Hey Nick! What did you mean when you said that you got the new tube with a metal band in it. Was it the flex tube or the hard plastiic tube that the filter gauge and the air flow sensor go in? My flex tube has a metal band in it but the replacement part that AFE sent me was just the hard plastic tube (no metal on it anywhere). The flex tube i have is factory. I hate to give up on the AFE but i'm getting sick of this. I've got it paired up with the magnaflow 5" DPF back and together they sound real good.