Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, just wanted to share my experience with you if you're considering BMR's front lower control arms. These a-arms, in a word, stink. I had them on my car for about a year and a half and noticed the front end sagging lower and lower. When I took the front suspension apart I noticed both the a-arms were BROKEN in half at the shock mount point. There's no support under the shock mounts at all, just a 3/16" thick piece of steel. I have no doubt the tubular design of the a-arm is stronger than the factory stamped a-arm, but the shock support design sucks. I've talked to BMR and all they'll do is sell me a new set for a reduced price.

Anyway just wanted to let you guys know. If you want to spend a little over a grand and a few days being pissed off and messing with your suspension, go ahead and get these a-arms. Otherwise leave the STRONGER factory a-arms on.

-Jason

Click here to see a picture

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

What? A BMR suspension piece has failed?

Well they sell so many a few failures are to be expected. In other words ... sux to be you.

Welcome to my world.

Krab

iTrader: (28)

That really does suck. Mitch, the quote in your sig holds true.

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

That quote is indeed true, I just wish I felt like I went the "cheap-o" route. I bought the control arms new and didn't feel like I was buying junk when I paid the 500 bucks for em. I haven't had any problems with my other BMR suspension products, I just feel like I got ripped off because these weren't engineered very well, and the result was an unsafe vehicle for myself, my wife, and our 3 year old daughter to be driving around in. And yeah, I know BMR sells a lot of products, which is why it's so aggravating that they won't work with me a little more on this. Oh well, you live you learn.

BMR Suspension

iTrader: (6)

BMR is well known for going out of it's way in customer service.
I have already discussed with you why your arms failed and it's obvious we are not going to be able to make you happy. Even after recieving the pictures of the vehicle and the obvious abuse (I can post them maybe there is something I missed). The stated BMR warranty policy is effective for one year from the purchase date of the item (same as rest of industry) I still offered to replace your SEVERAL YEAR OLD set of a-arms for 50% off list price....but NOOO!! you want a full reimbursement for your SEVERAL YEAR OLD abused a-arms or you will bash me on the forums and "turn these matters over to my attorney". This will be my one and only post regarding this matter.

PS- Sorry about the rant.... people that have dealt with me know about how I feel regarding our customer service and how easy I am to deal with.

Lee Spicher
lee@bmrfabrication.com
(813)986-9302

JMBLOWNWS6

iTrader: (17)

I have BMR products on my car and they work flawless. Looks like the A arms have been abused by the pics I see. And not taking the offer for 50% off the new ones is ******* nuts ! I mean 7 years is a long *** time bro!

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

They've been on there about a year and a half, not "seven" or even "several."
I've never abused them. The car hasn't seen a track in over 3 years. The car has free mods and a Borla catback. It's not like I've been pulling the wheels 3 feet off the ground and slamming them back down. The fastest this car ever ran was a 14.479@98mph due to elevation. (6000 ft at Bandimere Speedway). It's never been autocrossed, road raced, anything like that. I have NEVER abused this car in ANY way. You act as if I've been out Dukes-of-Hazzarding this car for the past year when in reality I've been driving it to work and back, which is a commute of a whopping TEN MILES each way. What, do you think I like replacing ****?! I paid almost 30 grand for that car almost seven years ago, why the hell would I want to destroy any part of something I am so obviously proud of owning? I didn't ask you to turn the world upside down for me. All I asked was that you treated me fairly, and I don't think "I'll send you new ones for half off" is very god damned fair. The bottom line is these parts failed because they're engineered very poorly. They broke after 18 months of NORMAL USE and I find that unacceptable, and I don't give a damn how well you think you treat your customers. You didn't listen to a ******* thing I said, and that is NOT my fault. You can go ahead and get pissed off at me, I don't care, because I am sure as hell pissed off at you. Never once did I say "BMR MAKES SHITTY PRODUCTS" or anything of the sort. I have rear BMR LCAs and they're fine. I have BMR relocating brackets and they're fine. I have BMR front upper control arms and THEY'RE FINE. All I said was YOU RIPPED ME OFF AND I DO NOT LIKE IT. Fortunately this is America and I have the right to tell people how shitty these particular control arms are and there is not a ******* thing you can do about it. Remember, it's not slander if it's true! The only abuse I have ever done to this car is not getting those control arms off sooner after I noticed it was starting to ride lower and lower (the more they bent, the lower it got.) I told you up front I had already bought new control arms from a Pontiac dealer, why the hell would I want to change them AGAIN and get the car aligned AGAIN after spending almost 500 bucks at a dealer? I'd think you would try to do more for your customers than stifle their inconveinience with MORE inconveinience, but I guess I was wrong. Either way, it's over with, I'll get my **** somewhere else from now on, and the world keeps turning. **** off.

Nine Ball

iTrader: (38)

Please do not abuse the feedback system here.

Their warranty is 1 year. If your big screen TV blew up beyond its warranty period, would you expect a full refund? You'd be HAPPY to get a new TV at half cost. Why is this different?

Yes, it sucks that the arm broke, but I haven't seen any others fail like that. Maybe your shocks were worn out and beat them up. Maybe you live in a pothole infested area. Sure looks like you went mudding in that photo of them. How is a manufacturer supposed to assume ALL of the risk, especially beyond the warranty period? Nobody will do that. They cannot control the conditions or use of their product once it leaves their shop.

It is okay to be mad, but I feel that the warranty period is expired. BMR is at least offering you a discounted set, and they didn't have to. Maybe just put some stock ones back in there instead.

BTW, my previous 98 Formula had over 60K miles with BMR front components, sure didn't look like that.

revtime

iTrader: (1)

I have to say BMRs customer service is top notch.
One Email and some pics of my problem and I had a new part on the way the same day.
Nothin but love for em.

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

I agree with the warranty part of it, nine. The point is these were on for about 17k miles and they looked like that. Everything other than that was fine. The shocks were about 6 months old when I put the arms on, so they're around the two year mark right now (when I lowered the car.) I sure as hell hope they aren't worn out already. Both the arms are broken, not just one side. I had already bought new arms from the factory and had them on the car, had the car aligned, etc. before BMR offered any sort of help. I told him that I dunno how many times, it just didn't seem to sink in. It felt like he wasn't listening to anything I said in the emails, and that's the part that really pissed me off. I told him point blank the arms were on for about a year and a half and he didn't realize it. I told him I bought them through a distributor and he tells me he couldn't find my original purchase invoice. Stuff like that just hinted at me that he wasn't paying attention to me whatsoever. The biggest thing in my mind is the fact that the failure resulted in a very unsafe condition. Yeah, if my big-screen blew up tomorrow, I'd be pretty pissed, but it's not endangering myself of my family if it does. After looking at the way those arms are made, I can tell you exactly why they both broke in exactly the same place. They're just not strong enough in that area because they're totally unsupported. If I had been jumping the car off ramps or hitting speed bumps at 50 mph or something like that, I would expect this to happen, but it wasn't like that at all. It was normal daily driving on normal Colorado roads, which aren't the best, but they're far from Michigan roads. With the suspension sagging as far as it was (there was about 1/2" - 5/8" gap between tire and inner fender) you don't "go mudding." I don't even take my Grand Cherokee mudding, I take care of my cars.

Somebody09

I don't know how you drive your car... but with a wife and kid I can assume you're not flying over speed bumps and into pot holes. Maybe you do it when you're alone... who knows. Either way I'm sorry to see that these things failed so quickly! You said your other BMR stuff didn't fail so far. Other than the upper amrs, relocation brackets, and LCAs, do you have anything else?

Also, I think it's very convenient for BMR that your stuff failed only 6 months after the warranty expired. It reminds me of how my Gateway computer died exactly ONE WEEK after it's warranty expired. I will never buy from Gateway again.

Whatever. I say sell your left over BMR crap to some newb and get something better.

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

I just have the pieces I mentioned earlier. I don't see a reason to replace those because I don't have money to throw at more stock stuff at my friendly neighborhood Pontiac dealer. I got rid of all the stock parts, which was a huge mistake. I kindof thought that now that I had the "stronger" pieces I wouldn't need them anymore! However the other parts don't seem near as weak, so I'm really not worried about them. The LCA's are the boxed design so those should be fine. I learned my lesson tho. If I still had the stock parts I'd put them back on and sell the BMR stuff but I'm not all that worried about it. It's just the way the front lower a-arms are made, it's not strong at all.

That sucks about your computer, but it seems to be the way most things are these days. Ahh well, I guess I'll just be a little more careful and inquisitive on buying parts next time.

One other thing, Nine. How am I "abusing the feedback system" here? Just because you don't feel BMR did anything wrong doesn't mean they didn't. I am BMR's (ex)customer and I am very unhappy and unsatisfied with them. I thought that was what the feedback system was for? Maybe we'll just all have to come to an admin first to get our feelings verified before we send feedback now?

BIG_MIKE2005

iTrader: (116)

Dude even if you did get a defective piece, BMR is not responsible for anything that happens past your warranty period. Yea it sucks, but this is just one of those things you have to chuck up as a loss. And if you tried to take it to court you would be wasting money & lose for this very reason.

On top of that if the car looked like it wasn't riding correct & was sagging, why in the hell just keep driving it?? Especially with your family in it. If you had addressed the problem sooner maybe you would have been inside your warranty period. But you didn't. This puts the fault on you for not acting sooner.

You cannot come on here & expect to get people to side with you given the situation. BMR is NOT in the wrong on this. No matter how you try to look at it or explain it. I'm sure everyone who has read this knows what your tryin to say. And I'm sure we all understand how much it sucks for something like this to happen, but bashing a sponsor is not gonna help you any at all.

Your just gonna have to suck it up on this one. I have had to do it before & I'm sure many others have also. Its part of the game & you gotta pay to play. I mean really think about it, if your car breaks outside the warrant period what happens?? The dealership tells you the same thing as BMR told you, your outta luck, warranty time has expired. Just be a man about it & stop bitchin.

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

I'm not trying to get anybody to side with me. I don't know any of you guys, who cares? Go read my first post again and you'll see what the point was. I wasn't here to "bash BMR." I thought I made it pretty clear that the point was to warn people of what happened to me and let people know that these a-arms are weak in that particular point. I said plain as day that the tubular part is probably stronger than the stock arm. I thought the reason for the sagging suspension was the coil springs because I've heard of Eibachs doing it. It was only about 3 weeks after I noticed how low the car was that I tore it all apart. That's when I found out the springs were fine and the control arms were broken. I didn't drive the car for the next week until I got new factory arms and put them on. I am "sucking it up" but I thought I would at least try to let you guys know what happened so you don't make the same mistake I did and waste a grand that could be much better spent elsewhere. When people start telling me I've obviously abused my car, when I've done nothing of the sort, I get pretty damn defensive, and I'm sure you would too. The point of this thread was to save someone else the same headache I just went through, but I'm not going to just sit here and pretend to go along with whatever you guys say I've done that was abusive to my car, cause I haven't done ****, I just drove it around. My stock arms never broke.

erikthegoalie

iTrader: (29)

**** hey Lee, ill take his for half price..hit me up!
Erik

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

I'll sell you mine for 50 bucks. I'm sure you could weld them back together.

BIG_MIKE2005

iTrader: (116)

I never said you abused you car & I did acknowledge that it sucks. But like I said, maybe you just got a defective part. This is the ONLY case I have heard of in which these parts failed.

Onebad99TA

iTrader: (1)

Again, I've been saying the same thing, Mike. That is precisely why I'm so pissed off about this. Shouldn't a defective part or a failure caused by workmanship be covered as a manufacturer's responsibility regardless of a 6 month gap in warranty? I think it ought to, because my customer's wouldn't stand for it, and neither will I.

BIG_MIKE2005

iTrader: (116)

In a perfect world it might. But I doubt it goes anywhere now. I'm sure they do a metal test on a piece outta a batch & if it passes then that bundle of material is ok to build with. This is usually how shops go about it. That way you do have record of hardness testing.

Once again in a perfect world each & every piece in that batch should be just as strong, but with human error or process error in the manufacturing of the metal itself it cannot be 100% consistant.

There is always a chance in ANY product you will ever buy, that you might get a defective piece. Or maybe its not really defective but the properties in the metal itself are just a little off. I mean come on, its not like BMR makes its own metal in a controlled environment & hardness test every single piece of material.

Bottom line is since the warranty ran out, it doesn't matter if the part was defective. For companies thats the beauty of having warranties or limited warranties. Especially if you into selling racing equipment. Almost every aftermarket manufacture that sells a product that could be used for racing will only offer a limited warranty. Some offer limited lifetime, but not very often.

You cannot hold only BMR responsible for this.

If your car blew up tomorrow do you think GM would compensate your family?? NO they wouldn't say or do a damn thing b/c your outside your warranty. The thing you gotta accept is that any product you buy with a specified warranty time, is not covered under any circumstance after that time expires.

Defective or not.

MightyBobo

iTrader: (12)

Wow, I think BMR was cutting you a hell of a deal for replacement, I dont understand this rant. Sometime parts fail, I dont know why in your specific case and Im not going to just blame BMR's poor manufacturing since - well, this is the 1st complaint Ive seen of that. But I'd be happy with 50% off brand new parts.