Brake calliper just fell off today

[madmaxx]

Strange,

When i picked up my Lexus I never did a once over, when I picked up my GMC never did a once over, when I picked up my Miata never did a once over, all the aforementioned were $20K plus cheaper than the SPF. Give me a break tighten the fuking bolts and nuts before the chassis leaves the factory. People are limited by others expectations, if everyone goes oh well it is a replica, that part of the ownership experience, they will continue to not improve until someone is killed and they are shut down.

Originally Posted by ratsnst1

I think when anybody takes over a turn key car that has been completed, no matter who built it, needs to do a once over on the car, at least I would, the brakes would be the first to check, not very hard to do this stuff.

[madmaxx]

By the way my once over found the all the allen head bolts loose on one of the half shafts with the exception of one, the one with loctite. The others had 3 or 4 loose, so why stop at the brakes, you might as well check the axles also.

[madmaxx]

Superformance has one of the best designs on the market, excellet fitment of body panels continuous lines/gaps along the entire panel, excellent double body panels, wonderfull breaks, excellent wiring, excellent cooling system, excellent body shape, perfect dash layout with smith gauges, great top and tonneau cover, fantastic ride, structural rigidity etc

They completely fail on the easiest of tasks. Tightening bolts, greasing suspension components, carefull installation of wiring, all of which add no cost to the vehicle. Get a quality control department Superformance.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by madmaxx

By the way my once over found the all the allen head bolts loose on one of the half shafts with the exception of one, the one with loctite. The others had 3 or 4 loose, so why stop at the brakes, you might as well check the axles also.

This isn't just a one time check either. A full once over and visual check of the car every 1,000 miles or so could go a long way in identify potential problems.

[Ralphy]

When Lexus builds a car the same guy picks up a preset pneumatic tool to tighten a bolt. Day in day out. If I tightened say 20 different bolts with preset tools for 8 hours a day, five days a week. Uhm.... I could get fairly efficient in maybe four hours! I met a guy who bought V Rod and they did not torque a bolt that drives the water pump and oiling for the top end of the motor. Lunched motor! The tool malfunctioned and they had a run of bikes that all have the same problem.

[ratsnst1]

Originally Posted by madmaxx

Strange,

When i picked up my Lexus I never did a once over, when I picked up my GMC never did a once over, when I picked up my Miata never did a once over, all the aforementioned were $20K plus cheaper than the SPF. Give me a break tighten the fuking bolts and nuts before the chassis leaves the factory. People are limited by others expectations, if everyone goes oh well it is a replica, that part of the ownership experience, they will continue to not improve until someone is killed and they are shut down.

Its too bad we need to do these safety checks, but I feel it is mandatory, and im a hell of alot safer in my other cars and trucks that I own if god forbid something happens.

[puppster]

These are not production cars. No one should ever get in a race car with out a tech. inspection that includes checking all nuts and bolts, and looking for cracks. I know these are not race cars either, but they do have one thing in common, they are not production cars (and most have more than race car power). OEM's develop tourque specs for every critical part by testing fasteners in a very scientific way, and then assigning a torque spec for each fastener, and then they continue to test the assymbly in harsh but real world conditions, over and over. This type of R&D is not free. If you want to own a specialty car like this, you need to have repect for what it is, and do at least an annual check of all critical nuts and bolts. If these companies were to held responsible like an OEM, they would be driven out of business very quickly. Could you imagine if NHTSA had jurisdiction over our hobby?

[madmaxx]

I agree with safety checks but the but the bottom line is if you cannot tighten bolts on a consistent basis and guarantee there continued tightness then, YES you should be driven out of business.

OEM rely on minimuim torque's. As long as they are tightened to a minimium torque they do not car how tight the fastner is tightened as long as it does not damage what is being tightened. If a bolt does not break while tightening it wont since it is faced with torsion and axial stresses when be tightened but once tightened it is only faced with axial stresses.

Rest assured if a manufacture contacts loctite, they will come in at no charge and do a complete presentation of the proper loctite compound and installation method at zero charge. The R&D on fasteners is FREE and has been for about 50 years.

In the end a mistake has been made, I hope to never see another post like this about a fastener backing out, on a brake component LOL. If a recall is necessary on all cars to have the fasters checked, removed, loctite added, then that is what should happen.

Originally Posted by puppster

These are not production cars. No one should ever get in a race car with out a tech. inspection that includes checking all nuts and bolts, and looking for cracks. I know these are not race cars either, but they do have one thing in common, they are not production cars (and most have more than race car power). OEM's develop tourque specs for every critical part by testing fasteners in a very scientific way, and then assigning a torque spec for each fastener, and then they continue to test the assymbly in harsh but real world conditions, over and over. This type of R&D is not free. If you want to own a specialty car like this, you need to have repect for what it is, and do at least an annual check of all critical nuts and bolts. If these companies were to held responsible like an OEM, they would be driven out of business very quickly. Could you imagine if NHTSA had jurisdiction over our hobby?

[Spoooky]

Well back on the road. I wanted to say thank you to Lance at "Superformance" for working directly with Charlie at "Hot Rods by Dean" and Charlie for going out of his way to help me on a Sunday night. They took care of all the brake caliper repairs at not cost to me. The rear bolts were loose too, but not as bad at the fronts. I am glad that nothing was damaged or anybody got hurt. I also had a complete nut and bolt check done on the entire chassis and it was all pretty good and tight. Be sure that I'm going to be doing a nut and bolt check, paint marks or not going forward frequently.

[PANAVIA]

Building an Automotive organization is hard work, kudos to Lance and crew for being available when needed.

--Steve

[madmaxx]

I agree Lance and the US Superformance Dealers do an incredible job on the customer service side and aiding the Superformance manufacturing facility in SA. The Superformance dealer network customer service is unsurpassed, be it Lexus, BMW, etc.

[RICK LAKE]

madmaxx Max you are way off base. If everytime a product was made with a nut or bolt and it broke, backed out, came loose, there would be no jobs, no product, no work, no future. Products are tested and while not being a SPF owner they work hard to improve there cars. Bolts and nuts are nothing like 25+ years ago with the materials they where made with, everything was higher graded and rated than today. Cheap material and maker just getting by today. Not every nut and bolt is made at ARP, if it was there would be another $1,000.00 dollars on your build. Vibration and heat cycles can cause anything to come loose over time. This is why checkup are needed every year. Once you nut and bolt a part together to a torque spec, depending on the grade of bolt and type of nut, there should be no added need to adjust or tighten them more if loc-tite or a sealer is used. Bolts need to stretch and retract from heat and cold. You keep over tighting these bolts and you are looking to have a failure of a fastener. We are not talking about head bolts, again check once to spec and leave them alone after first setting. As stated there are different temps for Loc-tite. Under normal driving these caliper bolts may reach 300-500f. Racing or hard driving 750-900f All my front end fasteners are loc-tite with hightemp red or safety wired. Is all this needed NO. I have nyloc on the rest of the car, again an added safety thing because of racing. Between wiring and nylocs, there was an extra $300 dollars splent on my car. Worth every penny and lets me worry about other things. I think it's good the SPF sent out info about a possible problem on there cars and how to fix it. If SPF knows where every car is and owner they could sent out e-mails about checking a part on the cars like the big 2 1/2 do with campaigns.
Every body on this forum wants there cobras to be safe, fast and fun to drive. A mistake happened and could have could a bad accident, it didn't. Spoooky is OK the car is repaired, a pair of underwear where lost. I hope that everyone that reads this thread and knows anyone with a SPF in the serial numbers for the repair above, tells there friends to chack and even replace the bolts with one ones and loc-tite. This really applys to ALL cobra owners about doing a safety check on their cars in the spring before driving them. Rick L.

[Steve Cassani]

I'll share the discovery that led me to sell SPO1862...

On crawling under the car I discovered several bolts hanging through the frame. No nuts. I hollared to the mechanic working from above: "What do these fasten?" while moving the bolts up and down.

His reply: "The roll bar."

There is a continuing problem with quality control and it does not stop at items that can be excused away by talking about the ownership experience.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by Steve Cassani

I'll share the discovery that led me to sell SPO1862...

On crawling under the car I discovered several bolts hanging through the frame. No nuts. I hollared to the mechanic working from above: "What do these fasten?" while moving the bolts up and down.

His reply: "The roll bar."

There is a continuing problem with quality control and it does not stop at items that can be excused away by talking about the ownership experience.

So no nuts on the roll bar and you said, "that's the final straw, I'm selling the car" ?

No matter what make you build or buy as a roller, you better go over the car from front to back as soon as you take delivery of a car and at least every 1,000 miles after that.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

So no nuts on the roll bar and you said, "that's the final straw, I'm selling the car" ?

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Obviously he had been pushed beyond his limit by the crappiness of the car. That happens.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Obviously he had been pushed beyond his limit by the crappiness of the car. That happens.

Good to see you out on Thanksgiving throwing chum in the water waiting for the shark feed.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Got the Bug

Good to see you out on Thanksgiving throwing chum in the water waiting for the shark feed.

While it may seem that way, the truth is that in the last week there have been several threads complaining about SPFs. It seems like they may be "thrown together on a wink and a prayer" and the result is that parts fall off, funny noises come out of the rear, parts are missing, etc. I certainly don't mean to be inflammatory, but it is what it is....

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I certainly don't mean to be inflammatory, but it is what it is....

OK, Patrick, did you say that with a straight face?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

OK, Patrick, did you say that with a straight face?

Uhhh, I make a living doing that....

[madmaxx]

Since I am concered about everyone safety and naturally a great person. I am willing to buy all Superformances. I will then sort, troubleshoot and relist as a SuperformanceMAXX. This is a similiar marketing technique to the yanko camero where the dealer shipped to a local shop and they modified.

I am willing to purchase at 35% of what you paid. In other words a superformance with roush 427 and under 2k miles I will go $25K. I will then sort, chase the bugs and sale. I have to make money so I can tithe on Sunday. The SuperfromanceMaXX will be the most reliable cobra on the road and guaranteed to be rattle free, vibration free, and all fastners tightened with redundate locking device.