White 135i with newest mods

[Fair]

Originally Posted by JRB135

Thanks for all the positive comments. Tomorrow I finally get to have the defective AST left front shock/strut replaced. I will let everyone know if this solves the problem. The current shock has turned to crap; the gasket that encapsulates the shock grease/oil came loose and the shock movement pushed it to the top of the strut. Now the oil that is supposed to stay in the shock housing has escaped and the shock squeaks so loud that you can hear it even when on the freeway. Anyway the guys at BR Racing are replacing it with a new AST 5100 shock tomorrow, and will send the failed one back to AST for failure analysis. Amazing considering that this car is never driven hard and has never been tracked with this setup.

J

Please disregard all comments from the OP in this thread about ASTs.

I have found out after the fact that this particular install was very unusual. The OP has some kind of 20" wheels. These wheels/tires are so tall that they were interfering with the normal 7" long spring package we supply with 1 series 5100s. The shop that installed them used a 4" long spring instead, against the strong recommendations of someone here at Vorshlag, and it likely caused all of these problems. Without seeing the damaged strut yet its hard to say with 100% surety, but the 5100 grease seals don't just "fall out". We've sold and installed too many of these without issue.

This setup more than likely ran out of spring travel (imagine that, they took 3" of spring length out?), bottomed out the strut, and damaged the grease seal (among other things), knocking it loose from the strut housing. This then caused the squeaking issues.

In short - massive installation error. The "AST design" is not at all to blame. Yet AST still paid to air freight a brand new strut in for this guy, at no charge. If his installer puts it back together with this 4" spring package it will likely do it all over again. This strut is not made for over lowered, 20" baller setups.

Best of luck,

[HACKULO]

i just wanna know where did u get tjhe exhaust and deffuser

[rkick08]

nice!

[cagekicker]

serious wheels

[sid33]

I love those wheels they are teh exact ones I want to get ... Looks great

[Nemax]

Nice ride Love the exhaust!

[mwscircle]

wow that is hard WOW i must say WOW

[HAZEx36]

great looking car!

[catch]

looks great!

[hancheyb]

I have to pinch myself when I hear about threads like this. "never buy ASTs", "AST customer support is horrible". Believe it or not, but these types of threads initiate phone calls to our dealers (not even the ones involved here) and then phone calls to me (the AST importer for North America). It is quite amazing how quickly these threads spread. We have sold hundreds of shocks to customers in North America and have hundreds of loyal customers using our products in all levels from street to racing around the globe. I say loyal because they sell a car and come right back to us for their next car.

These products are designed to be used on the street and raced in endurance races. The heritage of racing comes directly to the street. The same parts that reside in street applications are used on the track. It is truly an amazing feat. Very few companies can say the exact same parts are used in both applications. Most are dumb-downed, plastic pistons and parts to give you something that has a big margin for the manufacturer and "good enough" performance on the street that you'll never know the difference. And frankly that is sometimes what customers want so kudos to those companies making more margin!

Can ANY shock company say they have never had a shock fail? The answer is unequivocally no. It is what happens after the sale that matters. No questions asked, I personally had AST overnight a shock directly from Holland to BR Racing without even knowing the issue behind the seal failing. Either way, as a "good faith" gesture AST did it anyway. If anyone has overnighted a shock from Europe, you'd understand the expense associated with this. I have heard horror stories from customers with just about every manufacturer on the planet whether a leak or another issue. Some send parts (and a bill) or never send parts. Some will send parts, get yours back for repair, then blame you for shipping damage voiding your warranty. I'm not sure I know of a manufacturer willing to go to the length AST is willing to go to make customers happy.

Eric (from Taiwan also in this thread) uncovered an issue that only presented itself lately on a total of THREE sets of strut based coilover kits imported to the U.S. None of which was the same model. You can imagine the challenge of finding an issue when it appears once on three different cars. It was resolved quickly and upon learning about the resolution this week, I worked with AST who agreed to send replacements to fix the squeak.

I guess I found a need to write this when I see posts that result in our products and dealers getting accused for issues or poor support that simply isn't warranted. I've never found an AST dealer that "sells and forgets" or doesn't tell AST when issues come up. As soon as we have a resolution, we work to fix it. While we're good, sometimes diagnosing a problem 5,000 miles away is hard until you find an similar one close by. If you don't get a response from a dealer via email, call them. If you call them, email them. If you don't get an answer, you can contact AST USA. I can list customers with good and bad first experiences that are now "customers for life" because of our support. We've bent over backwards time and time again to make customers happy.

As an enthusiasts myself, I understand everyone wants his car perfect the first time. As we all know, for the few times when it isn't perfect, the support after the sale is what matters. I have just spent a week with the owner and founder of AST Suspension, Piet Kreeft. He is so serious about the N.A. market he will be coming every two months to check on issues, help develop new products and tweak existing ones for our market. How many manufacturers have that much dedication in this economy? While most companies are pulling back, AST is charging forward.

And a special "thanks" to BR Racing and Vorshlag for all their hard work promoting ASTs. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for listening,
Brian Hanchey
AST Suspension - USA

[JRB135]

Brian; I really do appreciate your comments. Rather than try to cast blame, you rose to the occasion to help BR Racing resolve my issue quickly.

You have displayed the appropriate customer first orientation. I did not recommend AST for my application (because I did not know about your products). Therefore when something (like this setup) does not work out; I become the the one who has to live / deal with the failure. I had to drive the car for about 2 weeks with the failure (because this is my daily driver). It was terrible because the failed shock made so much noise and wasn't working correctly.

I know (from Bruce at BR Racing) that you are a straight shooter, and that you and he are trying to help get my setup dialed in. BR Racing raves about AST, and that is what I paid for; the best.

I appreciate that you expedited a replacement shock to BR Racing. So far the shocks are performing well, and Bruce is working deligently to dial in an improved spring setup.

Jeff

[Ricky Bobby]

Always like to hear a great customer service story...BUT I am curious about your HP figures...I have dyno figures to show on a 335i coupe with AA controller, AA exhaust, and Ultimate catted DP's..we actually tested initially with AA blow off and Riss intake and the car slowed down and it only made 374 HP to the ground...I have also helped on a Dinan 135i that had the bigger oil cooler and intercooler with the Stage 2 tune...the car was fast but I am curious if your figures are dyno are theoretical numbers? GREAT looking car either way! Have you had a chance to run it on the 1320?

[Sidh135i]

I love the trunk

[M135tii]

Originally Posted by hancheyb

Eric (from Taiwan also in this thread) uncovered an issue that only presented itself lately on a total of THREE sets of strut based coilover kits imported to the U.S. None of which was the same model. You can imagine the challenge of finding an issue when it appears once on three different cars. It was resolved quickly and upon learning about the resolution this week, I worked with AST who agreed to send replacements to fix the squeak.

Eric, glad to hear you got someones attention. What was the problem? How was it resolved?

Originally Posted by hancheyb

And a special "thanks" to BR Racing and Vorshlag for all their hard work promoting ASTs. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for listening,
Brian Hanchey
AST Suspension - USA

Brian, nice to see you patting Vorshlag on the back, but i'm curious, when did you go from "co-owner" of Vorshlag to AST-USA???

Are you no longer an owner of Vorshlag?

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Instruct...254_9pT5a-A-LB

[N47_Drei]

hey bro god damn niccccccccccccccccce, do you have a sound clip for that exhaust that what i want to get but i want to know what it sounds like, and did u order straight from Hartge???

[JRB135]

I ordered from Kartoyz in San Jose, they are a Hartge distributor. Call Toan (pronounced Twan) at 408-251-1497. He also did the distributor an powder coated the tips.

J

[CYEL79]

Originally Posted by M135tii

Eric, glad to hear you got someones attention. What was the problem? How was it resolved?





Brian, nice to see you patting Vorshlag on the back, but i'm curious, when did you go from "co-owner" of Vorshlag to AST-USA???

Are you no longer an owner of Vorshlag?

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Instruct...254_9pT5a-A-LB

I still have not receive those front struts replacements from AST till now, so technically it's not "resolved" yet.

As long as I get those replacements and tested, I'll update the final result.
Until then, I'll just have to keep waiting.

Eric

[lazyassand1balla24]

nice

[datbimmerdoe]

Congrats for COTM! Well deserved.

[JRB135]

Wow! I just caught this. Thanks for the congrats. Happy for the recognition. Still not done. Next up.

1. Cold Air Intake
2. Custom Roll Bar (boy racer look)
3. Big Brake Kit (eventually)

J

[ichiban]

gettting the ASR intake eh,, i saw that thing in person and it looks mean.

[.retired.]

clearly one of the best 1's i have seen
love how the lines flow on the AW