X2 Definitely doesn't look like 304 for how much corrosion and how long it was in use.

As for the Mass spec, see if you have any friends at a local college who could help you out. The science departments usually have at least one.

 

Couple days after this happened I threw a magnet on a spare piece of KNOWN 304 I had laying around and then the megan pipe. Barely stuck to the 304, snapped right onto the megan exhaust. Probably made of some low grade/ maybe galvanized steel.

Plain and simple they sold a product that was misrepresented. That's not even the real issue; I work with suppliers all the time and understand that sometimes things get made incorrectly. The issue is that they weren't willing to do ANYTHING to remedy the situation. So basically if you spend $500 on a megan racing product you better cross your fingers and hope that 1. They've engineered it correctly and 2. The supplier made it correctly. That's a complete horse**** way to run a business if you ask me.

 

It seems you are past this but why not try and escalate the situation? If you are that confident that its not 304SS then why not try a different approach? Since it seems they are arguing that 304SS will do that (nonsense I know) then why not go at them with something along the lines of "you sold it to me as 304SS and what you have is not actually 304SS"

 

Oh man. Megan is complete garbage !! i had a catback system with the test pipe. after 4 months the test pipe sated rattling inside. making all kinds of noise. plus the welding on them are just ** . trust me spend the money. i switched to hks cat back and perrin test pipe. i had the evo 8 with megan exhaust manifold and i had to get it re'welded.

" this is my personal experience"

 

thats not 304 guys. 304 has very high corrosion resistance. i've seen it used in gates on beach front properties with no corrosion despite salt spray. cheaper 2xx (202) grade stainless does rust. could possibly be made of 2xx alloy as its much cheaper than 304.

 

Damn.
Thats why I haven't chosen their outlet and bought Invidia with true 3" and great material. I would recomend nbext time look in side of Japan made tems I have a lot installed on my vehicle such as tomei, greddy,sard,arc and much satisfied.

 

you'd be surprised to find that most Japanese s/s mufflers do not have s/s internal components. 90% mild steel construction. most only have the muffler body/exhaust tip made of stainless steel. i've repaired many HKS/Trust/Tomei mufflers (and other jasma certified brands) over the last 15 years for customers. i live on a tropical island with 100% humidity and it takes its toll after a few years of use.

 

You can make your own custom exhaust for half the price of those name brand ones!

 

yeah you could but will never meet same sound as factory

 

I'm not sure what kind of recourse I have is the problem. Usually when this stuff happens I can run a chargeback or similar but I can't do that 2.5 years later. When I spoke to them on the phone I explained that I design and spec materials for car parts for a living and can say with a high degree of confidence that it's not 304. The reply was (in a nutshell) "we only use 304 on our exhausts and they sometimes rust". I couldn't even get the CSR manager to acknowledge that the material was incorrect. If you have any other ideas on how to approach it let me know. I've never had this happen with an aftermarket parts company

That's the route I wound up taking. Bought a vibrant resonator and some flanges & piping and welded it myself. Not as pretty as an aftermarket but sounds good and didn't cost me a metric ****-ton

 

If they ONLY use 304SS, how do they verify it?
What quality control do they have to ensure the material the comes through the door couldn't be anything else?
The corrosion performance of the product you have in your hand says otherwise.

 

How many times have you tried calling? Sometimes you end up with a dud on the phone that is beyond hopeless. Did you ask to speak with their supervisor?

It can be time consuming and a PITA but it might be worth sticking to it. Especially since the person on the phone from the sounds of it wasn't even addressing your issue or listening in the first place. We know 304SS isnt impervious to rust. Thats why its called stainless not stainproof!

You're right in that you don't have much leverage given the time that has passed. The leverage that you do have is in the misrepresentation of the materials the product is make out of. And that is something in which it doesn't matter how much time has passed.

 

Surprisingly, I've had success with companies after filing a complaint with the BBB. Not always, but it's worked for me before.

 

its really junk tho, it sounds too loud.

 

Dang that is rough