Bad experience with Nor Cal Chassis works, warning to others.

[Sendit1]

I had Nor Cal Chassis Works in Fairfied install KW coilovers on my brand new M3P.
Looked good when I picked it up, but after driving home, the suspension clearly settled as the rear left is about 1/2" lower now than the rear right.
Emailing with the workers there, they said they would have to charge me another $550 to adjust it, as it was level when they first delivered it to me.

My position is, shouldn't they have test driven the car over a few bumps, etc. to make sure the suspension settles out before final delivery?
When asked this, they said they rolled the car back and forth a few times, so that is all they should have needed to do.
Given the now 1/2" difference, clearly that was not sufficient.

12 days ago I asked to speak to the owner about this, but no response.

Me, now being annoyed, will simply now take the car somewhere else, get it fixed, then file a small claims action for the cost of fixing Nor Cal's mistake.

I'm just warning people here that it appears that Nor Cal Chassis works is not such a good shop to deal with after all.

There were a few other issues, but rather than contaminate my main complaint, I will list those separately if this progresses.

 

[Sendit1]

Follow up. Now it appears the owner was informed of my plan to file a small claims action, and that initiated ae email response just a moment ago from the owner who said that it may be a bad shock. Given this is a genuine honest possibility, to be fair I am going to have another shop check out the shock and fix the ride height. If this was simply a shock that failed after installation, then this is on me and NorCal is not to blame. I will try to get my car looked at and fixed in the next few weeks and will report back.

 

[drb3333]

Thanks for the follow-up. I don't know your location, but several great shops is the Bay Area, and I have had fantastic success with Rishie at ZEVcentric in Fremont (great Youtube videos as well). I think a standard drive to settle the suspension is typical, according to Gjeebs.

 

[Lindenwood]

Can you measure the distance between the center of hub/wheel and the fender, on each side? It’s possible some other alignment issue is giving the impression of the ride height difference when, for example, it could be a camber issue.

That said, honestly it seems more likely the initial height adjustments weren’t that equal, and you just happened to not notice until you got home.

Otherwise, if they really adjusted it evenly, and it just “settled,” $550 sounds insane. It would take me 10 minutes and a jack to adjust the ride height half an inch on one side… 20 minutes if I re-did the alignment while I was at it. Whether it was an honest mistake or even just a picky customer, it seems ridiculous to charge more than an hour of shop time to double-check installation make a quick suspension adjustment to ensure customer satisfaction.

 

[Sendit1]

I'll see if I can get a good look at it and measure it by the end of this week. Super busy right now. Yes, not simply saying "Bring it in and we'll have a look" was not offered. It was made very clear that it would not even be looked at for less than $550 which is one of the reasons I'm not happy. I paid $2400 for the installation, and ANOTHER $550 to then later have the ride height adjusted. In the meantime I'm driving some of my other cars. I have 6 cars, so parking this one for a while is not a huge inconvenience, I'm just annoyed how this was handled. The owner wants me to simply file a complaint at the BAR and then be quiet about it-which is not happening. The BAR is a toothless organization that is not a solution. My plan is to take it to another shop, get an honest opinion, and if it is the fault of something other than Nor Cal Chassis, I will be immediately honest and immediately say so, but if it is the fault of the installation, I am not going to tuck my tail between my legs, I would then get a small claims judgement and enforce it, as well as shine a bright light on how this is being treated. I have more cars in the pipeline, and I will most definitely be taking my business somewhere else next time.

 

[Lindenwood]

I paid $2400 for the installation, and ANOTHER $550 to then later have the ride height adjusted.

Is that $2400 in just labor?? For coil over install plus alignment?

 

[ken_neth]

I think any auto repair or customization shop would be out of their mind in this day and age to treat any customer as you've been treated. Don't they know how word of mouth makes or breaks a business and word of mouth today is a worldwide internet thing.

We're it me I'd fix you up to your happiness without any BS...period. I would because your good feel for me and mine could mean half a year's worth of new customers.

 

[Sendit1]

I'm glad you caught this, I just realized, that in my haste I posted the WRONG amount they charged me. It was not $2400, it was $1910. The $2400 was my total cost of the coilovers w/shipping. My bad, my mistake. The amount they charged me in total after 2 visits, first to install the coilovers $1360, then to adjust the ride height a second time +450 ride height adjustment+100 extra for the rear control arms is a total of $1,910 of labor. The second ride height adjustment was because somehow me initially saying I wanted the ride height about two fingers between the tire and wheel well was confused with me saying "I think the shocks, as they are currently set are fine", so given the possibility of me not being clear enough, they installed them "as is". When I came to pick up the car it was no lower than stock, so I said, I thought I said bring it down from the 3 fingers to the 2 fingers, which I thought I had made clear would mean to bring the car down a little over 1" in the front and maybe 1.25-1.5" in the rear. I remember saying the car should be level which would be approx 1" in the front lower and 1.25-1.5 in the rear. But, because, looking back, the conversation could have been confusing, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and took my lumps and paid the $450 to 'again' have them adjust the ride height to my specification. I would have had it re-done that day, but they were booked and had to schedule it for another day.

All that now being clarified, the fact that they wanted another $500 ish to correct the disparity of ride heights that appeared when I got home the first time really annoyed me. Thinking more about it, it was $550 to adjust the ride height the 2nd time, which was all 4 corners. Now only one corner is low, so to fix the one corner, the drivers rear to match the other side would be only adjusting one corner of the car. $500+ demanded to fix one corner of the car ride height?? It is for this reason I will never go back to this shop, and I have warned everyone here about this situation.

The fact that my emails about this were un answered until I said I was going to make them pay another shops bill to fix this is the other reason. When I sent the email saying I'm going to get it fixed and stick them with the bill via small claims court, I received and email response in less than 1 hour.

I have a good friend with a shop who has offered to in a few weeks fix this for me, and he said it would take less than 1/2 hour and no charge. Given the shock is not leaking, and it behaves normally over bumps (feels the same as the passenger side) I don't believe the problem was caused by a bad shock, I think it is more likely the common issue of the suspension settling somehow since I was told the car was not taken for a test drive after installation. I'll report back at that time.

Do I think, based on how I was treated that NorCal Chassis should get a black eye over this, yes. Yes I do.

 

[Sendit1]

Hah, interestingly, Jesse, the owner of NorCal Chassis Works has been closely monitoring this post. He just emailed me wanting me to deal with this issue with the BAR, I emailed back suggesting we also include the guy checking receipts at the local walmart as they have similar authority to compensate me for this incompetent install.

Given I will be getting this fixed for free, I don't need to waste any more time with these Bozos going to small claims court, as now there are no monetary losses to recoup from fixing the problem. Fortunately, it is an easy fix, simply properly adjusting the spring height.

For some reason it appears they thought it was an opportunity to charge me another $500ish to correct the ride height on ONE corner of the car.
I just looked in the mirror to check for sure, but there was no "SUCKER" tatoo on my forehead.

At any rate, it appears this issue will be resolved easily and lesson learned to get all specs requested in writing before letting them work on the car.
I've never had this problem with any of my many, many other cars over the last 36 years of owning over 25 cars.

 

[Sendit1]

Just got back from by buddies shop.
As expected, adjusting the perch height fixed the problem.
After driving the car around over bumps I've confirmed all is stable.
For whatever reason, the perch heights just needed to be different left an right, maybe a different length spring?
When it was installed at Nor Cal Chassis, the worker told me the perch heights were equal and that he did NOT test drive the car to check for settling, so when I drove the car home, something in the suspension settled, proving that equal perch heights does not always = "mission accomplished"
Had the lazy worker actually driven the car over a few bumps, this would have been obvious, but that would require not being lazy...

This was not a difficult thing to adjust. No where near a "$550 job".
Looking back, I suspect a conversation about a vintage Rolex 5517 Milsub on my wrist might be what instigated the attempt for highway robbery...but shouldn't anyone know that having money does not equal being stupid? Clearly not.

 

[Ti317]

The last coilovers were Bilsteins on an Audi S4 and ride height was easily adjusted in about an hour by me.
If you need to cough up 5 bills every time you need to change ride height it defeats the purpose of installing coilovers doesn’t it?
I can see changing damping and spring rates but other than esthetics, why do you need to change the height?

 

[Sendit1]

The last coilovers were Bilsteins on an Audi S4 and ride height was easily adjusted in about an hour by me.
If you need to cough up 5 bills every time you need to change ride height it defeats the purpose of installing coilovers doesn’t it?
I can see changing damping and spring rates but other than esthetics, why do you need to change the height?

I wanted to change the height because when I first got the car back from NorCal Chassis, it was the stock height (smack my head.) Given there was some confusion about me saying I wanted two fingers between the wheel well and tire and not 3 like stock, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and paid again to lower the car approx 1" from stock height. The parts were installed on the first visit. I had to bring the car back a different day to have them lower it (kind of the point of the installation of parts to begin with...)

Then when I got home from that 2nd visit, the one rear corner was low. This is when they asked an additional 5 bills to fix what clearly was their lazy error. Now that all heights are even (fixed for free at my buddies shop) and as I like them, I will never need to adjust the height again.

 

[Flaky6669]

Honestly it sounds like they're charging you the jerk-customer fee.

 

[Sendit1]

I think it had more to do with the conversation about the watch I was wearing. After they noticed what I was wearing and did a little google search I think they saw dollar signs. It is worth many times the car, but you are certainly free to speculate. It appears to me more like they took a chance to see if I would bite, and I did bite, just not on their bait, I bit their ass instead.

My general M.O. is to give new contacts enough rope to hang themselves or demonstrate high quality of character. YRMV.