rodneyr

I was wondering if anyone was running into excessive wear issues with their Aria GP-5W helmet. I did not run into any issues with my previous Aria helmet after over 4 years of DE. However, I noticed my helmet ripping in the cheek pads only after 4 days of DE which I find unacceptable for an $800 helmet. Now after around a dozen DE's both cheek pads, the outside nomax cover lining, and around the strap are all ripped.

I should have called the vendor once these rips started happening.... I truely believe my helmet has a bad or defective nomax lining and either Aria or the vendor should replace and/or fix the helmet for free. I recently contacted the vendor and he mentioned they will try to resolve the issue, so hopefully I should be heading in the right direction.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

rsa

Call the vendor to get info on contacting Arai directly. There was a bad batch of cloth a year and a half or so ago. My helmet did the same thing and Arai took my helmet back for a complete replacement of all the inside padding and cloth with a turn around of less that a week. No problems since.

sechsgang

same here!

rodneyr

Wow, about 1 1/2 years ago is when I purchased my helmet. That seems to add up. I will contact the vendor tomorrow and if things don't move forward I will contact Aria. Looks like I will have to get packing to send my helmet back. I would be nice if they sent a new helmet and I could send my helmet back with the packing they supplied.

Andrew D.

I'm having a similar problem and will contact my vendor tomorrow.

jrotsaert

I had that too and ARAI is replacing it this week actually... dropped the lid at the Autosport show in Birmingham, UK last Saturday.
JM

webbie

Same problem here. I called Arai support, sent the hemlet to Bethlehem, PA for warranty repair and got it back in 2 weeks. No fuss, good service.

VB997

Had the same exact thing happen to my GP5K! It went back to be fixed two weeks ago...

Greg Smith

My liner is showing in some wear, but not near to the extent of the OP's. It's more like the fabric is balling up, will they replace that?

Waco Kid

Same story as everyone else. I contacted Aria through their online support. It was about a two week turn around time and was a painless process. I just got the helmet back last night and everything looks great.

pat056

I have a Bell (about $250) I've had since 2001 and no cloth damage...something's wrong with that fabric!

rodneyr

Something is Definitely wrong with the fabric on a big batch of these helmets. This is the 2nd time for the GP-5W helmet that I have witnessed rips in the fabric with minimal usage. I have not heard back from the vendor yet which is contacting Aria on my behalf. Looks like I should contact Aria directly for repair or replacement.

blake

Hey! Me too! I bought mine in Sept 2006, and the fabric is starring to rip apart at the back of the head near the neck.

Thanks so much for posting this thread. I will contact Arai directly.

Thanks,
-Blake

tylere36m3

are you running a hans? maybe the bottom of the helmet is rubbing on the top of your hans device and causing this. but you said your cheek pads were worn too.

i have painted quite a number of arai gp-5 helmets and i have only seen this issue with the 2 latest ones i have painted. one is for a formula mazda guy and the other is for an ALMS guy. after i saw the same damage as your pics on these helmets i thought it might have been caused by the hans device.

mooty

HANS shouldn't do that to helmet.
my stand 21 and two other Bell i have are all worn with HANS, they do not have this prob.