krossi
New member
Mine is 4 years old and needs a new exhaust too as it has rusted. I think this board is going to start seeing a whole host of quality issues as the Fiat 500 comes of age.
Technical New Exhaust! - only 4 years old?!
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Technical New Exhaust! - only 4 years old?!
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Lets face it, exhausts failing on a car predominantly used in the city is hardly a 'quality issue' - and the 500 won't be the last car built to suffer this issue.
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Exactly! The exhaust on my 406 fell off once and one of the tailpipes on our Subaru fell clean off! Exhausts are made out of mild steel and mild steel rusts!
- Joined
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And stainless steel exhausts aren't perfect either. They sound horrible and tinny, and work harden and crack instead of rusting.. And the pipe bends are usually crap too, due to the work hardening issue.
its a consumable part :bang: most mild steel after-market pipes come with only a 2 year warranty
most custom made stainless steel exhausts come with lifetime warranty though
RobinPJ mentioned cleaning his tip and obviously watches carry on films, don't see why you didn't get it and this was a post about exhaust so I think if you follow it it seems ok to me 
But then I do have a wierd sense of humour
But then I do have a wierd sense of humour
I found the rolled-over ridge bit at the end is difficult to get clean, had to use Scotchbrite followed by metal polish (it's fine now).
Speaking of cheesy humour...
-Alex
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Ouch...
Yeah, I can't decide whether it's low-quality stainless steel or even chrome-plated on the 500 - either way, it doesn't seem to clean up as well as the standard tip on my Spider, which is a similar shape.
-Alex
Low quality stainless.
Good - I can stand by my comment to use Scotchbrite, then, without fear of the chrome flaking off.
After that, Autosol is the best metal polish I've found. Makes a difference to the overall appearance, having it clean and shiny...-Alex
Good - I can stand by my comment to use Scotchbrite, then, without fear of the chrome flaking off.
-Alex
Britemax are pushing their combo on F/Book right now easy cut and final shine.
Four years for a standard mild steel exhaust is about right.
Short trips take their toll of exhausts more than anything else, since the exhaust doesn't heat up thoroughly enough to evaporate off the condensation that is a natural by-product of combustion. It gets into all those chambers and sits in the inner seams of the exhausts.
The condensation also picks up nitrogen-, sulphur- and organic compounds that are formed when you burn petrol.. especially if you have a high sulphur content in the petrol... so it's very corrosive to steel in particular.
Cheaper exhausts are a lower grade steel and also thinner walled.. so won't last as long. They can go in around 2 years.
Use a good brand if you want less hassles.. Timax (aka Bosal) are pretty good. Something that costs £40 on eBay, probably slightly less good.
But if you're keeping the car for ages, stainless steel is the way to go. It costs about 1.5 times the cost of mild steel and unless you bend it, it won't ever wear out... though the flexi bit is still prone to metal fatigue (since it's flexi)... but that'll be a once a decade job I'd have thought.
Ralf S.
Short trips take their toll of exhausts more than anything else, since the exhaust doesn't heat up thoroughly enough to evaporate off the condensation that is a natural by-product of combustion. It gets into all those chambers and sits in the inner seams of the exhausts.
The condensation also picks up nitrogen-, sulphur- and organic compounds that are formed when you burn petrol.. especially if you have a high sulphur content in the petrol... so it's very corrosive to steel in particular.
Cheaper exhausts are a lower grade steel and also thinner walled.. so won't last as long. They can go in around 2 years.
Use a good brand if you want less hassles.. Timax (aka Bosal) are pretty good. Something that costs £40 on eBay, probably slightly less good.
But if you're keeping the car for ages, stainless steel is the way to go. It costs about 1.5 times the cost of mild steel and unless you bend it, it won't ever wear out... though the flexi bit is still prone to metal fatigue (since it's flexi)... but that'll be a once a decade job I'd have thought.
Ralf S.
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