Bossdog

I sent my front Pfadt Featherlight Coilovers back to afe/Pfadt for rebuild. They rebuilt them and sent them back to me and one had a max adjustment range of 26 clicks and the other one has 31 click range. I have been calling and emailing AFE Control form months and months. I always speak with the same customer service guy, but he can never get an answer from his engineering staff. I have begged him to let me speak direct to an engineer or the guy who actually rebuilds the coilovers but he will not.

Anyone else have issue communicating with afe Control / Pfadt?

KnightDriveTV

You know how I got to the bottom of my issues...I walked up to certain people at SEMA with lots of other people atanding there...lol. Problem solved.

To my understanding there is another guy rebuilding these that had the proper seals and parts after the "pfadt incident" and before the AFe deal. Its in a thread somewhere where people asked about rebuiorebu Pfadts.

I think the reality is, in the future...probably gonna have to go a different route.

crimlwC6

My experience is phone calls are not returned. They did rush an order to me a year ago after sending the wrong parts, so that resolved well. I place a phone call last week and never got a return call.

davidfarmer

I almost chimed in earlier..............they are decent street parts, but not really track worthy. They don't hold up, and they can't be rebuilt any better than they are when they fail.

Hi Volts Z06

Bossdog

I did finally get a call form the (new) suspension production manager at aFe Control. He was very pleasant and eager to help resolve my issue.
Bottom line: The additional clicks I have in 1 coilover is a result of tolerance stacking and is something observed in new production. He assured me additional clicks (adjustment) are after the needle valve is fully open/extracted and does not affect setting performance. He offered to readjust the one coliover with 30 clicks to match the others. Given it is apparently inconsequential, I'm not inclined to remove again and send in.

Werks

Hmm.. so the suspension production manager basically told you that of the 4x coilovers you received back from being rebuilt by aFe it is completely fine that 1x of them has an aditional 4-5 clicks of adjustment range because the additional clicks do nothing as they occur after the needle valve is fully open???? Sounds like . When you got them back they provided you with shock dyno graphs so that you can verify that all 4x shocks are actually valved the same right?

Bossdog

KnightDriveTV

I didn't receive the shock dyno report in the end personally, but...my PFadts poured out oil upon install (I got some of the last ones when the black friday incident happened). I was able to get some great help from a particular guy at AFe and they've been real good since, no issues at all. No shock dyno, but given how things happened, I was just grateful AFe helped me out and I appreciated it 100%. I feel like my Pfadts are a little oversprung for the street but...overall they feel good.

Olitho

Yes, the seals used by Pfadt shortly before the company was sold to aFe were very problematic. In theory they were a good seal. In practice they did not work out well.

aFe has been working hard to make good on Pfadt issues that shortly prior to the sale were a big problem. The problems were headers that had poor fitment. aFe has a ton of experience in that area. They redid all the jigs and now that problem is gone. For the shocks they have changed out the seals and rebuilt untold number of shocks for customers who had problems. They have the money and the company culture to make things right. They are multi-multi fold larger than Pfadt Engineering and they have tremendous resources and equipment at their three large facilities not too far from where I live.

lbk16

Is AFe rebuilding coilovers again? I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly) that AFe was no longer rebuilding coilovers.

Werks

They may have the money but if the service that the people above are commenting on that they have been receiving is them "having the company culture to make things right" then it looks like they still got a whole lot of work left to do. You have always been a big defender of that company and their products though, didn't you help broker the sale of them to aFe or something like that?

Olitho

Brokering is not the right word as that conveys a legal meaning. I introduced Aaron Pfadt to Nick the CEO of aFe Power, some months after Aaron closed his doors. It was a shame I thought to have all that IP and product waste away, not to mention the orphaned state that would place all the buyers of their product. Yes, I have been an advocate for Pfadt/aFe as I have been for Forgestar, AP, Phoenix Performance, Hoosier and others. Through my years of racing from coast-to-coast I have gotten to know the principals and key personnel at all these companies. When I like and use their products, and when I like the people and culture I will become one of their biggest advocates. aFe is a good company working to rehabilitate a tarnished brand they purchased that has some good products.

RapidC84B

I have AFE bars on my C7. Good product, crap instructions and poor service after the fact. They hashed together install instructions using C5/6 diagrams and info and have completely wrong torque specs and completely omit that the C7 front bar uses a torque-to-yield one-time use fastener. They didn't bother responding when I sent them pics of the OEM service manuals showing their specs were all wrong asking for clarification/verification as I'd never seen a TTY bolt used for a swaybar. Sure enough it is!

RichieRichZ06

You're one of the lucky ones. I've seen several different cars break Pfadt parts and a couple of those failures resulted in cars crashing on track. We will not install or repair anything in the shop that has their name on it.

RapidC84B

Olitho

A multi-time national champ uses the three piece Pfadt bars not only on his car, but others cars that make the podium that are set-up by him. He and his car are undoubtedly the fastest privateer Corvette in sanctioned racing that is not funded by GM.

I personally have used the same bars since 2010 without any incident or problem. I finally just replaced both of mine six months ago after a crash at Thunderhill that essentially totaled that chassis. And I do as many laps and races as just about anybody, probably a lot more. Proper installation has a lot to do with success.

shane p

I cant believe any company would buy a company that has had so many problems like Pfadt. Pfadt seemed to have a lot of good ideas but **** poor engineered.

KnightDriveTV

Like stated above though, Pfadt had a ton of IP value, connections, R&D, etc. The company certainly had value to be owned, likely at cents on the dollar, given the state the company was in...so for AFe, it was a pure win...they even got Aaron with it so...

z06801

My St1 car is pretty much a rolling Pfadt catalog, from camber kit, some of the first two way shocks Aaron made, comp bars, trans mounts, motor mounts, I've never had any problems with any of it.