s2000 ap2 MY06 -- exhaust tips uneven (one protrudes out more)
 

Hi all,

A while back my car was rear ended pretty hard, more towards the right side. I was at a stop light and a 5 series just pummeled me causing the car to shoot forward to get it front-ended as well. This was back in 2013, when I had recently purchased the car with only 44k miles. Fast forward to now, it has 114k miles and still purrs really nice.

When I first got the car back from the body shop (i forget where and it was recommended by an ex coworker of mine), and they hardly spoke any english. However, the car was repaired and everything looked pretty good for what it looked from the wreck. However, the issue is that my right exhaust tip sticks out more than my left. It always bothered me and I was wondering what the problem was and took it to the muffler shop to get an opinion and they said it looked fine underneath. I recently had my rear bumper repainted along with the front bumper, and I told the guy who was doing the paint job to see if he could find anything inside the rear where things would be uneven where it would explain why it looks uneven, but now I'm thinking it's the muffler itself. All parts were replaced with OEM during the repair in 2013. I wanted to see if anyone knew about this and how I could take it somewhere to get it adjusted, if it's even possible. I always thought it was the rear bumper being uneven, but everything checks out, but it's just that right exhaust sticking out more. The left is what it looks like when I first got the car from the seller, and after the repair as well.

The pictures don't really show it sticking out as much, but it is definitely more noticeable in person. Appreciate any feedback! (i've searched every thread about this but could not find anything related to oem exhaust tips sticking out more/being uneven, only aftermarkets)
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...39f008b525.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...c26cf2dc06.jpg
right side exhaust protrudes out more
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...b28ce79ea5.jpg
can't really see much here at this angle, but in person it definitely sticks out at least .5-1inch.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...ba35a34124.jpg
wreck from 2013
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...c9eaa4b887.jpg
wreck from 2013

Is the exhaust new? Or was it from the crash? If it wasn't new then maybe the hangers got bent a little during the accident which can cause the misalignment.

yes, the exhaust was replaced from what i remember

At that point I'd just get it on a lift, loosen all the bolts, try to readjust the exhaust to be more even then tighten everything down. If it stays and is no longer offset then you should be good.

Yeah looks to me that if you loosened the tips and aligned them you should be fine. If you really wanted to you could get under the car and measure distance from muffler to some point of reference on the frame or bumper or something. My guess is someone just didn't adjust the tips after putting the rear bumper on.

hi, i tried adjusting the tips, i even swapped left to right to no avail. i'm guessing it's the alignment of the actual exhaust. going to take it to chewerks in socal to see if i can get it adjusted there.

Get a pry bar and lean on one of the exhaust hangers. I do DINAN installs on BMWs (they make god-awful parts, don't be fooled by their reputation) and have to do this often.

The bumper is way more flexible than the exhaust. It will shape itself to the underlying structure where it attaches. If car is not straight underneath, bumper will not be straight.

From the photos, it appears that it could be the bumper that is the issue. But photos can be very misleading.

Its not that difficult to remove the bumper. My guess is once you do, you'll see the repair underneath isn't perfect. My bet is you'd need to tweak where the bumper mounts so it sits right. This might involve bending things, or shimming things.

Bending a new exhaust to fit the car isn't the answer...

Agree with post #9 above.