CTS Turbo

[snobrdrdan]

I've been having a string of bad luck and it just keeps going.

Anyways...I wanted a downpipe for my Tiguan.
I tried the Unitronic one and that didn't fit/work.

So CTS was one of the few that makes one specifically for the Tiguan.

I found a vendor that sold it for about $45 less than directly from CTS AND also had free shipping and placed an order. ($513 SHIPPED)

I emailed CTS and asked them a question about fitment and then the guy tells me that if I order from them directly instead, they'll match that price & take another $50 off too @ $460 SHIPPED. As well as ship it out right away, because it was in stock he said. I'd have it in 4 days too, he told me.

And that if I place the order thru the vendor (which I already had), they PURPOSELY delay the shipment a couple days instead of shipping it out right away.
(they want the direct sale instead)

This guy was emailing me back & forth around 2am (Eastern time) btw. INSTANT responses.
Sounds like a good deal, right?

So I tell the vendor to cancel the order (which was a little bit of a nightmare) and then CTS goes off the grid after that.
I emailed them for a week straight trying to place the order for the downpipe, no responses back at all.
Here, please, take my money. No reply.
I called one day and got some clueless guy on the phone, he had no idea what was going on and/or how to place an order.
I eventually get my refund from the vendor during this time.

So I email the "operations manager" and he writes me back right away. And then I have a PayPal invoice almost immediately & I pay it.

I ask him when it'll ship out, and he says they have to fabricate it. WTF?
It was in stock you told me.
He said I'd get a tracking number. I never did, until I emailed and asked them for it.
It didn't take 4 days to get, btw. It took 2 weeks.

So it finally shows up on Tuesday and I open the box. There's 2 holes in the welds on the turbo flange.
And the hanger welds didn't look too impressive either.

I send an email with pics, no reply & it's been 2 days.

Went to a local welding shop & had them "fix"/weld it.....that was $40. The guy said the welds weren't that great, they were going too fast/rushed.
I filed a PayPal claim for a refund for $40, but still haven't heard back from them on that either.

So the money I saved by ordering directly from them, went to cover repairing their shoddy work. Awesome

TLDR:
Crappy welds
Treat their vendors/resellers like crap
Horrible/nonexistent customer service

Stay away from these clowns, IMO

 

[artur1292]

Sorry to hear. Not be a bearer of bad news and further ruin your experience but I have heard nothing good about their downpipes. Everyone always complains about fitment and some people just can't get it on just right and end up with exhaust leaks that they decide to live with since there isn't much they can do about it other than weld the whole thing together.

 

[onefastGTI1]

Never bought anything from them and never will. Most, if not, all of their products are overpriced and a straight out no shame copies of others with cheaper, crappier materials and shitty labor.

I don't think they even have a R&D team.

 

[09GTIJOE]

ive heard both good and bad things. Ive never had an issue but my buddy with a mk4 r32 ordered a haldex controller, and it started with 1 month, 2 month finally 3 months of waiting the order was cancelled. not to mention when I ordered my k04 from them, the turbo wasn't clocked 100 percent.

 

[[Old User]]

I don't know what their deal is. Their quality control is so inconsistent, and they just don't seem to care that there are many threads detailing problems with their products. They've ignored my emails, PM's and phone calls.

Sorry about your experience. My advice would be to dump that downpipe and buy something better. It is not worth the hassle of making their POS product fit properly, I know all about that. Two years later and mine is still a leaky pile of garbage, just had it welded together so hopefully that fixes it.

Maybe contact 42DD, I bet they would make you one & their stuff seems to be good quality.

 

[sterkrazzy]

They won't even back up their products when it comes to the cheap stuff. The filter on my intake started to deteriorate and there were holes in it. I called CTS for a new filter, but they wouldn't do anything because I was just outside of the warranty.

Their vendors shouldn't be the ones who have to support the company, but that's what ended up happening. I called the shop I bought it from and right away he was ordering one for me, and even asked me what color and size I wanted. He got me a k&n too, not a shitty filter like what was on there. I don't think I even asked him to replace it, I just explained the situation to him and he took care of me...like CTS should have done.

 

[jshay]

My friend bought a Gen3 GLI downpipe from CTS and it's been nothing but nightmares. Tons of fitment issues and eventually had to get the hangers heated up and bent in a wider fashion just to fit.

When he asked CTS to warranty the downpipe since 3 different shops couldn't get it right, CTS suddenly went dark on us.

I'd never recommend CTS to anybody. I've had better luck with my eBay downpipe.

 

[[Old User]]

Once again, i'm sure they will ignore this thread as they have every one before it. Shit company, shit products.

/thread


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[jay745]

It's amazing people still buy anything from CTS, sooo many reports of crappy quality and poor service. Why do people still give them chances?

 

[snobrdrdan]

Sorry to hear. Not be a bearer of bad news and further ruin your experience but I have heard nothing good about their downpipes. Everyone always complains about fitment and some people just can't get it on just right and end up with exhaust leaks that they decide to live with since there isn't much they can do about it other than weld the whole thing together.

Yeah, I sort of read that.
Worst case, I'll have it welded solid.

ive heard both good and bad things

Exactly.
And when I asked on the Tig forums on Vortex about the downpipe, people didn't say anything bad.

I don't know what their deal is. Their quality control is so inconsistent, and they just don't seem to care that there are many threads detailing problems with their products. They've ignored my emails, PM's and phone calls.

Sorry about your experience. My advice would be to dump that downpipe and buy something better. It is not worth the hassle of making their POS product fit properly, I know all about that. Two years later and mine is still a leaky pile of garbage, just had it welded together so hopefully that fixes it.

Maybe contact 42DD, I bet they would make you one & their stuff seems to be good quality.

Yeah, the best way to sum up the welds on this downpipe: inconsistent

And, like my story shared, very inconsistent with the communication. :thumbdown:

I almost thought about having this welded up solid, since I did see your post about the leaking before, but I'm gonna give it a try with the clamps first. Worst case, weld it up solid.

Of course, this is assuming it fits/lines up okay though. :iono: I'll find out later today.

42DD does make a Tiguan downpipe, but to get it in stainless & Vbanded (I'm in Michigan: winter/salt)....it was like $850 or something crazy.

The APR cast downpipe would fit. I just wasn't a fan of the multiple clamps to connect it though & the price tag @ $750, lol

It's amazing people still buy anything from CTS, sooo many reports of crappy quality and poor service. Why do people still give them chances?

I honestly didn't know/think it was THIS bad though

Let this be a warning to others

 

[[Old User]]

I'm telling you, dump that POS while you still can before you spend the amount of money to fix it that could have bought a better product from a competitor.


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[snobrdrdan]

I'm telling you, dump that POS while you still can before you spend the amount of money to fix it that could have bought a better product from a competitor.

I'm kind of thinking that after I spent Saturday morning putting it on


Either APR or Techtonics Tuning are my options now

 

[snobrdrdan]

UPDATE:
No emails/other replies back, but they "quietly" (no apology or explanation) refunded me the $40 thru the PayPal dispute for the welding on Saturday morning

 

[[Old User]]

I've heard some good things about techtonics. They make a dual cat and single cat downpipe for the GTI that I think a couple people ran on the forum years back.

The APR downpipe is nice but like the 42 draft is super expensive. Are you trying to stick to a race cat?


Honestly if I were you i'd buy a 90$ magnaflow 200 cell and an ebay downpipe for like 140$ and have a shop weld them together.

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[lilonespaz]

I had a good experience with them. Sorry for your experience :[