There is a hell of a difference welding fully rigged up aluminum on thick tubes. Then what I imagine is .03 wall thickness for the exhaust that you posted up.

You straight up have never tried to weld or you would understand that lapping coins on perfectly joined miter cut tube is nothing like thin metal.

 

No, I've never attempted to weld, but I've seen extremely good welds on a variety of materials and surfaces, including Moots' titanium tubing.

I was inspired to post this thread after having had seen one of National Geographic's "Megafabbriche" series featuring Pagani on Italian television. Several times hroughout the entire video, it was emphasized how much Mr. Pagani was a stickler to detail and perfection. A scene in the video showed Mr. Martin Haegele of MHG going over a completed exhaust with a magnifying glass.

Look at any photos of a Huayra's suspension and frame, and you will see rather standard welds. Any of them could have been done much better. The internet abounds with superlative examples of automotive related welds seen on non exotic supercars.

The only point I was trying to make was to show that Pagani cut a few corners with their welding quality, especially in an automobile costing more than $1M and touting perfection in the most miniscule of details. The welds just stood out to me as not being on par with the perfection seen in the rest of the car, that's all.

The steel nuts welded on the steel chassis, the steel plates welded at 90°, and the titanium exhaust system welds could have been done much better. Any welding forum, if shown the Pagani welds would concur... If Pagani paid more attention to the QC of their welds, they'd have an even more exquisite auto.

 

To put things into perspective, Moots uses a 0.032" or 0.035" wall thickness on their top tubes, and their tubing is either 6/4 or 3/2.5 TITANIUM, not aluminum.

 

You wana see poor welding (aesthetically) have a look at a Scuderia!!!
I kinda agree... if I was going to spend that amount of $$$$$ then I want perfection at least at the visible joints

 

All automobiles have primary and secondary surfaces. Many luxury and exotic brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari Rolls Royce, and Pagani elect to give the same finishing parameters to both the 1° and 2° surfaces. It just became apparent to me that many exotics have merely functional welds, the same quality that you'd find on a Ford or a Toyota.

If QC of any premium car company took job applications from highly trained welders, and hired the best of the best, based on what they were capable of doing, I imagine that we'd see not only functional, but beautiful, precisely executed and homogenous welds. Many car manufacturers contract specialty firms to make components. The car manufacturers could demand super clean quality welds, and the supplier would certainly produce them if they wanted to maintain their lucrative contracts.

Does a Ferrari Scuderia merit super nice welds, or is "Camry quality" welding acceptable? If I had an otherwise flawless Ferrari, I for one would like super nice welds. Log into any welding forum and search for perfect welds... The photos are showing routine welds of steel nuts welded on steel, steel plate welded at 90°, and master welders taking pride in producing their very best welds for the indended application. These are not even so called "second pass" welds.

I always appreciate seeing the work of masters in their respective fields. I'm perplexed as to why elite car makers don't insist on having high quality welding performed on their beautiful automobiles...

 

Here are some commonly performed, quality automotive welds...

 

It appears to be that the difference in the welds is the difference between hand built and robotics. A CNC robotic welder with a perfectly positioned jig will always have a clean weld. A hand built piece of art will always have the artist touch.
I can weld. The guys that work for me can weld even better. One of them can lay some of the most beautiful welds that you have ever seen. No one can lay a perfect weld on a 360° with objects in the way consistently. That is only done with robotics.

 

Thanks Jireh Customs...

Why don't we see better welding with cars like the Huayra? You must admit that some of the Huayra photos I posted show some pretty sloppy welds.

 

Because most people that buy and see them will be so amazed with everything else that Pagani didn't give it much thought beyond functionality to the welds. Given that it is a $1.2M car all of that should be taken into account if by no one else but the welder.
Also the titanium is tig welded which is a much cleaner raw weld than mig welding steel.

The cars coming out of my shop always have clean welds. Most of the time we will put an extra pass so we can grind a smooth transition. That is the difference in custom fabrication for show cars and production. Having said that, Pagani cars are show cars out of the factory and should have smooth finely ground transitions.

 

I kind of figured your answer would be what is was... Thanks for your input!