How to deal with buying an exhaust?
 

What is the most financially responsible or reliable way to do it?
Order it from manufacturer to my house and take it to a garage?
Buy it through a garage?
How to find a reliable garage?

Thinking of either getting a HKS Hi-Power SPEC-L Exhaust or AWE TOURING exhaust for my Toyota gr86

You should run the numbers... HKS probably has a list of suppliers... call some local shops and compare their price installed vs not installed... check how much it costs to buy yourself and then see how much a shop wants to install it...

And also consider buying it in USA and shipping to a shipping place liek Blaine or Point Roberts.

I just bought a GReddy exhaust myself, I shopped around on USA vendors and got it for almost $300usd less than most retailers were selling it for... will pick it up myself in USA and get it installed at a local shop.

You can install a FRS exhaust in like 30mins, drunk.

1) look up part number
2) throw part number in search engines to find sellers
3) check sellers for lowest shipped price
4) order it
5) watch/read install guides while it ships
6) lift car
7) install exhaust

a quick search shows it's at most 6 bolts and 2 exhaust hangers.

^. It's 4 bolts, 4 hangers on the muffler, and 1 for the mid-pipe.

It's even easier if your new exhaust uses V-bands.

The most financially responsible way to approach this is not to buy the exhaust.

even with an exhaust it still sounds.... uhhhh ricey?

Stay stock, stay happy.

I say you get catless headers, catless mid-pipe and an Invidia N1

And then drive around Fraser and Kingsway?

Is dat a tomei dawg?

Nothing says asian fucboi more than an 86/frs with an exhaust

but if it makes him happy so be it... live and let live.

finally have the disposable income at 31 years old to live out my fast and furious dreams..... under neon kit next....

Looking at the HKS since it sounds very tame but nice. kinda like the older gen g35 exhaust notes.

Seems like my best bet is just to have it shipped to me, buy some jack stands and install it myself.

Just had to ask because I am new to buying car parts and not really used to shopping outside of amazon and other major corporate commerce sites.

If it's being shipped internationally make sure it doesn't ship with UPS.

1) ship to blaine, or pt roberts
2) install on the spot
3) throw old muffler into Shell station garbage bin
4) fart can all the way home and enjoy (it was like that when i passed the border, i dont know what youre talking about officer)

Go on HKS website. Go to an authorised dealer, buy and then get a shop to install or do it yourself. I would never throw away a stock exhaust. Chances are one day when you sell your car or whatever you will install the stock exhaust back on and sell your HKS exhaust to recoup some money.

I picked up my GReddy last night... I've listened to quite a few audio clips and feel relatively confident, but I am still prepared for the fact that I might not like the drone or sound... would never throw out a good stock exhaust if it was any way possible to keep it.

^i threw away my stock muffler. Right after i installed my exhaust. What mistake. Installed a vibrant resonator to help with drone

NEVER throw out the stock exhaust!

That's the way to do it. I did the same when I was 31. Not everybody on RS can go through 4 fast and furious cars in their 20's and have grown up cars like Beamers and Porsches by 31.

From my experience, it's usually cheaper to ship it to PR or Blaine and drive over. A bit of legwork, but whenever I used an authorized garage, they always seemed to give me a higher quote. But I guess they need to make a profit for being the middleman. Ordering directly to your home, you could potentially get hit with extra delivery fees. You can't guarantee which service the vendor will use to ship it out, and some, like UPS, are notorious for tacking on additional handling fees.

Installing an exhaust is fairly basic and very easy especially when the pipes are still new. The bolts haven't even had time to seize up yet. Just make sure you lift the car up properly (ie jack stands in the proper spots) so you don't get crushed.

Also, as others have said, always keep your stock parts. It just makes it so much easier if you ever change your mind or decide to part out and go back to stock.

The only reason I said throw it away is because how are you gonna bring that back without getting taxed. Maybe take a 3 day vacation in the states and build up some exemption. Otherwise your savings are going out the door.

...

I had the same situation but with wheels. Shipped a brand new set down to a shop that balanced and mounted and I put em on in a walmart parking lot.

On the way back I said "I went down for gas and groceries, and snagged this set of stock wheels for cheap that im gonna flip back home"

Fortunately the guy bought the story, and it was an easy go of things. Get creative lol.

PS: I did not advocate anyone to lie to CBSA - Just advocating creative thinking.

give rhdjapan a check as well.
the cad to yen is pretty good right now and I found some good deals on there.

^ I do not advise telling that story above to CBSA... that might have worked 1 out of 10,000 times.

Most guards are going to pummel you with questions with that kind of story... where did you see the ad... how did you pay for it... show us proof of the ad... show us proof of payment... how much are they worth market value (they can tax based on market value if you can't provide proof)... that's a road to nowhere.

I mean so what if you pay tax once in awhile? You'd pay it up here.

I get through PR constantly with $100-$300 stuff no tax on a weekly basis... but the GReddy was $788... I couldn't find it cheaper than $1200 in Canada... so I gotta pay $120 tax big deal. I would have had to pay $1344 after taxes here.