therockshow

Alright guys, I got this huge problem pertaining to my WingsWest kit; but in order for you to understand the full problem, I must take you back in time a few months.
It all started when I first caught a glimpse of the WingsWest kit last year, the second I saw it, I wanted it. I thought it looked much better than the OEM kit, so I set my sights to get it. My father, however, thinks that modding is ridiculous, he thinks that the car is perfect as it is(which is correct, but modding is fun!) but he cut a deal with me; if I got 250 service hours, he'd let me put it on. So on I went, doing bullsh*t work for the chance to put the kit on. As time passed, I achieved my goal of 250 hours, and my father gave me the ok. So I went to the wingswest site and found the closest dealer located to me; Proformance Motorsports. So I called, and they told me they were professionals at bodywork and that they did it all of the time. I, thinking that they were WingsWest specialists because they're on the site, agreed to the deal because I would pay to get the best job done, and professional bodywork shops sounded like the way to go. So, I spent top-dollar, but thought it was worth it because it was PROFESSIONALY done, and for the first month and a half it was awesome! but then, one day after driving on the Sawgrass Expressway at like 100mph, my front lip started to fall off. I was like, 'what the fudge?' but then it popped right into place, so I decided that at the end of the week I would take it back to the place. So, during the previous weekend, I went to Boca Raton and installed some pimp blue neons on the interior, but on the way back to my home, my front lip all of a sudden fell off, I ran over it, and a volkswagen had to swerve out of the way to keep from crashing. I was like, 'holy sh*t!' and I couldn't stop in the middle of I-95 to retrieve my lip, so I got off at the next exit, went to a gas station and check the damage on my front; nothing, perfectly stock with a little of the adhesive still attached, but still, i lost my f*cking lip! so i called the f*ckers up and complained. The guy was like, 'wow, i've never ever heard of that, but don't worry, we'll get it replaced and installed no charge.' so i was like, alright, this isn't that bad, the guy said he would call me back, and today, i got an e-mail from him saying that it was impossible for the kit to just fall off and that I must have accidently hit something like a huge piece of concrete causing the lip to loosen and inevitably fall off. WHAT THE FUDGE? like i wouldn't notice hitting some huge ass concrete slab? i drive so careful and never park close to those concrete things, but now the f*cker says he can't do anything about it except offer me a discount on the replacement. THAT IS F*CKING BULLSH*T! and the biggest problem was that my dad was totally against it, and when we put it on, he was like, 'this is your decision, this place doesn't look good (Autospritz on 95 and Oakland) and if something happens, they probably won't compensate or pick up the problem. and look what f*cking happened, he was so right, these f*ckers are just jumping ship and not taking responsibility for their work.
Now, I got to go back to my dad and hear the 'i told you so' and I don't know what the f*ck is going to happen.
Advice would be appreciated.
-david

here's his e-mail
Good afternoon David:



Since our last conversation I have done a good deal of investigation both with Tim (our body guy) and with Wings West on the issue of your front air dam “falling off”.



I was told by Wings West that the design of the piece is such that once installed per the directions it snaps into place over three separate flanges under the front of the vehicle and thus is impossible to simply fall off. They explained that once in place the ONLY way to remove the piece is to physically lift up and pull forward with considerable effort. The two sided tape that is included is merely to snug the parts up if there should be any gaps. I further inquired if there was any possibility that an incorrect installation, improper alignment, etc could be accomplished. Again I was informed that the fit would simply not be right if the parts were not installed over these flanges and properly locked into place. Thus improper installation is not an issue, as we all observed how well and tight the parts fit when you picked up the vehicle.



Just to be certain, I asked Tim to show me from the installation instructions just how the parts fit and are locked into place by these flanges, which he did to my satisfaction.



I then called the Wings West people back and told them of your mishap and asked just how they thought this could occur. They felt that perhaps you inadvertently snugged up too close to one of those infamous concrete wheel stops in a parking lot and did not realize it. When you backed out, it might have hung up enough to lift and pull the piece off the flanges.



In any case, at this point there doesn’t seem that we can do much, as it would appear (according to both the manufacturer and the installer) that only some sort of accidental impact on your part could have caused the part to disengage from its locked in position. I can probably get Wings West to significantly discount the part. For our part we’ll paint and mount the new piece for just about our cost. So let me know how you wish to proceed__________________

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Since when does the WW front lip fit an 03 TL? I never thought it was a direct bolt on. They never made a kit for the 03, just the 99/00/01/02 TLs.

therockshow

no, it fits 02 and above, the guy called wingswest first and double-checked that part, the other pieces fit perfectly, it's just the front lip; they did a mediocre job and now they won't respond, and even if it didn't fit the 03, the f*cker called and he said it would, so it's fault for even trying to install it cause i asked him first if it would fit, and he was like, 'oh yeah, i just called wingswest and they said it'd be fine, just not update yet.'

hzm82

<sigh> I would perfer to put in the kit myself. I don't trust any shop. And yes WW will fit 02+. WW themself said that. Next time you park, always reverse into a spot if you can. That way you don't damage anything if you do hit it. I'm sorry for what happen. I'm getting the WW kit myself too. Hope things work out for you.

asiankidd

well for a company to respond back the way they did i think its pretty professional of them to do so, perhaps you did hit a parking slab and werent aware of it, none the less you did know that the kit was indeed falling off there for that shoud lhave been a red light to cease driving or take it off yourself and take it back with the piece intact to get it fixed, but you have to understand under their perspective they have all the right to do wat they are doing cus other people might not be you but their always out trying to screw others before screwing themselves.....all you can do now is eat the cost and get the new one at a discount....

good luck

JON

TLS RULZ

I dont know WW but its surprising to me that this thing isn't bolted on like the factory front lip ???

BlueTL

I do have the WWkit and i know what your talking about, the double sided tape holds it together but after hitting the kit a couple of times from drive way entrance it bounds to be loosen up , so i did molded my kit together, looks very clean. And i do not know of anyone with a molded WW kit.

J.T.'s 3.2CL

How much did it cost to paint your kit?

VTECRRR

what wings west lip are you talking about? it's a 4 piece kit. like i said the front lip has clips . plus 3m molding tape, then the front lip wraps around, and screws on at the fender/wheel well.????????? i have the kit on my 99 tl.

benzo555

Damn that sucks... Arent all the WW KIts made of urathane?? If so I would go back to I-95 whereever it is and pick it up...

car_lost

therock... your car isnt dropped is it? maybe that can help. cause f your car isnt dropped then im almsot positive there was no way u could of hit any concrete slab in a parking lot.

Edr0e

Welcome to the club rockshow.

I went thru 3 wings west lips.

Let me see... the first time: The second week of having the kit I hit a dip in a major intersection and it ripped right off. Didnt even notice it fell off until I got home I realized that the stock suspension was too bouncy so I added comptech springs...

Second time: Everything was great for about 8 months, the comptech springs were perfect, I barely scraped ( unlike stock ride). Then I got my car impounded for 30 days. When they put my car on the tow truck they fawked up my front lip. I go to pick up my car 30 days later and Im driving on the 101 west goin no faster than 60mph then all of a sudden... THUMP! I look in my rear view and I see my front lip getting run over by every car behind me!:flamer: The lip was definetly loose when I got the car but I thought nothing of it....

3rd lip I ended up selling with the rest of my kit. I couldnt handle repainting that sh*t every few months...


Lower your car it will save you many front lips... I remember paying $130 w/o shipping on the lip.

Edr0e

Get stiffer suspension, not tooo low

lhommec13

I feel bad for those of you who lost your front lip, but this has got to be one of the funnier threads I've read lately. The really funny and ironic thing is that I, myself have a WW kit on my '99, so I'm going to go outside right now and make sure my front lip is not going anywhere. But it's been on for nearly 5 months now through a harsh New England winter and numerous 100+mph episodes, so I'm not too worried.
How strange though. I have never heard of such a thing happening. And I don't mean to rub it in, but shouldn't you change your signature to read "WingsWest 3pc. Kit"
Good luck

Black TL

I've had my front lip for three years now and it's been fine since day one. The only thing wrong with it is all those pebble marks from speeding. I have about a gajillion of them on my lip.

Aki's TL

I have to agree the Wing West kit looks much better than the OEM kit. However, the rock's episode and others like his are the reasons why I won't get it.

Don't need the extra headaches that come wth the kit.
Heck, I freak whenever there's a new pebble mark on my rims.

As far as the thing with your old man, hey, in a few years,
I'm sure both of you will find humor with WW kit episode.
Good luck to you hope you find peace with the replaced front lip.

therockshow

Thanks for the support guys, although, the situation still sucks.
hzm82-i guess you're right, i should've done it myself, i just thought that a professional shop would do an awesome job and that i would never have to worry about things like this happening, whatever though, the kit's worth it and i hope you get it.
asiankidd-you got me there, i did know that piece was falling off, so i guess i should've acted more quickly, but nothing can help that now, in the e-mail though, to me it sounds like he thinks it's 'falling off' was not what actually happened and that i'm just trying to screw him over, which he has a right to think, but it pisses me off because it actaully did just fall off.
TLS RULZ-it was bolted on on the sides, but i guess that doesn't really matter seeing the turn of events.
BlueTL-that's the first thing i'm gonna do when i get the replacement, if i ever do
J.T.'s 3.2TL-too much for what happened, around 400 for painting and installing it, but i agreed because i thought he'd do a decent job
benzo555-i went back 4 times to look for that f*cker, it was long gone!
str8acura-not dropped yet, but 'yet' is the key word, don't know when, but it's definetly going to transpire
Edr0e-nice to know that i'm not the only one, but the fact of the matter is that we're in a pretty crappy club; where'd you get the piece for that price? the guy said he'd discount me, but i don't think he'd do that much for me/ definetly going to get it lowered with stiffer suspension; it's all just a matter of money and time, and after this setback, it's just getting delayed even further
lhommec13-i agree that it is pretty ridiculous, so ridiculous that it's humorous, but still, it sucks; hope it never happens to you, check out the sig
Black TL-sorry about the scratches, just hope it never falls off.
Aki's TL-i understand, if this crap happens again, definetly won't do it, but the kit just looks so sweet; especially the front air dam; about my dad, i don't know what's going down, i think i'll just keep it from him and get it replaced as quickly as possible, and then when i move out and he has no authority, we'll kick back with a cold one and i'll ease it into him; he'll flip though, he hates dishonesty, it's all principles and morals.
Thanks again guys for the feedback; so, since it seems to be a common problem, should i further try to get some compensation from the shop? i mean, i know i never park near the curves, i mean, we drive TL's we gotta be careful, and to say that i may have hit some slab without noticing it? i don't know, it'd be pretty apparent i think. but if i'm gonna continue with this guys, i need to do it now before the window of oppurtunity closes, know what i mean? and what really sucks is that i probably won't have a replacement in time for the may 31st meet.
thanks guys,
-david

lilirish

yeah the front lip should screw on and stick with 3m tape. they must have forgot to screw it on, that sucks, why don't u get in contact with ww

ChinozTL

I have the ww kit on my tl and have hit numerous bumps and concrete curbs with it and it has never fallen off. the tape has become loose and created a gap a few times, but since the kit is screwed on from underneath the front and on the sides it wont fall off from the tape comming out. If you ask for the directions from wings west it says to put three screws under the front of the kit and also provides a little lip underneath that can get screwed in. If your car doesnt have holes from the screws then that means they never screwed it in and its thier fault that it fell off due to improper installation.

Mr Zipps

Take them to small claims court or report them to the BBB.... See if you can do something that way....

car_lost

i think they have a the ww front lip on ebay for less than $200, and any body shop should be able to paint if for less than $200.

Professor

I'll save some keyboarding and go ahead and call myself an @sshole, priick, baastard, coocksucker, banned from the board, die and go to hell, etc., and say you dad is right. You car was/is nice. Don't screw with it because your experience doesn't make "modding sound like fun."

Make your car as original as possible and try to get you money back by calling the BBB or file a smalls claims lawsuit or take an ad in the paper telling about the crappy service of this company.

Good luck (and I'll go ahead and add the warm "f@ck you" as your response to my suggestion.