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Hayward and Scott ( H&S ) Poor Build Quality. Sorry.
I recently purchased a '1 peice' full decat down pipe from Hayward and Scott and unfortunately I am not impressed with the build quality. As you can see from the photos below the final finish is quite poor and not what I would expect after spending over £300.
I had researched where to buy a decat down pipe and going by some of the comments on this forum, they seem to be well regarded and their products of a good standard. I did however come across some old posts by a forum member who I would consider to be well rehearsed in modifying their car and sourcing quality parts - frayz.
Hayward & Snot, dont like them at all.
Too heavy, too loud, crap welds.
Wrongly I decided not to take frayz advice and made an order.
My downpipe does not match the photo on their website that shows a pretty high quality finish with neat mandrel bends. The bellmouth on mine is not 1 peice and the finish on the flange face is very rough. This is not good in preventing exhaust gas leaks.
The worst aspect of the downpipe is how the rear O2 sensor boss is not in the correct position meaning the O2 sensor fowls the heat shield under the car. I thought its position was strange when comparing it to the stock pipe and alas, my doubts were confirmed when I installed it to the car. They were also made aware of what model and year my car was incase the O2 position may be different to other years.
So what have I done, well much to H&S's satisfaction Im sure, I have continued to install the downpipe on the car. After correcting their work (modifying the heat shield for the O2, deburring the boss hole and smoothing the flange face) I simply did not have the time to chase them for a refund or exchange so I am personally satisfied to continue using it.
However, this does not excuse their poor quality and this thread is intended to inform people before purchasing that some work may be required by yourself to correct the product and to consider the cost of the product in the first place against another brand. I will point out though that their service (wait time) and delivery by courier were very good.
Finally, fyi H&S make some exhaust parts - including the decat downpipes - and sell them through Scoobyworld under the name of Afterburner. However, I bought the downpipe direct from H&S.
Metal burrs around the O2 threaded hole:
Incomplete weld around the turbo flange:
Rear O2 sensor fowling heat shield (it should poke through the hole to the left of the sensor):
Last edited by scoober101; 08 August 2016 at 07:51 PM.
If Frayz made three quotes saying how ****e they are I probably would of took that advice mate
To be honest I bought a rcm twinscroll downpipe which was quite a few pennies imo, went to have it fitted and it wouldt line up at the turbo end... Much to my annoyance turned out one of the holes would need elongating which cost me twice the labour anyway fitted in the end I was out of pocket but just goes to show even big reputable companies make mistakes
i bought a h&s catback for my uk sti when i first got it. After fitting the centre pipe was so close to one of the bolts on the underside that when i test drove it afterwards the centre pipe kept banging off the bolt/body (I have fitted about 10 systems on different cars in my time and numerous ones to none performance cars)
I had to take pics and send them to h&s before they would refund and the lady on the phone was not impressed but they collected it.
You get what you pay for and the quality IMHO reflects this. I have since fitted a milltek and 2 cobra turbo back systems and never had any issues with them.
Manufacturing issues happen and i understand that but the above is just my experience.
ask H&S if they do make them for SW . . . they deny it.
Lol
Its easy to recognise it from the photo on their website. Unless of course they use that as an 'example' photo and someone else makes them for SW. But like you said, they'd deny it even though everyone knows it is H&S.
SW`s advert used to have H&S mentioned,
I also had issues with an exhaust and contacted H&S with my complaint as I was led to believe they made them,
I was firmly told they no longer supplied SW, this was back in 09 . .
My H&S centre pipe knocks against the centre prop carrier on my FSTI, but then so did the Cobra one on my Impreza until I modified the carrier. I'll be doing the same mod to the Foz soon.
I had a down pipe made by H&S, when i received it i didn't even bother fitting it to my car it was that poorly made.
All of the bends had creases and the welding looked like it had been done by the apprentice, i sold it on and got Pete @ PTR Exhausts to make my a full 3" de-cat down pipe, the quality is night and day and i would never go back or recommend H&S to anyone.
My H&S centre pipe knocks against the centre prop carrier on my FSTI, but then so did the Cobra one on my Impreza until I modified the carrier. I'll be doing the same mod to the Foz soon.
fitted a res and non res centre section both from cobra and had no issues at all
Don't even get me started on cobra exhausts. Rich @ FB Tuning had to completely cut and re-tig my brand new cobra downpipe to make it fit my nearly new immaculate hawkeye. It was just terrible, bent completely wrong. Once he'd done the mods it was fine, but gradually got more and more difficult to pass the mot with the cobra sports cat year on year. After 4 years they couldn't get the car to pass an mot and I contacted cobra yet again. They stood by their 2 year warranty and I very nearly had to buy another sports cat downpipe at full price.
wow! seems pretty poor tbh.. do not kno much about these exhausts but most top bran exhausts are poor imo well specially like cobra, specially miltek which rust in seconds..
do find the jap exhausts are nicley made thow i.e blitz nur spec etc
I've got a h&s downpipe and it fitted like ****, had to bend it a bit as it was resting on gearbox, same with rcm kits, they fit like **** also.
Milltek fitment is good, or better still, get a custom made one
The trouble is, taking individual part tolerances into account, no 2 cars are the same for fitment. These parts are designed to fit 1 test car in the workshop, which they will fit perfectly 1st time. Tooling (which has it's own tolerances) is then designed to hold the 1st prototype part in the right place to replicate. So when they build exhaust number 2 to the template and tooling it will already be slightly different to the original and fit differently, let alone the massive tolerances you find in the cars.
The only hard and fast way is to have a bespoke part built for your car, which costs money. Off the shelf parts will in most part be very hit and miss. In my opinion it is really down to how the supplier deals with these issues that counts.
That said, there is NO excuse for leaving burrs like that inside a threaded/drilled hole. That's just lazy and really grinds my gears!
Last edited by BrownPantsRacing; 11 August 2016 at 05:39 PM.
Had the same issues myself with them, got a perfectly high quality up pipe from them, fitted all great. Ordered a centre pipe and it looked like it was thrown together in 5 minutes, utterly crap welding and sharp edges galore. For £120 with £21 delivery I expected more. Shockingly bad.
The trouble is, taking individual part tolerances into account, no 2 cars are the same for fitment. These parts are designed to fit 1 test car in the workshop, which they will fit perfectly 1st time. Tooling (which has it's own tolerances) is then designed to hold the 1st prototype part in the right place to replicate. So when they build exhaust number 2 to the template and tooling it will already be slightly different to the original and fit differently, let alone the massive tolerances you find in the cars.
The only hard and fast way is to have a bespoke part built for your car, which costs money. Off the shelf parts will in most part be very hit and miss. In my opinion it is really down to how the supplier deals with these issues that counts.
That said, there is NO excuse for leaving burrs like that inside a threaded/drilled hole. That's just lazy and really grinds my gears!
Whilst I agree with all of that for the most part.
You don't see Akrapovic, Tubi or Capristo off the shelf systems with **** welds and fitment issues?
H&S in my experience make pipes to stop exhaust gasses setting your car on fire. That's pretty much it.
Simpson Race Exhausts, Goodfab, Primary Designs, BTB.
These are proper exhaust people.
There is absolutely no excuse for poor workmanship. I'd also go as far as saying that if the parts are coming out that different, then either their tooling has changed or it is simply careless workmanship again.
As always, you get what you pay for and some parts are rushed. The lack of complete welding above and the swarf is inexcusable IMO.
Quick feedback on a custom haywood and Scott back box...bought it brand new a couple months ago and got it all fitted yesterday. Notice these precise scratches. Not happy..what does my head in is they must have noticed it before sending it to me and thought F.. K it. Utter 5h1te
Last year, a fellow hatch spec c owner had a weld fail on his year old H & S sports cat, which had done under 2000 miles. Warranty was refused as he had done a trackday; this is in the conditions tbf.
However, it also had to be returned when new by Enginetuner, as the down pipe didn't fit.
Last year, a fellow hatch spec c owner had a weld fail on his year old H & S sports cat, which had done under 2000 miles. Warranty was refused as he had done a trackday; this is in the conditions tbf.
However, it also had to be returned when new by Enginetuner, as the down pipe didn't fit.
My exhaust has done zero miles just sat in my garage in the packaging they supplied. Regarding the welds, they look awful to on this backbox. Feel like ripping it off a putting it in the bin.
It's ironic that you get nicer looking exhausts buying Japspeed or something similar from Ebay. Maybe they don't fit as well but H&S look horrible for the money.
How long ago did you buy it? Can you not contact them and complain? I have a powerflow used system, think it custom made and looks good to me.
Originally Posted by johno01
My exhaust has done zero miles just sat in my garage in the packaging they supplied. Regarding the welds, they look awful to on this backbox. Feel like ripping it off a putting it in the bin.
How long ago did you buy it? Can you not contact them and complain? I have a powerflow used system, think it custom made and looks good to me.
Hi mate, I've been in touch with Ian at haywood and Scott today and literally just read and replied to his email. Ian has seen the picture and offered to pick it up, sort it and give it a polish then return it free of charge. I can't ask for more than that, he said he will be looking into how it got posted like that but the response has been top notch from him so happy days.
08 August 2016 | 07:46 PM
Hayward and Scott ( H&S ) Poor Build Quality. Sorry.
anyway fitted in the end I was out of pocket but just goes to show even big reputable companies make mistakes 
20150704_160609 by Scott Raven, on Flickr
20150707_122600 by Scott Raven, on Flickr
20150707_122536 by Scott Raven, on Flickr
DSCN0572[1] by Scott Raven, on Flickr
DSCN0567[1] by Scott Raven, on Flickr
009 by Scott Raven, on Flickr
