LOL....I love this..... it reminds me of one of my favorites...."you have your right to your opinion, but your wrong"

A friend just took delivery and he has pretty good knowledge... I'm sure we will hear from people soon on how they like them.....

 

In unmoderated forums such as NAM trying to educate potential customers can be a difficult job. It has been my experience that the testing of many products for the MINI is unscientific – control groups are simply ignored. Objective measurements are presented as being inferior and/or removed from what in reality occurs. Colorful graphs, unrealistic power claims, lifestyle/ego enhancements, and such are the substitute.
Take coilovers for example. When many NAMers who have purchased products report back on the forum all they really have the ability to state are their subjective experience and the vendor's claim often gets repeated, faithfully. Opinions are stated as fact, and little is ever questioned. (And do not think that the placebo effect is not enhanced by the dollars spent.)
I am a CROSS and Leda dealer. I sell these brands because they have actual R&D departments, are race proven, and have excellent customer service here in America. (Same for H&R, Koni, AST, and Bilstein – I sell and install them as well.) Importantly, I do not rebadge products.
It is hard to fight nonsensical marketing but if you take pride in your car and want the best performance you can afford rather than “bling” shop wisely.

(This post in is response to the edited/deleted #69. In it the poster was trying to link CROSS to the M7 KTS look-alikes. And that is simply offensive to CROSS.)

 

Never again will I opt for an off brand. R&D, and, a loyal following from BMW, Porsche and Ferrari - in a competition environment - ought to turn on a light bulb or two...

I'm not knocking M7 here. However, advice from Don comes with a lifetime of extensive testing on and off the track. The difficulty facing professionals with lots of experience and sophistication is, most folks don't know what they don't know.

Hype have a way of creeping into every knook and cranny. Opinions, uneducated opinions, create hype. True performance, not hype, is constructed from actual knowledge and therefore validate opinions. There is a huge difference.

 

Coilover are Installed, No issues, Sorry nay sayers. Work as advertised.

 

That is true for the most part. It is however, fair to say that when questions are asked a very vocal cast of characters immediately attempt to silence them branding them as detractors. I am curious what you would have to say about the new Texas Speed Werks coil over offering.

 

As I wrote in another thread:
AST makes nice stuff. We've installed two sets this year for an Englishman -- one Sportline I and one Competition Kit. The Sport Line I seems to ride nicely on the street -- soft and compliant. The Competition Kit has yet to hit the track (and won't this weekend either has the high for Pocono all weekend long will be 35).

 

My bad. I have seen that post, just failed to make the connection.

 

I am a CROSS and Leda dealer. I sell these brands because they have actual R&D departments, are race proven, and have excellent customer service here in America. (Same for H&R, Koni, AST, and Bilstein – I sell and install them as well.) Importantly, I do not rebadge products.

DMH you might want to mention that one of the companies that you talk so highly about is in the process of going out of buisness. Apparently having

" R&D departments, are race proven, and have excellent customer service here in America. "

wasn't enough to keep Leda from going under. Yes according to the announcment they are trying to come back but if they were as good as you have said they were would then even have to worry about this ?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sadly, the[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] company has ceased trading and is now in liquidation. However, the liquidators are expecting to sell the company’s business shortly. This will enable the manufacture and supply of Leda units to continue. A further announcement will be made as soon as possible.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you have any queries, please contact Benedict Mackenzie on 020 7247 1174 or [SIZE=2]i.williams@bmaclondon.com[/SIZE].[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]28 March 2007.[/FONT]
----------------------------
For Servicing of Leda units, please go to [SIZE=2]Distributors_Servicing.htm[/SIZE]
Please note that B. A. D. are not authorised by Leda to service our units.
20th March 2007
----------------------------
With regret, the company has ceased trading and cannot therefore accept any further orders.
Efforts are being made to find a way to recommence business and a further announcement will be made as soon as possible.
If you have an queries, please contact [SIZE=2]sales@leda.com[/SIZE]
7th March 2007

/

 

Before you post you ought to be aware of the situation you are attempting to address. Leda did not have difficulty because of their product but rather poor business practices, i.e., accounts receivables. Their service in America is still exemplary. And it is anticipated that they will be back in business shortly.
Once again the spread of disinformation strikes the NAM forum...

 

And the hijack of yet another thread to sell your own products...

Good info though.

 

I would wonder if the thread was an announcement by M7 but it is an inquiry about the product which went wrong with a product being mis identified as being made by an OEM that apparently it is not (I don't know) ..... I think Don as a dealer for the original product has a right to "keep it real"

 

I appreciate Don's candid input as much as anybody. I also appreciate benefiting from his extensive expertise as well. But I think a simple clarification would have been more reasonable. It seems to me that vendors need to tread very carefully in other vendors threads or about other vendors products in order to keep it from appearing self-serving, IMHO.

Regardless, I thank Don & M7 for continuing to support the MINI community with new products and services.

 

I'm glad your back! I do hope you prove me wrong as I like your products and I like you and Peter. M7 has done a lot more for the Mini community then most people who are posting on the M7 threads who can't keep thier big traps shut. And, I apologize for the speculation. But I have asked these questions twice and have not received an answer. But I will call and see if I can get my questions answered. I just thought this would be a better place, so everyone could get important questions answered.

 

I agree

 

This particular forum is not controlled by any single vendor. I merely responded to a post to clarify that these shocks are not at all similar to CROSS. Self-serving? How about the experience I bring being labeled MINI-public serving?

M7 started a thread about their coilovers. Here are some sample questions that ought to be posed:
-- M7 claims on their web site that “we” engineered the coilovers. Who was the engineer?
--And if M7 did in fact engineer the coilovers who did they entrust to build them?
--Who makes the springs?
--Since spring rate is mostly a function of the weight of the vehicle (especially on a street driven vehicle) and spring pickup location (which is practically the same on the MINI) how did they choose the rears to be stiffer than the fronts?
--Why don't the rears operate the same way as the fronts in terms of ride height adjustability? It seems to defeat the purpose.
--What are the credentials of the M7 service centers?

 

I never said there was anything wrong with you posting a clarification, Don. But I do think your tone with the poster (defylogik) was too harsh, considering that he was only trying to hazard a guess on the manufacturer based on some quick internet searching (as he acknowleged).

IMO, this was an unnecessary characterization:
As I understood it, the poster was not trying to intentionally spread disinformation. Only trying to guess the manufacturer.

Quoting my own post:
Self explanatory IMO, but to further clarify, when you as a vendor appear to "bash" another vendor's product, it's difficult to tell if you are attempting to promote your own competing product or being informative.

Fair questions all. The kind of info I appreciate.

To be honest, I recently purchased a pair of the M7 coils. I would have taken a hard look at the CROSS coils you offer now if I had know they were available at your introductory price at the time.

 

Nice pics!!!

Can you post a pic with the front and rear dust boots taken off, such that we can see the shafts? How thick are the shafts?

 

It has been discussed to death. It is not a vendor thread. It is a thread about a vendor. And all input on topic is indeed welcomed.

As far as Don's questions go. I unfortunately think the answers will not be forthcoming. They have been asked before without any reply. I guess I'll wait and see....

Edit: And here is the new M7 thread entitled M7 coilover answers and more... Of course it is nothing but another sales pitch without much answers. Go figure.

 

i have a set on the way and they will be here friday. expect a full review from me. i have been through 4 suspensions in 15k miles so i am picky and unbiased. time will tell.

-word.

 

what else have you run and what was wrong with them? Can we start there?

 

stock, h-sports with stock struts (h-sports are too soft and made the car feel like a caddy), megan coils (wont even go there), JCW (nothing wrong with jcw i love it but want to go lower again), h&rs coils (just dont fit right) and now m7 soon. hrm. thats a lot of work under the car lol.

 

I found alot of answers here:

http://www.splparts.com/

and here:

http://www.kts-web.com/overseas/product/index.html

Or Google SPL/KTS coilovers.

 

Oh, my!
http://www.kts-web.com/overseas/product/index.html