Emotor (ebay) cat back exhaust review

[Austontatious]

So I want to start with a story:
I apprentices as a distiller at one point in hopes of starting my own distillery. There is a company that sells commercial stills starting around $20k. This company posted a blog update the referred to "unpacking as shipping container". So the pieces fell together when I found the EXACT same equipment on Alibaba (china) for less than 1/10 the cost.
So, I offer the hypothesis that exhausts and such that are identical to expensive, name brand parts are not reverse-engineered knockoffs, but the same parts built in the same factory, just pulled from the line by a greedy factory manager and sold without the badging. I'm sure I will get some differing opinions, but the bottom line is that it is more likely that identical parts came from the same factory than that a knockoff company paid for the tooling, etc just to charge $1000 less.

So, I wanted the ARK GRiP exhaust, but didn't want to pay $1300 for it. I found an identical system on eBay from a manufacturer called emotor for $300.

On inspection, some welds looked great but some were pretty rough. All, however, appeared solid with no visible cracks. a metal worker friend looked at the kit and agreed that it was stainless steel, but couldn't say for sure what "grade".

Install was great. The only issue being that the holes on the donut flange for the midpipe were larger than stock, so it took a little to get it to tighten down right. fitment was perfect.

The sound - oh God the sound! - is fantastic! I had a friend take a listen and he was impressed if it was a $1300 exhaust, blown away when I told him it was $300.

Bottom line, I recommend this cat back!

[Dr. BRZ]

yeah good luck, report back in 3 months.

[ryoma]

it might not be a white label but rather a knockoff. most ebay parts are knockoffs. it will look good brand new, but over time it will probably degrade very fast. the mention of some poor welds already confirms the fact that the exhaust is not a white label product, but a knockoff. if it was made in the same factory as the ark, it would be exactly the same as the ark even down to the welds (unless the ark exhausts are handmade).

though, for $300 I can say that as long as you like it then all is well. if it ever breaks or cracks, you can just buy a new one since it's so cheap lol.

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by Austontatious

So I want to start with a story:
I apprentices as a distiller at one point in hopes of starting my own distillery. There is a company that sells commercial stills starting around $20k. This company posted a blog update the referred to "unpacking as shipping container". So the pieces fell together when I found the EXACT same equipment on Alibaba (china) for less than 1/10 the cost.
So, I offer the hypothesis that exhausts and such that are identical to expensive, name brand parts are not reverse-engineered knockoffs, but the same parts built in the same factory, just pulled from the line by a greedy factory manager and sold without the badging. I'm sure I will get some differing opinions, but the bottom line is that it is more likely that identical parts came from the same factory than that a knockoff company paid for the tooling, etc just to charge $1000 less.

So, I wanted the ARK GRiP exhaust, but didn't want to pay $1300 for it. I found an identical system on eBay from a manufacturer called emotor for $300.

On inspection, some welds looked great but some were pretty rough. All, however, appeared solid with no visible cracks. a metal worker friend looked at the kit and agreed that it was stainless steel, but couldn't say for sure what "grade".

Install was great. The only issue being that the holes on the donut flange for the midpipe were larger than stock, so it took a little to get it to tighten down right. fitment was perfect.

The sound - oh God the sound! - is fantastic! I had a friend take a listen and he was impressed if it was a $1300 exhaust, blown away when I told him it was $300.

Bottom line, I recommend this cat back!

Originally Posted by ryoma

it might not be a white label but rather a knockoff. most ebay parts are knockoffs. it will look good brand new, but over time it will probably degrade very fast. the mention of some poor welds already confirms the fact that the exhaust is not a white label product, but a knockoff. if it was made in the same factory as the ark, it would be exactly the same as the ark even down to the welds (unless the ark exhausts are handmade)

though, for $300 I can say that as long as you like it then all is well. if it ever breaks or cracks, you can just buy a new one since it's so cheap lol.

It definitely is a knock off, I say give it one winter and one summer of rain driving and tell us how it is, it's very unlikely it'll last long at all. Any support or warranty they may claim will probably be non-existant when you do need some warranty claim

[Cole]

You probably won't get longevity out of it, but you can afford to buy 3 or 4 of those systems before you're paying for the real deal. Even if each exhaust only lasts a year, that's still not a bad go.

[Teseo]

Any kind of sound clip? Do you have other modified exhaust components?

[rookie]

Interested in an update in a year as well.

[SuperTom]

In for an update since everyone said it would fall apart

[Timmy_Jones]

I bet the exhaust is still holding together just fine. eBay special on my car for two winters and it looks and sounds like the day I bought it.