I hate this thing. I can't stand it. You buy the kit and then almost double that price trying to fix all the nit-picky **** that comes along with it. I can't even keep it running for ONE weekend! 2 belts have stripped, one broke, the other is starting to strip right now! This will be over $300 for belts- over a THREE week period! There are rattles, violent shaking, and noises that I don't think are supposed to be there. I should have listened! This thing is horrible! I'm calling ATI tomorrow to see what they say this time... I hate calling them, their customer service is so worthless. So the blower DOES suck, but not in the right since, the company is rude and unforgiving about anything that happens, and my car has gone to **** over the past month to the point where I'm ready to trade it in for something else. I hate this stress.

 

I now what you mean, I used to stress also untill I found these...



LOL..j/k

 

The unit is excessivley loud.
I had similiar problems found 2 culrpits:

-Belts were oevrtitghtened putting too much oressure on the jackshaft assembly
- SCrew that hold in jackshaft assembly was not torqed to spec and assembly came apart eventually with several weeks of crunching noises preceding it.

I have put 30,000 miles on my ATI comprrssor still running like a champ, if you under tighten belts ( rare) you might wind up stripping them.
The proper tight ness is when they feel just a tad too loose, is about right.


ATI can work well from this thread:

http://forums.freshalloy.com/ubbthre...e#Post68059774

"The interesting revelation now is that the old motor has been tested (but not taken down) and run in another car NA. I am told by the gents at VRT that it pulls very strong and smooth and after 23,000 FI miles shows nary a sign of any adverse impacts...indeed it runs as well as any NA G35 with as many miles they have run...so that is good news. The initial report on the disemboweled ATI supercharger unit is that there is minor scratching on the impeller blades, but after consultation with the techs back in Wichita there is the determination that the influence on power production would be negligible, and apart from just giving it clean up locally there is no need to do anything other than just change the supercharger oil. "


Fred...

 

I bought my procharger kit from a member on these forums and cant say anything bad about it. When i first installed it, it made the weirdest noise. come to find out the belts werent tightened properly. Well once I got that fixed all was good, until i overtightened the serpentine belt. That led to thebelt being shredded within a matter of days in which i bought a new belt and never had a problem since.

 

I know how you feel i went throught the samething with my other car the little problems add up and its to the point where you dont even like your car anymore cause everyday it is something new. you may want to take off the kit and sell it and re think your plains for the car. a turbo possibly or if your looking for more power in a car a 04 vette would be a nice upgrade?

 

I know this is not going to help, but I do feel for you. Most people who really care about their cars, and like people, and that is going to mean 99% of the people that read this thread, probably fall into that category. I had a great experience with my unit, it ran like a champ, and my experience with ATI was a uniformly good one.
You won't like what I have to say, but here it is. The unit is solid. I never ever had a problem with it that ATI did not step up to. What problem is that? At about 18,000 miles it stripped a cog belt. Not until then, mind you. Why? because the darn thing was so good for so long that I got lazy and did not keep checking the belt tension regularly, and over time it did what all belts do. IT stretched. I kept checking the torque stripe I had on the bolts/nuts, but gradually over time the old "thumb" push just was not enough. MY FAULT.
Then at 21,000 miles it did it again with the new belt. What? So I checked and the pulleys were actually wearing down and grooving from the belts, and that caused the slip. One phone call. Fed Express package the next day with new pulleys, new belts, and NO CHARGE. More than two years after the purchase.
If the equipment is at question, my experience is that they step up. If the installation is in question, not their fault. And it should not be their responsibility.
So, the frustration is real, the emotion is high, and I really feel badly because I know how it impacts me when something mechanical is not right. But if you can't hack modding a car and the set backs it will always be throwing you, and the inevitable costs, or you cannot do the work properly yourself or hire somebody who has the skills to do it for you......don't do this to yourself. It WILL happen again, you can count on it. I cannot say what happened or who is to blame for this, and it really doesn't matter. But before you flame a company for their product, take a breath and think it through carefully. What you are talking about does not sound like a product defect but an installation challenge.

 

Well, all the black paint on the pulleys is stripped off and it seems that the notches on the pulleys look to be "chewed" into - meaning they aren't smooth. Do I need new pulleys? The belt tension SEEMS fine to me, but I've stripped all the belts and the 1st one was looser then the one that is on there now. When the 1st belt broke it snapped in half long ways so there was a long tail flying around and hitting the underside of the hood, and hood pad. It was so loud at 1st I thought I had thrown something... Because the belt broke it tore up that pad that is on the underside of the hood and threw fiberglass, and other cloth-like material all over the engine bay. The 2nd belt is stripping and it had thrown a nice black dust all over the engine bay- the hood pad doesn't matter, I took it off. The dust doesn't matter, I'll detail it later... the fact that all this happened and there is no filter on the SC might be a problem. I found some of the hood pad stuck to that wire cage that is on the SC, so I'm sure not only that but all the black soot has gotten into it... I'll check into the install issue, but I highly doubt it. As for the rest of flaming the company, deep down I love the thing... I love the sound, and the power I had for brief moments over the weekend while it worked right - but thus far the bads out weight the goods by a long shot. I will stand by one thing however, I do not enjoy when I pay extra for overnighting parts and they arrive 4 days later - this happened twice.

Thanks! Still looking for any more help. I will have the belt tension and torque specs relating to the pulleys checked out.

 

Well you are absolutely right that if you paid for overnight and it left many days later by overnight service, that is not excusable. The dramatic way it came apart and caused other damage is a hair puller too. I am like you in that I cannot stand it when something does not work properly, and if it makes everything else worse........well there is a shop trash barrel or two that bear the mark of a kick of frustration! (But I did feel much better afterwards!)

The filter system after the intake should take care of the powder and fluff, but if there was a LOT of it you may have to drop the bumper again and remove the filter unit and clean it to be sure and have peace of mind. Just for sharing, when my second belt stripped I was hard on throttle on the infield straight at CalSpeedway, and all of a sudden there was a whirring noice, the car lurched forward (loss of power) and a shower of little cog strips came flying out of the vents in my hood and splattered the windshield like a cloud of angry bees! So much for that race day. Fortunately it was the end of the day anyway, but phooey.

 

Chris... you need to just come up to Tyler and let Rob help you with it!

ya know my #... gimmie a call

 

Sorry your struggling with your setup. Did you ever get it running correctly? Last time we talked, you had some EU issues. Make sure the belts are aligned properly. Most importantly, as others have mentioned, make sure the belts are not over tightened. This is real easy to do. I've lost the blower belt once in 15K miles, and it was due to my own mistake. Don't even ask, its that stupid. Give me a call sometime or come on up to Tyler.

 

yeah probly the worst product Procharger has come out with.......

 

sounds like you could be having a problem with pulley alignment. the pullies need to be perfectly aligned and parralel or you put all the stress on one side of the belt and can chew it up pretty quick.
to save on the belts, don't go through ati for them. do a search for the part number online and you will find other sources you can get the same gates belt for like $30. buy an extra one and keep it in the car with you.

 

Awesome, I'll check Gates out [I've read about it before]. Do I need new pulleys? It kind of looks like someone took a knife to them and cut little slits all through them...

 

my advice to you is get the belts set up correctly and then see how you feel, i had the same problem, my belt broke and i wasn't running boost for like a month, it sucked, but i finallly got everything situated and its running great now...... perfect, 363 to the wheels on 7lb pullie, will be running 10 lbs. in the spring looking for over 400 whp........ all in all i had the same problem and was just as pissed as you, but now im happy with it...... There is really nothing ATI customer service can do about your belt problems.......

 

Sucks to hear about your problems, and it really sucks you still haven't gotten them resolved yet. When that unit was on my car (before I sold it to you) I went through one belt, and that was because after I got it initially installed I didn't recheck the tension after driving it 800 miles. I never had any loud noises or anything else out of it. It really sounds like you've been jerked around by several people regarding the installation now, and that really sucks. Like I told you before you need to find someone who is willing (and capable) of working through your isses and getting the car running, and tuned correctly.

Good luck!

 

I've heard more bad than good with this product.

 

it's a shame when a product comes out and it doesn't satisfy everyone....but that is to be expected...some will have better luck then others, and i am sorry for the unfortunate ones......this is why reliability of a product is so important........ stillen was then my choice....

 

I'm working on getting the belt. SGP will be handling it from here on out. I'm sure they'll get everything resolved. Thanks guys, hopefully in a few days you'll see a post about me taking back what I said!.........