I’ll be using this page to point out changes APR has made in their website without notifying customers.
Table of contents:
APR exhaust composition
APR patent claims
more on APR exhausts and patents #wherestheRSC?
Example #1: APR exhaust composition
APR has long prided themselves on using T304L stainless, often claiming it as the best out of the T304 options. “L” designates lower carbon content vs “H” which stands for higher carbon content.
Why is it that APR would suddenly remove the 304L designation from their website and simply call it “low carbon stainless steel”? That answer is simple: APR has been swapping in 409 stainless to lower costs. You can see a clear example of it here: on a Stage 3 MK6 GTI.
The short flex section is 304L, the midpipe with the cat is 409 stainless. You can clearly see the differences in surface corrosion between the two pieces (never mind the admissions I have from both current and former APR employees)
http://i.imgur.com/qwdvXBH.png
According to this listing, 304 is roughly 50% more expensive than 409 stainless. There has been no reduction in the cost of the APR exhaust.
Well why is this an issue?
When originally released, the RSC was advertised as a 304L Stainless system. You can see it in their release on their website as well as on forum pages.
http://i.imgur.com/neJBgTw.png
APR webpage release
GolfMK6 APR Exhaust release
Those images and forum pages have not been altered to reflect the new change in composition of the exhaust.
Looking at the APR page for the MK6 exhaust above, you can see using the wayback archive that in 2010 when the product was released, it was claimed to be 304L
Archived page from Feb 2010
http://i.imgur.com/75qbDqZ.png
Then in May of 2012, the description was altered to say low carbon and references to 304L were removed.
Archived page from May 2012
http://i.imgur.com/eG79iS5.png
Since 409 is cheaper than T304, you’d hope that there would be some reduction in cost to the customer. Nope! The pricing remained the same. In 2013, they even increased prices for the exhaust by roughly 7.5% from $1650 to $1775
Archived page showing higher prices
Since the pictures of the exhaust have not changed, one can only assume that they are advertising pictures of the T304L exhaust but actually sending out the versions that are partially constructed with 409.
What is also interesting is Arin’s use of this RSC illustration when promoting the Golf R exhaust. If you cut open an APR Golf R exhaust, it looks nothing like this. There is no resonator in the system that even resembles RSC technology.
Arin@APR’s claims of RSC design in APR’s Golf R exhaust
http://i.imgur.com/86lfO7a.png
There may be more of this Golf R exhaust in a separate post.