[drallan101]

I am currently getting downpipes installed by my mechanic. they are having issues getting them to fit. I own a 2008, 335i sedan and purchased catted downpipes by A R Design which are supposed to be the best for my N54 engine. according to my research, I cannot find anyone EVER having this type of problem. one pipe hits a heat shield and the other touches a motormount. has ANYONE heard of this type of issue and/or has any recommendations? we are off by about an inch with both pipes not fitting perfect. according to the vendor who sold me the pipes, and the manufacture who made them, this should not be an issue. any advice would be appreciated.

[ihc95]

You're the first person I've heard of with a problem with AR downpipes. However mistakes happen and it's possible you got a defective set. I believe fitment is guaranteed so you should be able to get another set. Good luck.

[drallan101]

thanks for your thoughts

[Mit_Boost]

Can you take some photos of your fitment problems and maybe we can help find out what's causing the problem

[Tiago@VRSF]

Take a few pics, contact AR and send them over. They should take care of you.

[dallas_jeff]

I used to have AR catted pipes, and the first ones I had didn't fit either. Same issue you're experiencing. AR admitted at the time that there were a few customers with fitment issues on their catted pipes, and they sent me a new pair that did fit.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by Tiago@VRSF

Take a few pics, contact AR and send them over. They should take care of you.

+1

No reason they shouldn't fit. Send photos. Email Andrew @ ar design as he can give the shop some pointers and take a look at the photos. Sometimes even experience shops have issues and don't rotate and adjust the pipes properly.

Mike

[AW M4]

Should fit 100%. Maybe the installed is doing something wrong?

[ashmostro]

I had the exact same issue on my 335is and AR said it was because of the dct, which you don't have...

While I did not attempt again and just decided to sell them, AR advised on an installation method that they said would help in my situation and I'll post it below for you.

Run longer dp closer to block till its is touching the block and then move it back just a hair
Shorter dp closer to motor mount goes as close to long one as you can.
Biggest trick is getting the long one as close to the block they wont move.
If clearance the heat shield a bit can help

[Lux3m35i]

I had a lot of trouble with my first pair of AR downpipes. Flange didn't fit to exhaust, the shorter pipe did hit the heat shield. I wrote a mail to AR design and opened a thread. First they claimed that it is my fault, since I installed them by myself. I tried 4-5 times to make these pipes fit!!

Here some pics: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=790058

Toke more then a month of discussions to send the pipes back to AR. As I received the 2nd pair,those did fit on the first try, well they didn't fit as perfect as OEM downpipes but it's fine.

Back to your problem.. these pipes are build by humans, humans do mistakes and so it is possible that a pair of pipes won't fit. So give a call to AR and send them back.

[vasillalov]

I have AR downpipes here and they've been perfect. Yet, I still believe that there should be a flex joint in all the downpipes to dampen the vibration and twisting forces of the engine/chassis.

[Whiteout335i]

Im saving up to put my ar dps on along with my hpf exhaust. Hopefully everything turns out smooth here's a email from the sales person at hpf/vivid racing in regards to future install of both products

"Regarding the AR Design downpipes, you will want to mount up the exhaust loosely in sections and then tighten it down once you have it all lined up. While I hope you don’t have any issues, I’ve had a few clients with AR Design downpipes run into alignment problems. The AR Design downpipes are made by hand rather than computers/machines. This leads to each set of them being slightly different. I have 1 client whose downpipes were angled downward a coupe degrees too much. This led to his section one portion of exhaust hanging too low. I have another client who downpipes angled upward a few degrees too much. This led to his section one rubbing on his underbody/heat shield. I haven’t encountered any issues with any other downpipes."
*

[TheSpilDog]

I had a similar issue with my catted AR downpipes rubbing against a motor mount. My mechanic told me they were a pain to install and extremely tight. When we removed them (see pic below) to do the RB turbo install, we slightly massaged the downpipes to clear. We were missing a few millimetres. Only issue was vibration at idle especially when AC on or when the RPM's would drop at idle sometimes, and when steering the vehicle at slow speeds like getting out of a parking spot.

I have a 335is manual transmission. I never reached out to AR with this issue. We solved it on our own.