Downpipe fitting ouch!

JonnyDerv

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Just been quoted £518.40 to fit a 3" downpipe and sports cat including wheel alignment because they'd have to drop the sub frame. Is this price about right? A lot more than I was expecting :(
 
It's not a small job. Alignments are around £100, and I'd imagine they could do the down pipe in under 4hrs, most garages are around or sometimes a lot more than £100/hr. So it works out about right, imo
 
Is it really worth that kind of money? Decatting my old tdi was worth it but that only cost a couple of hundred. Talking like a grand with a pipewerx downpipe.
 
Buy a relentless downpipe and decat.

Find a friend who's handy with spanners and has a morning spare. Give him some beer.

Take to Pro Tyre afterwards for tracking at £27.

Find a friendly test station for the annual test.

Total spend ~£300.

Winner!
 
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Only mate that could do it runs his own business and rarely has the time to do a poo. Meh think I'll just fmic it
 
Dont buy a cheap DP, get something well made like relentless or pipewerx. I found out the hard way and ended up costing me around £450 just to fit one that I supplied ( that did include new o2 sensor, & CV boot tho) but it took the garage just over 2 days to fit in the end as it didn't go together very well. Lesson learned

Steve
 
Fitting a DP to an A3 is a darn sight easier though, fitted a whole turbo back stainless exhaust system in a few hours. Not quite that quick on an S3/Quattro
 
It is a a3 quattro so still got to mess around with the subframe etc. Im pretty sure the garage that done mine said they popped a driveshaft out
 
I was quoted similar figures to yourself for the same work, even had some garages claiming that its too much of a PITA so they simply wouldn't quote. Prawns right, find a mate and get cracking. It so happens that i took my old engine out 'engine failure' so i could simply fit the down pipe and de-cat very easily on the drive.
 
man up, do it yourself!-) its a pig but you cant really go wrong. subframe doesnt have to come right off, just needs to be hanging on the bolts as low as it can... to be fair i struggled to get it through the hole for an hour but it went through in the end!
get it up in the air, drivers wheel and arch liner off/out. then you can reach the down pipe bolts, oh charge pipe off for top access too. then cut old downpipe with a grinder to get it out then drop subframe on bolts. swear alot getting pipe through and bolt back up... worth scraping around subrame nuts so you can get it back near enough. allow a whole day and if its sunny it will help. just need axel stands, jack, and a socket set n spanners. no way i would pay that to get it on... you only learn one way!-)
 
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Took me a good day to do the first time as I had no idea what I was doing(downpipe, decat, exhaust). Next time round only had to take out the downpipe and replace, took me all of 3 hrs.
Get it on a ramp and follow the instructions in the post above.
 
regarding the original post's quote I was quoted 5 hours labour + 85 quid alignment from TTShop to fit my downpipe. so the original quote was probably right I think it is the "unknown" element garages dont like, to remove my downpipe via the subframe I needed to buy a 1 meter breaker bar and use my whole body pushing against a wall with my legs to undo the subframe bolts
 
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Hi there people I have purchased a 2020 Audi s3 just picked up this week. Got my self a down pipe as my car come with the OPF/PPF/GPF what ever you would like to call it petrol particulate filter. What like a job to fit I am mechanic buy trade, does the sumbrfame need removed or lowered for installation. Cheers.
 
Hi there people I have purchased a 2020 Audi s3 just picked up this week. Got my self a down pipe as my car come with the OPF/PPF/GPF what ever you would like to call it petrol particulate filter. What like a job to fit I am mechanic buy trade, does the sumbrfame need removed or lowered for installation. Cheers.
I would ask in the 8v forum dude... this is 8L for the early A3/S3's... 8v is a completely different chassis so will present its own challenges..

<tuffty/>
 
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