I have been a Kinetix customer, from camber kit to v1/v2 plenum, but due to numerous cracks on the plenum, I have decided to go the Crawford route.. I am planning to get the Kinetix high-flow cats, if the fitment issues are resolved 100%. It doesn't feel good when I hear even 2 out of 10 buyer has problem with installing cats... I will only buy it when it's 100% NO PROBLEM...

keep us updated... thanks!

 

Well, I would give Kinetix a hats off for the reports of how they've stood behind their product. Geez we've heard of Superchargers blow-up engines with little or no above-and-beyond support from ATI or Vortech, and those kits costs way more than a plenum - they must have more margin.

Kinetix is playing this as well as can be expected. Obviously they would have preferred to have gotten it right the first time, but they appear to be in this for the long-term, and are interested in building their brand. Not many auto retailers think that strategically these days.

I had a etailer ship me the wrong struts for my Maxima, and they refused to reimburse me for any of the shop time when my installer spent an hour trying to get them to fit. They even charged me for shipping again to send the right product. I will NEVER buy another thing from them again!!! I was PO'ed!!!! Kinetix - keep looking after your clients, and they will come back and bring friends.

My advice - make sure you upgrade all existing customers, with the priority on those who have contacted you with a failure - suspend taking new orders for a few months until you get your current customers sorted out. I know this will really pinch the cash flow, but the more new customers, the more risk you have of yet larger numbers of failures.

Another thought - I know that aircraft body parts are tested in water pressure chambers where they simulate like a decades worth of take-off and landings in a couple days by varying the water pressure in some sort of chamber - Is there some engineering outfit in your neck of the woods that could do something similar for a reasonable fee?

All said I bought a Crawford Plenum - Version 1 - I would like to get the latest version, but I'm not willing to fork out the dough to upgrade and reinstall - Crawford has been updating his design just like Kinetix - although their upgrades offered more estehetics versus addressing failures.

I just don't think any plastics will stand the test of time - Although I see an SC install in my future and would love a plenum/strutbar combo that fits. For this reason alone I'll keep my eyes on the Kinetix Solution.

Yo Kinetix, what about Fiberglass or carbon fiber as a material and/or as reinforcement material for your plenum? Would this work technically? Is your given price point a problem? My bet is current and future buyers would pay 15% even 25% more if you can demonstrate this is needed to improve the build quality and mke th product 100% reliable.

Hey I did buy your rear camber / traction bar kit - they are extremely well made - My installer and tire alignment guys have commented that someone did not skimp on making these.

Hang in There guys - Your doing a decent job - get some engineering coop student or the like to work with you guys on the design and get past this quick. Avoid just trying new materials and see if they work in the field - adjust your engineering approach.

I hope this doesn't sound too condecending - just trying to offer constructive criticism.

Best,

Chris

 

I have the crawford v5.... and vortech....

id love a less heat entrapping solution, but know the curent kinetix would suit the bill....

as stated above (and mentioned by my tuner) a CF version would bve strong enough, and would shed the heat as well too.....

im game, and ready to put a deposit on that idea....

-eS

 

In this day and age, I feel that amazing customer service is almost as valuable as an amazing product. Its hard to find a company that stands behind their products like you do. I commend you and keep up the good work.

 

Oh shift, now there are fitment problems with the cats??? I refused delivery of your plenum after hearing about all their problems, and now i have to worry about the cats? Whatever happened to quality control? It is a far better business practise, if you plan on being in business long term,
to make the buyer wait for a rigorously tested, high-quality product than to cut corners and release an inferior product,
which is what fly-by-night companies do.
It will take your company a long time to overcome all the bad press you've rec'd
lately.
So what do you have to say about the cat fitment problems?

 

I am another one who is very hesitant to buy a plastic plenum especially after all of the previous problems. Clint(THX), Gurgen, and I were talking about your plenum and I am guessing that one of the big problems with cracking is that you really dont stress the issue of NOT overtorquing. I'm sure 7/10 who installed this plenum thought the torque to be inadequate, (not realizing plastic has zero tolerance for overtorquing) and gave it a little extra somethin; you know just in case . If you take your time, know what your doing(not just think you know), and not overtorque, I am sure it will be fine.

Me personally, I'll wait for the ally plenum. I am in no hurry to add (possibly) more problems to my list.

 

Well, I will try to reply to many of the previous posts as, I am sorry if you took offense to the "pro crawford" statement. I have always tried to stay out of any debates, I actually meant that I was open to all posts and opinions.

We have tried a fiberglass reinforcement mix, and may do so in the future, though it is not as simple as adding fiberglass. It changes other properties that alter the production process. We think though that the previous problems were due mostly to design errors that were uncovered as time passed. here is a large discovery we "learned" through production

-plastic shrinkage when molding while small, gave us a couple problems, which resulted in other problems. The shrinkage brought the inner walls closer together. This originally did not seem to interfere with anything, but upon closer inspection we found that the inner walls of the plenum were actually hitting a couple spot sections of the lower aluminum plenum. This is actually what was the largest problem in terms of the "flange bolts cracking". It was not a case of the plastic being strong enough. The inner wall interference was causing the plenum to not sit flat, and instead of bolting down the plastic solidly, it was actually bending the flange hole down. This also explains why our plenum, and others had no problem, while some seemed to crack them very easily, even after our metal insert improvement. The shrinkage can change through the temperature at which the plastic is processed.

True, we are definately working towards 100% product success, and its not that we simply accept a lower %%, it is just a constant progression that a company makes.

 

i have the hi flo cats and i must say, you can actually feel the difference in power from stock to hi flo's. Anyhow, one major problem i have is that when i bolted it on to my nismo y-pipe, one side fit flawless while the other side i had to bend it a lot. I did not tighten one side fully then attempt to tighten the other side. What i did was try to get both cats into the y-pipe using a screw to hold each side in place. Then i tighten each side qually like how you would when tighting back tires.

Since i have a nimo y-pipe im scared of one side of the flex part of the y-pipe to crack due to high stress. Would you guys be able to warentty or reemburse me for my crack y-pipe if it ever happens which i dont want it to happen? The fitment was not direct bolt on and i hard to push hard to get one of the cats to attach to the y pipe.

Other than that im happy with the product.

 

I would really like to know more about this aluminum plenum.

I had the V2 and also got the race pipes w/ resonators. The V2 cracked and I was upset about that, but you guys replaced it quick with the V3. That was a couple of months ago.

This past week, I noticed that my V3 is now cracked and i've tried calling but no answer. That upset me more. I don't know if I should go back to stock, see what you will do for a V4 cause of this mishap, or wait for the Aluminum, but I would still like to hear more about this.

I plan on going TT and that would be the JWT Kit, and I just don't know or think that the V3/V4 Plastic Plenum would handle it. I think if you came out with an aluminum like the crawford, I think that the TT would handle that better than all of the plastic versions.

What do you suggest that I do? What are you willing to help me out with just like these other members who need help and who have already received the help by replacing to the upgrade version. Please again talk more about this Aluminum version. Thanks.

J

P.S. I love the Race Pipes w/ Resonators. Sounds great and felt the power behind it. Flows great with the rest of my exhaust/intake system. I too am concerned a little about if the pipes crack, please let me know about that as well. Thanks.

 

Hey my freind it's tony
Heres my story I've been with kinetix since the version 2 and i also have the hi flow cats. I had cracking issues with my plenums
and without question lsd addressed my problems. My v2 and v3 cracked on me, when lsd was informed he sended out the next version to me. I have never commented or posted any thing negative although i got discouraged at times,because lsd and kinetix has always been men of their words and the company has integrity. So I just waited for my newest version, last week i received my version 4 and did the install on friday. I went to sears and purchased a inch/lbs torque wrench for 70 bucks. The install went fare except for the long bolt to left of the throtle body gave a loud snapping sound at only 50 inch/lbs of torque. At this point my heart is in my mouth, so i take the bolt out thinking it snapped but it didn't the lower intake manifold housing that the bolt screws into striped and the bolt just turned freely. I think it happened from the three installs and reinstalls i did, so the recommended 72 inch/lbs of torque should be adjusted if you did
multi installls. i tried to tighten the screw to the right to about 50 inch/lbs and the same thing happened. So now i have the plenum on with out that long screw and the screw to the right. I haven't
driven the car yet and I am afraid to bring the car to the dealer
they will hammer me either for a new lower intake or try to tap and die a new hold, the metal is very sensitive so i don't know if I should try it myself. Any way the plenum is in good condition and
i just dont know what to do at this point.any recommedations.

 

I've followed lots of stories of the plenum carcking, including wren's story.

Still would love to consider Kinetix my first pic should I change plenum. But since I plan to track the car, there is 0% tollerance failure in my case.

Just waiting to see how the V4 performs... then I might change my mind.

 

No need for the stupid smiley. Yes, this is obviously Kintex's idea of damage control. But you say that as though it's a bad thing. Would you suggest that they just go out of business? Regardless of what you think their motives/intentions are, you can't deny the fact that this level of customer support is rare. Even the bigger companies who can afford to make good with customers, DON'T! Companies like ATI, Vortec, and Stillen for example, whom I've heard numerous complaints about.

And to wren57, that $150 credit they gave you is extremely generous. I can't think of one company that would do that. Especially knowing you continued to drive your car with the knowledge of the crack.

 

heres my kinetix experience:

i originally ordered the plenum back when it was first introduced with that first gb. i ordered the plenum and waited for months. i ended up getting a v3, due to people returning their cracked plenums. well to my disappointment it cracked upon installation. i immediately emailed/called/pm'd kinetix with pics of the crack. they called me the next day and told me that they are sending a replacement. i did receive the replacement in a matter of days, but i was very very reluctant to put it on. so i sent the plenum back and got a full refund. all in all, Kinetix was very helpful when you could get ahold of someone. but it was frusterating listening to that same old "pricewise" recording.





btw,
i am now a proud owner of a crawford v5.

 

phile

Go back and read my post. Did I say "Damage Control" was a "Bad Thing"? Or did I say that it's "about time"? IMO, this is too little too late! And, in no way way makes up for the frustration and damage suffered by the people who bought the plenum and to a lesser extent, the cats.

Sorry you took offense to the "stupid smiley"!

Lou

 

i think somebody mentioned that during idle with the TB almost closed the plenum would experince the highest level of pressure pushing it downand when the TB opens up the plenum would "rise" as the pressure on it actualy decreases.. that would seem to answer your question if it is the case

 

SO.........


no carbon fiber versions possible??

-eS

 

I still have faith in Kinetix, and will pick up a V4 Plenum in about a month, after hearing others experiences.

 

Kinetix, the fact that you are uncovering "shrinkage" problems in production means you should really look at rethinking your approach - more engineering upfront. Given the temperature fluctuations the plenum will experience over the life of the car, the plastic will constantly be expanding and shrinking - at a different rate than the bottom part of the plenum - how can you expect the seal hold over time??? To say nothing of the pressure when the air is forced into the plenum, especially in an FI setup.

Also Your feedback on using fiberglass is a bit vague - so it alters production - Why is this a problem?? Like esemes and I have asked above....Have you tried using carbon fiber??? I still think Kinetix needs to move away from trying fixes in production.....

All this, and you have historically-proven tuner companies like APS which will have a completely new plenum cast from aluminum available this fall....

 

I have the Kinetix V1 which I installed using permatex and have not had any problems, Could it handle a Vortech? I just called and got quote on a polished one installed... I really hate to have to change the strut brace....Ed

 

Your quotes are irrelevant considering I never made a claim that you explicitly stated that damage control was a "bad thing". Hence my statement "you say that as though...", which would mean I'm interpreting Anyways, no big deal, but I always feel the need to convey my true meaning.

I agree with you on one point. It is too little too late for many people, and that is totally understandable. I was just expressing the fact that alot of businesses would never go to these lengths. They would just let you swallow your losses. And that is commendable.