break loose.

I'm uploading video now, i'll post as soon as i'm done.

 

video...

mvi_1738.avi - 52.52MB

 

Yeah exhausts aren't supposed to shake that much

If you have had 3 opinions that the exhaust was installed correctly from the original installer, another shop, and Pete, I would suggest that you take up this problem with your vendor. If the vendor is local or within a short drive, you could swing by to show them and let them inspect it for themselves that the install went fine and that your problem is parts related. I am thinking that it could relate to your header, do you have a picture or a link to it? If it was transferring more vibrations to the OEM setup I doubt that you would feel it since the OEM system is held on MUCH more tightly than any aftermarket I can think of, maybe excluding borla. I say this due to the fact that the Miltek does not have the little ***** on the hangers that hold it in place. Borla is the only aftermarket company I know of that includes this feature on their exhausts. So it could be that the upgraded header transferred all the vibrations to the OEM setup, but the OEM setup transferred it all to the rubber hangers better than the Miltek does producing no vibrations plus the sheer weight of the OEM setup absorbing the vibrations. Since the Miltek lacks the hanger ***** I'm guessing the vibrations would cause it to shake/slide much more.

So did you verify that it is the correct exhaust?

3 opinions that the install went fine gives evidence that the problem is parts related, or even how the parts vary in design.

If you get another OK installation opinion from another exhaust shop I think its definitely time to take this up with your vendor as to what can resolve the problem.

 

I have an obx header with a Milltek catback.I am constantly troubleshooting rattles. -saving up for RMW/Magnaflow combo.

 

I Have RMW shorty which i spoke to Jan about and told me that it can't be the flex pipe, he saw many other units installed with no problems..

I am going to purchase the borla exhaust just to see if this can solve the issue...btw, the vendor (which i still keep anonymous) tells me that the return policy states that any installed products will not be refunded..what a crock!!!