Another bad experience with GRANATELLI products

[iwashmycar]

So i have seen alot of threads in the past about Granatelli...heres my rant-

Well I bought these caster/camber plates a while back when I lowered the car. I had noticed some popping sounds when hitting big bumps or manholes in the roads, and then about a week ago after hitting a big bump my hood was raised up 1/4" higher than the cowl on my drivers side. I soon hit another bump and it went back down. My shocks did just barely touch the underside of the hood, so i just thought something was a little loose, being that it felt alright.

So today I drove 2.5 hours home from school (Kent to Columbus) and it did alright on the highway...only wandered a little. Got home and poped the hood to see that the bushing retainer part separated from the plate!! WTF.

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so i am going to get it welded back togeather. Granatelli basically stuck the 'pipe' part into the flange and only welded like 3/4" around ( see the bead sticking out in the second pic) ...hows that supposed to hold!? Thier warranty only states 90 days, so i'm not going to bother calling. If I weld it it'll have 4 times as much bead than they had anyway...

/end rant

 

[91 HATCH]

looks like a defective part im a union welder for a living and it looks like a very small weld to me

you should weld it everywhere but right in front of the holes

 

[iwashmycar]

thanks for the tip about the holes...wouldnt want to deform them as theyre threaded

 

[stykthyn]

that blows. I have never bought suspension parts from them, but the EFI components that I bought from them for my camaro never let me down. I hope you just had a fluke part that for some reason passed QC. hate to see that though.

 

[Sicarius428]

It may not be under warranty but I would still bring it to their attension. This is a safety issue and hopefully they will replace it seeing that your car could have wandered off the road. At the very least they can have it on record that their product failed and their QA has to step it up.
Kevin

 

[Joe95StangGT]

I would call them up and ream them out about it and demand you want new better quality ones, or else youll be posting it even at more forums on the internet, unless they replace their product. most companies that care about reputation will replace the prodcut and help you out, before wanting bad parts spread on behalf of them.

 

[bloopbloob]

you said you won't bother calling, but you really should. if nothing else, just to see what they say about it and how they treat the situation. if they're rude, throw some negative publicity out. thats what i'd do.... i've already heard enough bad stories about granatelli that i wont deal with them ever.
i'm a part time welder when i'm not in school, and that just looks like ****ty craftmanship. myself, and anyone i know would fix that for free for you if you came into our shop and asked, in less than a minute... its probably not worth sending back, but i'd still sent pics to the company and maybe hit them up for a credit or something while you're at it. whether they believe it or not, its bad rep on sites like this that can make or break a company..... i know i, and many others, have chosen to deal, and not deal with certain companies based on feedback on this site....
hope they come through for you.

 

[iwashmycar]

maybe ill contact them today about it. can't hurt to let them know I guess, like everyone said.

 

[cevtv]

They'll find a way to blame you.

 

[iwashmycar]

well i didnt call or anything, but i welded it back togeather and its just awaiting a new alignment tomorrow... Probably needed it anyway. Now ill just wait for the other side to break. I know i probably should have taken it off as well and hit it with a few tacks...we'll see. Ill bring this thread back when it happens lol

 

[Darkwriter77]

Why wait for the other one to break? You might not be as lucky the second time as you were when the first broke, in that you didn't wind up in an accident. What if it decides to turn loose while you're making a fairly hard turn?

Pull it off and weld it like you did with the first. And by all means, give them folks a call. If they're worth their beans at all, they'll try to make it up to you in some way.

 

[iwashmycar]

ok i emailed them, with pics.. we'll see if they even sound like they care lol

 

[lang williams]

i'd atleast inspect the other side an maybe add a few tacs before paying for an alignment.

 

[bloopbloob]

yeah i'd def. throw some weld on the other one, before you run into a major problem. is this how they make all of them, or is it a mistake? cuz thats just terrible craftmanship if it is the norm.
you need at least 2 welds on there, on opposite sides. if i was making these myself (i've done a lot of custom fabrication stuff), i'd put at least three welds around a circular joint like that. probably 4 small welds after looking at the base. its got lots of room for weld without warping.

i'm glad you let them know of the problem. see what develops.... If they never hear of problems, you can't expect them to change anything. if they ignore it, then it's time to rag on them and cost them some $$$ so maybe they learn.

 

[iwashmycar]

Got a reply :

Sorry to hear you had a part failure. Where did you purchase the part from? Do you have the receipt from the purchase? We have hundred of caster camber kits out there, sure you must understand at some point there may be a failure. Send us a picture of the parts while they were on the car and the hood if it hit. Information is power and I am always willing to help out our customers.



Joe Granatelli

i'm going to go ahead and reply with all that he asked for. Gotta find the receipt...it was 2 years ago i bought them.....but i did find the box with the part number clearly on it's lable