jft69z

Hey there! Just wanted to share a review of some CF parts I recently received. After an unfortunate incident with a lift arm, I found myself in need of a right side CF Skirt. After looking up dealer & online prices and some research here, I decided on a set from RPI Designs. Called first thing in the morning & spoke to Don. He was very nice and mentioned they made the parts there & they're also in stock. When asked about returns in case of issues, he said "no problem, just return them". Great!!

After a couple of days they arrived, packaged very well and looked pretty good. He mentioned they reinforce the back side with fiberglass and that is what probably accounts for the near 1 pound weight increase over stock. The finish was also white, so I sprayed a little trim black on the back side. All the holes were in the right place, but a bit smaller than stock because Don said they use screws to attach (supplied). Since my car already had rivets for the stock skirts, I opened the holes up a bit with a 'unibit' and used the GM Molding Kit # 25938054 which included the rivets and butyl patch for the rear rivets.

They also added a foam strip along part of the skirt, but it wasn't like the factory did it, so I peeled it off and added my own along the entire length of the skirt. In all, an acceptable replacement and both left and right sides are included.


A couple of days later after seeing the skirts were OK, I researched and ordered a front splitter from them as well. I figured I might as well put the good factory unit in the attic and use a less expensive one for daily driving around. I've had one or 2 close calls with it and imagine it may just be a matter of time before it got damaged

It arrived a couple of days later but right off the bat I noticed the CF weave wasn't the same quality as the above mentioned skirts. The area around the brake ducts especially are pretty wavy & sort of looked like a bunch of worms, lol. It also weighs about a pound more than stock. Also when flipping the unit over I noticed a bright orange sticker that said "Made in Taiwan". Hmmm. Contacted Don the next day with pics and requested a return. He got back to me saying the boss says they're all that way and he sent me a little 1" picture from their website that the boss said shows it as well. Hmmmmm.

Well after a bunch more email exchanges the bottom line is the owner will only refund just the item price, no shipping either way. I mentioned they advertise 'Made in USA" and Don also stated that in the initial conversation, but the "Made in Taiwan" sticker clearly disputes that. They never did address that concern in any of the correspondence.

Oh well. I'm not here to bash them, but an informed consumer is a good thing. The splitter would be great if you have a car that maybe you track and want to save your expensive factory one from damage...and appearance isn't a major factor.

It's hard to capture it, much more noticeable in person, but here are a couple of pics:




The Factory one is shown at the top still attached to the car:

Katech_Zach

It's unfortunate that we have to compete on price with companies who claim they are made in the USA but are made in Taiwan (or China and Mexico). Our carbon fiber parts are made right here in Michigan and you'll never see pulled weave like that.

shane p

That looks bad, Its a bunch of bs when someone says made in the USA and then come to find out its not, sounds like false advertisement.

Jimnc

This weekend I installed the Katech CF splitter I bought about a month ago. The screw holes matched up exactly and the weave and shine are as good if not better than the OEM.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the enormous shipping box that has been sitting in my office the past month.

jft69z

Yeah, here is what I thought I was getting after doing some research:




Here is what I got instead:

LFZ

RPI skirts usually fit on the car wavy too....stuff is cheap for a reason. You get what you pay for.

G3Carbon

People have no shame because it's only about money for them.

What's worse, is an owner/client will come in and not only allow that sort of behavior, but they go a step further and both defend the guy lying and spit on the guys calling it out.

Honestly, in life we almost always deserve the monsters we create.

Like Jason (Katech) said: we make them here.

Want to test us?

Stop by any time, announced or not.

On the other hand, I've met some really great folks in the nearly 5 years I've been at this. THEY make it all worth it.

jft69z

The skirts actually fit pretty good. Well, the skirt....I only put one on for now, plan to put the other one on tomorrow to save wear on the original (stone chips). Figure I already have a spare one now, why not use it. If it's wavy after the install, I'll update here.

I ordered a factory side skirt anyways to keep in stock after the fact. Figured someday down the road they will never be available, and at least I'll have original quality parts. It's not about the money.....I'm not afraid to spend it

HighTeq

09Z06pj

Gee, what a surprise. No response from RPI. Tells me all I need to know about them. In fairness, I guess there's not much they can say when there's no doubt they clearly misrepresented the product they're selling. OP, thanks for sharing the info and sorry for your misfortune.

corvettejoe09

Thanks OP for the info. I been pondering about some new CF also. I know where I'm not getting them. Joe

jft69z

So this morning I get an email from RPI. They say they are "willing" to do the following..... I pay to ship the Taiwan part back to them ....at MY cost ....and after they receive it, they will refund the original cost of $555 (485 + 70 shipping). Then he also says: I understand you are upset but I do not see any deal getting better than this one.


My response was:

I'm not paying for any part of that deal. It should not be my responsibility to cover any cost related to this transaction. You said this item was made in your facility and also advertised the same on the Corvette Forum. It is clearly not the case and I shouldn't shoulder any cost related to your deceptive business practice.


Priceless....... Customer service at its finest.

EDIT:
Now I just get a message from the BBB asking if I'll accept RPI's offer. The owner says 'he's offering a return, no problem'......except he apparently forgot to tell them that the 'return' only comes with a partial refund. Even deceiving the BBB. Offer rejected.

G3Carbon

What really stinks is for another couple bucks, you can get a set of ours that are ACTUALLY Made in America. . (I only sell what we make here in house)

I think I may need to run another forum sale again.

Sorry for the trouble you're having.

jft69z

Thanks G3. Had I known this early on, I would have contacted you.

I really thought they made their own stuff based on research that I found right here on the forum. Granted...RPI made those very statements that their stuff was made in the USA....so we've all seen that can't be trusted.

Like I said before, money wasn't the issue.

G3Carbon

I totally hear you. Sometimes the low price stuff is really hard to pass up, even when money isn't an object.

We pay our least experienced technician 15 bucks an hour. What that means, is it's really tough a lot of times for us to compete with the super low cost manufacturers from outside the United States.

Fortunately, what we CAN do is make up for it with a superior product.

Any way you slice it, there's a certain good faith exchange that has to happen between any client and any seller.

There's an expectation that need to be met and no matter what, both sides need to be as honest about the transaction as they can. When one person or the other is less than honest, no good can come from it.

jft69z

The side skirt purchase was to replace a damaged one. The ones they sent were adequate for the price (I ordered a factory one anyways later).

After seeing those, I assumed (yeah, I know...) the splitter would be similar quality. It was just to preserve the good factory one that's on the car and really not needed. Well we've all seen how that's worked out.

I thought I did all the right steps in searching the web, speaking to RPI on the phone, & also searching the forum here.

G3Carbon

What it sounds like I'm hearing is the place of manufacture was the bigger issue, but your last comment left me wondering if it was related to the overall quality.

Either way, as a manufacturer I totally understand the appeal of the pricing and to be fair, I think we (enthusiasts like you and me, not as a business owner), tend to manage our expectations down when the pricing is low.

jft69z

The quality of the weave is poor. Wavy & looks like a bunch of worms on the driveway after a rain storm. I think it's because they tried to lay it down in 1 piece and it stretches all over the place. I scrutinized the factory one pretty close after & noticed that they cut & section individual pieces of cloth around the brake duct areas. It's a nearly imperceptible job they did lining up everything. Really nice work on the OEM splitter

If I were to keep it, every time I walk by it, I will be aggravated.


I get that it's a third of the OEM cost, but when they advertise Made in USA and "YOU WILL NOT FIND A NICER QUALITY PRODUCT.
" as found on another of their advertisements, well you get the picture.

The place of manufacture is an issue, but more from a principle standpoint.

Unreal

Made in the USA is a strange thing. Just left a company that marked everythng "made in the USA". What they did is have it made overseas, then slap on the labels, instructions and put it in a box here. By federal definition, that is adding enough value to claim made in the USA even though the actual product is made overseas.

Allzwell

Wherever it was made - poor quality.
Their actions - terrible
It's too bad that they will continue to take people's money and deceive them until they have no more "customers"