Bastuck Quad Installed (Kind of)

[HondaGoneRogue]

I doubt it, and even if I could, I already cut my stock exhaust to install this one. I think the only way to go is to have an exhaust shop re-work the rear hanger. Or I may just drive to Bastuck and have them look at it and see what they can do. They are only 45 mins from me. The problem is that the company I bought it from is German and customer service is not a priority here.

[HondaGoneRogue]

Ok, here's the skinny:
I drove to Bastuck today to show them the error of thier ways! the trip took me about 40 mins in the rain. I get to thier shop and it is pretty nice in the lobby area. I can hear a lot of grinding, welding and such as I am walking up to it. I stand there for about 2 mins and a lady comes over and asks if she can help me. I said that I would like to speak to a technician about my cars exhaust. She says one minute and walks to the back. Immediatley, an older man walks out and asks me if I had an appointment, I said that I didn't and he starts to turn me away. Now, most of you don't know me, I am very passive at first, mostly because I am 6'8" and like to feel docile and not ogrish and overpowering. So when he shuts me off, I start to "insist" he comes out to the car to take a look at the exhaust. I went from calm to very irratated very quickly. Thats how you have to roll here in Germany. Anyway, he comes out to the car and says "Your exhaust is crooked" and "You have the wrong diffuser" (reffering to my cut stock one). I reply that YES my exhaust is crooked, because it DOESN'T FIT. I told him that I myself am a mechanic and that i know what I am doing. I take the diffuser off and show him the charcoal canister that is blocking the rear hanger and he goes "ahhh yes, we do not have this here in germany". I said I know. I told him that a 40,000 dollar car shouldn't be running around with a crooked exhaust and he agreed. he alluded to the fact that it is a great exhaust system, and I refuted. I told him that companies in the states are advertising and distibuting the system and he seemed like I was not the first person to tell him the system doesn't fit. Well anyway, we argue and talk, argue and talk, mainly about whether or not I should have bought the exhaust having a us spec car. Once I showed him the spec sheet and referred him to thier own website stating that "this system is suitable for these cars: BMW E82 135i N54B30 Petrol", he acknowledged the fact that I have the right to be angry. I told him that it would be stupid to not make a small design change and be able to market the system in both countries. So he tells me to call the dealer that I purchased the exhaust from, have them make an appointment with them, and mention that I was arguing with Rainer Bastuck (yeah i know), and he will take my car for a couple days, redesign the exhaust hanger to work for both markets and give me his personal 335i to drive in the meantime. He will also install my diffuser! So I can now say that so far so good in getting this mess sorted out. No thanks to the dealer (just like WSTO) and thanks to me arguing with the man himself, hopefully we can all have the bastuck quad as an option. And I can say I swapped cars with a racing giant! We'll see how it pans out. Stay tuned.

[Ryan@IND]

Originally Posted by HondaGoneRogue

So yeah.....I hate Bastuck. First it was like pulling teeth to get the hanger they were supposed to send me, then, they designed the hanger to bolt to a piece that is only on some 135i's for some reason. And finally, the exhaust doesn't even fit on a U.S. 1er because our emission system is different. As you can see the hanger for the right tips is resting on the charcoal canister, yeah, euros don't have that piece there. So now it's turning into a custom job. I am going to have to have the hanger relocated or completely redone to snake through an opening between the canister. I really suggest staying away from the bastuck systems for lack of customer support and lack of R&D for U.S. spec cars. otherwise, be prepared to get some custom exhaust work done. For the amount of money I spent that shouldn't ever happen. Granted, I haven't asked Bastuck if there is a U.S. spec version of this exhaust, but i can bet that there isn't hence WSTO not updating thier bastuck thread.

As mentioned, we are in the same situation with you on this. We got our system in May and just tried installing it end of June. We realized that the Charcoal canister was in the way and notified Bastuck Germany about the need to redesign the system for the US cars and we are still pursuing the design change.

Since Bastuck Germany does not sell to retail customers, I am not able to comment on the customer service that you received from the German vendor, but I can assure you that we will do our best to rectify a situation like this.

As Bastuck North America on behalf of them for the inconveniences caused, although this system was not purchased from us.

He will also install my diffuser! So I can now say that so far so good in getting this mess sorted out. No thanks to the dealer (just like WSTO) and thanks to me arguing with the man himself, hopefully we can all have the bastuck quad as an option. And I can say I swapped cars with a racing giant! We'll see how it pans out. Stay tuned.

I am glad that mr. Bastuck himself has decided to do this. That really helped our argument with him on the need for a US Spec exhaust.

However, I personally feel UNFAIR that you'd say we didn't help at all and bash us like we sold the wrong system to you and have not taken care of you. Which certainly isn't the case. If anything, we have gone out of the realm of necessity to assist our customers in every and any situation regardless of its magnitude.

[HondaGoneRogue]

I know the system wasn't purchased from you, and I talked to Bastuck himself. Now everything makes sense. He said that he kept telling the "american boys" no, the exhaust won't work because Munich wouldn't give him a US spec 1er. Wow, I am the key now I guess. Shitty that it had to happen without me knowing what I was getting into. I don't mind being the test mule, but I just want you guys to see that what you post (touting a new system) has effects. People are going to get parts regardless of whether or not you will supply them. It was irresponsible of you guys not to inform the people that it didn't work after you said you had the piece. You could have at least updated the thread with something. Whatever, doesn't matter now. I have handled it myself.

[HondaGoneRogue]

Originally Posted by Julius@WheelSTO

I am glad that mr. Bastuck himself has decided to do this. That really helped our argument with him on the need for a US Spec exhaust.

However, I personally feel UNFAIR that you'd say we didn't help at all and bash us like we sold the wrong system to you and have not taken care of you. Which certainly isn't the case. If anything, we have gone out of the realm of necessity to assist our customers in every and any situation regardless of its magnitude.

What did you do to help anybody? You showed off the exhaust and then went silent. That doesn't help anyone. Then, you knew it didn't fit and you still kept quiet while I'm over here ON THE FORUMS figuring it out. Say what you want but I'm tired of vendors posting like one of us one minute and then becoming shady salesmen the next. one of US would have told people to stay away from the exhaust or at least said "yeah we are in that boat too. But you didn't; you read all our requests for updates and ignored them but you weren't too busy to post everywhere else. We all know how it goes. I'm not mad and i'm not bashing you. I just said that you were protecting a product that doesn't work (ie: you saying it would be irresponsible to say something without checking to see if it could be fixed) and inflating prices. I'm here in Germany don't forget. And duties and taxes and shipping dont do that kind of markup to pieces. IND still sells Eisenmann for a good price. Anyway, we can take this to PM if you want, but don't sit here and cry like I'm bashing you. Man up.

[Ryan@IND]

Originally Posted by HondaGoneRogue

What did you do to help anybody? You showed off the exhaust and then went silent. That doesn't help anyone. Then, you knew it didn't fit and you still kept quiet while I'm over here ON THE FORUMS figuring it out. Say what you want but I'm tired of vendors posting like one of us one minute and then becoming shady salesmen the next. one of US would have told people to stay away from the exhaust or at least said "yeah we are in that boat too. But you didn't; you read all our requests for updates and ignored them but you weren't too busy to post everywhere else. We all know how it goes. I'm not mad and i'm not bashing you. I just said that you were protecting a product that doesn't work (ie: you saying it would be irresponsible to say something without checking to see if it could be fixed) and inflating prices. I'm here in Germany don't forget. And duties and taxes and shipping dont do that kind of markup to pieces. IND still sells Eisenmann for a good price. Anyway, we can take this to PM if you want, but don't sit here and cry like I'm bashing you. Man up.

We tried the install ourselves only during the last week of June. That was way too long after we posted pictures of the system and I apologize for that delay. Afterwhich, we should have updated but when exchanging emails back and forth with Bastuck Germany, we decided to delay until we got confirmation from Germany whether a system will be released for US or not.

If posting pictures of a new system that we were happy to be a part of and then realizing that it doesn't fit and working with Germany to rectify the situation before releasing any statement is something that we did wrong, we apologize but We had no idea you were putting on the system on a US spec car and I really don't see how we are responsible for that.

For all those customers that contacted us personally, we made sure to let them know that it doesn't work, right now.

Anyways, I do apologize if we led you astray.

[HondaGoneRogue]

O.k. here's how this turned out:
I took the car to Bastuck last Sat. to get the piece fitted better. The guy I spoke with this time was very kind and understanding. I couldn't believe what a better experience I had on this visit. It only took them a day to get everything done. They re-worked the rear hanger and also designed a heat shield for the charcoal canister. They also installed the rear diffuser. They kept thanking me for letting them do this, which is really wierd because last week Herr Bastuck seemed like he could care less. Anyway, I would like to thank Julius at WSTO because although I set out to handle it myself, Bastuck informed me that he had been calling them about my issue. Obviously I am not naive enough to overlook the fact that this also helped them but it is still nice that he got involved. Julius also wrote me a very pleasant email which he clearly did not have to do. Anyway, they said the exhaust would\should be available for the rest of the U.S. 1ers in about 6-8 weeks. I really do love the exhaust although I am not crazy about the diffuser but its only temporary. The sound is amazing. It has gotten a lot deeper and more pronounced since my last posting. I would have had pics and vids up but I got sent to Belgium for a few days on business. So.......I will leave it with this and I will do better photos and vids hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for reading! And thanks again to Bastuck and Julius at WSTO

[Add1ct]

WOW, after all that fighting and heartache it looks so good, what was the out the door price

[HondaGoneRogue]

Yeah, I know. Thanks. It really was a hassle but I'm glad I bought it still. I paid about 2k. It should be less if I can get the tax back. I'm working on that. If it goes through, it should be about 1600 for me.

[kingnonis]

dude...that looks really, really bad @ss.. congrats.

[HondaGoneRogue]

Thanks man! Now where are those eyelids!?!

[Ryan@IND]

HondaGoneRogue,

First of all, I want to thank you for going to Bastuck yourself and Making them come up with a US version. Obviously, We are ecstatic that they are finally releasing the US version. We also want to thank you for your support and patience and for allowing Bastuck to build the US system based on your car.

As soon as they have the production done, we will release them for sale in the US.

Once again, thank you and you'll love the sound and we love our 2x85mm with resonator delete pipes.

[jfj1336]

That set up is EXTREMELY clean.

[HondaGoneRogue]

New thread for Videos!!!!
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285730

[M3Newbie88]

Damn HondaGoneRouge.. thats a nice ass picture with those exhaust and diffuser..

[HondaGoneRogue]

Thank You!