Planet 9

Mr_Brown · #1 06-20-2009, 10:53 AM

About a year and a half ago, I installed a Milltek cat-back exhaust. The exhaust has recently developed a significant rattle at idle. I put the car on a lift and inspected all of the heat shields, pipe connections and mounting points. I used a piece of wood to press in various places and held the wood to my ear. Based upon these efforts to diagnose the rattle, I am 99% certain that the rattle is coming from inside the left muffler can - not the resonance can upstream, but rather the larger muffler can. Something has come loose inside the can. The rattle subsides with increased throttle (more pressure in can). Anyone else have this or similar problem? Has Milltek (Stratmosphere) stood behind their product?

Thanks in advance.

**Santa Fe** · #2 06-20-2009, 11:49 AM

Mr. B there a few past threads on this. Search for Milltek and also Stratmosphere and you will find them.

Mr_Brown · #3 06-21-2009, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by Santa Fe

Mr. B there a few past threads on this. Search for Milltek and also Stratmosphere and you will find them.

Yes, I saw the threads on header failures and I saw mixed reviews on Stratmosphere. I also saw the thread on the bad weld that Milltek wound up paying to repair.

Anyone else have Milltek cat-back problems? I thought they were supposed to be reliable, but I'm offering one more data point here that says they're not. I've sent an inquiry to Stratmosphere and I'll post the outcome if anyone is interested.

**jaica** · #4 06-21-2009, 03:05 PM

I can only tell you my experience. I have the first Miltek exhaust version. The welding points where there is a reinforcement plate, located towards the front of the car, have gotten loose. I had to have them rewelded. They rattled a good amount at idle.

jonathan · #5 06-21-2009, 05:43 PM

My two year old Milltek cat back broke both welds at the cross pipe at the rear about a month ago. This was the same problem that was reported by someone else a while back. In that case, I think his exhaust was fairly new and Milltek paid to repair it. Mine was quite a bit older. Milltek replaced the entire cat back at no charge to me. I only paid the shipping charges.

Greg at Stratmosphere was a delight to deal with. In my mind, this is clear evidence that they stand behind their products and I would continue to recommend them. Other than this one incident I have been quite happy with my Milltek.

Mr_Brown · #6 06-22-2009, 09:01 PM

Good news and bad news on my Milltek issue. I dis-assembled everything tonight and the good news is that my OEM cat's look great; all the innards seem to be intact. The bad news is there is a whole lot of crud rattling around inside one of the muffler cans. I shook out a couple of small pieces - thin, flat metal fragments, about the size of a quarter. I'd speculate that the perforated pipe inside the can disintegrated. So the muffler will go back to stratmosphere and we'll see what they say.

kimchang · #7 07-20-2009, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by Mr_Brown

Good news and bad news on my Milltek issue. I dis-assembled everything tonight and the good news is that my OEM cat's look great; all the innards seem to be intact. The bad news is there is a whole lot of crud rattling around inside one of the muffler cans. I shook out a couple of small pieces - thin, flat metal fragments, about the size of a quarter. I'd speculate that the perforated pipe inside the can disintegrated. So the muffler will go back to stratmosphere and we'll see what they say.

Any update on this? Thanks.

Mrd07 · #8 07-21-2009, 09:21 AM

any update is Don't buy Miltek lol

I never will, had one before on another car, never again.

snappy1 · #9 09-03-2009, 07:43 AM

Sad to say that I've also discovered that I have the same problem too.

The rattle are from both muffler cans. The rattling sounds as if some 'sand-like' particle is trapped inside the cans. The welding on one of the cans is also "melting". We did a quick inspection and did NOT find the CAT's damaged.

My cat-back exhaust system is only over a year old. I believe Milltek has a manufacturing issue here. The probability that the situation is coincidental is definitely out-off the question based on similar reports coming from different corners of the world.

I do not track my car, it's generally used for leisure, and has only done 6000 miles since the Milltek was installed. The only performance enhancement my "Snappy" has is the Softronic Race Plenum.

It's a pity, the exhaust system performs and sounds close to stock.

jonathan · #10 09-03-2009, 12:42 PM

As I indicated above, my Millek failed. Stratmosphere replaced it at no cost to me. I was pleased with their service. However, my new cat back has a another problem which was also shared by the first cat back. My car is lowered by about 1-1/4". The exhaust rubs the sway bar link on the passenger side of the car during track events. The contact is bad enough that I had to cut out a small section of the pipe and weld in a new piece which will clear the link. Stratmosphere is aware of the problem. They have not addressed it by way of a modification in their design. And, most importantly, by making this repair myself they have told me that the warranty on my exhaust is now void. I have been happy with the sound and performance of this exhaust but I would definitely not purchase another one unless they made some design changes.

gmsracing · #11 09-03-2009, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by jonathan

As I indicated above, my Millek failed. Stratmosphere replaced it at no cost to me. I was pleased with their service. However, my new cat back has a another problem which was also shared by the first cat back. My car is lowered by about 1-1/4". The exhaust rubs the sway bar link on the passenger side of the car during track events. The contact is bad enough that I had to cut out a small section of the pipe and weld in a new piece which will clear the link. Stratmosphere is aware of the problem. They have not addressed it by way of a modification in their design. And, most importantly, by making this repair myself they have told me that the warranty on my exhaust is now void. I have been happy with the sound and performance of this exhaust but I would definitely not purchase another one unless they made some design changes.

They are aware of it because it happened to my car several months ago! At the time it was, "We've never heard of that before!? Because I bought my system used, they did not offer any assitance other than offering to sell me a new pipe for a discounted price. And it took weeks and weeks of time to get Stratmosphere & Milltek to offer that. Since then, in addition to it rubbing the drop link on the passenger's side, it also was rubbing the axle. I had to weld in another relief into the pipe. That's right--I have 2 welded in reliefs on the passenger's side. My car is lowered 1". When I bought my system used, I noticed it had a grinding mark in the pipe. I thought that was odd but it looked OK when installed. My car was stock at the time. I drove it for a year just fine. As soon as I lowered it with the PSS9's I ran into trouble. I then put two and two together as I realized that the previous owner's car was lowered too! My car was ordered and delivered new to me and has never been wrecked. The fact that my car, the exhaust's previous owner's car, and now your car show this issue tells me they have a design problem. If you've heard, Remus offers the cutout pre-installed on their new systems. I almost bought one a couple of times now because I've been so pissed off at my Milltek! Fortunately I have a good fabricator who works for me.

Check your axle clearance too!!!!

gmsracing · #12 09-03-2009, 03:41 PM

If you look at the driver's side, the clearance on the Milltek is substantially greater than the passenger's side. I don't know why it is this way, but it is. I tried everything to get more clearance around my drop link but nothing worked. If you look at my pictures in my garage you'll see the rub marks from the drop link.

kimchang · #13 09-03-2009, 04:24 PM

Hmm...When I bought my used Milltek, it had a scrape on it. The seller told me he suspected it's because he had suspension mods so the Milltek was rubbing against something. Anyway I had it welded before it was installed. Not sure if it's rubbing against anything on my car (my car is not lowered); I'll have to check.

For those who encountered this problem, does this only happen to Caymans that are lowered?

jonathan · #14 09-03-2009, 09:59 PM

My understanding from Greg at Stratmosphere is that only lowered Caymans have this problem and it is only on the passenger side. There is indeed much more clearance on the driver side.

I, too, had the problem with the axle rubbing the exhaust. In fact, this pressure from the axle caused my cat on the passenger side to split. The dealer wouldn't warranty it because it was very clear that it failed due to my modifications. That was about $1,000 and a lot of time and aggravation to resolve. I ended up raising the car about 3/8" to its present (1-1/4" lower than stock) height and I no longer have the axle rubbing problem.

Milltek makes a pretty good system but I would definitely not recommend it if you plan to lower your car.

snappy1 · #15 09-04-2009, 01:03 AM

Thanks for the additional input guys.

The information you have provided is useful towards my dealings with Milltek in resolving my cat-back exhaust issue.

They've requested for an audio-video recording of the exhaust.

Well so far my cat-back has 2 out-off the 3 known problems, the rattle and the welding.

It seems that I can't lower the car without attracting another issue.

I'm just wondering whether people with PASM are having any of the "rubbing" issue mentioned.

I will raise all these manufacturing defects discovered with Milltek. Let's see what's the response from them.

**4by4** · #16 09-04-2009, 03:57 AM

On a more positive note I got good customer service when I had a problem.

Mr_Brown · #17 09-04-2009, 09:41 PM

I have PASM and did not have any rubbing issues, even with track use. Milltek and Stratmosphere did replace my system under warranty.

snappy1 · #18 09-05-2009, 12:47 AM

Prior to the purchase of my exhaust cat-back, I'd raise the issue of the welding damaged experienced by 4by4. I was told that the matter has been resolved with 4by4, and that they will stand by their product. Milltek was even honest enough to tell me not to purchase their header yet. I took that as a good sign of company integrity, and went through with the purchase. So far Milltek has been reasonable in their approach in the handling of my issue. Time will tell.

Mr.Brown, thanks for the input with regard to the PASM.

jonathan · #19 09-05-2009, 08:59 PM

I want to say again here that my experience with Stratmosphere was excellent. My exhaust broke at the welds and they replaced it fairly quickly and without much argument. My only concern is the fit issue with a car that has been lowered and taken to the track.

gmsracing · #20 03-18-2010, 02:50 PM

Kind of a dead thread, but since it is relavent, my Milltek just started developing the rattle in the passenger's rear muffler. So, I've had a rattle, the axle rub, and the drop link rub. I'm taking it off and starting over.