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I never bothered going back to Climarepair; read enough of threads like this one to know it was going to be a headache.
A few weeks ago, I had to have my aftermarket stereo tweaked and while the shop had the headunit out, they pulled the switches, bead blasted them, and reshot them with flat black. Not the best pic, but I'm very happy with how they came out.
To everyone annoyed by their grubby AC buttons, and Climarepair, there might be a quality solution in the works.
I was talking to the owner of one of the reputable aftermarket companies at Werks Reunion about the issue and he said he would do his best to find a better solution for us. He followed through and has been emailing me to update on their progress.
He is going to offer a core swap solution and already has his first 3 AC units being refinished now. He will let me know final pricing after that.
Raise your hand if you are interested. I wanted to give him an early heads up on demand.
Interested in general but would also like to know about the icons.
yes, he said they would be like new with temp/speed. he mentioned the biggest thing he needs to figure out, and the determining factor on pricing, is if he needs to refinish all buttons on the panel to ensure perfect color match.
he he sent a pic of the first panel being sent out.
Looks nice, a little glossier than the original finish, but can't see the temp and fan switches too well. Did he say whether the icons allow the backlight to shine through like the originals? If they do, then I'm interested as long as pricing is not crazy.
Looks nice, a little glossier than the original finish, but can't see the temp and fan switches too well. Did he say whether the icons allow the backlight to shine through like the originals? If they do, then I'm interested as long as pricing is not crazy.
i will ask on the light shining through icons. I'm assuming so. He does the same for Ferraris. (Note the pic I attached was pre-refinishing. He was sending the parts out).
As I have posted in this thread previously, I have the 1st gen buttons. The more I looked at them the more I didn't like them. Really interested in this possible new option....looking forward to the pricing.
Looks nice, a little glossier than the original finish, but can't see the temp and fan switches too well. Did he say whether the icons allow the backlight to shine through like the originals? If they do, then I'm interested as long as pricing is not crazy.
He sent me an update this morning saying temp/fan icons will absolutely be backlit. I think he was offended I asked :-)
Time to share my story. I was one of the "early adopters" of the V1 switches, of course they turned out horrible. Was planning on opening a paypal dispute but had to leave on a last minute extended business trip. By the time I got back, I had forgotten about it.
I reached out recently, after finding out that they had been offering V2 replacements for customers who bought the V1 switches. I figured it was probably too late and a lost cause, but decided to give it a try anyway. To be fair they got back to me within a reasonable time, but said because it was over 6 months, they would send me the V2s, but I would have to pay the shipping & handling ($30). At this point it felt like I was being fed misleading information, where did the $30 come from? Their site clearly states free shipping, even on checkout, the most expensive rate was "Worldwide Flat Rate" at $5.99.
I decided not to take them up on their offer and chalk it up as a loss. I figured I'd try to fix the switches myself. Surprisingly they came out much better than I expected. Here are the steps I took in case anyone else wanted to DIY themselves:
1. Remove the old switches and with some rags, qtips and rubbing alcohol, strip away all of the rubber paint.
2. I decided against trying to preserve the glowing symbol/text on the switches as I didn't have any stencils or the patience to tape them off.
3. Pick up a can of Krylon Flat Black spray paint and apply a couple coats on the switches, making sure to get into the crevices.
4. Use a small light to shine through from behind to make sure the switches are evenly coated and there are no spots where the light can leak through. If there are, simply stick some black tape behind the switches to cover up the spots.
This is what the refinished switches look like compared to the awful Climarepair switches.
Heres another pic of the refinished switches reinstalled back into the climate control module. The flat black finish was practically identical to the other switches. Very happy with the result.
Hello Rengoku,
WE just saw your post by chance. I know it´s been a long time since you wrote your story, but we feel we need to clarify some things:
1. The fact that we offer free shipping in orders over $60 does not mean shipping a product from Europe to the USA is free of charge for us. We have to pay shipping just like any other company. We just include that cost in the advertised price. If we need to make a second shipment to replace something under warranty, we will carry the shipping expenses.
2. The climarepair buttons you show in that picture are indeed a faulty set of pre-production V1 buttons. Those were 3D printed and should have never been sent out.
3. The buttons we produce nowadays are not 3D printed, and are MUCH better (some folks here state we "tweak" pictures (which is not true), so lets see a video:
4. We are about to release Version 3 (V3), which is EVEN better. V3 just feels like the originals, even when you press them (some customers feedback pointed V2 buttons were too "smooth" when you pressed them).
And to prove you we are really confident on our new V2´s and V3´s, we are ready to offer you a free replacement even today, just write us with your order #. During the last year we shipped enough orders to negotiate a better rate on international shippings with the transportation company, so you won't have to pay $30 for shipping and handling. If you are happy with you non-illuminated buttons, we can offer you with something else from our store.
At the risk of sounding like a shill for the company, my v2 buttons are going strong-- no issues a couple months in. They look perfect to my poor eyes.
For those that have this issue, like I did, this still seems like the best option. I didn't have much of a choice-- I did not want to take my AC unit out and ship it to some offsite place and have to wait a week or so-- the car is my daily driver. Buying a new button is really my only choice, and I truly appreciate that there is now an option to buy just the button. In my eyes, it is the best practical solution-- (I had even tried the stickers!).
It seems like they got their customer service act together-- the market will do that to a company. As a former small business owner, I always root for the small guy-- and I hope these folks succeed in fixing our niche problem.
At the risk of sounding like a shill for the company, my v2 buttons are going strong-- no issues a couple months in. They look perfect to my poor eyes.
For those that have this issue, like I did, this still seems like the best option. I didn't have much of a choice-- I did not want to take my AC unit out and ship it to some offsite place and have to wait a week or so-- the car is my daily driver. Buying a new button is really my only choice, and I truly appreciate that there is now an option to buy just the button. In my eyes, it is the best practical solution-- (I had even tried the stickers!).
It seems like they got their customer service act together-- the market will do that to a company. As a former small business owner, I always root for the small guy-- and I hope these folks succeed in fixing our niche problem.
Too little too late, never release a bad product to begin with, you're business will not recover.
07-26-2017, 05:28 PM
