First ever Kentix high-flo cats cracking
09-17-2004, 12:06 AM
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First ever Kentix high-flo cats cracking
2 days ago i was in a rush to a job interview. So i was smash on my car on the highway and city driving. I noticed on the city driving i have no low end power which i usally do have. I pay that no mind because i thought in my head it was all a mental thing.
Then as i hit the freeway i let my car open! I still noticed no low end. And now my car sounded funny as if my car was running open headers but not as loud. At this point i was going around 60. I stepped on the gas peddal more and to my surprise my speed wasnt increasing as it should. Then i stepped on the gas peddal harder. Finally my car hit 80mph and i knew my car should be going a lot faster for the amount of pressure im stepping on my gas peddal. Finally, i topped out at 85mph and i gave up and no longer wanted to go anymore faster as it was apperant that something is wrong with my car.
When i got off the freeway, my car started making werid rattling noises. I tested it with stop and go traffic and the weird rattling would still be present. I pulled over and let my car run idle. The rattling and buzzing sound was still there.
So to make this long story short, i made it to the interview but didnt get the job and i went to a speed shop the next day and they instantly saw crackings in both my high-flo cats. The passenger side cracking was so bad that as the mechanic was unscrewing the lower cat screw (the metal piece that attachs to the brace) the metal part that was welded onto the cat fell off! I only had the cats on my car for only 3 months!
Pictures will be posted 2m!
Then as i hit the freeway i let my car open! I still noticed no low end. And now my car sounded funny as if my car was running open headers but not as loud. At this point i was going around 60. I stepped on the gas peddal more and to my surprise my speed wasnt increasing as it should. Then i stepped on the gas peddal harder. Finally my car hit 80mph and i knew my car should be going a lot faster for the amount of pressure im stepping on my gas peddal. Finally, i topped out at 85mph and i gave up and no longer wanted to go anymore faster as it was apperant that something is wrong with my car.
When i got off the freeway, my car started making werid rattling noises. I tested it with stop and go traffic and the weird rattling would still be present. I pulled over and let my car run idle. The rattling and buzzing sound was still there.
So to make this long story short, i made it to the interview but didnt get the job and i went to a speed shop the next day and they instantly saw crackings in both my high-flo cats. The passenger side cracking was so bad that as the mechanic was unscrewing the lower cat screw (the metal piece that attachs to the brace) the metal part that was welded onto the cat fell off! I only had the cats on my car for only 3 months!
Pictures will be posted 2m!
09-18-2004, 08:40 AM
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Well i just called Kenetix. They handled it perfectly. No hassel or anything. They even told me that the ones i bought was their old design and the metal part that connects to the brace actually made the cat's molding very weak but due to popular demand for the desugn they made it like that. So now their new design have no metal piece that connects from the cat to the brace.
Now all i have to do is ship them my broken cats and once they get that they will send me the new version all brand new. Now that is customer service!!
Thanks Kenetix!
Now all i have to do is ship them my broken cats and once they get that they will send me the new version all brand new. Now that is customer service!!
Thanks Kenetix!
09-18-2004, 08:50 AM
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Im just curious if ANYONE has done ANY research about Kinetix...Ther are not and never will be a performance shop and have ZERO R&D into their product designs.There is no business named Kinetix, in fact they own a nickle and dime stereo and car junk business that sells $2 tweeters and neon tubes online..I believe its Pricewize or something like that..They just happen to own a machine shop in the building behind their shop and decided to manufacture Z parts with absolutely ZERO R&D or design..Basically they just copy someone else's product and make it witout any research..I really can not understand how people keep buying their products as they are NOTORIUS for failure and have proven NO gains
I must admit I have heard they made good on all the failed products but why go through the hassle in the first place???
I am in no way trying to intentionally bash Kinetix I am just stating the facts of the matter and asking people why they put thier confidence in such a company??
I must admit I have heard they made good on all the failed products but why go through the hassle in the first place???I am in no way trying to intentionally bash Kinetix I am just stating the facts of the matter and asking people why they put thier confidence in such a company??
09-18-2004, 09:07 AM
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Eric
This is not great customer service. Two things here:
You should not have to return your old bad cats first, for them to ship you out a replacement set. They have your money, you have no cats. They should ship you the new ones (overnite), and send out UPS or whatever shipping company to pick up your old cats at their expense. You should not have to wait for the replacements, or pay to return the old ones.
The cats should be connected to the stock mounting location by a brace. This adds strength to the whole exhaust system. If the cats aren't braced, over time they will vibrate and break again. Are you sure they said the new ones had no brace that attached to the stock mounting point?
Please, Please - No Flames. But my Crawfords, are braced properly, and the mounting is very secure with no undue stress placed on the cats or any other part of the exhaust system. As with everything they sell, they are very well designed.
Lou
This is not great customer service. Two things here:
You should not have to return your old bad cats first, for them to ship you out a replacement set. They have your money, you have no cats. They should ship you the new ones (overnite), and send out UPS or whatever shipping company to pick up your old cats at their expense. You should not have to wait for the replacements, or pay to return the old ones.
The cats should be connected to the stock mounting location by a brace. This adds strength to the whole exhaust system. If the cats aren't braced, over time they will vibrate and break again. Are you sure they said the new ones had no brace that attached to the stock mounting point?
Please, Please - No Flames. But my Crawfords, are braced properly, and the mounting is very secure with no undue stress placed on the cats or any other part of the exhaust system. As with everything they sell, they are very well designed.
Lou
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09-18-2004, 09:53 AM
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I was the one who talked with him on the phone. We generally do not require that the old ones be sent back.
Our usual policy is to send out replacements ASAP and the customer can throw the old ones away or do as they please. I did however require he send these back, because he bought them off another customer so we had no order information to warranty the cats with.
I cannot simply send cats off without referencing an order number.
We have been burned, and had customers burned by people who have sold our old products after getting free replacements. They request a replacement because they state something has failed, we send them new ones, and they sell the old ones to people telling them they come with full warranty. This has happened several times.
So, in this case, and only rarely we require the old ones be sent back before we send out brand new replacements.
We do not know what cats our competitors use, but we do know that the shell of the magnaflow converters is made of a thinner gauge metal. Welding to them made them brittle, no matter how we did it. We even tested several sets with an extra sheet metal brace to displace vibration.
We initially had many sets in our first production runs without cat brackets. We added the brackets later for customer's peace of mind. Those first production run sets never had problems with vibration, or cracking. So we decided to eliminate them completely and pass the savings on to the customer.
Our usual policy is to send out replacements ASAP and the customer can throw the old ones away or do as they please. I did however require he send these back, because he bought them off another customer so we had no order information to warranty the cats with.
I cannot simply send cats off without referencing an order number.
We have been burned, and had customers burned by people who have sold our old products after getting free replacements. They request a replacement because they state something has failed, we send them new ones, and they sell the old ones to people telling them they come with full warranty. This has happened several times.
So, in this case, and only rarely we require the old ones be sent back before we send out brand new replacements.
We do not know what cats our competitors use, but we do know that the shell of the magnaflow converters is made of a thinner gauge metal. Welding to them made them brittle, no matter how we did it. We even tested several sets with an extra sheet metal brace to displace vibration.
We initially had many sets in our first production runs without cat brackets. We added the brackets later for customer's peace of mind. Those first production run sets never had problems with vibration, or cracking. So we decided to eliminate them completely and pass the savings on to the customer.
09-18-2004, 10:09 AM
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Originally posted by lsdunique
I was the one who talked with him on the phone. We generally do not require that the old ones be sent back.
Our usual policy is to send out replacements ASAP and the customer can throw the old ones away or do as they please. I did however require he send these back, because he bought them off another customer so we had no order information to warranty the cats with.
I cannot simply send cats off without referencing an order number.
We have been burned, and had customers burned by people who have sold our old products after getting free replacements. They request a replacement because they state something has failed, we send them new ones, and they sell the old ones to people telling them they come with full warranty. This has happened several times.
So, in this case, and only rarely we require the old ones be sent back before we send out brand new replacements.
We do not know what cats our competitors use, but we do know that the shell of the magnaflow converters is made of a thinner gauge metal. Welding to them made them brittle, no matter how we did it. We even tested several sets with an extra sheet metal brace to displace vibration.
We initially had many sets in our first production runs without cat brackets. We added the brackets later for customer's peace of mind. Those first production run sets never had problems with vibration, or cracking. So we decided to eliminate them completely and pass the savings on to the customer.
I was the one who talked with him on the phone. We generally do not require that the old ones be sent back.
Our usual policy is to send out replacements ASAP and the customer can throw the old ones away or do as they please. I did however require he send these back, because he bought them off another customer so we had no order information to warranty the cats with.
I cannot simply send cats off without referencing an order number.
We have been burned, and had customers burned by people who have sold our old products after getting free replacements. They request a replacement because they state something has failed, we send them new ones, and they sell the old ones to people telling them they come with full warranty. This has happened several times.
So, in this case, and only rarely we require the old ones be sent back before we send out brand new replacements.
We do not know what cats our competitors use, but we do know that the shell of the magnaflow converters is made of a thinner gauge metal. Welding to them made them brittle, no matter how we did it. We even tested several sets with an extra sheet metal brace to displace vibration.
We initially had many sets in our first production runs without cat brackets. We added the brackets later for customer's peace of mind. Those first production run sets never had problems with vibration, or cracking. So we decided to eliminate them completely and pass the savings on to the customer.
09-18-2004, 10:44 AM
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Let me respond to your posts as opposed to avoiding them. So I will state the facts and let others interpret them after reading your posts.
"nickel and dime" well, I like to think we are a little more established than that, however we are a smaller company, and have never claimed to be otherwise. We are proud of our niche market, as it allows us to be responsive and competitive. Maybe we are just "dime", and not so much nickel.
We do have a wholesale business, that we do billing under as well. We are located in an 8000 sq ft. building in a manufacturing zone. We do ZERO retail or installations out of our shop. We used to have a stere shop, as well as a performance shop, where retail and installations took place. We took a different direction a couple years ago and thought that manufacturing was the direction we wanted to take. I dont think that the selling of other automotive goods makes us any less valid of a business.
Well, some could validly claim we havent done enough R and D on certain products, to say ZERO is inaccurate. The concepts of camber, free flowing exhaust, and increased intake are WELL KNOWN in the automotive industry. So do we simply copy people? We were one of the fisr to come out with the straight test pipe for the 350z, does that mean that others behind us. copied us?
I think we took a big risk developing a plastic intake manifold. I have never even heard of a plastic aftermarket intake manifold. We thought it could give us an edge in a competitive market. Let me also tell you, that more R and D goes into developing a composite plastic intake manifold than most other 350z parts. Thi product should at the very least let people know that we are serious about growing our company, and we are serious about keeping pace.
We are still on version 4, and it has been running very strong with well over 100 in circulation. Thats not to say we are perfect in the production of the plenum, sometimes some hardware slips out, or sometimes an insert is faulty, but we are always working towards perfection.
We have had several customers do their own dynos with great results, however in all honesty I have seen a few people with not so great results. Dynos can be very unreliable at times, so we think the proof is in the people. Most all people are very happy with the performance of our products, and that has never been an issue.
We could have released our aluminum manifold 1 year ago!! and made a lot of sales as it got great response. We werent happy with the performance yet, so we put it on the backburner. We are not trying to push crap out to market. Hopefully though we will have better results this time, as we have spent the last couple months on this new project.
I also got tired of reading about failed plenums!!! When we make decisions about production we make them to the best of our knowledge, based on research and experience. I think we have done a good job in satisfying as many people as possible, and at almost any length regarding the plenum. I truly dont think you will find other companies doing that, and with such consistency.
"nickel and dime" well, I like to think we are a little more established than that, however we are a smaller company, and have never claimed to be otherwise. We are proud of our niche market, as it allows us to be responsive and competitive. Maybe we are just "dime", and not so much nickel.
We do have a wholesale business, that we do billing under as well. We are located in an 8000 sq ft. building in a manufacturing zone. We do ZERO retail or installations out of our shop. We used to have a stere shop, as well as a performance shop, where retail and installations took place. We took a different direction a couple years ago and thought that manufacturing was the direction we wanted to take. I dont think that the selling of other automotive goods makes us any less valid of a business.
Well, some could validly claim we havent done enough R and D on certain products, to say ZERO is inaccurate. The concepts of camber, free flowing exhaust, and increased intake are WELL KNOWN in the automotive industry. So do we simply copy people? We were one of the fisr to come out with the straight test pipe for the 350z, does that mean that others behind us. copied us?
I think we took a big risk developing a plastic intake manifold. I have never even heard of a plastic aftermarket intake manifold. We thought it could give us an edge in a competitive market. Let me also tell you, that more R and D goes into developing a composite plastic intake manifold than most other 350z parts. Thi product should at the very least let people know that we are serious about growing our company, and we are serious about keeping pace.
We are still on version 4, and it has been running very strong with well over 100 in circulation. Thats not to say we are perfect in the production of the plenum, sometimes some hardware slips out, or sometimes an insert is faulty, but we are always working towards perfection.
We have had several customers do their own dynos with great results, however in all honesty I have seen a few people with not so great results. Dynos can be very unreliable at times, so we think the proof is in the people. Most all people are very happy with the performance of our products, and that has never been an issue.
We could have released our aluminum manifold 1 year ago!! and made a lot of sales as it got great response. We werent happy with the performance yet, so we put it on the backburner. We are not trying to push crap out to market. Hopefully though we will have better results this time, as we have spent the last couple months on this new project.
I also got tired of reading about failed plenums!!! When we make decisions about production we make them to the best of our knowledge, based on research and experience. I think we have done a good job in satisfying as many people as possible, and at almost any length regarding the plenum. I truly dont think you will find other companies doing that, and with such consistency.
Last edited by lsdunique; 09-18-2004 at 10:50 AM.
09-18-2004, 10:50 AM
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Well said LSD.
I have had problems with your products, but you sent out replacements no problem and the customer service was superb.
My exhaust is now as it should be.
New products are bound to have glitches that will need ironing out, its how they respond to customers when problems arrise that matters.
If only all companys were so helpful.
I have had problems with your products, but you sent out replacements no problem and the customer service was superb.
My exhaust is now as it should be.
New products are bound to have glitches that will need ironing out, its how they respond to customers when problems arrise that matters.
If only all companys were so helpful.
09-18-2004, 11:00 AM
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and if I remember correctly you had more than one problem and your problem was in the UK!!!
I thank you for your patience, but man we spent some serious shipping $$$ !!!
Thanks for the support.
I thank you for your patience, but man we spent some serious shipping $$$ !!!
Thanks for the support.
09-18-2004, 11:30 AM
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Thank you for your response..Most vendors would have ignored my post or complained to the mods.You did confirm some of my facts that I have heard.I respect your honesty and thourough explanation. and I must aggree, that although I did hear of quite a few failures of your products, I also did hear that every single time you made good on them. I must say that your customer service is top notch,just dont loose that edge you have as you grow..Most companies tend to "forget where they came from" as they get big..I honestly feel that your company could have taken a fall after the release of the Plastic plenum, but it was your customer service that kept you going..Keep up the good work in that respect..I in fact have a set of your original test pipes that have constantly leaked since day one, but I never once complained and am satisfied with their performance despite having to retighten them every so often and put new gasket silicone.
all I may suggest is a little more R&D befor releasing something to the market..Its always good to be the first one out with something,but look what happened to ATI Procharger when a few of their units caused engine failure.People were saying they blow more than a $2 hooker..lol
all I may suggest is a little more R&D befor releasing something to the market..Its always good to be the first one out with something,but look what happened to ATI Procharger when a few of their units caused engine failure.People were saying they blow more than a $2 hooker..lol
09-18-2004, 11:41 AM
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point taken.
We even find it harder ouselves to give the personal attention and service as we have grown over the past year. With more customers, comes more responsibility.
So most importantly we know that our one true edge over larger companies is our service. While it is easier to ignore complaints and issues, it does take a conscious effort to face them head on.
We even find it harder ouselves to give the personal attention and service as we have grown over the past year. With more customers, comes more responsibility.
So most importantly we know that our one true edge over larger companies is our service. While it is easier to ignore complaints and issues, it does take a conscious effort to face them head on.
09-18-2004, 11:55 AM
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LSD, your Customer Service is the best, from what I hear. HOPEFULLY I wont Have to experience how great it is (Product Failure I mean)
Out of curiousity, do you have any plans with Re-designing the HF cats to eliminate the notorious Rattle? My passenger side fit perfect, with Plenty of clearance between itself and the upper heatshield. The Driver side cat Fit Just as well, but with about 1/8" Clearance. I had to bang the hell out of the heat shield to yield a 1/4"(?) Clearance and still get a rattle from time to time, and a Ridiculously annoying one when the car is reaching operating temp......
Out of curiousity, do you have any plans with Re-designing the HF cats to eliminate the notorious Rattle? My passenger side fit perfect, with Plenty of clearance between itself and the upper heatshield. The Driver side cat Fit Just as well, but with about 1/8" Clearance. I had to bang the hell out of the heat shield to yield a 1/4"(?) Clearance and still get a rattle from time to time, and a Ridiculously annoying one when the car is reaching operating temp......
09-18-2004, 04:17 PM
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People should stop giving Kinetix Racing or specificly LSDunique a hard time. First off, they are yes a small independant company that makes affordable product for our car. Like any new company that just started there will be glichs and problems with their products. However, if they are willing to fix/replace/compensate these problems with their products and show signs of improvent as each version comes along then i would defintly be a long term customer.
So far from what i read and expereience, LSDunique has been a active member on this board and tries to answer as many questions as he can. How many other vendors do you see who are willing to start a thread just for people to ask question and revieve critism? I remeber people having a problem reaching Kentix Racing but i called only once and LSDunique answered the phone and almost instantly solved the problem. I think our overall fone convo took only 5 minutes at the most. It was almost like "Hi, My name is Eric, my cats cracked. The metal piece that connects the cats and brace together also fell off as i was taking off the cats." Then LSDunique said "We will replace them because you got one of the older version of our cats. We found out that that metal piece actually made the cats weaker." Then we went into minor details about shipping and what not. Overall, i am very satisfied with their customer service.
Like i said, Kenitix is a small company, in order for them to give us more parts and better pricing we have to struggle with them. That means buy their products and show postivie attitude towards them! They need our support as much as we need their products.
BTW: i have not done any dyno testing but after adding cats to my car i felt a big difference in my car's performance. Now that im back to a stock cat my car feels sluggish.
So far from what i read and expereience, LSDunique has been a active member on this board and tries to answer as many questions as he can. How many other vendors do you see who are willing to start a thread just for people to ask question and revieve critism? I remeber people having a problem reaching Kentix Racing but i called only once and LSDunique answered the phone and almost instantly solved the problem. I think our overall fone convo took only 5 minutes at the most. It was almost like "Hi, My name is Eric, my cats cracked. The metal piece that connects the cats and brace together also fell off as i was taking off the cats." Then LSDunique said "We will replace them because you got one of the older version of our cats. We found out that that metal piece actually made the cats weaker." Then we went into minor details about shipping and what not. Overall, i am very satisfied with their customer service.
Like i said, Kenitix is a small company, in order for them to give us more parts and better pricing we have to struggle with them. That means buy their products and show postivie attitude towards them! They need our support as much as we need their products.
BTW: i have not done any dyno testing but after adding cats to my car i felt a big difference in my car's performance. Now that im back to a stock cat my car feels sluggish.
09-18-2004, 06:34 PM
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i purchased the plenum cat package a while ago (beggining of the year) and granted ... am now on V4 plenum... LOVE the product and have had NO problems with my cats. love the product and the company... everyone i know i push to kenetix cause they are a supperb company and mucho probs for tackling problems head on instead of tucking your tail between your legs and running *cough* stillen *cough*.
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