mb.3g

Hey all,

I'm writing this to raise awareness around XLR8/Billy Boat's exhaust failures. I've been a big fan of the XLR8 resonated quads for my 3G Type S but recently they have become a huge pain in my ass. Before we begin, yes I did in fact know the XLR8 exhausts had previous issues with mufflers failing. However when I purchased mine I was under the impression it was redesigned to overcome the previous failures and now would be more reliable than ever.

I purchased my exhaust brand new from Excelerate in April of 2016. It performed flawlessly on my car for just under a year (7k miles, car is not a daily driver). In May of 2017 the built-in resonator failed, causing the exhaust to rattle and sound like a tin can bouncy around very loudly. The exhaust has never been scraped or hit against anything. I proceeded to contact Excelerate (and was told it would be covered under warranty) who then pointed me in the direction of Billy Boat. I reached out to Billy Boat and got no response. Weeks passed and still I heard nothing back so I sent a follow up email to Excelerate and was rather rudely told that Billy Boat is busy due to peak season and they will get to me when they can. I was understanding and waited patiently for a response from Billy Boat. A couple months go by and finally I get a response from Billy Boat asking if my issue was ever taken care of. I respond and told them no, it was never resolved. I was told that a new one is in the process of being made and that they will ship it to my house when it's done. I gave them my information and proceeded to wait. Another month goes by before it arrives at my doorstep. This was a couple days ago. I finally opened the box and got a good look at the warranty replacement pipe. This is what I found:







Within 10 seconds of opening the box I had already sent an email back to Billy Boat. These welds are horrendous. It's not even worth my time putting this on the car, only for pinhole leaks to develop within the first few heat cycles. I'm extremely disappointed and frustrated that someone would look at that and then decide to ship it anyway. After waiting for four months in the end it wasn't even worth it. I love the product but I cannot stand behind it or the manufacturer if this is the quality I should come to expect. I'm extremely understanding when it comes to stuff like this and am more patient than the average customer but after getting burned like this I will no longer support either company. This pipe isn't even worth the space in my garage.

Extremely dissapointed

ReMiXeDg

YungMoola15

Wow sorry for your troubles.

thanks for this, was considering an XLR8 exhaust but I'll probably go with ATLP or magnaflow if they make it

Shadow2056

I'm sorry man. For me, I'm not one to wait months for something like that. If I'm not answered within a week, I'm calling and blasting someone out. You spend that kind of money on something, I expect 100% customer service in contacting me back. It doesn't take but 5min to email someone. Especially a current customer.

thoiboi

@ExcelerateRep should be around to respond shortly

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Seems to be a problem with Billy Boat; not too much XLR8 can do I believe.

Bad QC, bad communication, very disappointing Billy Boat.

Yvuru

I too have had bad luck with my mufflers. I've had numerous pairs replaced already outside of warranty, among other issues. When they are functional they sound amazing. What's not amazing is having to replace them. I would rate their lifespan at about 28 months before any issues come up (in regular driving conditions here in NY)

It's gotten to the point where I thinking about what could possibly be causing. I thought it was due to the exhaust possibly moving around while driving. So I've had the exhaust rubber bushing hangars replaced with stiffer ones, and put in stiffer motor mounts. Still no luck though, I can hear the rattle coming. It's most noticeable on a cold startup one muffler will sound different than the other muffler. I'm very paranoid about this stuff since I've been through it a few times. There are posts about this online on other forums with people having issues with the Billy Boat mufflers. I really don't know what to do about this anymore, it's very frustrating knowing that it is coming.

This is no fault with Excelerate, they were always willing to help me with the replacement process, but the prices on these things are not cheap. I'm usually out of warranty when issues come up. This is definitely an issue with the manufacturer.

To the OP, that definitely sets a new low for the manufacturer.

Yvuru

Forgot to mention Excelerate hooked me up on my first (2012) failed muffler, so kudos to them

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

i know we've talked about this a little bit mike, sorry to see it come to this on a "fix", hope it gets worked out!

i have had my xlr8 exhaust since 2011 or so and also had a failed muffler similar to your troubles (and i know we messaged privately about it too). however, i have to give props as xlr8 honored the warranty even though i had just barely missed that window. so overall it sucks i had one fail, but they definitely stepped up to help out.

however, if my mufflers were to fail again, i'd go with the endlessrpm exhaust which is magnaflow based and i believe has a lifetime warranty. i still think the xlr8 exhaust is high quality and sounds AMAZING, but if it fails again i'll have to move to a different brand since xlr8 now has a "quieter" version of the exhaust (they recently moved where the purge resonance technology is located which caused some of the original version failures)

the endlessrpm exhaust is a magnaflow exhaust system designed for our cars. it only recently came on the market about 2 years ago but i hear people love it

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Hello AZ community. Sorry we didn't catch this before the weekend!

To the OP, we apologize for the issue. We will get it rectified for you. In the future, it would be best to actually contact us rather than post on the forums. It gives us an opportunity to resolve your issue and spend time resolving your issue, which is more important than posting to analyze the contents of a thread. Also, we would like to address some of the inaccuracies in this thread.

1. In regards to your comments about the reliability of the exhaust, they are untrue. The mufflers are not failing and you're the first person to have a failed resonated, as far as I can recall. We have very few warranty claims each year and the only issues we've had are for older systems where a baffle broke loose. And many of those we warranty, even though they are outside of the warranty period.
2. In regards to your comments about the email and getting no response, there are some inaccuracies here.
   1. I do apologize for BB's delay. They do sometimes tend to be slow in their responses, especially during peak season.
   2. However, I pulled up the email trail and we responded quickly to every single one of your emails. In fact you even thanked us for that.
      1. Our response to you original email: Hello Michael. I'm sorry to hear about that. Yes you did purchase a muffler in April 2016. We haven't had this issue on newer mufflers so I'm surprised to hear about it. Either way we will get it warrantied for you, assuming there was no damage to the muffler that isn't a manufaturer defect. Mike from BB exhaust, our fabricator for our exhaust systems, will get you a replacement muffler at no charge. He may require some additional information and a CC # to get an authorization to send you a new one. The CC will only be charged if you don't send the original muffler back.
      2. Your response: Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. After further investigation it appears it's actually the resonator on the midpipe that has failed. I was able to get under the car yesterday and could hear something rattling inside it, however I didn't get a chance to remove it and visually inspect the inside. I plan on removing it today or tomorrow to look in further detail. I'll have an update for you once I do.
      3. A day later BB responded: Sorry to hear about the trouble. I should have a replacement center section to send you and get it taken care of quickly. Could you confirm what part number you have or send me a picture of the ID tag on the muffler? Give me a call if it is easier or if I can help further.
      4. After that you went silent. You didn't respond to BB or us so we assumed it was taken care of by BB directly with you via phone.
      5. 6 weeks later we heard from you: I recently inquired about having my failed midpipe replaced under warranty, however I have not heard back from Mike at Billy Boat in over a month. I'd really appreciate it if this could be remedied soon, as my car has been down.
      6. And we responded via email: This is a busy time as you can imagine. It's peak season. I'm sure Mike Boat will take care of you.
   3. So I don't see anything that was rude in the emails. We also contacted BB and you via phone to get it rectified. And yes it was delayed. We do apologize for that but we cannot control BB's production timeline.
3. In regards to the welds being horrendous, that might be a bit of an overstatement.That being said, the issues we are seeing are not up to our standards, nor Billy Boat's, and we would like to continue to help since this isn't seen as a proper fix to us either. If you wanted to send an email to performance@excelerateperformance.com with the pictures, I'd be happy to send them where they need to go so we can get this straightened out. I know you had mentioned you send BBE an email, but I would like to reach out to them as well so they know everyone is on the same page, and we are aware of what's happening.
4. Lastly, we have sold hundreds of the XLR8 systems made by Billy Boat. They have proven to be reliable, durable, and excellent quality and sound. There have been a handful of muffler warranties in comparison to the amount sold. And we have typically warrantied any muffler with a baffle issue, regardless of the date of purchase. And Billy Boat feels the same way. So, there is no reason to feel like you got burned. We did not and will not deny your warranty on the item.
5. Also the issue the OP is having isn't even related to the muffler either so the question of a muffler issue shouldn't be a question as the system was redesigned to move the Purge Resonance Technology to another area of the system in order to avoid any muffler issues, which we haven't had on systems sold in the past 1-2 years,
6. We are committed to standing by our customers and our brand. So if there is an issue, please contact us via email or via phone.

Thank you.

thoiboi

Thanks for the response Excelerate.

exiLe

So, Billy Boat's quality is not being called to question why again?

Over in the Corvette forums countless members once or twice a month are left with failed baffles, failed valve for exhaust valving, and broken welds on Billy Boat's Fusion v3 and Bullet system(s).

This seems to be a trend with Billy Boat rather than an isolated instance.

nfnsquared

Holy crap, are you looking at the same pictures I am? Unbelievable...

mb.3g

Thanks for the response XLR8.

I did try contacting you, however when you handed me over to Billy Boat, you ceased to be involved. And as I said above, I already sent an email off to BB within 10 seconds of opening the box. I'm glad you brought up the email trail before I did! I will also post them, for you to see and for me to show you where you are uninformed! I'll start off by saying it's pretty low for you to immediately attack my credibility. I have always stood behind this product and the brand, until now. I will now breakdown and respond to each of your points:

1. I never once stated I had an issue with the mufflers. I merely mentioned in the older design it had been a point of failure. My issue is solely with the midpipe resonator, as stated above.
2. No inaccuracies here; let me illustrate:
2A.) I was understanding and patient.
2B.) Yes you were quick to respond and I did indeed thank you. However I got the feeling you wanted nothing to do with this and my feeling was confirmed after you handed me off to Billy Boat saying they "will take care of it from here"


After receiving this, you ceased to be involved until I brought you back into the picture 6 weeks later.

2C.) I'm glad you brought this up. Here is the actual email trail, including what you do not know since you handed me off to Mike Boat at BB


2D.) Okay maybe rude was an overstatement. However I did not get the impression that you wanted to be actively involved in trying to find a solution to help me. This was the last email you sent me. You never once called me, that is completely false. Don't you think I would have picked up?

3.) These welds are horrendous, I stand by my previous statement. Anyone who knows anything about welding would tell you someone **** the bed on this. I have shown these pictures to highly qualified automotive welders. I do no think you want me to repeat how they felt about these welds.

4.) All reasons why I purchased my catback system and J pipe from you as well as various other products. I do feel burned. Someone looked at that midpipe and those welds and decided to ship it anyway.

5.) Once again I never stated that I had an issue with my mufflers. Only that the older versions were known to have a point of failure being the baffles.

6.) While you may feel that way, I do not.

I will not be reaching out to remedy this problem with you or BB (who as of today, four days later, still hasn't responded). I will have this fixed by a professional.

SHMasta

Dear Xlr8 Rep,

As a recent customer of yours who just purchased this same V2 exhaust and participated in a recent group buy for a lightweight pulley. I would like to weigh in that making the customer wait weeks on end for replies and expecting US to chase Billy Boat down is ridiculous. I didn't buy my unit from BB, I bought it from Xlr8, as such it would be my expectation that upon seeing pictures of the weld failure (which is what this is) you would be inclined to initiate an RMA request, expedited even as the customer had already waited months for a replacement. You correctly stated that 'this weld was not up to par with your quality standards' Unless you felt differently upon receiving the initial request, I simply don't understand why as a company Xlr8 is dragging their feet on the matter.

Whether or not the customer felt that the responses were rude or not is beside the point. He contacted Xlr8 and was met with a hand-off to the manufacturer who then did not respond for weeks. Does that not raise a red flag?

I can tell you my confidence in buying from Xlr8 has been shaken.
When I look at my recently purchased Exhaust, its branded Xlr8, Not Billy Boat. As a customer, I don't care what facility manufactured it, I bought a brand name and I expect that brand name to standby and do the footwork needed to resolve my issues. That is how I do business and that is how I expect retailers who want to continue having my business to respond.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Again, as we stated earlier in this thread our goal here is to rectify the issue for you. As we wrote earlier:

To the OP, we apologize for the issue. We will get it rectified for you. In the future, it would be best to actually contact us rather than post on the forums. It gives us an opportunity to resolve your issue and spend time resolving your issue, which is more important than posting to analyze the contents of a thread. Also, we would like to address some of the inaccuracies in this thread.

Billy Boat likes to handle warranties directly so that is why they were brought into the email trail. We are still here to support you and want to get this fixed for you.

We're not attacking your credibility either. We are just clarifying statements that were made by you and other posters so there wasn't any confusion about the mufflers. Your original statement right out the gate was " I'm writing this to raise awareness around XLR8/Billy Boat's exhaust failures." I believe it is only fair to clarify what was being stated so others are aware of what actually was the issue.

Again, no one is here to burn you. We're here to help you. But we can only help you if you reach out to us directly to resolve it. Posting on the forums just adds fuel to a fire instead of putting the fire out.

SHMasta

I believe the forums was the last ditch effort to try to grab some attention to the issue at hand.

Hopefully, this all gets sorted out and the OP is as responsive as well.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

I agree that can be the case if a vendor is ignoring you or your issue. However, we weren't even notified of an issue and the last contact we had was in July. Unfortunately, we don't have a way to know if something wasn't resolved unless a customer contacts us. We're happy to help the OP. In fact, even though he has stated he wants to resolve it on his own we have reached out to the fabricator for a resolution in order to help him proactively, rather than reactively.

Rob Daddy

Hmmm after seeing this it is really making me re-think my decision to purchase this exhaust. So as TL owners what other choices do we have? I surely do not want to be replacing my exhaust quite so often or having to remove it while I wait for a repair or a replacement. Hmmm this is interesting

t-rd

LOL. It is not the first time I see an a shop/aftermarket part manufacturer coming into forums to rescue their reputation.

My feeling is that Boat cannot keep up with production after their exhaust system got popular, so they started hiring just any 2 cent welders to keep up with production. Looks like the thing was put together in a haste.

corrado85

iTrader: (1)

wow, was just looking at some parts from XLR8, looks like I will take business somewhere else

After reading all, thanks for sharing your review

champaned_out

iTrader: (2)

holy shit dude those welds.. wtf is that? where was the quality assurance and how can anyone that inspects those welds or the overall product itself thinks this was an acceptable item to ship to a customer for a replacement part? which brings me to my next question, did anyone even inspect this before shipping it out?

Possibly an overstatement, but someone over there thought this product was good enough to send to a customer... and that says a lot

To the OP thank you for sharing this and informing the community of your experience.. I didnt even know warranties have to be redirected to a 3rd party.. i learned something new
xlr8 seems to have some good products for our TL but i think ill look into other options for the time being.. limited warranty and especially 3rd party exchanges is not something i would want to deal with

YungMoola15

"dxlr8"

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

If you're not willing to let the manufacturer or vendor rectify the situation then why bother?

All you're doing is making the situation worse for the both of you. You're spending more money while they are still trying to cooperate with you. Although those welds do look bad, I don't believe you should've acted the way you did (posting this).

If a vendor is consistently trying to assist with you during the process in either getting a partial refund, repair, or new product I personally think you should be happy. Posting on the boards is a last resort method, and I don't believe this is one of those situation.

Every single vendor on Acurazine for 10 years have had situations similar, but most of them have been diligent in fixing each issue.

And tr-d, XLR8 has been actively involved in this community for sometime now. I don't see why he WOULDN'T post?

ATLS_666

If anything this should serve as a wake up call to all involved. Just because business is better doesn't mean your customer service has to turn to dogshit.

upnout

iTrader: (6)

brand new non res ATLP quads for sale

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-par...xhaust-965081/

6spd-GERCO

lots of local weld experts up in here, lol

kurtatx

I'm not a pilot but I know a plane crash when I see it

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I Only want to add; when modifying or deviating away from stock, you are losing or risking reliability. YMMV

frankjnjr

Amen

wilspainar

Glad I went with a custom exhaust, it's unfortunate it has taken this long to get things resolved.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

not to sure; what your custom exhaust entails...BUTT, anytime you deviate away from stock you are risking reliability.
welds can fail!
mufflers can fail!
it doesnt matter if yours is custom, prefabbed or whatever...if you took off the stock parts, you are risking reliability.

if any of you can't fix or find other ways to fix this; DON'T MOD. it's as simple as that.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Well, my XLR8 J-pipe has been solid. I've never had a problem with any of their stuff.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

doesn't this apply to oem parts too?

I think most people deviate from stock because they are paying BIG bucks for aftermarket parts expecting better quality than stock. Bigger the bucks spent > better quality you're paying for > better reliability, it should make sense to get what you pay for and not have to worry about reliability vs stock parts. As seen from the OP's pictures, that's not always the case which is why it's really unfortunate.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

if you look at who is producing our aftermarket parts; I would still say they are small time. Remember, Honda has $$MILLIONS$$ to play with!!
some of these small vendors do care! and will put in the time and effort to make sure their product is 100% and if not will back it up 100%!
this is their livelihood!

other times; the company grows so big so fast that they simply can't account for their stock, quality wise and customer service wise.
and what I think happened here.
I didn't read the thread, but has the OP called Billy Boat?
that would be my first step in resolving this matter.

2nd, if no one is willing to help, head to your local exhaust shop and throw the welder $20

wilspainar

I have trubendz exhaust piping (you actually told me about them), a vibrant resonator and p2r mufflers. I don't foresee any of the OP's issues happening.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

6spd-GERCO

That's about as good of analogy as those welds Captain, lol.

My RV6 TD exhaust is holding up very well, How's is your doing Justin?

Euro-R_Spec_TSX

Don't forget about the large number of aftermarket companies that can best be described as marketers that don't do any real engineering.
For them, it's all about how much money they can make, not about designing or manufacturing a great product.

Acura TL Builder

Not sure about Exhaust, but my brothers Type-S 08' and my Base 08' have XLR8 Brakes/rotors. Working great after tens of thousands of miles!