Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi everyone,

I have an exhaust pipe and I'd like to seek opinions from welding pros on whether this exhaust pipe has good welds. They advertised it as TIG weld and mendrel bend.

To me, the welds look pretty uneven and even ugly. Are these "good welds"? Should I be worried of exhaust leak with this quality of weld?

Thanks!

http://i.imgur.com/amPIj9c.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4vupZCz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rkwr278.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/GUa92y5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yLN6d8g.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/GyZt3it.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PWXrFWE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vsEpnQA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Seq3EaF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pNpHJOy.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xi4J5FA.jpg

Not sure if it's just me, but none of the pics seem to be showing.

Tokoroa_Welder wrote:Not sure if it's just me, but none of the pics seem to be showing.

Thanks for the heads up. I put them as links so you should be able to view them now

Oh wow. I don't have much experience with TIG, but if I had paid for that to be done. Id be asking for my money back.

It may not leak now but it likely will after it's been exposed to the heat and cooling stresses that the average exhaust see's.
If I layed a bead like that for a customer I would promptly grind off the high spots and burn through it depending on how it looked on the back side and after its ground. Or I'd just start over.

I'd be hard pressed to believe that the flange for the tail pipe end is actually TIG welded. I've done some shitting TIG welds in my day, and never had one look that pointed/angular as far as the puddle goes. As the others have said, if my pipe looked like that, I'd be calling whoever I got it from to send it back. And I would never let one leave the shop like that.

The real question... What kind of turbo vehicle is it for?

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GreinTime wrote:I'd be hard pressed to believe that the flange for the tail pipe end is actually TIG welded. I've done some shitting TIG welds in my day, and never had one look that pointed/angular as far as the puddle goes. As the others have said, if my pipe looked like that, I'd be calling whoever I got it from to send it back. And I would never let one leave the shop like that.

The real question... What kind of turbo vehicle is it for?

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Thanks for the reply.

This is for a BMW 335i.

Even from an inexperienced person like me, those welds just look messy...

I just had to redo the oil cooler seals on an N55. Fun fun lol

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You'll see that a lot in what I call "production" custom parts. The clown who owns the company wants welders for $8/hr to put out high numbers of several hundred or thousand dollar parts. They get EAXACTLY what they pay for. The unsuspecting conned_sumer doesn't know any better "It looks phat , dude".
You, fortunately, aren't on that list.
Keep looking or maybe Clown Boy will sell you an un-welded "kit" and you can get a real welder to finish it up for you.
That's straight forward welding for a real welder.

You want to see a prime example of such nonsense go to a place that sells or makes utility trailers and take a look at some of that garbage....LOL. They screw up that bad(or worse) with a MIG rig..LOL

Out of curiosity, what did you pay for that?

Tokoroa_Welder wrote:Out of curiosity, what did you pay for that?

Not much, $200. It's from a reputable company too. Guess it was one of their "bad batches"

I've already reached out to the company, let's see what they say.

Welcome to the forum Bob.

Thank you sir.

So the mfg got back to me. They do offer lifetime warranty and tbh they're pretty reputable in the car forum so I don't think they'd want to ruin their reputation with this one.

Basically the owner said the welds are fine, and what we see are the painter coatings. They sold thousands without problem. There is a costing on top (I believe ceramic coating). Do you guys think what he's talking about is true?

You can't hide a bad weld with paint and you can't make a good weld look bad with paint either.

My daughter can weld better than that. IMHO that looks like Fido's Ass!

Sadly, it sounds like he's taking out of his bum bum.
The mere fact that you had to ask if it was a good weld, should be an indication that it's not.

I would give him the choice. You send it back to him for replacement or you send it to U tube for public review. No bad mouthing needed those welds speek for themselves.

All mig. No question about it.

Its a suitable method for exhausts, that one is not great though. Comes down to cost. Did you buy the cheapest possible one? Then you got what you payed for. If it was supposed to be a high end tig welded one, then you have a problem. It looks like shot blasted steel by the way.

Mick

weldin mike 27 wrote:All mig. No question about it.

Its a suitable method for exhausts, that one is not great though. Comes down to cost. Did you buy the cheapest possible one? Then you got what you payed for. If it was supposed to be a high end tig welded one, then you have a problem. It looks like shot blasted steel by the way.

Mick

Thanks Mick. I think I'm just gonna try to use it and see what happens. They're pretty reputable on the forum and he basically said feel free to return it, because even if a replacement was sent, it'd look exactly like that. They've sold hundreds with no issues at all ... And it's quite true ...

This is owner's reply:

It's simply not possible to get a gauge for the quality of a weld after it's been coated. You can't determine the color, bead or pattern. The chip in the flange appears to be the only physical defect that I can see which looks like it happened during shipping. I'd be happy to replace the pipe because of that flange but you're not going to find that the welds are any different.

It doesn't matter now, but that's a bit crap. You can absolutely tell the difference between a good well and a poor weld after painting /coating /treatment. The part will function as expected, and as long you are happy with the cost, let it be.

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weldin mike 27 wrote:It doesn't matter now, but that's a bit crap. You can absolutely tell the difference between a good well and a poor weld after painting /coating /treatment. The part will function as expected, and as long you are happy with the cost, let it be.

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What exactly does a good weld look like? I've googled photos but some bad welds look good to me ...

I don't want to stress you out. Things you should look for are regular parallel weld edges, uniform hight of bead, but not too high, stop starts filled up with no pin holes, and on the fillet weld, a nice full looking weld that's not much smaller than if you were to draw a right angle triangle in the cross section don't freak out, use this as a learning curve, maybe suss out a good exhaust shop around the town and show them yours. Regards, Mick

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Thanks for the illustration MIck!

Just run it.
If it leaks, send it back for a replacement.

IMO.

This is what I would expect if I was paying for a TIG welded exhaust

No worries mate.

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