Also, did they correct the abnormal biased discoloration by discoloring the tips before sale?

 

You may want to try this thread and asking them directly.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=41766
If you want others' opinions, then, bump!

 

I thought I read that it was fixed, but I cannot locate a source nor confirm this! Only memory.....

 

Further research indicates that the tips are pre-heated so that they turn brassy before they're even on your car. :-/

 

markbradford,
Our exhaust has never had a fitment issues do to our part being made wrong. Being our part uses flanges instead of the normal slip-fit type fitment some people would just bolt it together and have the tips hang down, "Not fitting". People got pretty frustrated with this and complained on the forums before contacting us. After a simple loosening of the flange and pushing up on the tip and retightening fixes this.

Some people complain about the tips not being centered. This is a very easy thing to fix by bending the hangers slightly. We have many people that have no issue and some that do. It may be do the OEM out side hanger getting pulled down or bent during removal of the stock system, or even something in shipping. There has never been one thing we can put our finger on that determines the problem. Our newer systems will have a inner hanger that is adjustable up and down(to help with fitment) and it will be replacable for the 04 up cars.

There was an another issue with it being way off in the rotation due to a mis-manufactured header. The first few Miltek headers had a major issue with the lower flange. It was rotated about 20 degrees one direction,(we still pics of this) which when you bolted our flanged system together it twisted about 20 degrees toward the ground. Many peoeple didn't know about this because they would use systems that had muiltiple slip-fit joints that would take up the 20 degrees. Many people that bought our sytem and the miltek header had this problem, but blamed our exhaust on it. For some reason people expected us to make our part fit the mis-made header, and got mad that we weren't because of the headers popularitiy. Milteks headers fit just fine now, and hopefully people will see that our part "STILL" works with a properly made header.

Our first few systems did have a tip discoloration issue. This as do the exhaust gases favor one side of the dual tip over the other. It would turn one side gold and the other side not quite as gold. Over time the tips would even out, but after a short period of time they would be different colors. We fixed this buy heat treating the tips to turn them both gold, which had worked very well. They look the same all the time! Not everyone favors the gold color, and we are looking into having the tips ceramic coated (on the inside) which will leave the tips silver much much longer. We have also looked into the tips being cermaic coated on the outside, which would leave them a nice silver color(not polished).

This maybe a good time to ask the mini community what they think about the silver colored tips? The color would be very similar to brushed aluminum or stainless steel. The coating would actually be polishable which would turn into a polished aluminum color. They would never turn gold(which some people do like) but stay the same forever.

Please post your comments as to the NAM community will be the ones that help decide what the new tip looks like.

 

I do not like the gold color tips. First choice would be polished stainless steel. Brushed aluminum or SS might be ok too - I'd want to see a sample photo first.

 

Also the ceramic sounds very interesting I would like to see it. It may even help with the heat on the tips.

 

We will have a couple with the ceramic and we will make sure to take pics for everyone to see.

As for the gold tips, almost every exhaust system i have seen on the mini eventually turns gold. The mini runs pretty hot EGT's down at the tips is why. But the fact that you don't like the gold is good to know. We suspect that some do and some don't and that most everyone likes the polished SS look, which is why we are finding ways to eliminate the tips turning gold.

Some pics will be posted very soon.

 

The good thing about tips such as Borlas is that you can always polish them and keep the car looking top notch.

As a client of yours, I have to agree with the gold color being an issue.
I was truly considering to acquire an Alta (that would have made my car almost 100% alta mods), but right now I am between the Militek and the Borla system.
**From what I've heard (audio clips), it sounds really nice.**

 

one thing to keep in mind is that our tips are polishable. They are just heat treated to turn them gold. The gold color can be polished right off.

 

Jeff, Any update on the tips?? ceramic coating etc? could the last section of the exhaust not be re-developed a bit so as the flow would exit both tips equally??? Why do you use the flanges instead of the slip fit, which might make the fit more tunable?


John.

 

My tips have passed gold and are both now black...I kind of like it better that way! Seriously though, gold is fine...that is just what happens to SS when heated. All my bikes with SS header have all turned gold. Not an issue....but now if you were to make a Ti exhaust......

 

We just haven't gotten around to changing the site yet but we have the design out an about!

What we have changed:
1.Tips are the same design but now Chromed! The Chrome was the best option to suite everyones needs. They are polishable, stay clean and silver forever!
2. The inner hanger now has a removable and completely adjustable hanger. We also include a sencond hanger for the 04+ guys. NO MORE CUTTING!

Things that we are adding very soon:
3" systems for those twin charged guys, not many of them yet, but there will be hint hint.

 

Jeff - Do you have any photos of the new tips?

 

That is a cool idea! I like it, always thinking ahead!

 

The pics we have look just like others but chrome. Here is a pic to show the chrome and the different hanger system.

 

Wow! That looks great Jeff! The tip design is actually different (not just talking about chrome) than before - I like this version better.

Is any welding required for the adjustable hanger, or is it just held in position by nuts and bolts?

 

Actually that tip has been used for about 6-8 months now. Just the chrome has been added about a month ago. The inner hangers uses set screws to hold it in, so no welding.

 

Ah - thanks for clearing that up. Apparently I was getting my visual info from an old photo:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=23789