aFe Bladerunner Hot and Cold charge pipes

[CoHPhasor]

I bought these from Lethal Performance during their 15% sale.

SALE:
- The staff was good, proper set was selected with their help
- Lethal DID NOT mention it would take 2 months to get them... I am not happy.

SHIPPING:
- The units came in without damage

LOOK:
- I love red, and think the pipes add flair without being overstated
- The wrinkle coat sucks. When wrenching tubes in the silicone couplers I found wrinkle bits that rubbed off. WHY WOULD I WANT THAT AFTER MY AIR FILTER? Not happy about that.

PARTS:
- The aluminum is nice
- Welds are smooth on the exterior but ATROCIOUS internally
- The couplers are ok, but I feel they are too thin and flexible for a boosted vehicle
- The worm gear clamps SUCK. (KNEW I should have gotten my own T Bolt clamps)

INSTALLATION:
- The instructions are a MESS.
- Pictures in black and white
- Photos are zoomed in so it can be hard to follow
- INSTRUCTIONS FOR COUPLER PLACEMENT AND USAGE IS NON-EXISTANT --- this is unforgivable. (Couplers have part numbers on them that are never referenced, and instead not pointed out at all, or the measurements are used??)
- The passenger side is seriously rough, especially getting the bolt back in


So, How do I really feel?
I feel like the aluminum is too flexible, which bothers me. I almost feel that the plastic OEM is sturdier, which is disappointing.
Beyond that, the weld inside is RIDICULOUS - it's like it was done by someone's son on take your kids to work day. (The seam here is like 3/8") Hell, ony of the bungs has grind marks before AND AFTER a seam weld.... what was the point of grinding?

The wrinkle coat is lovely, except I found a bunch in a silicone coupler after having to uncouple it. (more later)

The instructions are non existant, and no video.
Black and White photos, not enough photos, no "stepping in" to the shot, just a close up on areas you domt know where they are.
The WORST part is the couplers, sometimes they say "use the one that is 'x' I.D. on one end and 'y' I.D. on the other". Sometimes they dont tell you anything, and usually there is NO PICTURE of it.
(NOTE: The morons have unique part numbers on each coupler but NEVER reference them... ARGH!)

the above, coupled with a second installer, ran us into trouble that caused much backtracking and several extra hours. Im not happy about that.


Final Thoughts:
- If you are scared off by this, especially the internal welds the one thing I would suggest: Maybe just do the cold pipe. One pipe, two couplers that will easily go on, and the Smashed factory pipe SUCKS. BUT - that means you can DEFINITELY go FenFab instead.

- I wish that FenFab's Hot side piping didnt go up and over the motor, I didnt like that design or look. If FenFab had gone the factory route, Id definitely be rocking better quality pipes rn.

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Wow! Very in depth post! Lethal Performance is nothing but a drop ship website. Least you got a discount. If I ever have to do an install myself, HSF seems to have the best install videos. People never take the time these days to make proper paper instructions. The thing is, without hot charge pipes, cold side charge pipes are useless as far as power.

 

[CoHPhasor]

I would say that the restrictions on the OEM cold pipe are enough to make me want to replace it, no matter what.

Lethal being a drop-ship website doesnt bother me - but not telling someone what they are getting into is disingenuous.
Worse, they sold customers on the "Mustang giveaway", but you only got entries from orders that SHIPPED before the drawing, which is a bait-and-switch.

I will ask those who have seen both aFe and FenFab side-by-side, if there is an inherent strength difference between the tubes/couplers

 

[UNBROKEN]

I’ve done measurements on the oem cold side…cut mine in half and measured the cross section area where it’s smashed down…it’s still as large of an area as the inlet into that pipe. It’s really not a restriction…but the FenFab parts do look better.
as far as that AFE stuff…I would have returned it as soon as I saw those welds. Brett’s worst weld looks 100X better than that crap.
As far as his hot side following the oem path…his V1 does but only works with his intake. I did the test fitting for him for Afe/S&B intakes and it just wouldn’t clear the box so he came up with the V2 style. I dig how it looks myself.

 

[CoHPhasor]

This aFe set's welds are really terrible. the bung having grind marks, then more weld... it felt like they over-did it, patched it and was like "nah, Im not screwing up again", then the entire merge point they were like "there is no way Im even hitting it with a grinder".

If I had inspected it all sooner and didnt have a timeline crunched in multiple ways, Id have raised hell with aFe and Lethal, then reconsidered altogether.