Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Kinetix sent me a replacement after showing them pictures of the defect my old V4 had developed, the new V+ seems to be a much better product! after a few months with no issues at all... the below happens. I'm quite scared of driving the car tbh! rang and emailed Kinetix just now... should I put the standard back on??? Problem is I have no time! earliest will be Thursday... damn! Hopefully they'll back up their lifetime product warranty... doesn't seem too bad, car drives ok... but surely I don't want it to get any worse and it's coming off...spent lots of money and time colourcoding it too, they'll have to sort that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptist Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Cant see them refunding you for your cans of halfords paint, but they will sort you out with a new plenum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 Cant see them refunding you for your cans of halfords paint, but they will sort you out with a new plenum. those "cans of Halfords paint" costed me over £70 all in .... mate in fact probably more (at least 5 cans of colour £10 each, same with primer and at least 3 laquer). PLUS labour and yes I'll make sure they make it up to me. Oh and no more plastic plenums for me I'm afraid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 What material are these plenum's made from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 http://www.kinetixracing.com/index.asp? ... D&ProdID=9 I have the V4 the one they sell now is the next version, the V+. Still, I only saw this happen on a car in the US when a guy left the car on for about 6 hours, or something silly like that. Not my case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Val do you think the paint you have sprayed on may effect the plastic construction?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 yeah right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev946 Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 If that was a Nissan item they would definately blame the paint to get out of any warranty claims... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 If that was a Nissan item they would definately blame the paint to get out of any warranty claims... Whats the betting Kinetex do to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 If that was a Nissan item they would definately blame the paint to get out of any warranty claims... Whats the betting Kinetex do to AFAIK they are a serious Company who honour their peoducts' warranties that was one of the reasons I chose them in the first place. Will elt you know PS Tim, go on I wanna hear how they'd justify it if they sd the paint was to blame for the plenum melting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 If that was a Nissan item they would definately blame the paint to get out of any warranty claims... Whats the betting Kinetex do to AFAIK they are a serious Company who honour their peoducts' warranties that was one of the reasons I chose them in the first place. Will elt you know PS Tim, go on I wanna hear how they'd justify it if they sd the paint was to blame for the plenum melting dont want to upset you Val BUT.., quite often paint will react with various plastics and alter their composition... dont ask me how!! I only got to "O" level in Chemistry... I've seen guys spray cheap motorcycle helmets and end up with a lump of snot on their head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 considering this is not a cheap item and supposed to withstand temperatures within the engine bay... not very plausible imo. Also, surely if it was to react to the paint, it would have done straight away, not after months it's simply their product that has failed, the painted surface is actually intact. As I said, there's already a precedent for this type of failure (well at least one known in the US) and that wasn't even painted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 considering this is not a cheap item and supposed to withstand temperatures within the engine bay... not very plausible imo. Also, surely if it was to react to the paint, it would have done straight away, not after months it's simply their product that has failed, the painted surface is actually intact. As I said, there's already a precedent for this type of failure (well at least one known in the US) and that wasn't even painted. Well I hope your right Val... and they send you out a replacement quickly will they want the old one sending back or just photos of the faulty one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 8, 2006 Author Share Posted August 8, 2006 considering this is not a cheap item and supposed to withstand temperatures within the engine bay... not very plausible imo. Also, surely if it was to react to the paint, it would have done straight away, not after months it's simply their product that has failed, the painted surface is actually intact. As I said, there's already a precedent for this type of failure (well at least one known in the US) and that wasn't even painted. Well I hope your right Val... and they send you out a replacement quickly will they want the old one sending back or just photos of the faulty one? don't know as I just contacted them today mate. Still, I'm not paying anything, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 considering this is not a cheap item and supposed to withstand temperatures within the engine bay... not very plausible imo. Also, surely if it was to react to the paint, it would have done straight away, not after months it's simply their product that has failed, the painted surface is actually intact. As I said, there's already a precedent for this type of failure (well at least one known in the US) and that wasn't even painted. Well I hope your right Val... and they send you out a replacement quickly will they want the old one sending back or just photos of the faulty one? don't know as I just contacted them today mate. Still, I'm not paying anything, that's for sure. Your quite correct , there shouldnt be an issue with this., they should be designed to withstand heat and paint applications..After all it is subjected to oil spillage , coolants , petrol etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 after a few months with no issues at all... the below happens. I'm quite scared of driving the car tbh! rang and emailed Kinetix just now... should I put the standard back on??? Problem is I have no time! earliest will be Thursday... damn! Hopefully they'll back up their lifetime product warranty... doesn't seem too bad, car drives ok... but surely I don't want it to get any worse and it's coming off...spent lots of money and time colourcoding it too, they'll have to sort that I know I'm stupid and have a yellow car (blah blah) but what has actually happened? Can't see from the pics what I'm supposed to be looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revsport Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 I remember there was a guy on the us site about a year ago the same happened to kis V4. Not a good sign. Lew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revsport Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 after a few months with no issues at all... the below happens. I'm quite scared of driving the car tbh! rang and emailed Kinetix just now... should I put the standard back on??? Problem is I have no time! earliest will be Thursday... damn! Hopefully they'll back up their lifetime product warranty... doesn't seem too bad, car drives ok... but surely I don't want it to get any worse and it's coming off...spent lots of money and time colourcoding it too, they'll have to sort that I know I'm stupid and have a yellow car (blah blah) but what has actually happened? Can't see from the pics what I'm supposed to be looking at? Its starting to flex/melt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptist Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 Unless you are sure of exactly what plastics its made of, and what is in the paint/how they react, how can you be sure that the paint hasnt changed the properties of the plastic plenum?? All guess work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 9, 2006 Author Share Posted August 9, 2006 Unless you are sure of exactly what plastics its made of, and what is in the paint/how they react, how can you be sure that the paint hasnt changed the properties of the plastic plenum?? All guess work. well then if it was the paint's fault (i can't believe you lot are actually suggesting this ) there should be some thousands owners in the US with the same issue, having colour coded the plenum, since the very first versions that came out. And as i said before, any reaction would have showed straight after or soon after colourcoding it/fitting it. it's been on for months. I bet the hotter than normal weather is to blame (causing higher than normal engine bay temperatures) to be honest. Still, this should not have happened. Kinetix haven't got in contact yet. Rang them about 5 times yesterday (California times, exactly the times they state they are open) left message, sent email. Let's see how good their Customer Service is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baptist Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 They can be a bit slow to get back to you, you have to keep trying. Always sort you out, once you do get in contact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 Actually I would also think that they may use the paint as a reason to void any product warranty. It may not be that the paint has reacted with the plastic, but it will certainly have acted as an insulator to the plastic. I assume they may say that the plastic will not have been able to dissipate the heat as effectivley with the coating of paint. Just the same as a radiator thick with paint will not dissipate the heat as effectively as one in bare copper. HOWEVER.... The paint would hardly have insulated the plastic to the degree where it alone could be blamed for heat building up to that extent - if it has, Ill spray my loft with it. And I am quite honestlyshocked that they have constructed a plastic part for an engnine bay that is not thermosetting (heat hardens rather than softens). This is a fire hazzard waiting to happen imho, I'd put the standard one back on ASAP until this is sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 plastic doesn't conduct heat afaik... certaintly doesn't conduct as much as aluminium, that's for sure. The type of plastic they used is supposed to withstand engine bay heat, that's the whole point... otherwise how could they market this type of product? Since there's been other cases of this type of failure, this is a classic case of their product failing. The pics of another product doing exactly what mine has done, were of a non painted product, further strenghtening my case. Also, as they have been posting on my350z since the beginning, and saw a large amount of their plenums being painted, if they had received a lot of complaints due to them melting (which they haven't, it's a rare issue) they should have started putting warnings in their instruction packs NOT TO PAINT. Which they haven't. And mine is a recent version of the plenum, just 1 version behind the latest. To be honest, their product on paper is the perfect plenum: retains the oem strut bar, retains the engine cover, saves on quite a lot of weight, adds HP etc. And up to now I was very happy with the product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.