***This thread is in no way trying to bad mouth ETD as a company but to show future patrons what they might have to deal with***

Ok So here my story begins. Ive had the ETD gen 2 traction bar installed on my car for close to 9 months. The car is a 1989 civic DX with b18b with moderate modifications. Which has seen the track once on street tires while the bar has been installed. The car is a daily driver for me here in sunny California. It has not been subject to road salt or other rust inducing chemicals.

Well while swapping in a new 4-1 header i unbolted the traction bar to make installation of the header easier and this is what i found.






Ya to say the least i was stunned. The flange just came off in my hand. I began to think about what would have happen if i hadn't found this massive failure. Car crash? Injuries? Death?

So I called ETD and left a message because it was 6pm Friday their time and to my relief received a call back on Monday and spoke to mike. He asked me to send him pictures of the bar, so i did. Now here comes the upsetting part. I get an email back from them stating that because the bar was out of warranty (only 90 days) that they would not replace it, but sell me a new bar for a slightly lower price. I emailed back my displeasure to their response and Mike sends me back that the bar ETD sold me was in fact not an ETD bar but another company's bar under ETD's name. Which i had no knowledge of and was not informed of at the time of purchase or i would have took my money else where.

So that is where the situation stands now. I am still in contact with them now and will follow up with the outcome. Hopes this helps future patrons spend their money wisely.

 

Was there a weld on it at all? Looks like the powder coat was holding it on. lol
I'd just mig it back together and call it a day.

 

who is ETD? i have never heard of them. Small west coast shop?

 

Nope there located in Canada. Been selling bars for a while now. Just showing what happens when even reputable companies get lazy

 

looks as like it was only ever tacked during fitment as never fully welded. I broke the bars I ran on my crx a few years ago... But that thing got pounded at the track hard. Anyways 2 years later the company overnighted me new bars free of charge and no warrenty was ever discussed at time of purchase. Damn good bars too... The degree of damage was not as bad as the bars above, just bent part of it. The bars were jk motorsports I think

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Granted they did fail, but the car doesn't crash without them, so I can't see how they would if something failed while driving. Catch my drift?</TD></TR></TABLE>
The OP said he had an EF chassis. If the traction bar failed while driving you could expect to have some serious problems. You would probably wreck !!
On a newer chassis It wouldnt be a problem though.

 

quit crying and weld it back together.

 

Same thing happened to my friends car. He called ETD and they said they would sell him a new bar at their cost. He paid for it. Not what I would have done but.....

 

Yep, weld it back together and be done with them.

I'm also surprised ETD sold you a product with supposedly there name on it that wasn't made by them. I know clutch company's will sell you a throwout bearing from a bearing manufacture that they have put in there own box. But a Traction bar for a Civic, I can't see there being that many companies that would make them.


Maybe one lesson learned here is, buy a Full Race traction bar the first time. I hope ETD sold you that traction bar made by someone else for less then the one they make...?

I would have also hoped ETD would have offered the at least weld it for you at no charge, just shipping may be. How long can it take them to weld it? How long will it take them to recover from bad press in the nitch market?

 

I can confirm that that is not an ETD bar. I've assisted many times with the production of them and that is not what they look like.

 

this is the second problem i have heard with ETD bars. Another problem is that the bolt holes do not line up. This made me go a different route with my traction bar purchases. I can not believe that they wouldn't replace the bar considering that a broken traction bar can put your life in jeopardy while moving at high speeds.

Although if you mentioned where you purchased the bar from it would help. IF in fact that the bar was purchased directly from ETD, i would be very upset with their response to a broken bar.

I had to weld my bars directly to the chassis (EF), the best thing i did. They never moved or broke even when i totaled the car.

 

so why does it have to be a west coast shop fran! but anyways you know the best coast is the west coast!

 

haha, he was from cali. i hear shops are everywhere. so just my generalization about shops that try to produce/copy what they can to make a buck to stay in business.

kanucks are crazy too.

E&gt;W

 

just weld it back together, fixed in 10 minutes!

I got some ETD's earlier this yearand they are holding up great. I inspected it when i got it, all welded up.

 

Doesn't look like and ETD to me (have 2). one on an EF, one on an EG.

Weld it up. Crap fails, be happy you found it and can fix it. Make it stronger.

 

get a full-race bar and join the bandwagon

 

Chances are that bar wasnt going anywhere as it looks like it was inside the flange a 1/4 inch or so. personally i would strip the ocating off and weld that back up

BUT HOWEVER

I just installed 2 sets of ETDR trac bars on CRXs this week and mine did NOT look like that, i can confirm the welds were good and complete.

 

If they sold the product as theirs, and it is obviously defective, they should take care of it. Not just because they sold the product, but a breakage of this product on the EF chassis could cause a serious accident.

 

I would do the same if I couldn't get it replaced under warranty since its the weld that failed and not the material. Good luck with this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ICeDoUt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this is the second problem i have heard with ETD bars. Another problem is that the bolt holes do not line up. This made me go a different route with my traction bar purchases. I can not believe that they wouldn't replace the bar considering that a broken traction bar can put your life in jeopardy while moving at high speeds.

Although if you mentioned where you purchased the bar from it would help. IF in fact that the bar was purchased directly from ETD, i would be very upset with their response to a broken bar.

I had to weld my bars directly to the chassis (EF), the best thing i did. They never moved or broke even when i totaled the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i had mine welded directly to the chasis (also an EF) too. holes didnt line up and when it was on it would creek and squeek like a motherfuker. now i am very happy with it but its welded on there for good.

 

oh yeah that doesnt look like my bar, but then again i own a gen 3

 

Did you buy the bar from ETD or from somewhere else?

 

how convenient they deny it's theirs, I guess your a liar from what they are saying. However I have heard of more issues with their traction bars, besides mine, than you can shake a stick at!!!!!!!!!

 

Yes this is an ETD gen 2 bar that i purchased from ETD. I know i could weld it up no problem. But that's besides the point. I shouldn't have to. I paid decent money for a product that should have lasted. I gave ETD plenty of time to fix the problem and they havent.

Im making this post as just a PSA for fellow members so they can see what im dealing with and make their own decision on what do to with their money.

 

etd traction bars are a POS. they just got a couple bars, welded them and painted them as dark as they can so you cant see there shitty welds. They put no R&D into there bars like full race does. I mean seriously, when it comes to upgrading a serious part of your suspension why not buy from a company that put extensive research into there products?
http://www.full-race.com/catal...ec6db

http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149909

my personal experiance with etd. there [freak]ed up bars almost took my life as well as my ex girls. TWICE. For that i'll hate that company. I started doing my research on them after the first breakage, they dont even have a gen2 intergra and there still making bars for it!