Just discovered this forum a few weeks ago and really valued some of the articles I read about suspension mods (sway bars) for my 2011 g37x.

I bought a set of white line sway bars from spring rate.com and wanted to see if you guys think I'm reacting the wrong way to a significant customer service problem. I ordered a full set with front and rear and end ties. When I ordered I actually sent them an email and said hey I want to make sure that this will fit my g37x all wheel drive, because the listing said it was the for the G37 x all wheel drive, But the vehicle calculator said it didn't fit. They responded ""You are all set. That was just an error on our website."

So received the parts and took them to my mechanic. And have the car on the left and had the exhaust lowered ready to put the rear one on and then he started to take apart the front, and noticed that the front bar was not going to fit, and the end ties were clearly wrong. He called me and we decided that the company must have just picked the wrong front sway bar to send. So since he was already an hour into labor, I told him to go ahead and install the rear one and I'd get the front returned and get the new one to him.

So I contacted spring rate and told them what's happened. That's when they informed me, "We confirmed we were given bad data by the manufacturer and that they confirmed the front does not fit. They're getting this data fixed on their end. They do not make a front for your vehicle."

So it's a pretty bad situation. I responded to spring rate saying that the only way I can think of them making me whole on this, Since it was their fault, is to send me a front and rear Hotchkis set, then I would return the front and rear white line, and they would credit me $270 which is the money I lost on labor. They proceeded to quote me their policy about not taking returns on installed parts, and are blaming me for the situation because I told my mechanic to go ahead and install the rear even when I knew the front didn't fit. I've told the guy several times that the reason I had confidence to install the rear is because they told me and no uncertain terms that they had a white line set that fit my car. So I was 100% confident that they had just made a mistake and would swap out the front sway bar with the correct white line bar. Am I being unreasonable here? This guy is acting like it's on my fault and I just feel like he totally screwed me. He runs a suspension company and he said the manufacturer misinformed him. So how is this my fault? Shouldn't the manufacturer reimburse him for giving him bad information? But regardless, shouldn't he reimburse me just for general customer mercatisfaction purposes?

I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as any of you guys about cars, So I wanted to see if you guys think maybe I'm not being fair here. I appreciate any comments!
Stu

 

You don't get reimbursed for labor. You also also did your own research and found that they don't fit, yet bought them anyway.

You need to live and learn on this one.

 

Clarification: I did not do research on my own. It was the spring rate site itself where the part where you input your model spit back that it didn't fit. This is what prompted me to email them because the listing said it was specifically for the G37 x all wheel drive. That's when they responded and said You're all set It was an error on our website. So I just had no inkling whatsoever that they may not actually have a front sway bar for my car. I figured they know what they're talking about.

 

Hopefully I'm attaching this image correctly, But this is the ad and the front and rear were sold as a kit. The idea that the rear sway bar would fit but the front wouldn't was the farthest thing from my mind, especially after the seller confirmed to me that they were correct.

 

Why don't you just buy the Hotchkis bars, use the new end links with them, sell the whiteline bars online, and suck up the installation labor. It's just swaybars, life is too short to let this make you unhappy. (Easy advice to give, hard to take, even for the advisor. )

 

call your credit card company and tell them to stop payment. I do that all the time. much less aggravation than having to deal with an unscrupulous company

 

They are not unscrupulous. He got the product. The credit card company won't stop payment, especially when the company proves they provided what was paid for.

 

Overall the situation sucks.

Unfortunately, you decided to install the rear bar... and at the point it is all yours.
No company will take back a used/installed part as they can't resell it AND no company is going to pay for labour for any reason.

The good news is a thicker rear bar on the G37X makes the most difference in feel.
How do you like it as is?

 

These days the onus is on the buyer to do their due diligence and research to prevent hassles such as this.

Not sure why your mechanic touched the exhaust. I was able to install eibach bars front and rear without removing any suspension or exhaust parts. This while on my back on a creeper with car on jackstands.

Regarding refunds, I suppose it is a set and both must be returned for refund consideration. The bar seller is not responsible for labor to install/remove parts. Either do it yourself or pay. As for the bars themselves, I think it's a reasonable expectation for the seller to take both back, refund the original price (inc shipping ) in full as well as provide you with a return label. They did after all say it would fit. That's all you should need to provide to your credit card company as proof.

How does one know something doesn't fit until/unless they try installing it and see it doesn't fit. A decade ago tirerack sent me a mounted tire/wheel set. I indicated the car I had including year/make/model/trim (not the G). Even told them the front brakes are bigger than on the low/mid trim levels. They said it will fit. Upon delivery I test fit both front/rear. The rear fit no problem, but the fronts were hitting the calipers. This was back in 2011. They wanted pictures. Didn't have a camera back then. After some arm twisting they provided a return label and refunded in full.

When I got the G, I didn't want to deal with tirerack/similar headache again. Bought locally from discount tire. I had doubt the wheels sold would fit, but sure enough they did, with ~1/4" - 1/8" clearance.

If your car is not dropped, stock endlinks work fine. I reused mine without any issue (stock height).

 

Yeah I think he should at least refund me for the front and rear parts. But he won't, even though he said the mfg misinformed him (so one would think the mfg would credit him) and he in turn misinformed me.

But I am going to forget about that, keep the rear bar on, and take the refund for the front bar.

So yes, I really like what the rear bar did. The rear is so much better behaved and flat in corners. The body roll recovers much faster and I can accelerate out of the corners quite a bit harder. The front dips more than the rear though now, so I may go for a Hotchkis front bar. By the way, is there a sponsoring vendor for this forum I can buy it from?

ThanksStuart

 

Meant to ask... Do you think the whiteline rear sway can mesh okay (from a stiffness standpoint) with a front Hotchkis sway? I know the Hotchkis is stiifer in general, but would the softer Hotchkis setting mate okay with a stiffer whiteline setting?

 

The front awd sway bar is already beefy, very little benefit to swapping the one in the front.

If I was you I would just sell the front sway bar you bought, keep the rear installed and just keep the front oem sway as you are awd, most awd people only do rear anyways. That will probably be the least amount of loss on your end.

You could do front strut bar and front end links if you still wanted to stiffen up the front a little.