Originally Posted by feldme

Just to clarify the situation:

I am no casual enthusiast. I am a mechanical and biomedical engineer and now a surgeon. I am a former member of SAE and designed and raced formula SAE during undergrad. I have raced wka karts, then shifter karts, midgets and autocrossed since I was 12. I now have the money to pay people to work on my cars but love turning the wrench myself, particularly on my Z, the first fun car I bought and I've had for almost 20 years now. Although not as fast as my CTS-V or as flashy as my other german rides it holds sentimental value, has 34,000 orginal miles and has never seen rain or snow. However after 20 years all the suspension rubber needs refreshing, and TPiS is going to build me a numbers matching stock appearing sleeper 383 so I need to strengthen the whole setup.

It came with a factory wonderbar but a nice new powder coated version when I am replacing everything else was an easy decision.

I have spent north of $1500 with Spohn this order.

When calling for fitment issue not listed on thier website (they do however mention it requires cutting the fan mounts on the install sheet included with the wonderbar after they have your money), delayed receipt of my torque arm and shotty quality on their steering componets, Meghan the customer service manager in no uncertain terms said it fits, and they don't need to mention it requires cutting on their website because it does indeed fit with these modifications.

Although I have plenty of technical capability and tooling to cut the mounts, this was not something I had the desire to do.

All I asked for was a return shipping label. Given I paid $130 ground shipping initially for my order the $12 label didn't seem like too much to ask. Let's do some math folks, for less than 1% of the cost of my order Spohn management would rather insist that this is my fault, their part fits and refuse to pay for return shipping. Not a great business decision.

Being laughed at on the phone, and treated terribly is a direct reflection of the arrogance of at least Meghan or possibly the whole organization.

In the current marketplace (with numerous manufacturers of suspension components) I beileve it is my obligation to share my experience and then everyone can make an educated decision to chose where they spend their hard earned dollars.

Everyone makes mistakes or have aftermarket parts that don't fit. We all recognize it and I can be understanding of these issues with good customer service. However, rather than blaming the customer an upstanding company would apoligize for the issue, email a return shipping label, and I would have been on here posting about the positive experience with their customer service.

I have already ordered a replacement from TDS as well as SFCs and some other parts and Lon has been great. Shox.com has a smoking deal on Koni Sports for $630 for the 4 corner set. Thunder racing has also been quick with my rear end parts and upgrades.

So as the poster above complaining that Spohn was a previous sponsor so I shouldn't say anything bad about them can see I have ordered from many current and previous sponsors rather than the big boys (Jegs and Summit).

I call it like I see it. Good customer service is priceless, and Spohn doesn't have it, end of story.

Originally Posted by 1990GTA

This goes along the lines of the way they do things. I think it is pretty weak that on their website the picture of the driveshaft safety loop installed is a picture of my car that I posted on TGO that they stole and put on their website. http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...-Loop-Bolt-In/


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Originally Posted by injdinjn

Try TDS Top Down Solutions his wonder bar fits.

Originally Posted by 4RCEPWRD

I've always had the best experience dealing with Spohn. In fact my Fbody is all Spohn'd out, and my Gbody project is as well. Wouldn't buy suspension parts anywhere else, and the OP's mishap, albeit unfortunate, won't change my mind.

Originally Posted by b4ccamaro

The first time you do have a problem and need their support will change your mind.

Originally Posted by DAVECS1

THe Forum you decided to air your dirty laundry on was at one time partially or fully funded by the company your bashing

Originally Posted by DJP87Z28

If you have owned a 3rd Gen car for any length of time and replaced parts with AFTERMARKET ones, you will have found out in most cases the following.

Nothing is a DIRECT FIT or BOLT ON with these cars......

Be happy someone makes those parts.

Originally Posted by MY87LT

I purchased Spohn boxed rear lower control arms and they went in perfectly. The non adjustable panhard rod, now that needed some work to get it in.

Agreed with aftermarket/non-GM parts fitting in on the first try.

Originally Posted by ghettocruiser

Loyal Spohn customer here. My car uses Spohn parts almost entirely. I made a custom crossmember to replace my Spohn, and I went with UMI for my sub frame connectors this time. I have Spohns on my other car that I crashed.

I must mention....and you can go read it in my huge build thread...I had a heck of a time getting my SFCs from UMI. Delays upon delays, with so-so communication.

Ive personally gone to Spohn's shop, both the old and new location, and met with Steve, his dad, and some of the other workers. I was always treated great, and everything Ive recieved from them has worked perfect. They even worked with me when I needed custom strut mounts to make them to my specs vs. their common specs, for no extra cost.

Name a company...any company...and you'll find at least a couple "bad experiences". Just the nature of the beast. Youre DEF more than welcome to voice your opinion...thats what forums like this are for. I personally have no issues buying from UMI (even with my semi-rough experience)...But Ill probably still start my shoppin at Spohn in the future. Just cant argue with the quality Ive experienced.

Happy Modding!

J.

Originally Posted by //<86TA>\\

its kinda hard to screw up a straight piece of tubing with bolts through the ends

i want to stress this. many parts out there need to be tweaking to fit, and many aftermarket parts dont play nicely with other aftermarket parts. People need to realize than when they start modifying their cars, they are going to have to learn how to adapt pieces and processes, do research, look st pictures and determine for yourself what is best and what parts have the features you want/need and what ones dont. Its just "seems" easier to complain about problems, when in reality, most of those issues can be resolved in the amount of time they spend on the computer typing up posts.

Even "factory" replacement parts can be slightly different.

Now, none of this makes up for poor customer service from and company, and without customer service, you have no repeat customers.

The other option is to buy some equipment and start making your own parts. At least that way you can make parts how you want them to look, how you want them to fit, and how you want them to perform.

Originally Posted by madmax

Yeah, sure it was

Originally Posted by watajob

+1

Like a glove. 3 bolt mounts, too.

Originally Posted by jmd

So, why does it not fit 1982 F-Body or 1989 Turbo Trans-Am ?

Originally Posted by lonsal

In both cases the answer involves how the front sway bar bushing bracket is mounted.

The 1982 F-Bodies had a straight bolt pattern. 1983-92 have a staggered bolt pattern. Most of the aftermarket steering braces are designed to fit just that 83-92 style pattern. If hve a 82 and buy one of those versions you may be told that it wil fit* (*if you do some major grinding and enlarge the holes to accomodate the straight pattern). I designed my version to accomodate both the '82 straight pattern and the '83-'92 staggered bolt mount pattern without any modification.

The 1989 Turbo Trans Am has two issues. The formed sheet metal bracket that GM installs that the sway bar bushing bracket mounts presents a challenge and the intercooler is mounted right where the center bar of the steering brace needs to be. I was designing a version for the TTA which would have required a very different design of the end mount pieces and a it would also require a bend in the center bar. When I redesigned the brace from the original .75" diameter tube to the 1" diameter tube the TTA prototype I was working on went out the window.

Lon Salgren

Originally Posted by cc 82Z-28

TDS (Top Down Solutions) wonder bar for 82 only has the straight bolt pattern so it is a direct bolt in.

Originally Posted by AmorgetRS

lonsal is the owner of TDS, so I suspect he already knew that...

Originally Posted by Tobias05

Spohn is going to fix their wonderbar as soon as they're done producing a strut tower brace for 3rd gens.

Originally Posted by anesthes

While searching for something unrelated, I found this thread.

Man, did I have a good laugh!

When you purchase a thirdgen, second gen, or any hot rod really, and you intend to modify it you need to have three things in your garage:

1) A Big Freaking Hammer
2) A welder
3) Some sort of cut off tool

I imagine when a customer calls Spohn or any MFG and says the bar doesn't quite fit, the bolts don't line up, or that whatever needs trimming he probably rolls his eyes thinking to himself "seriously, this guy can't make it work?"

But hey, I had a good laugh. Thanks guys!

-- Joe

Originally Posted by whitedevilTA

Thats funny, whenever that happens to me, I always thought: "wow, I just got ripped off $500 for a torque arm that doesn't fit."

I used BMR...everything fit perfect. My brother used Spohn. Absolute junk that we basically had to modify every part to work. I know where my business will be staying in the future.

Originally Posted by anesthes

I used Spohn on a couple of cars years ago. I never had any major problems that I can remember. On my current project I used Founders for the rear stuff, and the only problem I had was the LCA relocation brackets.

My subframe connectors are BMR. They sort of fit, I mean, I had to pry them into place, then weld them. I think the design leaves room for improvement, but not related to fitment.

My jegster torque arm fit my '89 formula, but for some reason the floor pan on my '88 isn't quite the same. Not a big deal.

What problems did your brother have?

I have no loyalty to any brand. I didn't buy Spohn this time around because I sourced the parts cheaper from other vendors. When I'm building a car from the ground up, I expect to have to modify a thing or two. Or three. I have no complaints cutting off a tab and rewelding it, making a hole larger, or even tossing a component in my bender and changing the angle.

-- Joe