A thorough Riss Racing review

[ichiban]

Upon Riss Racing's request. I'm posting up some pictures of where the RR exhaust hangers needed to be modified in order for the exhaust tips to fit.



Here are some close ups.

[KeithLM]

Just a quick update that I've heard nothing from Riss regarding the refund or my offer to send the two damaged O2 sensors to someone for examination. No one has put forth any other explanation of how the O2 sensors could have been damaged and that is something I would really like to hear about.

[Morock'N]

I have that same exact problem with my exhaust rubbing on the heat shield, I sent emails with pictures, I left voice mails but I have yet to hear from anyone from Riss Racing. I am very unhappy and will NEVER buy anymore RR products from this moment forth.

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by Morock'N

I have that same exact problem with my exhaust rubbing on the heat shield, I sent emails with pictures, I left voice mails but I have yet to hear from anyone from Riss Racing. I am very unhappy and will NEVER buy anymore RR products from this moment forth.

Yeah, they can be very hard to get hold of sometimes, I can't begin to count the number of e-mails and voice mail messages I left that were never returned. Have you tried Daniel's cell phone number? Sometime you have a much higher chance of getting hold of him directly than anyone at the office. All the same you may have to take this to a shop and have a lot of work done to get it to fit correctly depending on your situation.

[HachiNi]

i got one word for you
dixis
I had 2 UUC exhausts break on me where the welds were on the can and hanger so I feel your pain.

[eunosracr]

Originally Posted by Morock'N

I have that same exact problem with my exhaust rubbing on the heat shield, I sent emails with pictures, I left voice mails but I have yet to hear from anyone from Riss Racing. I am very unhappy and will NEVER buy anymore RR products from this moment forth.

Same happened to mine. The muffler shop had to heat the y pipe and pull it down significantly to get it away from the heat shield. I love the sound of the exhaust but fitment is less than acceptable.

[jeremyc74]

Has anyone here had a good installation with this exhaust?

[shawshank772]

Just great. I am having mine installed in a few days. I have installed a few cat back exhausts in my day (mostly Borla) and NEVER had a single issue with them. I am actually having a shop do the install (plus injen intake and procede) since I no longer hace access to a lift. I tell everyone how it goes.

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by eunosracr

Same happened to mine. The muffler shop had to heat the y pipe and pull it down significantly to get it away from the heat shield. I love the sound of the exhaust but fitment is less than acceptable.

See, now that's just not right. I don't see how anyone could think that is acceptable. I just don't believe for a second that a mass manufacturer like BMW is going to allow some much variance with their products such that this would be necessary for an aftermarket bolt-on exhaust.

Daniel told Stett to do the same, and Stett was opposed to it. He said it would affect the integrity of the exhaust to heat it up that much and bend it. Stett estimated it would take $300 in labor for him to cut and weld the exhaust so it would fit correctly, and Riss was willing to pay that, but I wasn't willing to have that done.

[eunosracr]

Originally Posted by KeithLM

See, now that's just not right. I don't see how anyone could think that is acceptable. I just don't believe for a second that a mass manufacturer like BMW is going to allow some much variance with their products such that this would be necessary for an aftermarket bolt-on exhaust.

Daniel told Stett to do the same, and Stett was opposed to it. He said it would affect the integrity of the exhaust to heat it up that much and bend it. Stett estimated it would take $300 in labor for him to cut and weld the exhaust so it would fit correctly, and Riss was willing to pay that, but I wasn't willing to have that done.

Agreed. I was already pissed from the flanges not lining up so i said to hell with it, do it.

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by eunosracr

Agreed. I was already pissed from the flanges not lining up so i said to hell with it, do it.

Yeah, you get sucked in that way. You're thinking that you've already spent money on the install, that's gone no matter what, so perhaps if you spend a bit more your exhaust will fit and it will all be good. After all, if you just try and remove it and send it back you never know how that will go, and you're definitely not going to be reimbursed for the labor to attempt to fit a part that doesn't fit as it should. Oh, and absolutely no one has ever returned one before, they've all gone on thousands of times with only minor modifications, so it must be you.

[ichiban]

that's a lot of mods, for me, it only cost the exhaust shop 90 bucks to fix the clearance issue. Tho i did have to bore the mid pipe holes out myself in order for the downpipe and midpipe to meet.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by ichiban

that's a lot of mods, for me, it only cost the exhaust shop 90 bucks to fix the clearance issue. Tho i did have to bore the mid pipe holes out myself in order for the downpipe and midpipe to meet.

It should have cost you $0 to fix anything on a "bolt on" exhaust. I wonder where the fanboys are now.......

[Morock'N]

Originally Posted by ichiban

that's a lot of mods, for me, it only cost the exhaust shop 90 bucks to fix the clearance issue. Tho i did have to bore the mid pipe holes out myself in order for the downpipe and midpipe to meet.

Yeah welcome to the riss racing drilling club. I had to drill the two holes on the mid pipe as well, and I don't know if any of you had attempted to do this but is not an easy walk in the park with a hand held household drill. Took two of us and about 4 drill bits later and about an hour and half of work just to get the holes right. After that we found out that it sits flush with defuser, so let's get that heat gun and a pipe bender to get the hanger where they need to be. Got that all fixed and found out that it rubbs on the heat shield, so I took it all off last night, got the trusty heat gun (witch I trust more than I do riss racing at this point) and massaged that heat shield away from the exhaust and that fixed my issue. So what do you do after spending a grand on a Riss racing exhaust? Gee I don't know, hmmm, maybe drill here, bend here, bend some more, beat this side to death with a rubber malet, now this side and you're done, SEE, our product is the best fitting in the market. What a joke. What pissed me even more is that I sent an email before placing my order to ask about the fitment and they assured me that they spent a lot of time on R&D and that it will fit perfectly......NOT. I am pissed right now so I have to get of the net.

[adrean8j]

@BlackjackMulligan: To be perfectly honest I am just glad the OP and others have for the most part reverted to clear, concise, mature discussion on this matter. What was irritating before was the tone of the post before KeithLM took his 24hr break from the thread. I could tell he was thinking clearer and was more calm once he came back. Mad kudo's to him. Now it is up to RR and others to explain or rectify the situation with the exhausts...

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by adrean8j

@BlackjackMulligan: To be perfectly honest I am just glad the OP and others have for the most part reverted to clear, concise, mature discussion on this matter. What was irritating before was the tone of the post before KeithLM took his 24hr break from the thread. I could tell he was thinking clearer and was more calm once he came back. Mad kudo's to him. Now it is up to RR and others to explain or rectify the situation with the exhausts...

I went back and looked at my earlier posts, prior to Riss joining the thread and being very sarcastic and derisive towards me, was there anything I said that was particularly rude? I was sarcastic at times, but I don't think I said anything that was uncalled for. Especially when you consider how much I've lost on this. As of now I still don't have the refund on the downpipes, so I'm out well over $2500.

[adrean8j]

Originally Posted by KeithLM

I went back and looked at my earlier posts, prior to Riss joining the thread and being very sarcastic and derisive towards me, was there anything I said that was particularly rude? I was sarcastic at times, but I don't think I said anything that was uncalled for. Especially when you consider how much I've lost on this. As of now I still don't have the refund on the downpipes, so I'm out well over $2500.

Lets just say that both parties sounded like bickering siblings with all the finger pointing. I don't think anything you said was uncalled for per say, but the tone of many posts (this includes everyone...and is definitely not exclusive to this thread as it happens in other threads that have nothing to do with this) can be combative, whiney, inflammatory, sarcastic or whatever. I have been guilty of this in the past as well. All that being said I did see a definitive tone change once you had some time to cool down a bit. Then you just started posting pretty much only hard facts. I like it when people post the facts with no personal spin and let me make my own judgments (like i did concerning the plenum, exhaust, intake for example) based upon those facts. No worries man..i hope you get your refund and that others can sift out the facts and make an educated purchase.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by adrean8j

Lets just say that both parties sounded like bickering siblings with all the finger pointing. I don't think anything you said was uncalled for per say, but the tone of many posts (this includes everyone...and is definitely not exclusive to this thread as it happens in other threads that have nothing to do with this) can be combative, whiney, inflammatory, sarcastic or whatever. I have been guilty of this in the past as well. All that being said I did see a definitive tone change once you had some time to cool down a bit. Then you just started posting pretty much only hard facts. I like it when people post the facts with no personal spin and let me make my own judgments (like i did concerning the plenum, exhaust, intake for example) based upon those facts. No worries man..i hope you get your refund and that others can sift out the facts and make an educated purchase.

If I had spent that much money on parts that didn't fit like they should (or not at all) I'm not sure I'd have been anywhere close to as civil as he was.

I think it's obivous to most of us at this point that these guys are shipping junk out the door that's not being checked at all. Stuff like this should be test fitted to a master jig to make sure it's welded up properly, and there's no way that's been done.

The fact that the bolt pattern on the exhaust is different from the downpipes is just amazing.

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

The fact that the bolt pattern on the exhaust is different from the downpipes is just amazing.

The craziest thing is they stood behind this and defended it as a design decision for quite a while. Would it have been a big deal for anyone if they stood up in the beginning and took responsibility for it rather than deny a problem existed until a lot of people came forward and it was obvious to everyone?

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by KeithLM

The craziest thing is they stood behind this and defended it as a design decision for quite a while. Would it have been a big deal for anyone if they stood up in the beginning and took responsibility for it rather than deny a problem existed until a lot of people came forward and it was obvious to everyone?

I don't think it would have been a big deal at all. I ran a small manufacturing company for a while, and shit happens. Most people understand that, and when it does you've got to do the right thing, even if it costs you a pile of money.

I shipped a batch of (large) custom yacht parts to Taiwan once that didn't fit. They called, we figured out what happened, made new ones and had them sent as fast as possible, and told them to keep the other set for their trouble. It cost a fortune, but It worked out and we continued to do business with the company.

If the holes are close, I could get over that, but combined with the rest of the screwups....it's just too much. Nothing seems to be right on these parts.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by adrean8j

@BlackjackMulligan: To be perfectly honest I am just glad the OP and others have for the most part reverted to clear, concise, mature discussion on this matter. What was irritating before was the tone of the post before KeithLM took his 24hr break from the thread. I could tell he was thinking clearer and was more calm once he came back. Mad kudo's to him. Now it is up to RR and others to explain or rectify the situation with the exhausts...

I agree entirely with you. I honestly really feel bad for the situation that KeithLM is in and that's probably shown in my posts. What I agree was irritating was people jumping in here and there basically saying RR rocks, thats is, no doubt about it and that KeithLM has some type of AGENDA. That leads anyone to think that he's actually lying about what he's saying. So my point was that now that other people are supporting his claims (with pictures no less) the people who were chiming in before with claims of agendas and being "whiney" are no where to be found. I appreciate your neutral, and informative posts on this. I too have tried to be fairly neutral and even commended RR for posting up that they made a mistake.

[KeithLM]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

I don't think it would have been a big deal at all. I ran a small manufacturing company for a while, and shit happens. Most people understand that, and when it does you've got to do the right thing, even if it costs you a pile of money.

I shipped a batch of (large) custom yacht parts to Taiwan once that didn't fit. They called, we figured out what happened, made new ones and had them sent as fast as possible, and told them to keep the other set for their trouble. It cost a fortune, but It worked out and we continued to do business with the company.

If the holes are close, I could get over that, but combined with the rest of the screwups....it's just too much. Nothing seems to be right on these parts.

Exactly, when mistakes happen you acknowledge them and work out a solution that the customer finds acceptable. I think when you look at the pictures COBB took of the downpipes it's obvious something is wrong with the pipes. They are mounted correctly and the bungs aren't in the right place. Riss should have stepped up at that point, apologized for the problem and asked me to ship them back so they could examine them and figure out what happened. Truthfully I wouldn't have been happy, and rightfully so, because at that point I was already inconvenienced multiple times by them, but at least I wouldn't have wasted more time and money on trying to get them installed. And when you look at the resulting damage to the O2 sensors and compare that to the picture at COBB, well it only makes sense what happened. Just because Stett managed to wrangle them into place with the O2 sensors mounted doesn't mean it was a successful install.