Best permanent way to fix the leaky donuts

[74Nitro]

If I stated anywhere that the head pipes are stainless steel, I stand corrected. I had a head pipe in my hand the other day and a magnet clings strongly onto it.

 

[mkjones320]

WARNING: If you are thinking of buying an FX Garage Works Kit verify with a member of the forum that it will work on your year \ model and any issues they ran into. I tried it on an 07 Apex (titaninum y pipes) without success. I should have bought a cracked header and y pipe off eBay to verify fitment, ended up buying all new exhaust headers and Y pipes. A very costly mistake. I could not get it to work per the instructions. I contacted Kevin @ FX Garage Works for assistance, followed his advice and still couldn't get it to work. If you need a refund you will get about half of what you pay back. To say I didn't have a good experience with Kevin would be an understatement. I have the unused kit in my garage. I know it works on some models but not an 07 Apex. I mentioned the kit to my mechanic after the fact, he was able to get it to work but not without a bunch of sealant and pipe modifications. He said that he would never do another one. Save someone else an expensive headache!
Thanks,
Kevin Jones

 

[Fast Lane]

The donuts now come in a kit through Yamaha. Comes with a new stainless screw. The dealer said the new ones are different than what originally came on my sled. No idea what’s different but not too concerned. They were simple to change.

 

[iahacker]

Stock donuts blew out on my 2011 Apex and I replaced them with the copper donuts. After not too many more miles one of the flanges on the pipe to the ex-up broke.
Ended up buying a repair sleeve where you cut the bad flange off and slip the repair sleeve over the top of the pipe. This fix has been good for several years now. Sled has 16,000 miles on it.
Bottom line for me is, I recommend to others to stay with the stock Yamaha donuts. There's a reason they use them. In my experience, the copper donuts make the connection too rigid and exposed to vibration which causes the broken pipes. Why do you think Yamaha put the flex connectors on the header pipes off of the heads?
I'll never put a set of copper donuts on again.

 

[69FIREBIRD]

I owned and repaired my 04 Warrior's Exhaust by welding a break at the crossover, and I am a Certified welder! They are Stainless Steel! I've also welded 2006-2008 Apex exhaust for customers and they are Stainless Steel! I presently own a 2011 Apex with EXUP and that is when they started using Titanium! https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Stainless-Exhaust-Y-Pipes-2006-10/dp/B010GESSQC

My 2006 attack had titanium y-pipes and they were starting to crack at the flares for the donuts. Upgraded them to the SS when i replaced the donuts

 

[stevieu1]

I replaced my donuts with copper at 10k miles. I also replaced all 4 flex pipes with oem. $100 each. Previously I had replaced the donuts with oem every 3k miles. 1st time I had to replace both y-pipes with stainless. $180 each. I made a better hanger for the y-pipes also. I have 18k+ miles on it now with no issues. I've had my 06 for 16 years.

 

[Fortress]

I probably won’t do doughnuts ever again,both my 2004 rx1 didn’t have any when I opened them up and I couldn’t tell the difference in the sound or performance when I put them in (other then exhaust air in tunnel)not sure where all the pieces went but didn’t find any remnants of the old ones