So I had a local shop swap the new midpipe in today. Got the car home and noticed that the tips were all wonky: the left tip looked pretty normal, but the right one was sticking out a lot further than the left and angled down more than usual.
I grabbed a socket wrench and pulled the clamp off the right tip and pipe elbow; then I re-aligned the tip so it matched the left one and tightened everything back up. While I was down there I noticed that the muffler itself seems to hanging strangely-- when I went to loosen the band clamp for the right (passenger-side) tip (the tip clamps are both installed with the bolt at the top, head towards centerline) my socket wrench had clearance to slip in under the hangar and interface with the bolt. On the left (driver's side) tip, the hangar blocks the socket from fitting over the bolt.
When I drive the car I can hear something vibrating against the body when I accelerate hard. I assume it's the left exhaust tip hitting the rear valence, since that's the way the engine torques on its mounts (left tip goes up, right goes down) when throttle is applied. Could this be related to the hangar mounts seeming to be in different positions for some reason? I just don't understand how replacing the midpipe could result in the whole muffler being dramatically re-aligned like this. Should I just drop the left tip down a bit to keep it from tapping the valence, or do I need to take the whole thing off and re-mount it?
Car sure sounds better, though
