RobertV

Noticed that I had an exhaust leak and took a look - driver side flex pipe in the front pipe is starting to fall apart/has a bunch of small holes. Car is just about to hit 100k miles and I've put the last 80k+ on it. I'd like to keep it for another 80k+ if I can. All miles, except for the last 4k, were in NY so I'm sure the salt had something to do with it.

I know we have had some high mileage cars here and wondered if anyone has had a flex pipe fail and what their solution was?

Priced out just the driver side front pipe OEM and it appears to be around $800+ dollars. With not knowing the life left in the passenger side flex pipe or the rest of the system I don't think it makes much sense to invest that much $.

Looked for used, but don't see anything near FL and thought shipping might damage the flex pipe especially from a road salt state.

Has anyone had a custom exhaust shop install new flex pipes or done it themselves?
Can anyone recommend a good custom exhaust shop near Tampa, FL?

What about after market cat back systems? Happy to do it myself and I know the OEM system is pretty heavy. Do any of these bolt up directly to the exhaust flange after the cat or do you have to cut the front pipe and slip on the new system? My concern with the slip on is that the cut would be after the flex pipe and not solve my problem.

Open to any suggestions.
TIA

Jack88

Any exhaust shop should be able to handle it, it isn't special to Audi. They won't use an OEM pipe, but it doesn't matter.

MP4.2+6.0

+1 on what Jack says. On D4 4.0T's it turns out the full downpipe(s) are being replaced a lot by Audi when car is under warranty due to a vibration. For owners out of warranty, they instead often just have a muffler shop replace the flex portion instead of the whole downpipe--for like 10-20% of the cost. Same end fix result--whether leaking or vibration.

ScottCNelson

Jeez, AUDI, you can get the exhaust header and cat for less than that:

https://smile.amazon.com/MagnaFlow-5...1138+magnaflow

If you can find a good exhaust shop, the parts are readily available at non-AUDI prices:

https://www.carid.com/2008-audi-a8-exhaust-pipes/

RobertV

Thank you - as you can tell I haven"t dealt with this before.

Crazy on the D4!

I agree on the $ and did find that second link earlier today, but wasn't sure if it was a real option for my issue.

Thanks all for the info and guidance!

Mister Bally

Definitely get both done at once. Don't make the mistake I did and go for the cheapest flex pipe. They lasted exactly one year where the original ones lasted 10 years for me. The second time around I made sure they were stainless steel flex pipes, not garbage carbon steel. The stainless steel ones were well worth the extra price. I would suggest going to a good independent European car repair facility that does exhaust work. However I'm sure good muffler shops will give you the same Quality repair.

You do not need original Audi downpipes with the flex pipe built in. A good repair facility cuts out the old flex pipe section and welds on a new flex pipe.

Jack88

Mister Bally is right, I forgot to mention that you need to ask for stainless! It cost extra but will last far longer.

ScottCNelson

Also these

https://vibrantperformance.com/catal...433925b48b0bc5

volvopentaman

Replaced all 4pc on both my ex 2006 W12 with around 240000km on the Clock and 2+2 on my current W12 2008 with passenger sie ones at around 300000km and driver side ones at around 380000km.

I put the cheapest possible (Biltema = cheapest car store, a lot of crap parts), they cost 30€/2pc on the first set on my 2008 passenger side. They were defineatly NOT stainless. 3years old they looked like crap, but Still no leak.

The last ones i bought 4pc stainless from ebay for around 80€/4pc, so not much more expensive. Just replaced 2pc because i was lazy enough to only remove driver side pipe when i did the tranny Service.

My first W12 2006 i also bought 4pc stainless for around 80€/4pc.

So defineatly get the stainless ones, and go to a good exhaust shop, easy as crap to swap out a single flexpipe. The W12 double pipes are a bit harder, but Still not hard to do.

dvs_dave