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Long story short I bought a brand new AWE SwitchPath PSE no tips for a 991C2S from TAG Motorsports and I had a professional shop install it for me.
Unfortunately, the x pipe did not fit into my cats and it was a quarter inch off - which is very frustrating I paid 2 grand for something that didn't fit.
At this point, I decided to get it welded by the shop to fit my cats for various reasons but mainly to get this resolved immediately. I did not want to deal with the alternative of putting the OEM exhaust back on and waiting for them to ship the new product and redo this whole process while incurring tons of labor costs but most importantly my time which I value more.
new weld is shown in red
Now here is the kicker. I've sent these pictures to AWE Tuning and spoke to support on several occasions and asked to get labor reimbursed.
They kept on insisting that their products will fit and says there is nothing they can do and gave me the run around like parts sent from a dealer may be wrong or my cats may have been modified etc. After a week of back and forth of gathering sales order number from the dealer and investigation. I get this formal email from them.
Thank you for filling out the form and supplying us with the pictures.
You do have the correct product for your application.
Based on the pictures you sent, we do not see any indication that there would have been a fitment issue.
As I have previously explained, none of our warranties cover labor of any kind.
Unfortunately, modifying the system does void any warranty now and in the future.
This support ticket is considered closed.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you
In hindsight, I should have just returned the product and bought another brand. For what it's worth I hope you guys have a better experience with this company.
Wow, sorry you had such a bad experience. I am pretty interested in this same product myself. The poor customer service is not helping my rush into any decision. Time to step it up AWE!
That’s disappointing. Sorry to hear it wasn’t a simple bolt-on procedure like they advertise. I have the switch path exhaust on my 991.2 and was thinking of adding the 200 cell cats. I hope I don’t have a similar experience as you.
Mike
edit... The switch path exhaust was installed when I bought the vehicle so I’m not sure if there were any issue on the install but from my personal inspection it looks like it went together cleanly.
Last edited by Mike3015; 12-10-2018 at 07:33 PM.
Reason: Clarification
I can tell you (and you can read about it on these forums) that I had a minor fitment issue with a Soul Cat. The shop was able to use a simple spreader to get it in line without any need for welding. Soul contacted me and offered to reimburse me for the labor. While I didnt accept as it was probably about $50 extra or so, I felt the gesture spoke volumes about the company and their reputation.
I was never interested in AWE products to begin with, but things like this get burned into my memory forever. Just plain dumb and bad business to not support you and their product.
As a side note, I dont know how they can look at that weld which looks to be nearly 1 inch wide, and say it would have fit. Thats a cop out and BS. These muffler shops do this all day everyday across the country and they know what they are doing. If they had to cut the pipe and weld it to make it fit then clearly there was an issue with the production.
AWE you are a bunch of Dumb Asses to allow this negative PR rather than give the guy $100 or a pair of tips or something for his trouble. Bad business.
For future reference look at Kline exhausts. Yes they are more expensive but you get a complete exhaust not just an X pipe and the sound is more Porsche exotic in my opinion. Fit and finish flawless and they stand behind their product.
Thought I'd shed some clarity. Unfortunately we were not given the proper opportunity to assist OP as we were called after modification of the exhaust had occurred. If we had been contacted, there were a few options we could have followed through on without hesitation, ranging from a real-time installation walk-through with the technicians, requesting the product to be sent back for examination at no cost to OP, personally scheduling installation with a trusted establishment from our dealer network ourselves, among other courses of action. The laser-cut fixtures these systems are created in would not allow it to be built incorrectly, by design. If it was unable to be installed for whatever reason, we would have made things right for OP if he either wanted a new unit, or to return it, etc. We stand behind what we craft with utmost confidence. Circumstances took a hard change in direction when the unit was modified, and again, it is unfortunate we were not contacted beforehand.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM or email me.
Assuming that the exhaust was shipped, it's certainly possible that it got bent a little during transit either from poor handling (we've all seen those videos of tossed packages) or from being placed under a bunch of other heavy packages. If it wasn't a direct drop shipment from AWE, then it even got shipped twice getting itself to TAG doubling the chances of a shipping mishap. I had a prior exhaust and its box arrive all beat to hell and ripped partway open when it arrived at my house back in my 997 days, but fortunately no serious problem was found.
Once it was re-welded there's certainly no traceability back to where the problem came from, so I can certainly understand AWE's position there. But I also understand OP wanting to just get it done and having the shop take that action... but it certainly would have seemed a good idea to call AWE to advise of the situation before moving forward with irreversible action. In choosing to do so without consulting with AWE I think it is reasonable to assume that such costs are likely to be out of your own pocket and any chances of a return etc. are out the window.
Just to be clear I have no affiliation with AWE or anyone there, although I've had a couple of their products on 997.2 (X-pipe) and 991.1 and thought their products were a good item at a good price.
I have an AWE on my .1 GTS. There is no way the exhaust could have been bent without very obvious box damage -they are beyond robust and well packed. I do remember the fitment being millimeter tight. Super precise and was a bit of a bitch to install. There were moments I thought it was mis-made. It had to go on exactly equal both sides at the same time and barely slipped into the bolts/ lugs. If you tried to slip it on the lugs one side at a time it was impossible. Insanely precise fit. I don't know if the OPs shop was corrrct or incorrect, but this was my experience. If the car was used prior to OP purchase, it's also possible the cats were misaligned from undisclosed rear end collision.
For additional context. I did try to contact AWE but unfortunately they were closed during the time of installation. They are based in the east coast and I am on the west coast. Alternatively I reached out to the dealer TAG Motorsports and sent them the pictures and video you see above. Ultimately they couldn't do anything and had to wait for AWE.
So at this critical junction I had to make the decision to either 1) pay additional labour to reinstall my OEM exhaust back on, wait for new shipment, take more time off work, redo the whole process again or 2) get this resolved then and there by the shop whom I trusted and have installed numerous exhausts for my friends Porsches.
To be clear I did not want a refund nor wanted to return it so I was comfortable with the decision I choose. I was seeking compensation for additional labour required to cut and weld exhaust due to the lack of fitment.
Josh from AWE emailed me after I had posted this on rennlist
While I understand the perspective that it should have gone on flawlessly out of the box, all vehicles are different, and some require more massaging than others. From the looks of it, it seems that there would have been room for adjustment in other areas that would have prevented any idea of modification being the best course of action.
So AWE's position went from their products will fit, there is nothing they can do, to possibility the parts sent from a dealer may be wrong, my cats may have been modified to their final stance which is circumstances changed once the product was modified and they did not have the opportunity to help me during the installation.
It's simple...a stand up company would have simply reimbursed the customer for the labor. No need to make excuses if a product is solid. I grew up working for our family business and one thing that kept us strong was our motto, "customer is king". And, there was no social media back in the day. End of story. To the OP, I would have done the exact same thing.
It's simple...a stand up company would have simply reimbursed the customer for the labor. No need to make excuses if a product is solid. I grew up working for our family business and one thing that kept us strong was our motto, "customer is king". And, there was no social media back in the day. End of story. To the OP, I would have done the exact same thing.
Had a similar AWE story, one of the switch valves went out. Had to have my dealer swap it out. AWE sent me the new valve, but refused to pay the labor.
12-10-2018, 06:04 PM
New AWE SwitchPath did not fit into my cats
- which is very frustrating I paid 2 grand for something that didn't fit.
