u/WILD_ACE99

I balled out a bit and got the RK Titanium quad exhaust for the GR Corolla and my entire time owning it has been trouble shooting issues that shouldn’t have existed at all. For starters the lead time was almost half a year and when I had my mechanic install it he called me up saying that the fitment was so off he wasn’t comfortable installing it as he received it. The first issue was the fact that the exhaust literally made contact with both the gas tank and the rear sway bar and driving it would’ve caused crazy rattling or even damage.

I got him in touch with RK Titanium and the proceeded to blame his installation method and try to tell him the “right way” to do it even though the method of installation had nothing to do with the inherent fitment issues. So my mechanic just for the sake of experimentation fully installs it. This exposes the next issue . . . The exhaust when using the supplied/ reused exhaust hangers is crooked. At this point we decide that the exhaust needs to be custom fitted so I take it to a muffler shop.

At the muffler shop they make some cuts and honestly do a pretty good job getting the exhaust to not make contact with the gas tank and sway bar. There’s one issue though it’s still crooked even after all that work and in addition to that this exhaust hangs low, LOW, LOW, and it’s a bit concerning. To add insult to injury the guy who installed it after the modifications lets me know that the exhaust tips didn’t actually include real exhaust clamps rather cheap hose clamps and that I should replace them ASAP.

I didn’t really know what he meant but later on when inspecting the exhaust later I noticed the tips could be easily rotated and shifted. They were literally being held on by thin worm hose clamps meant for low stress applications. No big deal I can get and install some new ones pretty easy. Well fast forward a few weeks I’m getting my GRC dyno tuned and because the fitment was crooked the exhaust tips were too close to the bumper causing it to melt . . . I decide that I want some valvetronic tips with carbon fiber heat shielding and in addition I replace one of the rubber hangers with an adjustable one to make it less crooked. Well because of the weird design of the center tip I needed to add an elbow to the pipe to get the new CF exhaust tips to clear the bumper.

This setup works for a while until I take it to the track. Typically metal exhaust hangers have a flared end so that they can’t slide off over time and I’ve installed two exhausts across previous cars and they all had this feature weather they were factory or aftermarket. Not the RK Titanium one though. . . For some reason they use straight tubing for the exhaust hanger and with enough heat or movement eventually the center hanger literally falls out of the rubber hole. I find out because a buddy who was behind me on track warned me that my exhaust was bouncing around a lot. I quickly rehang the exhaust to try to finish the track day but upon further inspection I see that because the included cable meant for the exhaust valve actuator was too short the cable termination got ripped off from the excessive exhaust movement leaving an exposed live wire hanging from my heat shielding.

At this point I try a few other things to try to salvage this shitty exhaust but eventually I just give up and swap it out for an Invidia titanium center exit. It is without a doubt a 110% better product. It is bent instead of made with pie cuts and I installed it myself in less than two hours with no hiccups or crooked fitment it even came with a bracket for the old valve actuator. I’m sure not all of RK Titanium products are this bad but this purchase is my biggest regret honestly. Seriously disappointed in this product and I caution others from buying from them unless they want non stop headaches.

I’ve heard discussions about switching to 75w 140 from 75w 85 gear oil for tracking, can anybody give me some input if it’s a good idea and or if I should use it in the rear differential? For some extra context I have a syvvecs AWD ECU and it doesn’t immediately go into limp mode under hard driving. Thanks!