Is this true?

[Adam230K]

When MIJ was fitting my custom exhaust on, they charged me for 2 cats instead of 1 since my car had the double cat system, and his reason for doing this was he said that the car would go into limp home mode if it detected only 1 cat.

Is this true? I rly think my car doesn't even have "limp home", its a manual and how the hell is the car going to know if there's 1 or 2 cats!? my car is a 98 w202 and i dont think its that advanced!

Can anyone confirm this?

 

[BlackC55]

Engine limp mode not gearbox limp mode.

Unless you have a Lambda sensor after your cat then one cat should suffice.

 

[Adam230K]

i've only got a cable thingy which is coming out of the downpipe, near the engine. nothing else... so i guess i got conned! damn!

 

[Doodle]

I'm not surprised, sadly. 8 or 9 years ago MIJ did a stainless system for my Honda, it was poorly made (re-used parts of the original worn-out system) and despite asking for the quietest system it was so offensive it was making me feel ill.

Phoned up when I got home (and my ears had stopped ringing) to point out that this was unacceptable, and was unceremoniously told to "F-off", so I let the credit card company deal with it.

Clearly little has changed.

 

[tudu]

I'm not surprised, sadly. 8 or 9 years ago MIJ did a stainless system for my Honda, it was poorly made (re-used parts of the original worn-out system) and despite asking for the quietest system it was so offensive it was making me feel ill.

Phoned up when I got home (and my ears had stopped ringing) to point out that this was unacceptable, and was unceremoniously told to "F-off", so I let the credit card company deal with it.

Clearly little has changed.

Much the same problem 2 years ago with a BMW. My advice to other forum members - stay well clear. Longlife seem to have more street cred.

 

[Dieselman]

Has anyone bothered to have power readings taken before and after having one of these 'performance' exhausts made up.
I suspect you will be surprised with the results.

 

[Adam230K]

Well the i'm not dis-satisfied with the exhaust system at all... because i've dyno'ed my car before putting the exhaust on, and i dyno'ed it once again after the new exhaust got put on, and there's a difference of ~13bhp and ~26nm of torque. It was so obvious when i drove the car out of there that it was much much more responsive and had increased torque.

I went there with my c200 4 years earlier and they did a great job. So i'm happy with them and i'd do my exhaust with them again.

Also he did charge me for 2 catalysts (which were HKS branded sports cats), and it still turned out cheaper than longlife in battersea who quoted me £700 + VAT for 1 cat and welding it to MY OWN c36 backbox.

 

[Doodle]

Much the same problem 2 years ago with a BMW. My advice to other forum members - stay well clear. Longlife seem to have more street cred.

They used to be a Longlife franchise back when I had mine done...in fact I think they lost it just before I had mine done...for obvious reasons.

Dieselman - agreed, I've seen some horrendous results in the past. Best left on Corsa's and Saxo's IMO.

Rage - not sure which HKS they're referring to, but it's not the one I know! HKS Japan only do domestic cars, and their high-flow cats are about £500 each at trade price. However, provided they do the job and you're not worried about the "branding", that really doesn't matter!

 

[Benzowner]

Don't know if this helps solve your querie, but my son had an Imprezza with stainless exhaust imported from Japan which was fitted with 2 cats. The rear was removed without any difference to the exhaust emissions, so maybe it is a non specific requirement to have 2 fitted, but I can't think why. Oh and he also had 2 on his Nissan R33GTR now removed.

 

[Adam230K]

They used to be a Longlife franchise back when I had mine done...in fact I think they lost it just before I had mine done...for obvious reasons.

Dieselman - agreed, I've seen some horrendous results in the past. Best left on Corsa's and Saxo's IMO.

Rage - not sure which HKS they're referring to, but it's not the one I know! HKS Japan only do domestic cars, and their high-flow cats are about £500 each at trade price. However, provided they do the job and you're not worried about the "branding", that really doesn't matter!

The HKS cats that they had were specifically requested by me, i had to wait a week before they had them on site and then i visited them the following saturday, and i know exactly who HKS are and it is the one you know, and i did pay quite alot for both of them .
After i saw the difference it made to my friend's Nissan S14 i was very eager to get it on mine (its just the catalyst, the piping is all by MiJ).

I know the MiJ management fairly well, and i'm quite surprised to find quite a few people dis-satisified with their work, i really liked what they did with both of my cars, since i was there the entire 3 hours they did it and i pretty much bugged them the entire time through-out as to how i wanted it to my car exactly, it was almost like i was doing it myself, except using their welding skills (which i've tried and i sucked at!) .

 

[Doodle]

The HKS cats that they had were specifically requested by me, i had to wait a week before they had them on site and then i visited them the following saturday, and i know exactly who HKS are and it is the one you know, and i did pay quite alot for both of them .
After i saw the difference it made to my friend's Nissan S14 i was very eager to get it on mine (its just the catalyst, the piping is all by MiJ).

I know the MiJ management fairly well, and i'm quite surprised to find quite a few people dis-satisified with their work, i really liked what they did with both of my cars, since i was there the entire 3 hours they did it and i pretty much bugged them the entire time through-out as to how i wanted it to my car exactly, it was almost like i was doing it myself, except using their welding skills (which i've tried and i sucked at!) .

I take it that the price you mention didn't include the purchase of the cats then, otherwise I can't see how they've got 2 of them in there for the money along with a catback exhaust. I presume they've taken one of HKS's standard lines and then modified to suit?

My experience with them goes back a long time, so it is quite possible that things have improved since. However the fact that they have mis-informed (possibly deliberately, I cannot comment) someone who "knows them fairly well" speaks volumes. Have they given any explanation for this apparent error, or made any attempt to put right the fact that basically they've overcharged you?

 

[Howard]

Hi Rage,

In post #3 you say you were conned , and then in post #10 you are saying that you know them fairly well ....

If someone i knew fairly well conned me , i know what i would do.

So are you happy with the result even though you were conned ?

Perhaps you could speak to the management and point them towards this thread , so they have a chance to put their side of the story forward ?

If someone told me to 'F*** off' when i phoned up due to their substandard work , exactly as happened to Dolphin_Tech , i like him would stop being reasonable and let the authorities handle it.

 

[Adam230K]

Well when i say i was "conned" i kinda meant that i paid more then i should have. The guy at MiJ told me he's done similar work on kompressors before (which usually have 2 cats) and on a previous car, under instruction from the owner he installed only 1 cat as a replacement and the car went into limp mode on the drive home even though he warned the owner before-hand, so really he was just looking out for my best interest, and i actually had no knowledge of it, so i agreed. I dont care so much about purchasing 2 because now i know i can just go get one of them taken off... and when the first one breaks i'll directly replace it with the spare... no big deal, infact its less hassle for me.

Didnt mean to mis-direct with the word "con" but thats just the way i talk... you dont have to take everything i say exactly and literally how i say it (i like to read between the lines myself). I mean i can quote myself in the way i said it "...so i guess i got conned! damn!"... i clearly dont care because i got what i paid for... its not like they stole money off me lol most of that money was for the catalysts.

Dolphin, That was the price inclusive of the 2 cats, but you have to also remember i provided them with a C36 Backbox, which means i paid for the cats and the pipes from my manifold connecting everything up to my own pre-owned backbox.

Adam

 

[Doodle]

Dolphin, That was the price inclusive of the 2 cats, but you have to also remember i provided them with a C36 Backbox, which means i paid for the cats and the pipes from my manifold connecting everything up to my own pre-owned backbox.

Adam

Ah right, that explains it. Figures just weren't adding up otherwise.

 

[hitt]

I also purchased an exhaust from MIJ about 3 years ago. Job seemed ok, even though the exhaust was quite loud in comparison to what I had requested. I was told it would settle down and get quieter over time. After the completed the work I went home. I started hearing a knocking noise, checked under the car and found that the exhust was practically hanging off! The ***** hadn't even secured the exhaust correctly with the mountings. I mean they were exhaust specialists and couldn't even mount the exhust properly?! Took it back, got it fixed.
Quality of the exhaust was fine, but clearly the quality of their staff is questionable. The exhaust also hangs too low in the central section and often scrapes the higher speed humps! Which is bloody annoying.

Oh and the exhaust never did 'settle' and quieten down.