I'm struggling to believe that the exhaust is still not blowing after nearly 11 years.

What did they make them from?

All mine went at the cat after 7 years.... but it depends on the type of driving I guess?

Indeed, recently removed a full exhaust from a 2003 vrs so 13 year old, perfectly fine

Flexi section needed replacing on my wife's old late 2002 Polo when it was about 5 years old, though I think that these flexi bits were not welded onto the original exhaust too well - or indeed newer cars don't look any better, after that, exhaust lasted until car was chopped/disposed off when 13 years, 105K miles old, though I would have expected to replace its back box for its next MOT. My old Passat 4Motion only ever needed a jointing sleeve clamp replacing, it was the one up front and it had corroded badly and broke - so I replaced both ends on both sides, that was at about 12 years old, sold that car at 13 years old and 95K with its original exhaust still on.

 

Exhaust on my daughter's late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 SC does not look like it will keep going for the life of that car, the flexi section has always looked a bit grubby/nasty and the pipework is heavily corroded, that car has been used mainly on "good" runs, so short journeys can't take the blame for that.  Original owner of my Audi S4 treated it to a Milltek Stainless Steel exhaust when it must have been very new - so only worries there are the pre-cat sections and all bolts, clamps are proper SS ones with crappy bolts - probably due to SS bolts having limited strength.

Edited 2 February, 201610 yr by rum4mo

All mine went at the cat after 7 years.... but it depends on the type of driving I guess?

Constant short runs kill them off quicker I guess?

Constant short runs kill them off quicker I guess?

Yep....

Well I've just cleaned up my tailpipes with autosol, 'looks' like it will last forever now!

Ah, Autosol - surely I still have some of that hiding in the garage, I could use that on the nice shiny Audi accessory tip that I fitted to wife's new Polo 1.2TSI - does she care about having a nice shiny exhaust tip on her car ----- NO!

Ah, Autosol - surely I still have some of that hiding in the garage, I could use that on the nice shiny Audi accessory tip that I fitted to wife's new Polo 1.2TSI - does she care about having a nice shiny exhaust tip on her car ----- NO!

Ah but we do, sometimes it's our turn to tell them what to think! They came up a treat too, need a bit more on the very tip, will do when I have more time.

My factory exhaust lasted 11 years, although the clamping sleeve at the front was heavily corroded. The rear silencer appeared to be double-skinned. Never had an exhaust last so long on any other car I've owned. Rear-engined Skodas used to eat them for breakfast

Yes, the back box on my wife's old Polo started to get exploding scabs/pox eruptions when it was about 6 year sold, by the time it was 9 years old I needed to buy a long stainless steel jubilee clip repair thing for it to keep the outer skin secure against the back box - kept the MOT man happy as there was no leaks from through the inner skin.

Wonder if a stainless steel replacement....when it finally needs replacing....will last as long?

Starting to wonder if the original equipment is stainless steel now tbh.

Whenever I have replaced an exhaust with a non-genuine part they don't last 2 bloody minutes!

 

No idea what the original exhausts are made of... diamond?!

 

Me Felicia 1.3 was still on it's original exhaust at 12 years old when I replaced it.

 

Our Cordoba PD130 was also still looking good at over 10 years old.

 

I too use metal polish to keep the exhaust looking like new. Even works on the normal steel exhausts like mine.

Recently changed the back box on  2001 sdi with about 93k miles - original did well at about 15 years from new.

Diesel fumes are apparently easier on the exhaust than petrol due to the lack of sulpher (which creates sulphuric acid in petrol engine exhaust fumes).

The exhaust is made from stainless but will still corrode on the joints and the outer layers usually start peeling after 8 years or so but I don't think I've actually had to replace a fabia exhaust pipe for corrosion yet. The joining sleeves usually corrode away tho.

The exhaust is made from stainless but will still corrode on the joints and the outer layers usually start peeling after 8 years or so but I don't think I've actually had to replace a fabia exhaust pipe for corrosion yet. The joining sleeves usually corrode away tho.

What? The original exhaust as fitted in the factory actually IS made from stainless steel?

 

If so, that answers the question really then ey?

Another question. Can you actually purchase original as fitted in the factory exhaust systems anywhere, as I'm sure Kwik Fit and the usual suspects would just laugh in your face?

Yes the pipes are stainless. Not sure what grade as they are non magnetic but do corrode slightly. Just not nice shiny stainless.

Yes the pipes are stainless. Not sure what grade as they are non magnetic but do corrode slightly. Just not nice shiny stainless.

 

Probably 409 since it's the cheapest.

I'd reckon up to a certain age of model you could ask your dealer to order in a new exhaust section, only the original fitted exhaust will be roughly one piece as it gets fitted before lots of other bits, also customers want the ability to replace for instance the rear box and not the complete rear section if it could be removed in one piece.

I don't think that you would like the price though, a custom built SS exhaust would probably be cheaper. I seem to remember asking a VW dealer for a price for the section that included the flexi joint and second cat when wife's Polo was 5 or so years old, a price of £300+ was quoted - though I'd probably be able to get a couple of pounds back on the old cat.

Maybe tempting fate, but mine is still OK ( minus one skin of the double skinned rear box). And on that topic, here's some inventive MOT testers out there as this double skin was advised as "heatshield corroded" on one MOT.

Outer skin on the backbox of my 56-plate is starting to disintegrate and the clamp securing the centre section fell apart last year. But other than the clamp, it's original.

Do get a bit of drone in the cabin at low speed so not sure if the exhaust is starting to collapse internally or if it's something else.

Petrol Fabia > 2nd muffler still original after 9 years / 205'000km (despite, outer layer is gone for long time already); 1st muffler replaced few months ago.

For our Latvian mega-salty (but not clean, ha) winter roads > good result ;-)

Yeah the outer skin on our Cordoba was corroding and came off in the end. But exhaust itself seemed fine.

 

They must be stainless steel as I'm able to keep my tailpipes looking all shiny:

 

 

Hate seeing exhausts on other Octavias that are all rusty and horrible. Especially when they stick out like this.

 

Although I want some like this:

 

Both of our Fabias (2003 +2004) have the original exhausts. However after 10 or so years both lost the outer skin of back box. Still no leaks. Our Subaru only had one back box replaced in 18 years, the rest was original.