FMF and quality?

K

kx_693

Member
Jul 2, 2002
97
0
I know I have said on here and other boards how good FMF is, well my brother is sponsed by them, and its te only pipe i will use. But this x-mass I got a FMF siliencer for my KDX, and it didnt fit for crap...I had to heat and bend, and disregard some of there mounting hardware....At first the side pannel didt fit, the mounts were off. I was pissed. Espically after sendng them a resume forthe past 2 years and not getting any help, and still talking good about them, and the other thing i hung out with the FMF rep at the GNCC banquet. Any way, being a Industrial Engineering student and in my Sr. and having studied quality assurance, i think FMF needs some.
 
R

Roost165

Member
Nov 18, 2002
100
0
I don't know about you but my pipe fits very nicely. There is an adjustable mount by the subframe/frame junction you know.
 
F

fatty_k

~SPONSOR~
Jul 3, 2001
1,274
0
kx_693,
I had to do the same for my power core II silencer and it still points slightly to the left, under my fender.
 

Smit-Dog

Mi. Trail Riders
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 28, 2001
4,704
0
Although I have no personal experience with FMF pipe fit quality, I continue to read many posts like yours. It seems that for as long as they've been making pipes, and given their reputation and visibility in the sport, you'd think they'd have the quality issue nailed down.

I spoke with an FMF rep about this a few months back, and their reply was that some of the inspection jigs may have been dropped from time to time, and a number of pipes get out the door before someone notices that the jig is wacked.

Seemed like a very lame excuse to me. Hopefully FMF gets enough negative feedback about their quality issues and puts some money into QA rather than full page ads.

I hear great reviews about FMF pipe performance, but will most likely be buying a Pro Circuit pipe this winter instead.
 
K

kx_693

Member
Jul 2, 2002
97
0
ROOST165, the pipe I have is nice, it fits fine, and I did know about the adjustable mounts, its the silincer that is te problem...But thanks for th feedback, i finally did get it mountedup, with a few minor mods...It's funny we have 5 bikes all with FMF and thisis the only one with a poblem.
 
J

JSTUCKI

Member
Jul 8, 2002
28
0
I bought the Gnarly Woods pipe and the Turbine Core II silencer for my 2002 220. The pipe fit OK but was out off alignment at the silencer connection. The silencer fit was a total joke! The mounting hardware was all wrong and I had to trim my side panel. To top it off the overlap between the pipe and silencer was only a quarter inch at best! I called FMF about the overlap and they told me that it was supposed to be like that to keep the pipe from cracking, what a lame excuse. To use my stock silencer I had to head the silencer head pipe and bend it to even get any kind of fit and was not even able to use the bottom silencer mount.
 
R

RJ-KDX

~SPONSOR~
Aug 12, 2002
258
0
I read many negative posts before I bought my Gnarly Torque and TCII. I was worried after I placed the order.
When they came in I proceeded to the garage with an attitude. Low and behold they fit, without incident.
The thing I wasn't happy with was the welds, many of which didn't get enough penetration(so they were bulbus)and wire left on a few(if you ran your hand across them it would snag you). The second was the chroming, very uneven and light in places.
As far as performance, I'm sold. So far I'm OK with FMF. They have room for improvement though. Later....
 
C

canyncarvr

~SPONSOR~
Oct 14, 1999
4,005
0
FmF fit and finish has stunk for years. They know it. They couldn't care less.

There are still morons that buy the junk (like me). After having to get my second FmF welded to fix the holes they left in it to start with, I bought a 3rd..complete with rusted finish.

If you're looking for a suitable replacement for a -35 though...what are you going to get? DG? Dynaport? PC?



Nope. Another -35.

What a deal! Make junk (fit& finish). Charge a good hunk for it. Don't return phone calls or answer any mail. Stay in business for decades!
 
F

fast 200

Member
Jul 24, 2002
86
0
i have to say fmf does need to work on there products and customer service my pipe and silencer didnt fit good at all. maybe thay need to hire new r and d deparitment my next pipe will be pro circuit
 
K

kdxme

Member
Apr 7, 2002
66
0
Just so you know, after hearing lots of threads just like this one about how bad fmf products fit, i purchased a pro circuit pipe and silencer and they both fit perfectly. maybe when fmf's sales are down they will listen to the people who have used their product.
 
B

Bazooka Joe

Registered
Apr 4, 2002
83
0
I had a TCII on my 99 220, and it, too fit about as you guys describe- floppy side to side, uncertain mounting hardware, etc.

However, since then, I've bought TCII's for a 01/02 RM 125 and 01/02 RM250, as well as a Gnarley T pipe for the 02 RM250. All of these products fit perfectly, with top compliments to the T pipe. It tucks in & up VERY nicely, and performs very good.

Maybe, it's just a KDX thing and they feel the KDX product sales are up to expectations.
 
4

4wdktm

Member
Jul 24, 2002
2
0
well kdx guys, don't feel sh!t on....the late model gnarly pipe doesn't fit the ktm exc' either.....but yes i also agree...the pc pipe fit my old kdx very nice!
thanks to all for your input.
 
J

Jim Crenca

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Mar 18, 2001
509
0
Does PV have better QC than FMF? I thought that there were as many complaints (when you consider lower overall sales numbers).
I think that FMF may have better design & R&D, but at $129, they probably don't make enough profit to warrant good jigs, fixtures, QC, etc.

Besides, we all will buy the better performing pipe and rig the thing to fit; FMF knows that as well.
 
R

RTL

~SPONSOR~
Nov 13, 2001
328
0
After taking delivery on my 01 200, I called Fredette at the advise of some extremely knowledgable spodes from this forum. Jeff recommended/sold me on the FMF pipe and silencer and proceeded to sell them to me. Perfect fit on both ends, but no mounting hardware! Heck, I did not even realize that I was supposed to get hardware until I saw another KDX with the same pipe and TC II, with the proper mounting hardware. I called FMF customer service and explained my displeasure. The apologized and sent me out all of the mounting hardware but did not seemed to concerned that I was a little miffed.

Bottom line, if I had it to do over again I would go with PC on principle alone. I am a big fan of customer service. :thumb:
 

Smit-Dog

Mi. Trail Riders
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Oct 28, 2001
4,704
0
If FMF is doing any type of mass production where they are building a pipe to a certain specification for specific performance characteristics, I hope / assume that they have fixtures in place to make this a repeatable process.

If it is a crap-shoot that your pipe will fit properly, what does that say about the likelihood that it performs as well as their original "master", or as the pipe dyno'd for a magazine article? They might as well give each pipe a unique model number since no two are alike!

If FMF's QC has become so abysmal that they expect customers will just "rig" the pipe to fit correctly, I hope their sales suffer enough that they get their act together.
 
B

Bazooka Joe

Registered
Apr 4, 2002
83
0
If I recall correctly, the main issue was the silencer's alignment, but the pipe was dead-on. Maybe, the trouble lies in FMF's manufacturing method of the silencer's tubing. The main body should be straightforward, as well as the bend + length of the tubing.

W/o having one handy to study, maybe there is some particular critical alignment (rotation) parameter which is not maintained during FMF's welding operation. Perhaps, they have a fixture which doesn't contain the components very closely, and if it's Friday... well there we go. :(

While stuff SHOULD fit properly, sometimes we need to take the C-Carver approach, admit we're morons and buy it anyways. After all, we eventually park our bikes in the timber and muck it up anyways, and then it fits like REAL crap! :)
 
T

Tom Ludolff

Member
Oct 3, 2002
250
0
Just to add to the pile!! I just bought a new FMF Rev pipe for my '03 KDX220. I pulled the stock pipe off, leaving the stock silencer on in hopes that the FMF pipe would slide right into place. Of course it didn't happen. The end of the pipe was about 1/2" short and 1/4" low. I had to drill the silencer holes bigger to give some slop to align with the pipe. Oh well. I pretty much expected it. At least I didn't have to any major mods. I would have bought ProCircuit but was afraid I might lose some low end.
 
J

Jim Crenca

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Mar 18, 2001
509
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BTW,

A number of fit & finish posts about FMF products have been forwarded to FMF.
Haven't heard of any DRN member being contacted as a result.
I believe that these 2 stroke pipes are labor intensive, and IMO, the best jig & fixture is only as good as the assembler / welder; at least it's a US company
 
M

Midhigh

~SPONSOR~
Jul 19, 2002
481
0
I have an FMF Fatty on my 96 KDX and the fit was OK but the finish stinks. The FMF Fatty on my son's KX 80 was a bad fit and required modification plus it cracked in two places. Maybe that was my fault, but it wasn't out of line enough to do that much (I didn't think).
 
K

ktmracer

~SPONSOR~
Aug 9, 1999
378
0
I have have bought a total of 5 fmf pipes over the last couple of years. (2 for 98kdx,2 for 99ktm, 1 for 00ktm) I have yet to find a fitment problem on any of the pipes. as long the you loosen all of the mounting bolts to where you can move the pipe around and find a good fit. i tend to think that about 25% of the" it wont fit "complaints come from user error. Of course, none of you guys are in that "25% category" ;)
 

WoodsRider

Sponsoring Member<BR>Club Moderator
Damn Yankees
Oct 13, 1999
2,807
0
I do have one comment. Everyone is focused on the pipe, but nobody has looked at the bikes. I realize that the stock exhaust fits up perfectly, but have you ever tried swapping pipes/silencers from bike to bike? I have, and I can tell you that the problem isn't always in the pipe/silencer. I'm not saying FMF doesn't have quality issues, what I am saying is there is so much variation between bikes that it's difficult to build many pipes using assembly jigs and have those pipes fit each bike perfectly.

At the Unadilla Nationals last year I watch RC's mechanic install a new pipe using a rubber mallet and a long screwdriver to tweak it into position.
 
K

kx_693

Member
Jul 2, 2002
97
0
yea i belive u there, but bike manufactures have specs also....i do agree if the bike is used, or has time on it, but i have a brand new 2003 200, and a brand new silincer....it didnt match up...but i have 4 other bikes in the garage, all with FMF's and they are fine...so t tell u the truht i think it is either the KDX or the pipe and silince for the KDX....the other FMF's i have are a sst adn fatty for a kx125, and gnarly and sst for a kx250, and a fatty fora ktm 200exc, and another 1256 with a sst, all of these mount up fine, just my brand new KDX
 
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