Hi

I'm wondering if somebody else met the same troubles as me.

I decided to give my 1983 Recaro T/A a fully UMI-Equipped chassis, and bought in order a Wonderbar, a bump-steer kit, a torque-arm w/ crossmember, a Panhard-bar relocation kit w/ bar.

None of these items has benn mounted easily. Everytime, the hardware was wrong or missing. Every time ! The Bump-steer kit even show several hardware trouble, discovered step-by-step.

This is extremely annoying : I'm living in Europe, parts cost me twice the price because of shipping&taxes, and I have to wait a couple extra weeks to be delivered compared to US-buyers. Imagine how upsetting it can be to wait 3 or 5 weeks for correct hardware from the US.

And of course, I don't trust the parts quality depite all the reviews on the Internet. Can a manufacturer warranty my safety a 120MPH on an curvy highway, if they can't even send the correct hardware ?

The last UMI items I need are rear control arms, front tubular A-arms and a rear sway-bar. I don't think i can switch to Detroit Speed for these parts only, so I'll stick with UMI. But more than being pissed, I'm worried.

About the car, this is the parts-list :

-UMI-everything except tubular K-member
-Eibach Pro-kit springs
-Koni yellow shocks N Struts
-UMI outer bolt-on subframe connectors
-Chris Alston' inner subframe connectors
-Stock Turbo-Cast wheels on stock 215/65 tires

-Willing to replace my Dynomax true-duals by quality handbuilt ones
-Willing to set a Blueprint 383 SBC

Thanks for help

 

There is no (as far as I know) warranty with parts like these. They are explicitly for "off road use only"

 

 

You can definitely use Detroit Speed A-arms if you want. The rear control arms are most likely compatible too.

Detroit Speed rear sway bar has two mounting positions for two different spring rates. Pretty neat stuff. It can be installed as long as you didn't use the UMI height-adjustable panhard kit with bracing rod to axle. The UMI axle bracket is too tall to tuck under the sway bar. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...rd-heidts.html

My car has suspension and steering parts from Kenny Brown, Ground Control Racing, BMR, Detroit Speed, Founders Performance, UMI, Eibach, Alston Chassisworks, Hiedts, Hotchkis, Coleman Racing, Turn One, Koni, Viking, and some other custom made parts. So yes, a lot of stuff is compatible between brands.

 

Have you bothered to contact UMI about said issues? UMI is a top notch company but yes mistakes will happen. Pretty sure Ramey from UMI will chime in at some point as he does look at this site quite often. I do know they are having some issues getting hardware for some of their parts. It's not just them. I work at a Caterpillar dealer and we are having issues with certain things also. Contact them if you haven't already they are always willing to help.

 

I will add that I talked to Ramey a few months ago and he mentioned to me that Covid has put them about 5+ weeks behind, so it might just be a case of they're overloaded and trying to catch up.

 

Every company makes mistakes. I personally have had an issue with some of the UMI parts I've had over the years but they stepped up, took ownership of the problem and corrected the problem and that is the reason I still buy from them and will not speak badly of them. Contact them and be reasonable and I'm sure they will do what they can.

 

Stopping by just to mention I'm always available at ramey@umiperformance.com and that I always take care of our customers.