Center exhaust is melting my rear bumper
 

The center exhaust is melting my rear bumper. Is there a fix for this?

Is the exhaust touching the bumper? I've never heard of this problem before, maybe someone else has.

If you dumps are to close to the rear bumper it will melt it.

It's not actually touching, but it's really close (less than an inch). Maybe the vibration while driving could make them touch. I'll try to post a pic.

I have never heard of the exhaust melting the bumper either... On a side note I have the car made right before yours...06-304:)

My 06 has melted one of the bottom bumper tabs that are underneath and close to the exhaust tube that feeds the center exhaust tips. Where exactly is your melting the bumper?

#304... That's great!

It's melting on both sides of the center exhaust:
Attachment 5867

Attachment 5868

So does that bumper tab help hold the bumper away from the exhaust? Maybe I need to replace them?

06-309
 

Hey Seelya76, Ive got # 06-309 Torch Red SC.

From the pictures they look like they stick out pretty far and are a lot lower than mine, which will bring the pipe closer to the bumper. Mine just sticks out far enough to see the Saleen stamped in the top.

Interesting. Just measured and my center pipes stick out 1 1/2" from the cutout in the bumper. So I can see quite a bit past the Saleen stamp. Plus they hang down about 1/2" from the cutout. I can stick my fingers between the top of the pipes and the bumper.

Have you done some recent exhaust work? Strange that it would all of the sudden melt. Maybe a broken hanger or something.

No exhaust work has ever been done, and the melting hasn't happened all of a sudden. It's just slowly been getting worse over the years. I'll have a shop check out hangers.

I don't think they hold the bumper away from the exhaust - more of a support for the lower lip of the bumper. Definately looks like the exhaust is too low and too far out. A good muffler shop should be able to fix it but u will also need a good body shop to repair the bumper.

Thanks everyone. Taking it to a muffler shop for sure.

You might ask the muffler shop to specifically look at the hanger attached to each muffler. The metal body of the muffler is only 18 or 20 gauge material and seems to be a weak spot where the metal fatigues and breaks the hanger off the muffler. This would cause the rear section of the exhaust to fall and touch your bumper.

The Drivers side muffler hanger failed on mine and on several others. Mine was thankfully replaced under warranty (back when I had one :) ), but if it has dropped off the pipes will hang down. It also looks like they are out to far. They have to be adjusted when installed to slide forward. The dealer that replaced mine failed to do that initially, but I caught it.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advise everyone! I wish I would have noticed it while it was still under warranty.

You can also use header wrap to ensure it doesn't happen again. I'm not really that happy with center system that was used. The pipes are way to small even with the dumps. I'm checking with Street Scene to see if their center exhaust will fit.

Guys could a hole in the exhaust "funnel" it to the rear fascia and cause this melting issue ?...

This could be possible, but wouldn't it take a large amount of air? If you look more closely at the photo the center exhaust sticks out toward the picture more so than it should. I wonder if someone adjusted the exhaust this way when they put on the rear diffuser?

Yeah I bet if you looked under the cover, the exhaust might just be touching the urethane... :confused:

That is possible that the exhaust was adjusted when they put on the diffuser. The guy who owned it before owned a car lot and probably had his mechanics put it on.

My guess is that the exhaust needs to be adjusted. It looks like the pipe is hitting the rear cover on both sides at about the same location. Try to loosen it where it is attached to the over axle pipe and see if it will rok in and or adjust further toward the front of the car. The odds of 2 hole ending up in the same area on both sides are slim.

I'm sure that is what happened. The center exhaust looks entirely to far away from the opening. It is suppose to be a little more flush with the bumper. Can you put your hand in between the bumper and exhaust piping or is the piping laying on the bumper?

melting
 

hi guys, new here with 07 extreme wit aftermarket x pipe to the mufflers that i just picked up nd mine was also melting in the same area. So i put it on the rack nd found end 2 hangers busted fixed that but didnt fix the problem. RE-racked it and notice the x-pipe system was too long drop it cut 3/4in put it bac nd fix. Also was making some noise before nd it fix that to.

Because of this poor center design i had the center tips welded in place but disabled. Got rid of the nasty magnaflow mufflers and replaced with vibrant resonated stainless steel straight thru 2.5" mufflers to turn downs coming out of my extreme diffuser. Sounds better, the chrome tips are always shiny, and the car runs better without quad exit restricted mufflers that were raspy as ****! LOL

The x-pipe shouldn't have been too long. the only aftermarket part of the Saleen center exhause is the axle back portion. It sounds like whoever did the install didn't take their time and ensure everything was fully seated and adjusted.

Thank you again everyone for all your advise. I took it to the muffler shop this morning. The pipes were so far back that they were also touching the spare tire storage thing under the car (and melting that as well). There was a broken hanger on the driver side. Also the whole pipe setup was slightly off-center. So the passenger-side was angled closer to the rear of the car, whereas the driver side was angled towards the front. That explains why the melting bumper was worse on the driver side. What a mess! Anyway he fixed everything. Cut the pipes and moved them forward at least an inch; welded the hanger; and tack welded a couple other places.

Got an estimate to repair the holes in the bumper: $700 ouch!

He should not have needed to cut the pipes. To move it forward the clamps at the axle and the set closer to the stock "x" both have slack. The instructions have you loosen the forward clamps for that issue. At least you got it fixed!

Did the body shop say they could fix your rear bumper or they would have to replace it?
I ask because I have the same melting issue. I have fixed the issue by realigning the rear exhaust section!

Thanks

They said they can fix it. They kept wanting to treat it as an insurance claim; like I was going to file a claim against Saleen or something. My car is way past the warranty @ 100k miles. I haven't gotten any other quotes, but they said the $700 was for them keeping the cost down since it wasn't an insurance claim.

Is yours under warranty? If so, maybe Saleen will fix it.

My 06 is not under warranty anymore. I have a great autobody guy I utilize. I was thinking that because the bumper is made out of urathane that it could not be fixed. Than again I have no idea if my thought process is correct or not. That is why I asked if you have had yours fixed. I'll just have to take it to my guy and hope it can be repaired. Otherwise it'll be $400 to $500 for a bumper and $500 to $600 for paint (my guestimate!)

Fungirl, I dropped off the Saleen to my auto body guy today to fix the melted bumper. As you will see below mine ended up being a little worse than I thought.
Pulled off the Extreme rear air dam to see how extensive my bumper was:eek:
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSC00154.jpg
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSC00151.jpg
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSC00153.jpg
Saleen exhaust pulled and wrapped with DEI black header wrap:cool:
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSC00158.jpg
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSC00148.jpg
While I had the car in the air I did some suspension work too!
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...e/DSC00162.jpg
I'll let you know what the end $$ is when he is done.

Totally jealous of your suspension work! I hope the bumper repair isn't too much for you. I spent my "car allowance" on getting a new front splitter. So it will probably be a while before I fix my bumper.

Recomendation, please tell your shop to grind the surfaces clean and well the relocation brackets in place. I know that BMR says to bolt them on - I strongly suggest welding them in place.

Jason, I chew'd the installer a new one for not welding to relocations brackets. (As I was looking into the mirror)! I'll do it when my new 1 piece driveshaft comes in and the car is back up in the air.

So now my 2005 has just suffered this same humiliation. So far just the passenger side. My car has 48,000 miles on it. I'm sick! What a PITA!

I had to have my rear bumper repaired twice ($500.00 each time) before I replaced the rear section of the exhaust to this setup: