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My mini Racing Beat review

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Old 07-07-2004, 11:37 AM
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My mini Racing Beat review

As I posted here a couple months ago I bought a front sway bar from them. I ordered the bar and had a 2 week wait since they where still being finished, and was told about this. Fine with me, I could wait. When they DID get the abrs back in, for some stupid reason they called me back to confirm my order, even though I had told them to ship it ASAP as soon as they got them in. After installing the bar, I had a loud clunking noise from my right front side. Now first thing I did was check to make sure everything was tight. After that I emailed them asking if this was normal. I got 1 reply saying it was not normal and that some things had to be checked. I asked over email twice over the next week or so what I needed to look at and posted here. After that I tried leaving a phone message or 2 and got nowhere. I eventually got the noise to go away myself, but received no further contact from RB until about a week ago when I got an email asking if I had resolved this issue. I replied that I had and no thanks to RB, and today I get a callback asking if it was resolved again.

I like the sway bar, but frankly, RB so far as sales and service go to me, was not good. I will not buy from them again.
Old 07-07-2004, 01:51 PM
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Don't they know better? Upset customers are going to post any bad sale experience in a forum like this,where hundreds of potential buyers are going to give their back to their products. All it does is hurt sales.
Old 07-07-2004, 02:19 PM
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email man i call them whenever i need a question answered who cares about long distance its what 5 cents a minute whooopie and they helped me out alot!
Old 07-07-2004, 02:26 PM
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Yes, they do know better. In my experience with Chris Cortez from RB I have never had a problem with attitudes nor timeliness in responses. I would suggest for future note that the best thing to do when ordering is to do so over the phone and ask for the salesperson's name and extension number. This way you can develop a direct relationship and get priority service whenever you make a call. I, too, have the swaybar, end-link, and spring sets. I have also experienced some noises such as the one noted above. I fixed it the same way Genom did; loosen up all of the connections and re-tighten them. I wonder if some parts need "seating" time or if the paint tends to allow for the parts to "creep". Mazda had the same problem with regard to a cracking sound on the front wheels. Turns out the silver paint on the rotors was allowing the wheels to shift around while mounted on the rotor/hub. One other note: When I installed my rear springs I discovered a cross-threaded bolt which attaches the upper portion of the coilover tower to the inside of the trunk area. I fixed the threads and tightened the bolt. Away went another noise I was attributing to the rear swaybar.

Charles
Old 07-07-2004, 07:05 PM
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I have ordered from racing beat before and found them to have great service. My wife had a 2002 automatic Miata and I wanted to put an exhaust on it and nobody made one standard. They all required widening the holes to fit the flange on the auto exhaust. I contacted RB and they listened, I ordered an exhaust and they now sell these specially for automatics. Perhaps your salesperson was just not up to par?

I agree with the 5cents a minute.
Old 07-07-2004, 08:37 PM
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I bought a RB front swaybar and mine also clunks when I turn . How did you end up fixing your problem?
Old 07-08-2004, 09:47 AM
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I believe Genom did the same that I did to cure the clunking sound. That was to loosen the end-link nuts and re-tighten them. Also, I think the torque specs stated by RB may be a bit low so I cranked on them pretty good with a box-end wrench. This cured the problem. I postulated that perhaps the red paint on the RB parts may have been part of the problem but nobody has responded as to whether, or not, they would agree.

Charles
Old 07-08-2004, 10:21 AM
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The same bars are a little cheaper from Mazdatrix, and I haven't had a problem with their service......
Old 07-08-2004, 06:40 PM
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I too will chime in that in 10 years of dealing with RB, I've always enjoyed phenomenal customer service. My RX-7, two Miatas, and now my 8 have used nothing but RB parts. Chris Cortez and Jim Langer in particular have always been great, and the ONE problem I ever had with a RB product was resolved so swiftly, I was shocked. Heck, my Dad's RX-2 has had the same RB header on it for 12 years, and it's still holding!

Sorry to hear about a bad experience, but I wouldn't condemn them for it. Just ask for Chris in the future and he'll take care of you.
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