***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.

 

lol...

"We sold you a shitty quality bar badged with our name on it.... and we will not replace it due to crappy manufacturing. Tough ****... but here we will give you $20 off on another knock off bar"

Outstanding customer service.

I won't take my money that way.

 

meh doesn't look TOO bad, if you're an ace w welding, i'd say bolt it all back up, tack the two pieces in place then pull it off and weld some nice beads on either end. then repeat w other end and call it good.

 

So your saying you dont mind paying full price for a traction bar you have to rebuild 90 days later lol

 

Yikes!

Looks like maybe it was just tack welded on there and they never finished it?

What does the other end look like? Identical or can you see some good hefty welds on there?

 

wow...what a crappy weld job. i'd say it's an easy fix if you can weld, but i would want to inspect the whole bar.
good thing you found that, and i'm sorry it's not working out with them.
it's times like this that make me realize the full-race bar was money well spent

 

hm that's scary. I have the same one, but the newer version that's supposed to be fully welded through, better than the old style like yours. Hopefully it doesn't fail me seeing as I am going to be putting down around 400WHP when I get that car back from the shop.

 

Hell it dont look to be welded at all lol, they could have thrown JB weld on it and been 100 times better then that crap lol. I would put it back together tack it take it back out and runs a weld on it.

 

ill keep my stock one thanks.

for bad customer service

 

Full Race/Z10 traction bars FTW

 

Clean it up and put peice back together and put some nice beads around both sides on both ends, and paint with car primer.

 

isnt there some where you can call like the better business bureau or something?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DCRB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">meh doesn't look TOO bad, if you're an ace w welding, i'd say bolt it all back up, tack the two pieces in place then pull it off and weld some nice beads on either end. then repeat w other end and call it good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, that woudl work. But I think youre missing the point. He could have Killed himself and someone else had that come undone completey while doing a good amount of speed on the highway. It would be like a tie rod breaking or complete brake failure.

ETD gets my

 

Metal shows no penetration on the tube and flange.

I bet the other side is the same

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRXdan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yeah, that woudl work. But I think youre missing the point. He could have Killed himself and someone else had that come undone completey while doing a good amount of speed on the highway. It would be like a tie rod breaking or complete brake failure.

ETD gets my </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats my point exactly i put my trust in a company and im basically being kicked in the month when i come to them for help. Yeah i could fix that with ten minutes and a mig welder but thats not why i payed good money for a "complete" bar. i probably could have made a better bar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DCRB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">meh doesn't look TOO bad, if you're an ace w welding, i'd say bolt it all back up, tack the two pieces in place then pull it off and weld some nice beads on either end. then repeat w other end and call it good.</TD></TR></TABLE>
exactly what i was thinking and it is a shitty on thier end of it.

 

having non looped tie bar tabs is scary as hell, and they are not even welded on both sideS!!!




CHEAP CRAPPY FABRICATION RIGHT THERE

to pay a little less for a crappy bar isnt worth what will happen when one of these fails at high speed...

buy a full race and be done with it.

 

I paid a premium and went with the leading company for my bar, that premium hurt me in the wallet at the time but I can feel confident it won't fail in normal operations and if it would their customer service is nothing but puppy-dogs and sunshine.

 

fyi robotic = good


wtf explicit??? ninja edit and remove your post while im typing

 

I love it when people outsource, slap their name all over it and then when it fails they won't take responsibility. The cost of just setting you up with a new bar is always lower than the loss of sales due to word of mouth. Words to live by if you ever run your own business. I was curious about their bars but I'm not going to buy a product unless I'll get quality customer service with it.

 

***Update***

Still no email or phone reply from mike at ETD after he emailed me the story about the bar being another company's bar. So im still hopeful they will resolve this problem.

 

***update***

Well Mike emailed me back basically saying ETD would do nothing but offer me a discount on a gen 3 bar. After this hassle i will not deal with them again. Ill take my money somewhere else.

So i got the bar welded up and reinforced all the welds.

Lesson learned: DON"T DEAL WITH ETD

 

Yeah I think the Gen1 were manufactured by another company and sold by ETD, the Gen2 made by them but they even admitted to its inferior welding butt to butt design. The Gen3 is actually half decent and is what I have, they weld on the outer and inner side to fix that problem so we'll see how it holds up. I just think they should've got it right the first time because it is a vital part of an EF suspension, unlike EG/EK where it just helps wheel hop, it holds our LCA forward and I would hate to see the problems caused by that snapping at highway speeds. Even full-race (no offense) has bars break here and there but I've only seen it happen on high power car/slicks/stage3 axles/etc. This is really why parts like this have a "For Offroad/Race use only" warning because if $hit breaks, atleast you're in a controlled environment.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DC-2uned &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is really why parts like this have a "For Offroad/Race use only" warning because if $hit breaks, atleast you're in a controlled environment.</TD></TR></TABLE>
what?? so to be going faster on a more difficult course, with possibly multiple cars careening around you, is better? no thanks. it may take their liability away, but it should be a fully functional part. that bar is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. it's a critical suspension piece! that fails and it's anything from an accident to a casket

 

So what makes it ok for a company to provide replacement/upgrade parts that are supposed to be better than stock, but really end up being worse off than stock? pffffff eff that. i totaly here what you guys are sayin about the what if it broke while driving stuff. i'd be PISSED if this had happened to me. i wonder if etd would have a different response if that had broken causing you to wreck and seriously hurt yourself and others?