Suwipin

Hi guys,

One of my Kinesis wheels (K27 in 18x8, 18x10) has a crack center so I sent all 4 wheels out to Kinesis in So. Cal and asked them to fix them under warranty.

Yesterday one of the rep. called and told me that since those wheels have been used under racing condition then the warranty is voided.

They recommended me to do the following things on the wheels to make all of them look/perform new:

1. Replace the center of the wheel with the crack center with a new one
2. Replace all the inner and outer halves of all 4 wheels
3. Strip and re-anodize the rest of the centers (3 wheels)
4. Replace all the hardware with the new ones

They said that the total charge for all these is $1800 (half of the price of the new set of wheels of this type).

I have since then bought a used Hollow spoke wheels from a friend of mine and I have decided to:

1. Give these Kinesis wheels to any Rennlisters who want them in "as-is" condition (the wheels are with Kinesis now) and that person can deal with Kinesis or some other shops to fix these wheels

or

2. Ask Kinesis to keep these wheels to themselves

Please email me (suwipin@yahoo.com) if you are interested to take ownership of these wheels in "as-is" condition, free of charge if you're a Rennlist member.

Thanks

poorb0yw

Pin - you have an e-mail.

adsc4s

Pin, that is a very generous offer. I just got my set of HRE's so I do not need another set. Hopefully, it will go to someone who can use them rather than someone who's looking to make a buck.

Rezal

If Princeton Wong declines, I'll take 'em.

Suwipin

Princeton, Ron:

I got your email and I've just replied.

Btw the wheels are from my C4S and it probably will not work on narrow body cars as they have different offsets.

Jim Morton

Pin:

Sorry to hear of your situation with Kinesis.

If you do not mind the question, what did Kinesis use as a definition of racing conditions ? DE's, auto-x- ???

If I remember correctly, the PO of your car tracked it a bunch, but was it actually openly raced? If so, how does Kinesis know (not that I am suggesting they be frauded...) ???

I am just curious to learn more about Kinesis' business practices as I have considered buying wheels from them. These kinds of situations tell a whole lot about their post sales support. It is certainly a good test of how they support a product that is advertised as superior in strength to other brands. Seems odd to now shy away when called upon with a failure. Seems like a win-win for them...

TIA

Rezal

I find it interesting that vendors always use motorsports to publicize the strength, performance, durability, etc. of their components but when it comes to warrantying them, they suddenly have a different position. Talk about having your cake and eating it too...

Mark in Baltimore

Mighty nice of you, Pin.

I, too, find the Kinesis policy annoying. Does Fikse have the same policy? I seem to recall Fikse was good about repairing wheels, even if they saw the track.

Pin, did you have an off-track excursion, an off-street excursion or did the center simply crack? If the latter, it sounds like Kinesis had a manufacturing issue. Depending upon where this thread goes, you might want to send the customer service rep a link to this issue so they can monitor the effectivness of their PR and warranty policies.

Jeff 993TT

Hey Pin... Sorry to hear about your wheels. So did you get the 993 twists or the 996 twists??

Your situation kind of reminds me of my chromed wheels problem. Best of luck in getting you back on the road!

993Power

Pin, MIGHTY GRACIOUS of you to do that. BTW, who did you talk to their? I Usually talk to Allen, their and he seems to be a cool guy. He's helped me alot with my rims with custom offsets and sizes.

P.S. Whoever is the new owner of these Wheels, I'd like to offer my discount from Kinesis to get the wheels serviced if needed. Just PM me and we can talk about it. Nice to help another fellow rennlister Thanks!

chris

Jeff 993TT

Ahh.. Parts room getting too crowded?

STLPCA

pin
Sorry to hear about your Kinesis hassles. It's interesting that the Kinesis website touts:

Strong, lightweight wheels designed to withstand the demands of the 24 hours of Daytona...club racing...or daily street driving.

Assuming your damage is not impact related, you'd think the customer service side of a reputable company would try to be consistent w/its advertising representations.

I've not seen their specific warranty language, but assuming it excludes manufacturing defects that arise during (amateur) "race" usage, perhaps Kinesis should revisit their ad pitch to focus on aesthetics, not performance.

Before you give the wheels away, I think it may be worthwhile for you to contact Peter Stacy (Kinesis' Pres.) to calmly & rationally discuss your problem, Kinesis' response & the fact that a few thousand Porsche enthusiasts on Rennlist are monitoring the situation. Can't hurt to give him a chance to do the right thing.

Peter G. Stacy, President & Founder

Suwipin

Hi all,

Thank you for all the replies, I really appreciate it. I apologize for my late reply as it's been a very busy day at work today.

Since Princeton is the first person who contacted me regarding the wheels, then the wheels will go to him, unless he changes his mind (then it'll go to the second person who is Ron).

Regarding how the wheel cracked:

1. I haven't had any OTEs since I had this car (maybe I haven't driven it hard enough hehehe), but I've only taken this car to the track once after I bought it from DJ. Now it is impossible for me to know all the details of the history of these wheels when DJ had it (meaning I had no details on what the history are of these wheels when they were not in my possession).

2. Other than hitting a highway junction at 75mph on Hwy 237, this wheel hasn't hit anything since I own it.

3. I was on my way home from Kim's place and after exiting the highway to my house, I noticed that there was a noise coming from the rear of the car. My assumption was I could not hear the noise while I was on the highway because of the speed, and I was only able to hear it when I was going slow. I looked everywhere for the source of the sound and to my amazement, I saw the center of the rear passenger wheel cracked. I thank God that the wheel didn't decide to shatter on the freeway, otherwise it could get ugly

I strongly recommend that the person who gets these wheel, to repair it properly.

4. The rep from Kinesis (Todd Wood) told me that after their investigation, they concluded that the damage is due to excessive heat buildup on the center of the wheel.

Dan, thank you for a great suggestion but I don't think I should take my word back on giving out the wheels. Thank you Dan for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Ron

Pin,

Should Princeton decide he does not want them meaning I'm next in line please by all means feel free to do as Dan has suggested and try to speak with someone higher up to see if they will handle you situation as a warranty claim.


I would in no way be offended.

mooty

pin,

that's very nice of you. i know of someone who's got prob with kinesis as well. kim's right, we might have to look into BBS next ;o)

and, yes, kim, your parts/guest room is too crowded.
i am tired of sleeping on that make shift bed of 4 reclined porsche sport seats ;o)