Warning!!!! Beware to buyer!!! FAKE ALTA Supercharger Pulleys!!!

It has come to our attention that there are supercharger pulleys being sold as the ALTA Performance supercharger pulleys. These pulleys are similar in their initial appearance but have no ALTA logo or size designation engraved onto the face. DO NOT BE FOOLED! These pulleys are not manufactured by ALTA Performance. These products do not carry any of the same warranty or quality standards of the ALTA Performance is known for.

**YOU COULD ALREADY BE A VICTIM**

Many customers have been sold, or may have had Supercharger Pulleys installed on their vehicle which were represented to them as "ALTA" pulleys. These pulleys are similar in basic appearance but have a blank face or similar logo. These fake ALTA pulleys are inexpensive and untested copies of the ALTA Performance pulley and do not carry any warranty or guarantee by the ALTA Performance Corporation. Many customers have been told that they were ALTA products and thus would have the full ALTA warranty.

Owners of the counterfeit ALTA Pulleys are likely to experience a product failure.
The actual size of the pulley may not be accurate. We do not know what the actual size these counterfeit pulleys are. 15%, 17%, 19% 21%? Boost levels may exceed your engines capability or be small enough to lower performance.
We of course cannot vouch for the integrity of the hardware that was used to secure the (2) halves of the pulley. The screws could back out causing the pulley to fall off of the end of the supercharger!!!!
The inner portion of the supercharger pulley may cause unrepairable damage to your supercharger shaft during installation and through constant use. The belt grooves cut into the pulley may be off center, too sharp or too shallow causing the supercharger belt to be thrown off or shredded.

This part comes with ZERO warranty!
If there isn’t an ALTA logo engraved into the face, it is not a true ALTA Performance Product.
The ALTA Performance pulley is packaged in its own box including full instructions, Warranty card, Warranty claims form, and two ALTA stickers. This box should be factory sealed with the production date stamped on the outside. A color coded mark will appear next to the date to designate the warehouse employee who package the part.

If you were misled that you were either receiving or having installed an ALTA Performance product and you now believe you have actually received one of these fake pulleys; Please contact the dealer/reseller you purchased the part from and demand a full refund plus reinstallation costs (if applicable) for an actual ALTA part.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. We are only attempting to protect our customers, our products integrity and the MINI community.
Please do not hesitate to contact us immediately if we can help.

Thank you
The ALTA Performance Group
SALES@ALTAMINIPERFORMANCE.COM
WWW.ALTAMINIPERFORMANCE.COM
1.503.643.4677

 

Yikes!

Kudos to Alta for bringing this to the attention of the MINI community!

Hopefully some comparison photos of genuine pulleys and conterfeit ones can be posted soon so that everyone can ensure that they have the correct genuine product.

 

Thank's for the warning!
I know where mine came from so that's not at issue.
Do you have any leads as to the unscrupulous Cad selling them?

 

The pulley RandyWebb installed on my car during the Dec2004 Chicago
Pulley Party does not have an ALTA logo and is polished. He even
said to me that he had it polished at a 3rd party place.

so is it an Alta? or is it not?

 

I sort of thought this was happening...

At a Bay Area Pulley Party several months back, Randy was unable slide an "Alta" pulley on the SC shaft. It took some pushing, and just didn't feel right. After I looked at it more closely, the grooves were very different; it formed a right triangle, as opposed to both sides being equal - I think Isosceles being the correct term (at least 2 sides of equal length)...

 

kenchan: Thank you for your response. ALL ALTA™ PULLEYS HAVE LOGOS! That pulley is clearly NOT a genuine ALTA™ part. The amount of material that would have to be removed to "polish" off the logo damages the pulley itself. The photos that we have seen of the polished end of the fake ALTA pullies are thick enough to indicate that they could not have been our part, then milled flat (to remove the logo) and then polished. Your part is NOT an ALTA Pulley. Even if there was the remotest of possibilities that it was originally an ALTA Pulley, it would not have any warranty after this modification. Finally: Why would anyone remove the logo from our pulley? For what benefit? Why mislead the consumer that they are getting an ALTA Pulley?

PLEASE call our offices or e-mail us directly so we may help you get the quality part that you originally paid for!

ALTA Performance
503-643-4677
sales@altaminiperformance.com

 

It's not an Alta, but I dont think Randy or anyone else claimed it was. I would not be concerned about the actual pulley on your car, I'm sure Randy tested it before putting it on. Hell, I'd take a Webb Motorsport polished no logo pulley over a brand one anyday. (No offense meant to Alta).

 

To clarify, on the "Alta" pulley Randy tried to install at that Pulley Party, it was provided by the car owner, and I believe he got it via eBay. And, it had the Alta logo on it... The grooves were not normal though... It otherwise looked quite legit.

 

My 15% was installed over a year ago. It has the ALTA logo but I can't see a size anywhere. My new 19% I just got has both the logo and the size engraved on it.

 

This is why I do all of my pulley shopping at Helix!

 

Can you post pics of a counterfeit pulley?

 

in all fairness, if the pulley does not claim to be an Alta, what is the beef?

 

Thanks Alta.

If anyone buys an "alta" pulley it should look like this one when installed-

 

Really? Are you sure he tested it? How in the world would he do that???

 

Mine says ATLA Just playing, thanks for the heads up guys. I have no worries since I bought it directly from you. Thanks again.


Nik

 

In his description of the Alta pulley on his website, Randy states:

"I have tried all of the reduction pullies on the market, and this one is the best. There are several reasons I have come to this conclusion. I'll run through them quickly, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call and ask."


I am very curious about this situation, especially because a questionable pulley is now on kenchan's MINI after being installed by Randy himself at a pulley party where other MINI owners would have been present to witness the installation.


Randy's website does not indicate that he installs or sells anything other than genuine Alta pulleys which he has said in his own words are "the best". I don't think we are going to really know anything about the origins of these disputed pulleys until we hear it from Randy himself.


I, for one, will anxiously await his explanation. . . .

 

Whoa...... .please be very careful about where you're leading this thread.

 

I am sure everyone who's read this thread has gone to their cars and checked to see what has been installed myself included. Randy installed mine and it's an Alta

 

Are you looking for lessons in manufacturing, or are you just stirring the pot?

 

Mine is from the same run of parts as Kenchan's and I don't recall any claim that it was from ALTA™, nor should it matter. I didn't buy the pulley off eBay, I bought it from Randy Webb, and Randy Webb doesn't sell inferior parts! Period.

 

It's a valid question - if there is a way to 'test' a pulley before you install it, how do you do it? Personally I don't think a pulley would get more than a casual visual inspection before install. I mean they are just a couple hunks of metal and some bolts, what is there to test?

 

To reiterate what TonyB said earlier - the questionable pulley at the September 2004 Bay Area Pulley Party HAD the Alta logo on it and was packaged in an Alta box.

Randy backs all his installs with a two-year warranty. I seriously doubt Kenchan has a "questionable" pulley. If someone is claiming otherwise, call Randy directly and ask him if he also uses other brands (ProMini/et). Don't throw out accusations of shenanigans on this forum.

Whether you meant it or not YuccaPatrol, your last post makes it sound like you are implicating Webb in passing off counterfeit pulleys. I agree with Tsukiji, don't go there.

As CamelPilot stated, I'm sure Randy has tested and backs any brand of pulley he installs. I fail to see why this would be hard to accept or understand.

 

Should one of the 4 bolts seat deeper in the pulley than the rest?

 

So WHO exacly IS being implicated in this thread? You don't just go out and make all these claims without proof do you?

 

Just to clarify, I have used a German make of the same style pulley as the Alta - never having claimed it was an Alta. I also had some polished and used those. Finally, I have continued to use, and currently only have, the Alta units.

If you have bought or had installed a pulley by me that:

- Says Alta on it
- Saye ET on it
- Is polished

It carries the full 2 year/24 month warranty from Webb Motorsports, which is a better warranty than the Alta warranty (if you purchased a pulley from another Alta vendor for instance).

All of these pullies are stainless steel, taper bore, two piece units that have been tested here (I have a pic of one on my car right now). I also put a caliper on every unit, as those of you who have been at the pulley parties have witnessed.

I certainly hope this clarifies any confusion.

Randy