Problem with Driverz inc-Speedtech Install
 

To start I'm not trying to bash Driverz Inc. or Jon, but getting frustrated & trying to understand why my rear suspension was installed off-center.

To make a long story short I ordered a complete front & rear Speedtech suspension system from Jon @Driverz Inc. He assured me that they specialized in the sales and installation of performance suspension & braking upgrades. He quoted me approx. 40hrs to complete the the front (Speedtech control arms, Chicane kit w/Ridetech coilovers & swaybar) & rear (Speedtech torque arm kit w/Ridetech coilovers). He stated it would take a week to install. I dropped in July and after several delays wasn't able to pick it up until September. During the time the car was at Driverz Inc. I had Jon take measurements for a set of custom NewGen wheels I ordered in August (more on this later).

This is were it gets interesting. Towards the end Jon stated that my car was being sent to a rear end shop to have the rear brackets installed so that the pinion angle & brackets could be properly set. I didn't have a problem with that & since the rear end shop he mentioned is well known in my area. He mentioned that one of the rear spring perches was lower than the other and they had to use the panhard bar to adjust. Later, when I picked up the car I noticed & mentioned to Jon that the rear end didn't look centered & tire was closer to the pass. side wheel opening. He said don't worry that they would make final adjustments when I got the new set of wheels.

My car needed a new clutch so I had it replaced later that week. On the way home the rear end bearing blew out on me. I pulled the rear end out and figured it would be a good time to have the rear end gone through and new brakes installed. I took it to the same shop that Jon told me did the work on my car & they told me they had never seen my rear end or my camaro before. He told me that the welds looked sloppy & the brackets were installed off center (4" from end plate drivers side & 5" pass. side). He said it wasn't right and they should be even on the rear end. I told him I would check into it & maybe my car was wider on one side or something. So I call up Jon and ask him why he said the shop did the work when they didn't and he replied that it was one of their workers and probably did it as a side job. I asked him about the brackets being installed off center & he said my spring perch was tweaked somehow.

The rear end took almost two months to finish. I had already picked up my new wheels from Driverz a couple of weeks before. I installed the rear with my old wheels w/o the panhard bar and the wheel on the pass. side was all the way up against the wheel well. I had to adjust the panhard bar to pull the rear end over the the drivers side 1". I measured the rear spring perches on both sides and the are even width to the frame & body. With the rear end centered the Speedtech lower arms are now tweaked 1" to the left and the shock angles are not the same (drivers side is more layed down than the pass. side). I called up Jon & explained the situation to him, in which he stated that it should be fine & that's what the panhard bar is for "to center the rear end". I asked him to find out why his suspension guy installed the rear end off center and he told me he would call me that monday. He never called so I emailed him last wednesday and he said he hadn't talked his guy, but would get back to me soon. I haven't heard for Jon.

I was waiting to put the new wheels on until I got a set of black splined lug nuts I ordered. So last night I went to go put on my new set of $5K wheels & tires and guess what. Jon apparently took the rear wheel measurements from the non-centered rear end that was 1" off center to the pass. side. So my rear wheels that should have been made with a 5.25" offset were built with a 6.25" offset. With the rear end centered both wheels hit on the inner wheel well & frame (my car has a 2" mini tub). I have 1.5" from the outside of the tire to the wheel well lip. I took a ruler and measured my old wheels and have 5" from wheel pad to outer tire (same width tire as new wheels).

So that is were I'm at. I have a rear end that is off center (tweaking the lower arms & shock alignment). And I have a brand new set of custom wheels that don't fit my car. Am I missing something here, cuz at this point it's hard for me to picture how this happened.

pics
 

pics....

man that sucks...
i feel for ya.

Buckling in. This is going to be a bumpy ride....

Darren

sounds like whomever measured for the rear wheel backspace only measured one side, and that was the side that was shifted to the outside. If the other side would have been checked they should have seen that the backspace required was completely different and realized that something was really wrong. Should have been caught and corrected by whomever was doing the work before wheels were ordered.

This is ridiculous. There's no excuse for this. You had Driverz perform the work and then have them order wheels for their own work. And they don't fit. Driverz needs to make this right.

The brackets need to be cut off and new ones installed correctly. Then the rear end needs to be installed centered and square in the car. Then correct wheels need to be ordered.

If there was an issue with the perches or pockets in your car, that has to be fixed first. That is basic. Nothing can be done until the foundation is square and sound.

There really is no other solution. All that work as to be redone.

I guess that is the point of the post. I've never welded, installed a custom suspension or measured for a custom set of wheels. But It seems that you would follow a few basic rules w/rule #1 making sure everything is square.

Keep in mind I told Jon about this over 2 months ago when I had the rear end at the shop. So now I'm putting it out there to confirm that I'm not overreacting (rear end) & put some pressure on Driverz Inc to do the right thing!

They should be open in a hour, so I'll give Jon a call and see what he has to say!

Damn that does suck... hopefully you get this resolved sooner than later.

Yeah...that sucks. Sorry this happened to you.

Hey your garage floor looks nice though! :yes:

I put some scratches on it dragging the rear end across it, but it's just a garage floor right!

I spoke to Jon and he said he will take care of it. He said the wheels are no big deal, he will re-hoop them to the correct offset and he's going to contact Speedtech and find out what he needs (ie brackets) to correct the rear end. His shop is full, but said he will follow up with me friday & try to have room next week.

Good for you, I hope it all works out in the end.:)

Ugh! I hate reading about threads like this. Especially when my car is being worked on. You brain starts running all the possibilities....

IMO - If in fact this falls on them, he shouldn't "try" to have room for you! They make room and move you to the front of line. Nothing gets touched until this gets done. You have waited long enough.

yup, not alot of shops do it right. It takes time to set-up, mock up and measure correct before cutting and/or installing. Shops have a hard time billing for this time consumiing portion of any custom install. So, what do they do.... Well cut corners because the bid was at "X" amount.

You do have an "Ace" in your cards.... TCI is the referral and consulting party. You should be fine.

A reputable company will just eat it and make things right, Sounds like you will be taken care of.

Every one wants everything to run smooth, In business it dosent always go that way, It's all how you handle it..

Good luck and hope things work out for you..

Kirk

At this point I'm not in a hurry, I just want it fixed. I think I'm one of those special people were if something can go wrong it will. I'm sure Jon has done many installs & hundreds wheel combos with no problems. If Jon can get it taken care of in a reasonable time, there will be no hard feelings. I understand that sh*t happens and we have to move on. I'm not here to bash anyone, just didn't like the response I was getting and wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy.

Btw the wheels look great & the Speedtech setup is 100% better than what I had on the car.

Stuff like this happens,but they need to make room and get your car on a lift ASAP.

Just as some perspective, Drivers Inc isn't a full blown shop, they barely have room for two cars to be in the shop and if one is in, the other is not getting out. And if the blocking one is in pieces and on the lift, its a bit much to ask for them to put that one in roller status, put it out side in the rain, and eat two days of work while this car is getting taken care of, which it seems it already is at the earliest possible time when space allows.
Please be courteous and try not to be inflammatory.

Yes, that is correct. I have no problem waiting to get the car taken care of. If it takes a month or two (with the wheels) that is ok with me.

Sorry, but wrong, not a bit too much to ask if all the OP's facts are accurate. Handling this sort of problem is what defines you as a business. Making the customer wait more isn't an option in my opinion. Eating 2 days of work (probably one at best) isn't too much to ask and loses sight of the big picture for Driverz, the fallout of not handling this correctly.

I have nothing at all against Driverz but there's a saying I hear all the time, "If we don't take care of the customer someone else will."

Agree 100%... When you screw up in business, You jump in with both feet an getter done!!!!!!!!!!! Bottom line. You make things right.

First I've heard of this thread was two minutes ago when someone called me to say hey.. thanks Justin.:thumbsup:

When we first did that car, we noticed that something was not right with the front mounts where his leaf springs mount, one side looked to be tweaked, and not right. I think that contributed to the problem Morris is having, and when we sent that car along its way, the existing wheels and tires that were on it, fit square like they originally did, so go figure right?

Talked to Morris this morning regarding his issues, and did what I believe is the right thing, which is said "Lets get it fixed!" Hope he'll re-iterate that here as well, but told him that if its off, its off, and regardless of why its off, lets do what it takes to get it done and him on the road....happily.

Wheels are easy, bolt off rim shell, bolt on new rim shell, so that part we talked about too and we're handling for the guy.

As for time. We have one lift. And a 66 chevelle, completely torn apart sitting on it, that we are installing wheels, tires, Wilwoods, and Speedtech front and rear. If I could put it on the ground, I would, but honestly, how? Everything will be under this car and done by Friday, which Morris knows, and if all works out, his car will be back in here mid next week.

Unfortunate he took it to the forums, which really does us no good, and didn't make any difference as to me stepping up to the plate, like I have always done, but again, another reason why I'm getting out of the labor business, scaling down all the DriverzInc stuff, and moving ahead in 2012 happily concentrating on NewGen. Less BS to monitor, and more time to customer service a handful of guys to better make them happy. But that's a whole other conversation. :cheers:

Did everyone miss this post? It looks to me like he is doing what he can and the OP is ok with it.

Ya, but you posted it anyway, and no matter what, it still sucks.

Nobody ever reads the good stuff Justin, you know that. I'm just the "asshole" that ****ed someone is all anyone will take away from it, and doesn't matter if we do the right thing or not, everyone not involved, and never owned a business thinks they could do it better.

Ok, I think we all need to step back and calm down a little.

Yes, Jon I did bring it to the forum before I talked to you today, but after I told you about it over 2 months ago and still haven't rec'd an explaination as to why the rear was installed off center. And after you told me everything was fine & using the panhard bar to center the rear was ok.

Going back to my original post, I wanted to see how or why you would install the rear 1" off center. And see if I was out of line thinking this should be corrected. I'm not here to tell anyone how to run there business or hurt their business, but felt the problem wasn't being taken serious. I didn't understand how the installer didn't notice that the rear was off by so much.

For everyone that says Jon needs to jump one this asap & take care of the customer. That is not the issue. I'm not in a hurry, I'm not trying to bash Driverz Inc or run him out of business. I have a problem, which Jon has agreed to correct and I'm good with that. And if my car is tweaked somehow & requires additional parts and/or labor to correct I'll be happy to pay for it.

So please guys, lets not turn this intona bash Driverz Inc & Jon deal and get me back on the road!!

If you need any drawings to check measurements or any other info feel free to call 1-888-467-1625 or email me directly. [email protected]

Thanks for the drawings/measurements. And offering to send out a new set of brackets @no charge as soon as they are available!

Update:

Jon, per our last conversation you were going to call me today. What happened???

Not taking sides here... but just out of curiosity, did you try calling him?

Nope. He said he was going to call me & I left it at that. I don't know about you, but when I say I'm going to do something I do it!

i usually have a lot more time on my days off than a guy running a business and as much as i try i forget crap all day long. im just glad i havent left one of my kids at the supermarket yet. wallet...check, keys...check, the noisey one....oh ****

jon helped me a bunch on my wheels and im sure he'll make it right

I understand that we all live busy lives. I'm a phone splicer/lineman for the phone company & pull on average 70+ hrs a week (climbing poles, going in manholes etc...). So I doubt many people work much longer or harder than I do.

It just gets old after awhile, when time after time I'm told one thing and I get something different. I know alot of you guys like Jon & he seems like a nice guy. But at this point it's getting old and I'm considering just selling the wheels and having someone else fix the rear suspension!

Spent the entire day yesterday in Oceanside trying to get a set of wheels done for a customer that are very late. By the time I got back to the shop it was 4:30, barely made UPS, and, as you know, I pick up my daughter every M, W, F at daycare at 5:00PM, so I rushed like a mad man out of here. I'm here at the shop today waiting for a customer to come in and buy my Lincoln. I'll be free in about 2 hrs, I'll shoot you a ring on your cell phone.

Update: Just chatted with Morris. I'm sure he'll just fill everyone in. Thank you.

PS, for those of you who know me, the Lincoln is gone.

Thanks Jon. I think we both agreed that it was best just to step back and start from square one on the rear suspension setup.

The plan:

Get the car back to Driverz Inc (Jon is going to pick up the car on wed of next week from my house so I don't have to miss any work- 45 min drive each way).

Put the car on the lift & deal with the spring perch/hanger issue (order new hangers or repair as needed).

Get the new brackets from Speedtech as soon as they are avail.

Remove old brackets & re-install everything square.

Remeasure & order the correct off-set inner & outers for the rear wheels.

Send me on my way a happy customer!