sublimer

iTrader: (7)

So after having tons of banging problems with my exhaust (cattman Y, Frankencar B, Cattman rear section) I finally took some orgers advice and used hose clamps to tighten up the hangers and stop the banging. It took me a while to play around with the clamps on different hangers and different tightness settings because when they were too tight the muffler tips would rub against my AE rear lip and make an annoying rattling noise, but finally I found the perfect set up that practically eliminated the banging and kept the exhaust tips low enough to keep them from touching the rear lip.

Then, yesterday after spending about 6.5 hours driving all day to Ithaca, NY and back, I stopped for gas and just walked around my car to take a look and make sure everything was fine from all that driving. I noticed that right above the exhaust tips, a piece of my AE kit, about 1" wide, had melted off into an oval shape from the heat of the exhaust. After driving for about a week with my set up I never had any problems but I guess the long drive really heated up the lip. I've also taken similar long drives before but this is the first time this has happened. Now i'm not sure if I should take the hose clamps off to keep the muffler away from the body but then deal with the banging again...or I could leave them on and just hope that nothing else melts....

But anyone with a rear lip who plans on using hose clamps, be aware of problems!!!

sublimer

iTrader: (7)

heres a pic. you can see above the left exhaust tip the part that started melting.

KCMC582

iTrader: (4)

sh'it, thats really odd. i have the Cattman with a Stillen rear lip and nothing like that is happening, at one point the tips were rubbing against the side of the lip. Assuming it is the fault of the clamps, i would suggest removing the clamps and using stiffer ehaust hangers. it will hang in the same place, but will bounce less than the OEM ones. that sucks, im sorry bro.

sublimer

iTrader: (7)

it was especially weird because it was pouring the whole time i was driving and it would seem that the rain would cool things down...

is there any difference in the materials of the AE lip and the stillen lip?

Park2670

I was always worried about that with my exhaust too... I put on hose clamps to raise up my cattman muffler as it was making a lot of noise. I raised it just below my stock bumper and havent had any melting problems yet.

doc2278

iTrader: (3)

there is a difference one is ABS the other is polyurethane, ABS (acrylabutylstyrene) melts where as polyurethane is thermo-set and does not melt.
Stillen lip is polyurethane where stock is not.

hope that is helpful

Woody

iTrader: (1)

I think that it might be moving when loaded.

KCMC582

iTrader: (4)

i was just going to say that i thought the AE OEM rear lip was probably ABS, which could melt like plastic.

btw bro, check out my photobucket link to see pics of the trunk on with your handywork

Teufelhunden

iTrader: (8)

you can hardly notice that...

03maxima1

iTrader: (13)

Mine is doing the same thing.

SEmy2K2go

iTrader: (10)

Being able to notice it is one thing. When it's your car, you'd most likely have a concern about it as well...especially after spending the money on the lip and having it painted.

Deckdout2

iTrader: (151)

That's funny, I feel your pain but check out your post in my thread a few months back.....

I still need to take it in.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....attman+exhaust

Deckdout2

iTrader: (151)

What sucks worse is if it happened a few weeks after getting a new ae rear lip and new bumper installed and painted from being rear ended.......

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

That'll buff right out!

See if you can get different hangers maybe? Something that hangs a little lower and then use the hose clamps maybe?

Teufelhunden

iTrader: (8)

yeah get aftermarket hangers from auto parts store, they can slove the banging noise without the use of the clamps.

sublimer

iTrader: (7)

i didnt say my whole rear lip was melting off...i mean other people might not notice it unless they were looking but I definately did right away. like
SEmy2k2go said, when its your car you're more concerned. its like seeing a ding in your door or some kind of scratch. its hurts deep inside lol.

whats funny is that I actually posted and said I had no problems... I guess I jinxed myself. But really without the hose clamps there were no problems before...I'm gonna look into new hangers

john j

i have the same car and same exhaust set up and guess what?? thats what my bumper looks like too!!wish they would fabricate these systems a little better for the money you spend on them

sublimer

iTrader: (7)

wow exact same set up? I thought i was the only one. How do you like the sound?

doc2278

iTrader: (3)

wow cant even tell it was cracked!!!!! nice!!!!!! my car doesn't hold a candle to how good looking your car is!!!!!!

doc2278

iTrader: (3)

here's a suggestion: get some heat shield ( aluminum... not the foil kind ) material and mount it to the base of the lip, then it will dispurse the heat from the exhaust better.

shurik

iTrader: (6)

Well my rear ABS lip melted a couple days ago as well. I took a long 8 hours dirve and now the lip where's the muffler is melted. It never happened before just like some ppl said, it's just I used some clamps and I installed the B-pipe cattman section. Perhaps that could be the reason.

Well I'll post up the pictures and show you how mine looked.
Now I'm cutting an aluminus shield to protect it from melting again. Had to heat up the lip with a proper heating gun, to move some parts of the lip back in the place cause my lip got melted pretty bad.

Deckdout2

iTrader: (151)

You might find some insight here. This happened to me a few weeks ago, just a more involved case.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=482534

I wonder if this happens to the real Stillen lip.