Legal recourse for work performed on my car?

In a bit of a situation. I've known these people for years, not exactly close but I had my engine built at this shop and had intercooler piping and custom exhaust work at this other place.

I went to "Luke" to get my downpipe fabricated to fit a new turbo. What ended up happening is that the downpipe was too close to my steering rack and one of the hard lines burnt and power steering fluid went everywhere. I towed it to the shop that built the engine cause that's where I just usually go.

The shop informed me a week into having my car what the problem is but didn't really tell me how they are going to fix it, just told me yes my power steering line is gone. I asked when it's going to be done and they said last week. Last week comes and I call and that is when they told me that it's causw the downpipe was too close. There should be a heat shield on the rack and not sure why it's not there for the line to be touching.

Now the person that did my downpipe said they will oval out that section of the downpipe to create more room but he's taking his sweet time in going to the shop to do this. Also, I'm potentially out a steering rack for this.

Is there any legal recourse or am I shit out of luck? I've debated just having my car towed to another shop and cutting ties with both parties

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Originally Posted by jabjab

In a bit of a situation. I've known these people for years, not exactly close but I had my engine built at this shop and had intercooler piping and custom exhaust work at this other place.

I went to "Luke" to get my downpipe fabricated to fit a new turbo. What ended up happening is that the downpipe was too close to my steering rack and one of the hard lines burnt and power steering fluid went everywhere. I towed it to the shop that built the engine cause that's where I just usually go.

The shop informed me a week into having my car what the problem is but didn't really tell me how they are going to fix it, just told me yes my power steering line is gone. I asked when it's going to be done and they said last week. Last week comes and I call and that is when they told me that it's causw the downpipe was too close. There should be a heat shield on the rack and not sure why it's not there for the line to be touching.

Now the person that did my downpipe said they will oval out that section of the downpipe to create more room but he's taking his sweet time in going to the shop to do this. Also, I'm potentially out a steering rack for this.

Is there any legal recourse or am I shit out of luck? I've debated just having my car towed to another shop and cutting ties with both parties

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This doesn't sound like it's anywhere near the dollar value to consider much of anything from a legal perspective.
How much $ are we talking about?

New rack is about 1200 the labour to put it on properly around 500, alignment and what not about another 100.

Not sure what would need to be done downpipe wise but a new downpipe is not cheap and neither is the labor to put it it if that's what needs to be done.

Legal, no. Taking some responsibility for the fuck up, no doubt about it. Dude that built the DP should be held responsible and should at the very least, help with the costs.

It sounds like they've been reliable so far, people make mistakes, its how they rectify them that makes a business.

Yes, I'm not really bent on what happened but how it's taking way too long to get everything rectified. I could be being unreasonable but 2 weeks and nothing done to car is starting to get on my nerves. I only drive this car in the summer and want to maximize its usage.

The tricky part is I've known these guys for a while and realize that I if start saying they should pay for a rack might result in them not doing the work at all

I'd just be the squeeky wheel until it's done, or get the down pipe mod done somewhere else. Your main shop doesn't sound bad, some time delay should be understandable right now.

Modified car world... This is expected. Nothing works like OEM. That said, you do your due diligence to make sure the obvious won't happen. Even a small air gap can help immensely compared to touching the metal downpipe.

Unfortunately not much you can do tbh. That's the life of modding cars is shit breaks sometimes. Might be able to get the exhaust shop to fix their mistake for free but thats about it.

2 weeks isnt the end of the world TBH - esp for custom work - 2 months, a little different

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Originally Posted by revelations

2 weeks isnt the end of the world TBH - esp for custom work - 2 months, a little different

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nope, 2 weeks is not bad at all but when this shop was replacing my turbo they took 2 months and i didn't care too much but they gave me back the car with an exhaust leak and i just ended up getting it fixed on my own with a buddy. What erks me is that it takes me calling and asking where they are at and them not telling me and telling me that its going to be done on a particular day and have not even being touched.

Patience is not my strongest quality but i guess this is a good chance to learn some.

Custom work is highly dependent on so many factors.

Is this just some cheapest/lowest shop in the NE? If so, the fact they are actually taking ownership of this issue is a good start.

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Originally Posted by revelations

Custom work is highly dependent on so many factors.

Is this just some cheapest/lowest shop in the NE? If so, the fact they are actually taking ownership of this issue is a good start.

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Nope, not a cheap NE shop. I paid good money and the owner of the shop does lots of custom exhaust fabrication.

Damn, sorry to hear that. As I was reading the story, the first thing I was thinking was where is the heat shield.

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Originally Posted by rx7boi

Damn, sorry to hear that. As I was reading the story, the first thing I was thinking was where is the heat shield.

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I wish I knew where the heat shield was in the first place, I have never touched the car in that area and there has only been the one shop the last 3 years that has touched the car. I'm thinking they didn't put it back on when the engine was rebuilt last year and it wasn't an issue until I changed my turbo and downpipe this year.

If you think that a stock heat shield always fits back on a custom exhaust and modified engine then I'm glad you're taking your car to a shop.
It almost never does and there probably wasn't a heat shield on the OEM in that spot. Larger diameter exhaust and routing it differently than stock changes a lot of things.
A heat shield touching both exhaust and your power steering line basically transfers the heat across any way. You need an air gap. Again, oversight on the shop but also some clients probably don't want to pay more or wait longer or think they're being ripped off or complain when exhaust isn't perfectly round and think they're being ripped off on power, etc.
Tonnes of different perspectives and I've experienced a number of them.
Modified car business is difficult.

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Originally Posted by mr2mike

If you think that a stock heat shield always fits back on a custom exhaust and modified engine then I'm glad you're taking your car to a shop.
It almost never does and there probably wasn't a heat shield on the OEM in that spot. Larger diameter exhaust and routing it differently than stock changes a lot of things.
A heat shield touching both exhaust and your power steering line basically transfers the heat across any way. You need an air gap. Again, oversight on the shop but also some clients probably don't want to pay more or wait longer or think they're being ripped off or complain when exhaust isn't perfectly round and think they're being ripped off on power, etc.
Tonnes of different perspectives and I've experienced a number of them.
Modified car business is difficult.

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A stock heat shield SHOULD fit on a stock steering rack as it protects it from the heat of the downpipe. The turbo that was replaced was a stock replacement in a hybrid format (internals upgraded for higher flow). If the shop saw an issue with the downpipe being too close then they should have brought it up to rectify the issue. I would have paid for additional work but they left the potential issue and let me find out while i'm on the highway with power steering fluid smoking.

Mr2mike might have been a bit harsh on his delivery, but he's right. I'm guessing the downpipe is bigger than stock and should never have been left touching another part of the car. What kind of car is this we're talking about? It sucks, but it's the nature of modding turbo cars (or any cars).

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Originally Posted by JustinL

Mr2mike might have been a bit harsh on his delivery, but he's right. I'm guessing the downpipe is bigger than stock and should never have been left touching another part of the car. What kind of car is this we're talking about? It sucks, but it's the nature of modding turbo cars (or any cars).

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Audi S3 and the downpipe is a 3inch which is a common upgrade for these cars. I totally understand that its the nature of modifying cars and if the shop was not comfortable preforming the work then they should tell me. They took my money to perform a service, saw a potential issue and didn't bring it to my attention until i'm on the side of the highway with power steering fluid smoking from my engine bay.

To me it doesn't seem right that I'm left on the hook for damage to my steering rack.

You should be able to get something out of them. You never will be able to, though. Find another shop and start taking stuff there.

I had two shops in town that I bounced things back and forth between. When I started having issues with one, I'd send everything over to the other shop for a while. I started to work a third into the mix but with winter and then this slowdown I haven't had much need for anything to get done.

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Originally Posted by SKR

You should be able to get something out of them. You never will be able to, though. Find another shop and start taking stuff there.

I had two shops in town that I bounced things back and forth between. When I started having issues with one, I'd send everything over to the other shop for a while. I started to work a third into the mix but with winter and then this slowdown I haven't had much need for anything to get done.

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I don't think they are taking ownership of anything, just chalked it up as that is what happens with a modifying a car they said but they saw it being a potential issue and this could have been avoided. Lesson learned, i have found a new shop going forward.