HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers
 

:confused: Bolt on? Ha!

Yesterday morning I had my Bassani X-Pipe and Stingers installed at a local Corvette only garage. What a day…6 hours later and $250 in the hole the tips will not align and the exhaust pops like nobody’s business. This whole issue sucks! (or am I being oversensitive?)

The alignment issue goes like this; looking from above, the centerline of the left side tip is nowhere even close to being parallel with the centerline of the car. From one end of the tip to the other the distance has got to be a ½” out of being square. The muffler centerlines are parallel to each other and in the same the same relative position.

The owner of the shop personally inspected my system and got his hands dirty trying to fix the alignment with no luck. He believes that the left side was over bent and that is where the problems are coming from. He recommends that I ask Borla for a new left side.

The right side tip centerline is perfectly parallel with the cars centerline. But, looking from the rear, the tip is not parallel to the ground. The mufflers are parallel to the ground.

As to the popping in the exhaust, I thought it was barely noticeable with the stock exhaust. I never thought it would be so pronounced with the new, especially with the X-Pipe.

So here are some questions I hope someone can answer.

1) Has any one ever had any quality issues with either Borla exhausts or Bassani X-Pipes that required parts to be replaced?

2) What can I do to get these things aligned?

3) Is this excessive popping normal?

I will be contacting Borla and Bassani this week to see what they have to say.

Thanks for your help!

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

Sorry you are having such a bad time with your Quad Stingers. I installed mine in December. Had a minor alignment problem but was easily taken care of with a few minor adjustments. I would recommend contacting Bora's customer service and get a new section sent out. It sounds like they were not bent right at the factory. As far as the popping its normal with stingers. I have had both dual tip and quad tip and popping is part of the deal. I have a 6 speed and it is prevelant when I down shift. I was planning on doing an X pipe install but based on what I have been seeing on the forum I'm not sure if it will eliminate the popping. Honestly to me its not that bad and easy to get used to. Hope everything works out for you. Once you get the kinks worked out your gonna love them. Good luck :cheers:

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

I have the dual tip Borlas and had major fitment issues. I still have a set of over-the-axle pipes sitting in the garage from trying to get the fitment correct. The driver's side is basically fine, but the passenger side has major problems...it hits the framerail at the top of the over-the-axle bend, then it contacts the CD changer tub in the rear, the bend before the muffler hangs way too low, and the passenger tip is all out of whack. I had it in the shop so many times and spent so much $ trying to get it right that I finally gave up. Borla agreed to reimburse me a whopping $50 for my troubles, and it took them almost three months (and ten calls/emails) to pay up.

Bottom line, I love the sound of the Borlas, but being anal, I get angry every time I look at my crooked exhaust. I may even take it off one day just on principle. After about a year with this exhaust, I can actually say that it is too loud (for me), at least for a convertible. Maybe my experience is just a bad one, but I would not buy Borla again.

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

Sorry to hear about your problems with borla. In FEB. 2002, I installed the Borla Stingers(quad oval) at a local muffler shop...No problems w/alignment. My cat-back system fit perfect! Maybe you just got a bad left side, this sometimes happens, as a matter fact, it happened to one of my friends. Sometimes it depends where you bought it from. I bought mine from ecklers. Some distributors buy them second handed, meaning they are not authorized to sell Borla, but they buy it under the "table." Anyway just call Borla and they should do the right thing..they always do. :chevy Pertaining to the "popping noise",...thats Borla! :D These are my third set and I love the popping noise. Your bassani x-pipe should have cut down the popping, beacuse your getting more air into the system, but I have a Corsa x-pipe..the popping is still there, but now it's toned down a little. I really don't mind. It's just question of perference. :cheers:

:flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag :flag

GOODLUCK!

2002/vert/Qk Silver/M6
BlackWing
Borla Stingers(Quad Oval)
Corsa x-pipe
Vortex P. Duct
Special Program
Billet all around :auto:

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

I can't comment on the installation. I had my Borla Stingers and Bassani Cross Pipe installed by my local Porsche shop where the co-owners both drive C5s :lol: I took it to them because I read that it was near impossible to do the install if you didn't get the car at least 3 feet in the air. I had no way to do that with my floor stand jacks....so off it went to Tony. I didn't watch the install but they seem to fit perfectly and the alignment is excellent. I am not sure how much trouble they had but I took it in about 8:30 in the morning and got the call to come get it before lunch.

I installed the system for sound and not power. They are just a tad loud but I must admit.... I LOVE THE SOUND. However, the system does pop even between shifts and rumbles when you down shift or let off the peddle. I also thought the Bassani cross pipe would avoid popping...but it doesn't. But running it through the gears is awesome. Boy what a smooth strong sound.

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:


[Modified by corvette1999C5ohio, 4:11 AM 4/8/2003]

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

:) After speaking to Borla Customer Service all my problems have been resolved. Basically they said that every sytem they have installed needs to be pushed and pulled into alignment.

This is the way I did it: Warmed the car up for about 10 minutes, sat on the ground and placed my feet at the ends of one of the mufflers and pulled on the tip like a gorilla. Believe it or not, they are now perfect.

As to the popping, I like it.

As to the quality of the whole system. I could not be happier at this time. It looks kick butt and sounds kick butt. There is no resonance at all. At mellow acceleration you could barely notice the exhaust sound. At WOT, watch out. Sweet! :hurray:

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

Had aBassani xpipe installed last week and it did not fit well at all. Have an appointment with specialty muffler shop to see if they can fix. Problem was the xpipe pushed the std mufflers down at least 2 inches from where they were. looks like hell!
Would never recommend Bassani xpipes!

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Jack Behrle)
 

Bob,
Your intallation sounds exactly like mine... the left side is out of whack...guess I'll have to warm um up and use gorilla tactics on it.

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

Cool! Glad to hear it worked out for you, those Borla's look killer!

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Z06_2002)
 

Loosen all the bolts, and push and pull till you get them aligned. Then tighten the bolts really tight so they don't come loose. Worked for me.

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (Bob's C5)
 

I'm really glad you got your problems resolved. Although they weren't Stingers, I had a Borla 4 tip system where the passenger side tips were obviously misjigged. The muffler to tip exit pipes actually laid up against the drop down well, which was really a fire hazard. Their million mile warranty was virtually non-existent; Customer Service wanted me to pay for everything; they were slow as a snail; I had to hassle them to get anything done. They finally sent me a second set of mufflers for the passenger side, which was misjigged as well. I urged them to fix the jig problem as a matter of public safety; they refused. I finally had to sue them (easy for me, because I'm a lawyer); they wanted to settle but part of the first proposal was that I would keep the "problem" (their term) confidential, which I refused to do. They finally paid, but I would never buy a Borla product again. In my opinion, it's an average product for a premium price. I replace these with GHLs, and I'm VERY happy with them...much better quality and soundwise than Borla. Maybe my lawsuit had something to do with them deciding to be cooperative with you. I hope so.

Re: HELP! Alignment problems with Borla Quad Tip Stingers (C5+ZR1)
 

I hate to hear about the issues with borla but I have seen a couple of 4 tip stingers mounted and they do not line up quite right.

I have to agree the GHL's are a quality system. :yesnod:

I just installed Borla stinger with quad tips as well. Im having the same issue as you with the drivers side not being squared up with the rear bumper. I too need to exhaust to be bent about 1/2 inch. The outside tip is angled out too far. my installed said he couldnt really do anything about it as well. Im gonna try bending it mysewlf and twerking the hinges or something. IDK why I have these dumb problems after spending nearly $1000 on an exhaust.

Although this is a 12 year old thread, I am going to respond also.

I played with alignment on mine quite a bit too.

I finally got it pretty close, but the right side was still a little bit low. Most people wouldn't notice, but it bothered me.

Attachment 47870182

Old thread for sure, but
 

:iagree:

Going along with QCVette in reviving this thread but I just had this problem yesterday.

After driving to Bakersfield (5 hrs each way) and getting them installed before I private party bought them used, they just wouldn't line up right.

Got back home and went to my local shop and they spent about 1 1/2 hours taking off the left side, grinding 6 welds in two different locations and then cutting off about a 1/2 inch of one of the sections to finally get them to fit pretty darn good. They are, for the most part lined up and level but it took some twisting and pushing in at the cut section to get it this way.

My vette came with dual tip stingers.
After it went to power fab the tips are uneven and it rattles like crazy. Some people tell me I should take it back to them but I don't want to give them another chance to jack more stuff up:ack:.

Borlas
 

I align mine by loosening up the 2 bolts on the flange just before it goes over the axle. Hold a 2 x 4 under the tips to straighten them. Tighten up
The bolts.