Hoffman5982

So I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but I'm done with this company.

A few months ago I rebuilt my KA. Full ARP everything: Head studs, main studs, and flywheel bolts. I got it running and drove it easy for about 1500 miles. My first time back at the track I made it about 10-15 laps in when my flywheel fell off. Luckily I was at low rpm when it happened and it didn't take my feet off, but it beat the crap out of my crank meaning a full tear down ensued. At the time I assumed I must have been at fault, maybe I didn't fully torque it down.

The first bit of trouble started when I was reassembling everything. As I was tightening the main studs I had a stud snap. Weird. I measured all of them and found another had stretched. I emailed ARP, they sent me replacements. Go to finish the assembly and ANOTHER stud stretched on me. Mind you, at this point I've borrowed a Snap on torque wrench. I email them telling them I need another stud, nothing. 3 emails later with no response I finally get them on the phone and get another sent my way. That's annoying but whatever. Everything is finally torqued and good. While installing the flywheel I followed the ARP instructions verbatim. 242 Loctite on the threads, ARP lube under the heads. I went over each bolt 4 times to ensure they were torqued to 95ft/lbs. All is well. Got the motor in and running.

Not even 40 miles into driving I hear the sound again. Clutch would barely engage and I knew exactly what was up. I pulled the trans and found that I could wiggle the clutch/flywheel assembly. I pulled the clutch off and one fw bolt had backed most of the way out, the other 5 were taken off by hand. Luckily I caught it before it did any real damage.

Now here is where I give ARP the benefit of the doubt. I'm using an XTD flywheel. I have been for 4 years and never had an issue, but these 2 were brand new. They have a powder coated finish, even around the fw bolt holes. What I assume happened since the finished was flaked off around the bolts afterwards is that the coating cracked and allowed the bolts to back out. Again, this was never an issue previously, but I also didn't run ARP bolts before.

Let's say that is the case (I won't find out because I have ordered new OEM bolts and will be running those), the problem I have with ARP is I have once again reached out to them telling them what was going on, and in the case that it was caused by faulty hardware they have cost me quite a bit of money and seat time, the least they could do is respond with something, anything. It has been 3 days and I haven't received anything. So that's an issue I've had with 3 of their products(2 sets of fw bolts and main studs), I've been at serious risk of losing limbs twice now, and they can't even be bothered to respond. I'll be sticking to oem hardware from now on, they have lost my business for good.

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jumpman2334

that's a bummer. I wonder if a batch of was improperly heat treated (snapping and stretching)? I have extended wheel studs on my altezza and we have used arps stuff for years on the sprint car I work on from time to time and have never had a problem with their stuff.

hanzbrady

So out of curiosity have you measured the thickness of the mounting flange on the XTD flywheel vs an OEM one? I'm curious to see if it's thicker.

As per the main studs did you measure them to see if they had yielded prior to installing them the second time? Often times when I hear customers say they snapped a stud there's a simpler answer than ARP manufacturing them wrong.

I wholeheartedly believe manufacturers mess up I deal with it for a living, it's just rare to see an ARP material failure.

As per their customer service that's just a hallmark of a large manufacturer. You have to keep in mind that to them it is not their job to service the end customer, that is the responsibility that the retailer shoulders.

I'm not saying that it's right, or even something that you as a consumer should expect but it is a reality in this industry.

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Tempo

Very well said. Super interested to hear back from OP on this seeing you worked at mazworx hanz and know first hand what products work and don't. Not to discredit OP on his skills but it could very well be user error. I think it was nice for ARP to take his word for it and send replacements out twice, but like mentioned, it could be a small run bad batch too..


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IG - allen.kerose

240KA

i don't actively go out looking for ARP reviews very often and you really don't see that many negative things being said about them during daily forum or FB scrolling(maybe i just ignore them), but i remember coming across this a while back. if i remember correctly, they treated him kind of shitty acting like their shit don't stink or something.

Hoffman5982

On the main studs, I did not measure them until the first issue(one snapped, one stretched). After measuring them I found that only the one was past the limit. Once those replacements came in, the 2nd one stretched. I fully accept the possibility of user error, but at that point I was being extra cautious, using a known good torque wrench and liberally applying the ARP lube to the stud threads, the nut threads, and both sides of the washers. I've also been told by others that you shouldn't torque them down twice which I think is ridiculous as you have to do so in order to measure bearing clearances. I have also heard this is a very common issue on their SR20 main studs and its a reason a lot of people will only run the head studs.

As for the flywheel, I have not measured the thickness. I fully believe the finish on it is what caused this issue. Regardless, I ordered new oem bolts, wire wheeled all of the finish off around the bolt holes, and applied red loctite to both the bolt threads and the threads inside the crank, so hopefully the issue is solved. My main complaint is with their customer service. I appreciated them replacing the studs that they did even after I told them I was more than happy to pay for them. They still could have responded to at least one of my attempts to contact them.

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afishysilvia

Just to add, I ordered a set of header bolts from them for my LS1 and had two snap on me as well. Torqued to their spec using their lube, so I feel you on the frustration side of things.

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5280VertDET

http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=658417

Sheesh... talk about timing... wonder if there was an out break...


Also, to be noted I have only used ARP flywheel bolts on my SR and 600 miles in they're just fine and went in no problem. Got them from JGY as they were in stock, so I don't know how old of stock they were.

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S13 Vert | SR | PE1420 | 5-Speed | 15x9.5 - 0 |

TheRealSy90

You know main studs are SUPPOSED to stretch and should be installed with a stretch gauge and not just with a torque wrench.. And yes in a perfect world build engine, a new set would be used to measure bearing clearances, and another new set would be used for assembly. Obviously if installed properly with a stretch gauge to verify that they don't stretch beyond the limit then one set is usually able to work for both.

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Tempo

Edit: disregard

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IG - allen.kerose