UAZ28SS

iTrader: (2)

Off-road your car and what do you expect?

SilverTAWS6

My friend snapped part and bent an LG torque arm which broke his trans and bent his driveshaft as well (LG did fix the TA for free). Failures do happen to other companies as well as BMR. It sucks when parts break, but I don't think I know any company that has produced a 100% perfect product (of course there are companies who make products that fail more times then not, not excusing those). Usually when I pick what part I'm going to buy it's based on the fact that there isn't an abnormal amount of failures and what kind of customer service they have. It's nice to see that even though it did break, the company is backing the product and taking care of the customer (and good to know they've redesigned the piece that had the failure).

Chris

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Where the hell are you coming up with these assumptions?

I NEVER said failure was acceptable because they sell more. I said since they sell maybe 10 times as much stuff as the other producers, more breaks are likely. I think that's pretty much common sense.

And I NEVER said buy cheap and hope for the best. Last time I looked, the BMR peice was $100 more than the PA piece.

Walmart Oil

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

So you're saying an LG part HAS broken?

What kind of company puts a part on the market of such poor quality!

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

No need for the - its not unheard of that any part can break. I think we're all smart enough here to understand that. Most of the time, though, parts don't break while parallel parking or driving along on the street. Instead they break under race conditions or some other adverse condition outside of the design envelope for the part. Sure there's always the chance of a materials or workmanship failure. However, faulty or questionable designs are a different story. I think the latter is really the focus here.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

I showed my mechanic the K-member weld points
and where I thought we ought to gusset / strap
them up. Seems like easy and sensible. Probably
will do that next time I have him work on it.

The front end sure feels lighter with the new BMR K
and an alignment; up at least 1/4" ride height and
the nose seems to lift more on acceleration (as it
well should). Lower steering effort, though this
would also have to do with reduced caster.

But I think another pound of steel in the right
spots will make me a lot less uneasy about curbs
and pot-holes. I don't believe the racetrack is the
killer here - I bet it's shock load events and enough
of them, to start and finish cracking off the weld.

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Exactly

Which is why I believe these things shouldn't be daily driven, no matter what the manufacturer says.

Sniper33

Fulton:
I know I said the K-member broke during parallel parking, but I don't think it was like "one minute the weld is together, the next it's broken". It probably occured over time, and just so happened to let go parking.

Jimmyblue:
Those were the exact same results I got with my K-member!!

LS1blackZ28:
Another good point. It just so happens that the K-member broke, I'm getting the new one and having it installed, and the Camaro will no longer be a daily since I jyst bought an '89 Jeep Wrangler for everyday use. The Camaro will be a summer cruiser and see the strip. What a coincidence right?!

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Amazing how it got quiet after someone posted an LG part broke. LOL!

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

No ... it got to the point that it was turning into a flamefest.

Noone ever clamed that LG parts don't break.

But rarely do they turning into a Wendy's parking lot ...

And consider for a moment that the reason LG's K-Member isn't on the market is because they don't want to market crap ...

BMR Suspension

iTrader: (6)

Hi, this is Brett Rockey from BMR. I don't usually post, mostly because I don't have the time to keep up with it, but everybody I know has been sending this link to me so I had to check it out. Let me start by saying that the web is full of misinformation and bias and this thread is a perfect example. I started BMR 6 years ago out of my house. I did it because I thought we needed an alternative to what was available at the time. Basically back then we had Hotchkis, LG, and Granatelli. Good parts but high prices. Never have we "bashed" a competitor to sell our products, that is not our way of doing business. Instead we try to provide a product that is at least equal, if not better, for a more reasonable price. We are known for our customer service and you don't have to wait 4 weeks for your order to be built. This philosophy has got us where we are today.

Everybody has defects, it's inevitable. There is always that poor guy that buys a lemon. With the millions of dollars spent on design, testing, and engineering by the big 3, we still have lemons. We still have recalls. How is this possible if OEM is so great? Because that's reality. We have sold over 800 K-members since they were introduced in July of 2002. This is a very intricate product that is not easy to manufacture. This is why Hotchkis and Granatelli don't make them and LG has been working on one for over a year. Honestly when we first started selling them, there were a few fitment issues, mostly due to aftermarket header variations. Out of these 800+ K-members, their has been 4 total that have failed due to weld quality or structural failure. That's .5 of 1% failure rate. I would definitely prefer that number was zero but lets face it - a 99.5% success rate is far above most companies that manufacture a part intended for the performance automotive industry, let alone a structural race-oriented part. And to warranty a part that is one and a half years old is far more service than you will find elsewhere.

The following story is any companies nightmare but I think it's important to clear the air. It took me a little while to figure this out but one of my very first customers was MitchNTX. At the time, I worked out of my garage and only made control arms and shock tower braces and had just started making panhard rods. I worked a full time job and made parts in the evenings and weekends. I remember Mitch specifically because we had problems with his panhard rod eating rod ends. This was a new, virtually untested market at the time and I had only been running one of these panhard rods on my own car for a few months. I had sold two or three previous to his. Needless to say, the rod ends were not up to par and replacing them only delayed the inevitable. After this learning experience, the product received higher strength chrome moly rod ends and was only marketed as a "race" only item from that day forward. In an effort to fix the problem on Mitch's car and develop a product that was more streetable, I custom built poly-bushed ends for his panhard rod. Without getting too technical, the tubing used was .095" wall thickness DOM. This wall thickness is still used by some companies like Lakewood and Competition Engineering however once this product became an actual part number and produced in quantity, the tubing thickness was increased to .156" wall thickness. Fast forward two years. Mitch's custom prototype panhard rod end breaks and he starts his never ending commitment to bashing anything BMR. In his defense, I agree, I too would be upset. 3 problems with the same part is unnacceptable and for that, I am sorry. This was, however an isolated incident. If it were the norm, BMR would have long been out of business. In this instance, I made every effort initially to fix any problems he had and would have warrantied the part with the new, "production" piece (that has never failed) or provided a refund but instead of calling, he chose to start a personal crusade against BMR. What's the purpose of this story?

1 - Don't listen to what one person has to say. Instead, take advice from the community and make a decision based off 6 years of dedicated commitment and service.
2 - If you do have a problem, give us a call first. If you are still not satisfied, by all means flame away.

As stated earlier, I don't have enough time to maintain forum postings so I won't be replying to any responses to this post. If you have any questions regaurding warranty issues, please send us an email to tech-help@bmrfabrication.com or call us at 813-986-9302. You can ask for Frank or Brett.

Thanks,
Brett Rockey
www.BmrFabrication.com

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Brett, I appreciate your candor and cannot believe you recall those details from so long ago. It seems as though I tried every variation in your stable, but to no avail. And that was way before I began tracking my car.

I think you would agree, once you find something that works, you stick with it.

Good luck, Brett and thanks for your input ...

Sniper33

UPDATE:

I just recieved the new K-member today. The design is different than that of the broken one, especially the area where the weld failed. Looks to be alot beefier all around. It won't be going on for another few weeks though. Thank god I bought that Jeep! LOL Great post Brett!!

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

That's good to hear.

I weighed my stock K-member today and it came in
at 53lb, plus 10 even for the cast iron mounts, for
63lb total. The BMR K-member with integral mounts
weighed 26lb. That's a hefty difference (-37lb).

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Now that's customer service and the reason I'll go BMR when I'm looking for a k-member

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Like I said DAYS ago ...

Vernon House

I was sent pics Of 2 K members that Broke that was to Be BMR but they broke the back A arm mount off . this can happen on daily use cars. bad roads and heavy cars don't mix to good with light weight parts . the only thing you can do is to inspect the parts every other month and report to the manufacture if you see something that is questionable .As a manufacture I would like to here updates on our parts good bad or what ever. we cant build a better part if we don't here from you the user. it is you guys who report to the manufacture that makes us better . And we can make You Better Parts in the future .I am glade to here you got your new part and it was updated and better . I just thought I would give you guys something to think about before you go and say bad things about BMR or who ever . just think about it and help us help you thanks for the space Vernon

Mike TexaSS

iTrader: (2)

BMR is a stand up company. They shipped our order (19) items out and they arrived in time for our customer. Wonderful customer service! Thanks again!!

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

When I was just out of college I spent a couple of years in an R&D lab doing destructive testing, some of which was third party (i.e. contracted) testing. What's neat about that was that the manufacturer actually paid to have their parts cycled, fatigue tested, load tested, etc. It wasn't the end user that had to absorb that duty and those costs...

Vernon House

We send Products out to be broken and twisted by stress machines. but that don't solve all the problems. for one there are header makers out there that make parts that don't quite fit and we as makers would not know of all the small problems that might be there. If you the buyer says hey my hooker long tubs hit on the pass side if I had 1/16 of an inch more clearance It will be fine .and I am not saying all header do this just some. we test parts as often as we can but we don't test all the headers out there .or turbo kits and so on this would take a lot of time. and lets say its not a part that you the buyer would even buy and put on your car and we test fit the part and make our product work with this ( lets say X brand Header) we spent money and time were it is not best spent therefor more cost the more you pay. and the last time I checked more money spent on a part is not the thing you want to do . I would like to make parts that fit every car and every motor combo and have no problems but that's not the way it seems to be. we try our best to make a trouble free part . bottom line is you buy the parts and we need to know what you the buyer prefer to use on your cars. . I am not trying to bust anyone's ***** here just letting you know we like to here form the buying public. thanks guys for the space