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CP-E exhaust / company problems anyone?

4216 Views 27 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  khaydin
First let me say by no means is this a bashing.... just fustration.

About 9 months ago i bought the CP-E quick power pipe (HFC) and dual canister resonated exhaust. I installed it myself. The first thing i had an issue was at the rear where the slip joint is... didnt slip. it seemed to be slightly out of round. i could only find a 3" exhaust pipe expander... my exhaust is already 3", so that was not of much help. So i basically had to muscle it to go on the pipe. This i chalked up as maybe damage during shipping. Not a big deal, i know sometimes things get bumped and what have you. at this point exhaust is put together and car running.

For the last few months i had noticed an exhaust leak under my car. this leak had occured at the post cat / cbe flange. upon inspection i noticed that there was black soot coming from between the 2 flanges. i tightened it down and went about my business. week later same spot is leaking between flanges, but this time gasket had been blown out. I figured maybe cheapo gasket. i purchased another and replaced again. last month again the leak came back, and another gasket blown out. I took it to a exhaust shop and asked them to look at it. they repoerted that the flange at the CBE side was bent causing it to not seal properly, causing the leaks and blow outs. they said sind the flanges are almost 1/2" think, heating it up to try to straighten it out , would never seal right again.

I contacted CP-E that very day by email since i couldnt get anyone to return my calls. i stated the problem and asked if they could at least give me a deal on a new one. i was willing to buy another since it was not caught at the time of install. 2 weeks ago i get an email asking me if this problem has been resolved yet?... i replied to them that i purchased a Grimspeed 2x thick gasket to see if it seals.. (so far so good). their response was... let us know if that worked or not. at this point i was thinking they want me to spend my money to make something work that is obvious defect on their end first before they are willing to take care of it.... (since there is no was our cars make enough heat to warp stainless steel that thick)....


yesterday my car had been running crappy and real lean. noticed my exhaust had sounded like a honda with a fart can.... very raspy. upon inspection i find this...




since it was installed it has only been remove once, also never have i run over or hit anything to cause damage.

what your looking at is the weld after the cat. only 10% intact

i callled CP-E to day and this is how it went.

called Customer service and asked to speak with the person i had email contact with:
his reply was: what company do you work for
me: i dont work for a company, it is about a product of yours.
his reply: well what is the problem
i stated the same issue as i did in email
he responded with ... well i dont know anything about that., in a snotty tone of voice... starting to get upset here. then transfers me to the gentleman i had email contact with.

i stated who i was to him. he responded with... ummm ok. in the tone of voice like he is being bothered. i addressed the problem with him. right away he was on the defensive talking about how their limetime warrenty is unheard of in the industry and most are 1 year if that. ... again cool, i got that. told me since it is under warrenty i needed to send it to them to either get fixed or replaced. i stated that i have one issue, it is my daily driver and dont want it to cost me to change my tune to run an oem cat or test pipe. again also in rude voice..... we get that alot about someones daily driver, we cant just be sending out parts to everyone. at this point i am heated... i told him i sent you apic of this in an email. not trying to get something for free. then he says well you can BUY another HFC and send us the one you have to get fixed then sell it on ebay to get some of your money back.. basically once again wants me to spend my money to fix something that is a defect..... i'm like WTF did he just tell me?... at this point im going to have it locally welded and see if it is a fix. IF i do buy another i can promise, based on how i was treated from here it will not be from them. Although i do like the exhaust tone as do alot of others that ask what kind it is. I hate spending money and when something is jacked up and trying to get it rectified and not looking for free stuff, getting treated like garbage.
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That sucks. Like you said I would just skip the bullshit and take it to get welded.
we can blow it up on the forum. one person on evom had problems with seibon before, through the help of forum members, seibon got scurred and gave him a new one. if what you're saying is real, these guys deserve a ass beating for grade F customer service. i would suggesting writing a review thread on numerous forums, it will and can affect their business dramatically if they dont solve it!
Oh do believe this is real. At this point I'm done with them. I gave them opportunity to help me. At no time am I looking for something for free. I'm willing to actually pay, but not full price.... Give me a deal at least for your mess up. But when each time you insinuate you want me to use my money to fix your issues is wrong. I understand them not wanting to send a replace ment for a hfc that was damaged due to neglect. But this is not the case. If the metal is indeed too thin, it probably won't get fixed and will probably happen again for same reason. . I will see today when I take it to exhaust shop.
CP-E's customer service is non existent. Unfortunately when I owned my Mazdaspeed3 we had to put up with it due to there are very few company's that make parts for that platform. They have shitty welds. There was a local guy who's down pipe broke completely off at the welds. He ended up just having it welded.


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i have had no problems whatsoever with my CPE 3" turbo back since installed in 09. Did you read Hollywood's thread about dealing with vendors on the forums?

Good luck...hope you get everything resolved.
Not trying to bash or deal with vendor.

UPDATE: I will have to buy new HFC now anyway. The material inside spins and motives freely which it is not supposed to. they can fix the weld but not the HFC.
I was warned of the same thing as well. shame, because I think their exhausts look pretty sweet

but after meeting the SSP-TX crew, I was warned that they personally had a terrible record with CP-E's customer service (even back in the day before they owned a shop and when they just worked on their own cars) looks like I was right to trust their word
I have the full CP-E turbo back and no problems at all so I have not had to deal with their customer service. I love their product though!
08gsrx.... If you have a HFCs from them keep an eye on it. If it seems like your jogging down and seems slower take off the hfc section and see if the. Insides move and rotate. If it does then that what causing it. It gives same symptoms as a plugged cat. I just ordered a ETS hfc. When I get the new one I'll give the Cpe one to anyone that wants it. Just have to take out the stuff since it already ruined and use for test pipe. Should be wed when vines in and I get it installed.
yikes... i bought the dual canister and had the same problem at the split, the "skinny" side and the "fat" side were actually about the same diameter. i think it was dropped during shipping too. they need to package that shit better.
this is very old but i got their widemouth downpipe that looks just like ams and missing hardware , and the bung hole has cast in it where i cannot fit a bolt / cap in it.
one of the guys i spoke with was rude...
i got a hold of the co owner he was friendly for just about 5mins....
anyways they gave me a discount on the same product , bought it again and is still like crap..

i wish i saw this before and didnt buy from them

I will not buy again... sorry =\
Just to even out the above review^^ I have their widemouth downpipe as well and have no problems with it and love it. Have had it on my car for about 5 months now without any issues.
i bought the dual canister and had the same problem at the split, the "skinny" side and the "fat" side were actually about the same diameter
had the same problem with mine, I had to make it fit.... iv had my catback for 2 years hopefully the piece of shit dousnt crack
BORLA has offered a life-time (actually only one million miles) warranty on all their products.

NO ONE will ship new parts to you first then accept broken ones back - that's not how the world works. Some places might ship a new part out - after you pay for it - then credit you back when the old part is accepted as a return but that's mostly only in the electronics industry. Almost never heard of in automotive.

Your only car being your DD really is irrelevant - to everyone. The only way around that is to only deal with local manufacturers. Anything you buy mail-order will need to be returnd - at your expense in 99% of cases - to be warantied.
damn!!!! I am about to buy their dual exhaust.....but now i will definately change my mind.
I was looking at their exhaust, but not anymore! Time to go for something else :)
I was looking at their exhaust, but not anymore! Time to go for something else :)
what did you ends up with?
Alsong I have the dual exhaust. Love it as well as others. Sounds perfect. Mine is the resonated version. But stay away from their hfc. Mine the weld broke right at the pipe cat joint, and the material came loose inside causing it to spin making air go around the material rather than thru it. Causing my afrs to be all jacked up as if it was plugged.

I called them and asked how to get it fixed. I too stated it is my dd and needed less downtime. I understand about not shipping new part with no exchange. He guy I spoke with was also rude. Told me that I could purchase another one and send in broken one to get fixed. Told me when I get it back I can sell the one I bought on eBay.

I was thinking did this guy just tell me to buy another one and resell it when I get theirs back? Never once was there any mention of discount or pay for new one and when we get old well refund your money. Needless to say I did buy an ets one. I had local shop fix the weld. It currently sits in my garage. I'll give it to anyone they pays for shipping. Can take the broken cat material out and make test pipe out of it. But would but exhaust again.

A lot of places stopped carrying their products due to unstable pricing. .


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NO ONE will ship new parts to you first then accept broken ones back - that's not how the world works. Some places might ship a new part out - after you pay for it - then credit you back when the old part is accepted as a return but that's mostly only in the electronics industry. Almost never heard of in automotive.

Your only car being your DD really is irrelevant - to everyone. The only way around that is to only deal with local manufacturers. Anything you buy mail-order will need to be returnd - at your expense in 99% of cases - to be warantied.

This is flat out wrong. I bought an ETS intake that was all scratched up and one of the vacuum ports was blocked with brass slag or something. They gladly sent me a new pipe with a UPS label inside to return the defective part. This is how business is supposed to be done. "Sorry we sent you a messed up part, we will gladly sell you another one" is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

As far as accepting delivery, when they send a part no signature required, there is absolutely no way for you to inspect the part before you take delivery of it when they leave it at your doorstep. If the shipper damages a part, it is up to the sender and the shipper to resolve the dispute. NOT the customer.

I've worked for large companies that ship thousands of parts a day. Many are bulk pick up items and often get damaged. It happens, but the customer is never held responsible in this matter.
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