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Codiddy · 10-28-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-32

...Didn't go so well.

They're right down the road from where I'm stationed, so I thought I had gotten pretty lucky, since I would have a good shop to do all the things I want done to my car.

I went in a couple weeks ago and asked the man for a CAT BACK exhaust for my car. Not being an exhaust pro myself, I told him what I wanted from the exhaust as far as sound, and trusted in him to get me a good product (he said the Mac cat back system would be good, so I agreed).
He charged me $450 for the exhaust, and said the install would run another $40.

So about a week later I get a call saying my exhaust is in. Cool! When I show up, he opens the box and I see an AXLE BACK system. I asked him what was up with that, and he said that they don't make cat backs for the new Mustangs, and this was the same thing. I wasn't too sure about that, but I went ahead with the install, again trusting his expertise.

When I got home that night, I looked up the part number from the box and compared it to his website. They charge $313 for that particular exhaust, with free shipping, to online customers. I'm not sure if my mark up was because I was a walk-in or maybe some kind of Military discount, but I wasn't too happy. I also wasn't too happy to learn that there are many CAT BACK exhaust systems available, like what I had originally asked for, and actually paid for.

I called and left a message with my concerns, but have yet to hear back from them.

the mufflers are further back on the 05+ stangs so it is technically an Axle-back now but most people still call it the cat-back, since it is still after the cats. So unless you wanted to change your mid-pipe the shop was correct in calling it an Axle-back. Also, retail places charge a mark-up, that is a fact of life. you will always be hard pressed to find a brick and mortar store with better prices than the internet. 500 installed for a new axle-back isn't a steal, but not outrageous either. It's the trade-off you pay for getting to drink a coke and read a magazine while someone else deals with the hassle.