Posted by Steve Nelson. Owner. Top-End Performance on August 02, 1999 at 13:19:35:
In Reply to: Rear Rear Stress Bar / Korman Autoworks / Top-End Performance posted by Troy Rudolph on July 29, 1999 at 13:33:05:
Boy. Talk about your abuses of the Internet.
Why is it that you think the fact that you pay $19.95 a month for internet access gives you the right to indiscriminately trash someone without getting to the bottom of the issue at hand. Has it occurred to you that the fault lies with Korman in this matter ?
I took a phone call from you on Friday or Saturday and you did not mention that
you had ordered a rear E12 brace from Korman. Asking this question might have revealed to you that it was never ordered from us and whatever issue you have is with Korman and not us.
For your information and the information of the other subscribers, Korman did not order an E12 brace from us nor have they even ever asked us for one. They do on occasion order 2002 and 320i braces from us which are always delivered on a timely basis. The reason we have not been pushing the E12 brace is because it is not yet a production item. We have made them on a 1 off basis so far and have not had the time to get it into production by making a fixture. We make them off my 80 528I which we know is a dimensionally correct never been hit and rust free car. That is why it is not posted on our site nor have I contacted your group with the info about it.
As to the matter that we DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT E12's. Of course we do. That is yet another irresponsible statement made while hiding behind the keyboard. I can appreciate the fact that you do not want to drill holes in your shock towers and that is certainly your prerogative but from an engineering standpoint that is the most effective way of attaching it with the exception of welding. The 3 bolts you want it to bolt to are not structural. That is the upper shock mount,
(As I mentioned to you on the phone) and is not a rigid location for a structural brace.
If you want the brace to be less effective and act just as a place to mount the battery that is fine, it is just not the design criteria we use for this particular part.
The effort you put into blasting us for a product we do not even make nor was ever ordered from us is astounding. This kind of behavior from certain members of Internet groups does nothing to promote a good relationship with suppliers. It undermines the power of your club to make group purchases; and does nothing to inspire a manufacturer to add to their product line for your particular model of vehicle.
Sincerely,
Steve Nelson
Owner. Top-End Performance
818 764-1901 818 764-0155 fax.
: As some may recall, Korman lists a combination Rear Stress Bar and Battery Relocation Kit for E12 cars. The price is $238 for the whole thing including the mounting hardware, new battery cables, etc.
: I ordered one around 6/1/99. Guess what? I still don't have it. In fact, I just cancelled the order. Here's the story.
: When I ordered the kit, I was told by Shane at Korman Autoworks that there would be a 2 week lead-time followed by a week of shipping time. I thought this was good because it's an uncommon item and mostly like was manufactured when ordered.
: Four weeks went by and I called Shane at Korman Autoworks again and left a message. He never called me back. After leaving a two more messages, I happened to call while he was at his desk, and he promised to call the supplier and get back to me that afternoon. He never called.
: Eventually, he referred me to Bob in Korman's shipping department who also promised to call the supplier and call me that same afternoon. He never called either. I called Bob today and he happened to be at his desk. I reminded him that he had promised to call me on 7/21. He apologized and admitted that he had never called because the supplier did not return his calls. I cancelled the order.
: Somewhere between Shane and Bob, I became curious about who the supplier is, so I did a few searches on AltaVista and turned up Top-End Performance. Bob confirmed this when I spoke to him.
: I called Top-End Performance after calling Korman and they answered the phone immediately. I asked about the E12 Rear Stress Bar/Battery Relocation kit and was told that they have made about six and are putting together some jigs to speed things up, but that they don't know quite when that'll be done.
: Unfortunately, I don't think they know much about E12s. When I originally spoke to Shane at Korman, he told me that no holes needed to be drilled in the shock towers because the bar fastened to the three bolts that hold upper shock mount/spring pad. The guy I spoke to at Top-End today said that holes needed to be drilled in the sides of the shock towers because there was no other way to mount it. He claimed that the shock towers on E12s had no bolts on which to mount the bar. Further, he said that the rear shock towers on an E12 "are not load points." I guess those coil-over springs push on thin air while they hold up the car!
: In short, neither Korman nor Top-End, in this particular case, know anything about anything.
: Just thought I'd mention it.
: Today, I cancelled the order. It's safe to