My transaction with Vipair Performance so far...

[dester243]

I was looking for coilovers for my gen 3.

Had the option to get the MCS
brand new KW V2
or the vipair coilovers.

I stupidly tried to go the cheaper route and ordered the vipair coilovers due to price.

Talked to Steve and he assured me they would be ready and shipped in 2 weeks.

06/17/13 06/17/13 VIPAIR PERFORMANCE EDMONTON CD $1,535.00
06/17/13 06/17/13 FOREIGN TRAN FEE $15.35

That's the copy paste from my statement.

So first thing I noticed was the foreign transaction fee. ODD. I ordered coilovers from a company in CA, not CANADA. Contacted Steve, and he said he could refund it. I figured, oh well, 15 bucks. don't worry about it.


Then 2 weeks pass. I don't see an update.
Email July 1st
July 12th
July 18th
and the last email was today Huly 23rd

(none of the emails were even replied to after July 1st)


ARG. I have tried to be really patient but it's just getting downright annoying with "I'll ship it out to you tomorrow and get you a tracking #" to not get anything. I can't get a hold of him through email or phone anymore. I think it's time to call the CC company and just dispute the transaction and get different suspension.

DANGIT!! I really wanted suspension before summer but now I am guessing that I will probably be waiting until next year until I order anything.


I sifted through all the old vipair threads and they were all pretty much negative. The only positive one was the guy who bought some body pieces from him and they arrived damaged.


So lesson learned. Don't try to cheap out.
-Chuong

 

[JAY]

Mark from Woodhouse has Great Service ! And does what he says !

 

[dester243]

Yes, I know. I actually talked to Mark and the guy responded REALLY fast and was very helpful. I just bought my viper and stupidly tried to go the cheaper route.

Kicking myself in the ass right now for not ponying up the $ and getting the MCS or the KWs from the get go.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Best of luck! I would pony up for MCS for sure.
I have dealt with cheap coilovers on previous cars and will not do that with this one.

 

[wikkid]

Steve is a good guy. I jumped on his carbon fiber roof, that was never finished and was out 2500 dollars. Finally backed out after 6 months. I still dont think he ever finished it.
Definately issues with time frame and customer service.

 

[ROYMAN]

Is anyone ever going to go after this guy? I had a similar experience, but my Viper was off the road for something like 11 months. EVENTUALLY, everything came. I was lucky.

 

[Sonoman]

I used to be in the Speed Parts biz many years ago. It can be tough to tell a customer that the wholesale source has a big delay in their shipments since you might lose the sale. However, in the long run it is best to just be honest and hope the customer is willing to wait. Also, I believe long lead time parts should be sold with deposit money but not full pre-payment, because then the customer carries all the loss of the time value of that money (sometimes for months at a time) and the seller has lower motivation to complete the delivery with haste. I can justify waiting some number of weeks for custom-built parts that are being constructed uniquely for me, but on more conventional hardware like coilovers I'd expect them delivered promptly (or if out-of-stock then less than one month).

I can appreciate what Steve does in terms of Viper parts that no one else sells-- and we have very few vendors doing that. But the expectations of all of us for delivery in a reasonable amount of time have to be met, or the customer will go elsewhere (or go without).

 

[LifeIsGood]

There's a number of posts/threads where buyers were happy with this product. You'll probably get them...just might take some more time.

 

[Jeebs]

Sorry to hear you have had a bad experience with Steve. As many have. But honestly he was great when I dealt with him. I ordered his drop coilovers for my Gen II. I had them in a month. He told me 3 weeks I think. A week late, I wasn't to bent about that. And the quality of them are very good considering the cost. He returned my calls pretty quickly and emails as well. Maybe I caught him on a slow month.
Good luck to you.

 

[dester243]

Welp, I got a phone call from Steve. And he doesn't have the coilovers ready to ship out do to his shock manufacturer not supplying him the part. He said he will try to call the shock company tomorrow in the morning and will update me on what's up.

I honestly want him to succeed. I wanted to get the coilovers in, weigh them side by side with stock replacement suspension parts, and then take as many pictures of the install as possible to try to shed some light on a cheaper coilover alternative for the viper crowd.

So at this point I told him I will wait and see what is going to happen from his supplier. I don't want him to bring stuff in and not have a buyer for it and possibly get stuck with them.

It just ***** as (to me) Kansas doesn't really have the weather to drive the viper year round and soon it will be time to put the car away for winter. I really wanted to drive the car as much as possible. Already put 5k miles on the car since I picked it up 2 months ago.

 

[GTS-R 001]

dester243,

We had a number of discussions today and as I told you , I called the manufacturer again and was told again for the 6th day in a row that the last parts needed to finish yours and 7 other sets of coilovers I have on order there would be made today and in today and the coilovers would ship to me today. They did not and I am now told the parts are due in tomorrow and that I will get the coil overs on Friday.

Ultimately the supply to me by my suppliers is my responsibility and I am sorry the the original quoted 2 weeks has now extended the order to 4 weeks. It seems that with this supplier the 3-4 week mark seems more realistic, so from now on unless I have the coil-overs on the floor I will only quote 3-4 week turn around on this item.

 

[dester243]

Steve did call me today as promised and that was all I really needed to gain the confidence. I guess he is expecting a shipment of parts soon and I decided to hold out on his coilovers.

I do appreciate being kept in the loop and that was all I really wanted. At least some communication on when parts were going to arrive and ship.

-Chuong

 

[dester243]

Quick update on the coilovers so far.

They arrived, I installed them and it drives a lot better than my blown stock suspension. I honestly did NOT want to lower my car or install coilovers but I had a very crazy handling situation where on moderate highway sweepers (70-80 mph) the car just was scary if you hit a small bump mid sweeper. It'd want to unsettle and go all over.

Anyways, the coilovers come in a ALMOST ready to install package. They do NOT come with the rear shock forks. You will have to disassemble your stockers and use the factory alum lower fork. I believe other kits offer this fork as part of their coilover package.

On to ride/handling/feel:

I have a 03 with a Paxton. To help not blow the tires off, I put on 20" nt05R drag radials with the 19/20" iforge wheel setup. I lowered it where I have about a 1" gap from the tire to the fender. The rears from being so wide do slightly rub on very big bumps. I need to raise it up.

I have owned a bunch of cars. including 2500 pound cars with the same 600/800 spring rates so I am used to a very stiff ride. With the viper weighing in about 3600 + and the same spring rates, to me the ride is very fair. It is a decent amount stiffer than stock but it's not as bad as some vehicles on aggressive suspension that I have driven and owned.

Straight line traction. I talked to steve a little on this. Not sure if the DRs are wearing down and not as sticky since new, but it FEELS like it is easier to break the tires loose. Accelerating from a traffic light it is easier to make the tires squeal. My guess is from the stiffer spring, the car isn't squatting and transferring weight to the rear on acceleration. Steve offered to send me some softer springs (600 instead of 800) if I remember correctly but I don't think I will change over as I do have a rubbing problem at the height it is at already. Going to a softer spring might not be the best thing for me.

So quick cliff notes:
The coilovers arrived (a little later than promised)
They installed on the vehicle. Only thing I think is it should come with a lower fork but you do have the stock lower fork to switch over.
The ride is stiffer as expected from the additional spring rates, but for me, coming from blown rear shocks it's a hell of a lot safer.

I have not ridden in or owned any of the other coilovers so I can't comment. Moparmap has a 03 with MCS singles on his car but we haven't met up to see how each car rides/handles. I will try to do so in the future.

That's my quick update so far.

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

Dester,

The reason the tires spin easier is as you stated the car is not sitting down and transferring weight, but it is NOT because of the springs, it is because of the shocks valving efficiency and stiffness, the stock shocks are also stiff so this tendency is similar. We use the 500/800 setup with the MCS and the transfer of weight is exceptional, traction in any direction is increased mainly because the shock is working better.

Softening your spring rate will exaggerate the rubbing you have now also so unless your raise the car considerably you may have other issues.

Quick update on the coilovers so far.

They arrived, I installed them and it drives a lot better than my blown stock suspension. I honestly did NOT want to lower my car or install coilovers but I had a very crazy handling situation where on moderate highway sweepers (70-80 mph) the car just was scary if you hit a small bump mid sweeper. It'd want to unsettle and go all over.

Anyways, the coilovers come in a ALMOST ready to install package. They do NOT come with the rear shock forks. You will have to disassemble your stockers and use the factory alum lower fork. I believe other kits offer this fork as part of their coilover package.

On to ride/handling/feel:

I have a 03 with a Paxton. To help not blow the tires off, I put on 20" nt05R drag radials with the 19/20" iforge wheel setup. I lowered it where I have about a 1" gap from the tire to the fender. The rears from being so wide do slightly rub on very big bumps. I need to raise it up.

I have owned a bunch of cars. including 2500 pound cars with the same 600/800 spring rates so I am used to a very stiff ride. With the viper weighing in about 3600 + and the same spring rates, to me the ride is very fair. It is a decent amount stiffer than stock but it's not as bad as some vehicles on aggressive suspension that I have driven and owned.

Straight line traction. I talked to steve a little on this. Not sure if the DRs are wearing down and not as sticky since new, but it FEELS like it is easier to break the tires loose. Accelerating from a traffic light it is easier to make the tires squeal. My guess is from the stiffer spring, the car isn't squatting and transferring weight to the rear on acceleration. Steve offered to send me some softer springs (600 instead of 800) if I remember correctly but I don't think I will change over as I do have a rubbing problem at the height it is at already. Going to a softer spring might not be the best thing for me.

So quick cliff notes:
The coilovers arrived (a little later than promised)
They installed on the vehicle. Only thing I think is it should come with a lower fork but you do have the stock lower fork to switch over.
The ride is stiffer as expected from the additional spring rates, but for me, coming from blown rear shocks it's a hell of a lot safer.

I have not ridden in or owned any of the other coilovers so I can't comment. Moparmap has a 03 with MCS singles on his car but we haven't met up to see how each car rides/handles. I will try to do so in the future.

That's my quick update so far.

 

[dester243]

Well, I think I am going to raise the car up a bit and soften the shocks. I would prefer more traction than being "MOAR LOW"

Thanks for the info. I'll report back on how it feels with raising the car up and softening up the dampening.

 

[GTS-R 001]

Well, I think I am going to raise the car up a bit and soften the shocks. I would prefer more traction than being "MOAR LOW"

Thanks for the info. I'll report back on how it feels with raising the car up and softening up the dampening.

Dester,

You are on the right track, I have customers doing 9 second quarter miles with these coil overs as well so they are more than capable of keeping your tires planted when needed when set up to do so.

 

[dester243]

I raised the car up and softened the rear dampening to a 4. I only drove it for a quick 15 minutes so I don't have feedback yet.

So here's a picture of it on the highway from a cruise about a month ago.

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