Maval Steering conversion...
 

Just wanted to give everyone the heads up on their customer service.

To begin, I have heard nothing but good things about Maval BUT the experience I have been thru is just aweful.

First off, you will deal with their division called Unisteer Products. The sales rep did NOT seem interested in helping but I still went thru with the order. Most members I have spoken with received their steering rack within 2 to 3 weeks. I am currently going on 6 weeks and still have NO steering rack.

They NEVER call you to provide any kind of update. They repeat the same line everytime you call them to get an update and the "General Manager" that I just spoke with did NOT give a shit if my rack is complete or NOT....He basically said he would send it back to me "as is" if I wanted..

I am under the impression that they have gotten to big and do not care about rebuilding just one rack. To me, when a company forgets about the little people that made them it is a damn shame...I hope they never need us little people again...


So be WARNED.... If you take your FD down for the conversion, have PATIENCE because it will be a long time before it is returned....6 weeks and counting for me..:(

I will NEVER recommend them.....

Sorry to hear this but thank you for sharing with the rest of us so no one else gets screwed. Is Defined still doing conversions?

Currently in the same boat. Maval has my FC rack at the moment. Working on week four at the moment. I'm planning on giving them a call this week to find out the status. I had to repeatedly call and call before getting a sales rep to take my order. No one would call me back to take my money. While doing some research last week I ran across a shop in Austin that does Miata rack conversions for Spec Miata. Think I'm going to give them a call for the next rack and see if they are willing to do a FC rack since the guts are very similar.

Wrong section no?

I'd suggest is it is pertinent enough to place here as the visibility is greater than the bad guy section. You guys are the Mods though so do what you think is best. =)

I think chips motorsports is doing conversions

Thanks Jon...I was thinking of Chips not Defined.

Guess I should have done more research.... I have to be totaly honest and say I am majorly disappointed with Unisteer's customer service.


BUYERS beware and be prepared.... Just want to prepare other members of the LONGGGGGG wait ahead..:egrin:

Thanks for sharing..... it's unfortunate, but seems like the best way to go moving forward is to buy a spare rack and send it in.

My turnaround was a little over a week.
From what i understood Maval always had a spare lying around ready for quick shipment.

You are 100% right Rich...
that's exactly what I did but I had two dead lines I wanted to meet. I ASSumed that I sent the rack in with plenty of time BUT they proved me wrong. :lol:
1) I wanted to install the rack BEFORE re-installing the motor so that it would be easier.
2) I also wanted to have it installed in the FD for our Churrasco meet. Unfortunately both deadlines came and I am still waiting so I just looped the line for now. Just makes it a little harder to install now with everything back in the engine bay.:(

I know.... You and Simon and everyone else I asked received their steering racks back within 2 weeks... That's why I went for it as well....

According to all the employees at Maval that I spoke with, they will NOT stop their production line just to make the parts for ONE rack... Here is a time line for reference..

They received my rack on 9/25/12.
They did not start working on it till 10/28/12. (Because of my constant call backs)
Everytime I called it was at the machine shop "waiting" for the parts to be made. Their favorite response was " Custom racks take time. Some of our other racks take up to 8 weeks"

Funny thing is I supplied the biggest piece of the puzzle.... Go figure...

I will stop ranting now....:lol::lol::lol:

Sorry for the problem you are having with Maval. Just for another option, I second ChipsMotorsorts as mentioned above. I had sent mine in to him to have done, believe it was completed and back to me within two weeks.

Thanks for that info...

I have learned my lesson and if my sons want their racks modified I will definitely send them to Chips.... I will NEVER deal with Maval again....

thanks for the update. I had intended to send my rack to Maval over the winter. Now I will look for other options. Anyone have an idea on pricing between Maval and Chips?

Maval racks.

Painted all black with new boots.
PIcs
http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2569.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2570.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2571.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2572.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2574.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2575.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2576.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2577.jpg

http://www.ihns.org/fd/mavalrack/IMG_2578.jpg


Chips Motorsports unit

Rebuild with new boots all re-plated hardware New much stronger inner tie rods new much stronger outer tie rods. Welded and trimmed out fittings. Looks like an actual OEM factory made manual steering rack
pics..
https://picasaweb.google.com/1133261...rketTieRodEnds


Just a visual and informational only post. That way, it answers many of your questions.

Just contact Chips through their website...everything they do is top notch

Just wanted to chime in that I had a terrible experience with Maval/Unisteer as well. I ordered a reman powered rack from their website with a couple weeks to get my car fixed before a track weekend. The order went through and I waited for the part to come in. And waited... And waited...

After two weeks of not hearing anything, I finally called them, got a bit of run-around, and then was told "we don't have any cores to build. Can you send us yours?"

Who puts a product up for sale online that they don't have and then doesn't communicate to the buyer that it can't be shipped and waits till the buyer calls out of frustration? I cancelled my order and bought a depowered Maval rack from a board member and still got it in the mail in time to install it and get to my track day.

Sad that they have lost their customer focus....

I checked out the Chips rack and it looks amazing....

Somewhat off topic, but how do you like using the Maval rack? Did you have a looped line conversion before or were you using power steering previously? My car currently has just the PS lines looped and I was hoping to reduce effort a bit for track duty. I'm not sure if the Maval conversion will give me that, or just better feel overall.

I went straight from power to the Maval rack. I have a pretty small steering wheel and somewhat wider (245?) tires up front so the steering effort at low speeds is pretty high. I won't be able to AutoX the car in this configuration. On the track, it's still a bit of a workout in some corners but generally not that bad.

Thanks for the update. I'm currently tracking the car with 255 NT-01s up front and it's definitely a good amount of effort and if I run 30 min sessions I'm working pretty hard at the end. I'm not looking to go all the way back to power but I'd like it if I could reduce the effort a bit.

Just an update my FC rack is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Door to door will be right at 5 weeks.

That's better than what I went thru....


My rack arrived last Thursday. Door to door it came to 7 weeks and 1 day.
If you consider when they actually received it at their location then it's 6 weeks and 2 days..:(

Now I'm waiting on some SuperPro rack bushings and new tie rod ends. I will install the rack once everything is recieved.... Hope it's worth it, otherwise I will reinstall the PS and sell the Maval rack...


L8R