it shouldn't matter that he let his car idle for that long....thats not the problem. what a bummer....maybe kinetix needs to redesign the plenum to take more heat.

that must have been a total freak out....sorry to hear about the bad news...maybe kinetix will be kind enough to give you the new intake for compensation!

 

K I gotta jump in on the comments about crappy R&D on behalf of Kinetix. I repeat I don't own a single piece of Kentix equipment so this is unbiased OPINION! I'm gonna compare this melting incident to Acura and their trannies. I used to own an 02 Acura CL Type S bought brand new and went through 2 transmissions, a recall and a third transmission in the span of 3 yrs. This problem w/ Honda/Acura transmissions is well documented. Check out the Acura TL/CL forums or reseach it. There are even reported failures w/ the MDX. Through all of this the most that Honda/Acura did was give an extended warranty to owners of certain model cars. Now does that mean Honda/Acura did not do any R&D? That Honda/Acura is a POS company? I don't think so. It is pretty much agreed upon that this is the first documented major failure of any Kinetix product. The remedied the problem for the customer no questions asked. Sounds like a pretty good company to me.

Just my 2 Filipino Pesos (not worth a whole lot)

 

i had an 02 rsx-s and went through a tranny and short block under 7k....traded in for the z. i understand problems are gonna happen to vehicles but there are many more working parts on a car. kinetix is only a single part...and by version 5 the bugs should be pretty much worked out. thats just my .02 but as long as the support is there its all good...just a hassle to the consumer.

 

Uh, you're comparing a company that has a ton of shareholders to a company that probably won't ever be in any market of stock trading? A company that makes cars vs. makes a few parts for a few cars? A company that has divisions just for drivetrain vs. a company that uses the same group of people for everything. Great comparison.

 

Support is good when you have questions about how something works, or stuck on the install, or shipping mistake. Not reporting problems with products. We are not beta testers, because I don't see any check going out to these Kinetix owners who have had problems such as cracking or melting.

 

In the other hand the perfect product does not exist. There is no perfect car. No perfect part. No perfect software. No perfect computer. Even if they build 1000 good ones, sooner or later, one will fail. So your premise of a perfect product is impossible.

 

Never said there was a perfect product. Something as simple as not testing under extreme heat conditions for a part that gets hot is simply ignorant.

Like I said, they only make a few parts for a few cars. IMO, since they do, they should try harder to make them less prone to failing. Look at Crawford, the only problems i've seen with them are shipping courier issues. If Kinetix was wanting to use plastic so much, why didn't they learn about the material they were using and common problems and freak problems with it to at least make sure their's didn't do the same? Make sense? If you are going to limit yourself to certain cars and certain products, make sure you do VERY WELL in that market, otherwise you are wasting time.

 

Actually nis350ztt I'm not comparing the actual companies per say. I was comparing situations in reference to your post about R&D and I had to use an experience that had first hand knowledge of. You're right Honda/Acura is a much larger company with alot more resources to devote to R&D especially since they have a race team. Yet they continued to have problems w/ their automatic transmissions. My simple point was that shiet happens, some of which can't be attributed to R&D. I was also commending Kinetix for their quick response to remedie the issue.

 

we have tested the plastic under even harsher conditions than the ones that caused this plenum failure. That is what lead us to believe it to be a defect.

We have had several people track our plenums in much hotter weather, and its sees the most heat once the car is turned off after hard runs.

We have tested it on our car idling far longer than 2 hours to do surface temperature testing vs. factory

We have made many accomodations for our customers way past the industry norm.

 

as someone mentioned earlier....every part can't be perfect....so chalk this one up to just a bad one in the batch as far as melting goes. i would think you would have tested the plenum for extreme heating conditions as that would be the most important factor about the product. anyways, as long as kinetix keeps upgrading and continues to support their customers than i can respect that.

 

I just recieved the Brand new Plenum from kinetix. They shipped out very fast. Even though I bought it Used from another member, they still gave me a new one. Guess I'll Give it another try.

 

You are taking with no knowledge whatsoever. You have no count of how many plenums they have sold, how many have failed, the defect ratio, or even what level of testing they have done. ONE plenum has had a problem with heat. ONE.

I estimate they have sold hundreds (at least) which makes this way below a 1% rate.

You just don't have anything better to do than just rant with no knowledge of any data.

Nuf said.

 

Hey Vantage, you should have taken a credit towards the new intake manifold!

 

True, I don't know how many plenums sold, how many failed, the defect ratio, or even what level of testing they have done.

I *assumed* that this was not a defect since it was an extreme condition that most hadn't done yet.

YOU don't know (neither do I) that others won't experience this if they let their car sit for as long as the thread starter did.


lsdunique, thanks, at least I know you did more testing than just making mold prototypes and putting them on the flow bench. I appreciate you commenting about that.

 

wow they sent you a brand spanking new intake even though you didnt buy the original one from them... thats some first class customer service rite there bud.

 

If you still have your stock plenum, just paint it and get a 1/2" spacer. Same performance and no melting.

 

vantage350z...have you put on the new Kinetix plenum?....how do you like it?...any pics?

 

Guys, just to let you know, Kinitex racing have the best customer service I have ever dealt with. I had some problems lately with my plenum and contacted them. They just simply shipped me another one. In fact, I got the SSV instead(after paying the difference). And I live a million miles away!! (normally, warranty is not international but they covered me)

 

No aftermarket parts should "melt." Call Kinetix. This is the first i've ever heard of a plenum warping like that. What is their plenum made of anyways?

 

Glad to here it....that is how business should be done.....Now I will probably get the SSV after all.