Who tf is buying these cat backs and actually leaving them on how they are. I don’t know how you could stand it.
People feel invested so they never follow up on their giddy pre installation review and think it “looks nice” because it’s shiny, then the next guy buys one and the process continues. Aside from the lack of development, poor sound quality, leaks and fitment issues the welds are all destined for failure. Buying something that “needs fixed” makes no sense.
If you look you’ll find honest reviews from after the honeymoon. I’ve personally removed broken CTS parts and had a free downpipe from them way back I had to fix before installing (which started the snow ball effect of developing my products out of disgust for how bad the stuff out there for these cars was
Stainless steel is a exotic metal, and it’s reactive to oxygen while welding. These cheap Chinese parts aren’t back purged (shielding gas inside the tube to keep the reaction with oxygen from happening) so even IF they could properly weld it’s a ruined part by default because it’s porous like a sponge on the back side. Add heat, vibration, and exhaust soot and that paper thin sponge corrodes from the inside out till it fails completely.
Because of these reactions the base metal is so compromised re welding it properly will still result in a second failure. The damage is already done.
I’m sure anyone this could save from themselves is punching air by now, but for those still interested this video shows both the correct and incorrect ways to weld stainless.
Not recommending everyone go out and buy race quality parts, but I absolutely recommend NOT buying junk if you don’t want to buy something quality and leave those parts stock to avoid all the hassle. There’s no such thing as a cheap quality exhaust, the proper materials alone to do it correctly cost more than 90% of what’s offered for MQB cars.