Where is Pro-Touring F-body located?

[badazz81z28]

I have dealt with PTFB years ago and not a good experience. Quality was low, shipping was slow, and the parts are budget components. I felt I paid premium prices for what I got (junk). I bought a complete front end steering components. All "Elgin" brand and the ball joints studs popped all the threads off under torque. The upper control arms bump stop side bar was welded in crooked. Diameter of the tubing is small. I ended up trashing all his stuff and stepped over to Hotchkis. There is definitly a huge difference in quality and product ruggedness when you compare the two side by side.

What I don't understand is vast amount of people who have experienced the same to include the most common issue of long back orders and people still fall for it. Its not worth saving a few bucks guys.

In my opinion, if you want budget control arms or SFCs, PTFB is going to get you there. If you want coils, leafs, steering components, shocks buy from the source. Buying leafs and springs from PTFB, you might as well just buy from JC Whitney or Tamraz.

[tflyboy77]

Badazz, I hate to hear people having bad experiences with company's but am quite the opposite story as yourself. I run 90% of PTFB components on my 77 TA with zero issues. I don't just drive my car on the street either. I stretch all 550hp and 600tq out on the road course and autocross at least once a month for fun. Dave is a one man operation so you can see back ups in production as demand for products increases but in my experience and after talking to Dave on the phone he explains everything in detail. He has spent numerous hours on the phone with me explaining the theory behind a part or if I have questions about parts availability he gives me the whole story and holds nothing back. Being honest and running a business that you are truly passionate about are qualities I wish every shop owner had. Most just want to make a buck.
Long story short. Call Dave and talk with him, you won't be sorry.

[badazz81z28]

Badazz, I hate to hear people having bad experiences with company's but am quite the opposite story as yourself. I run 90% of PTFB components on my 77 TA with zero issues. I don't just drive my car on the street either. I stretch all 550hp and 600tq out on the road course and autocross at least once a month for fun. Dave is a one man operation so you can see back ups in production as demand for products increases but in my experience and after talking to Dave on the phone he explains everything in detail. He has spent numerous hours on the phone with me explaining the theory behind a part or if I have questions about parts availability he gives me the whole story and holds nothing back. Being honest and running a business that you are truly passionate about are qualities I wish every shop owner had. Most just want to make a buck.
Long story short. Call Dave and talk with him, you won't be sorry.

I have talked to Dave before. He is a good sales man who always has an excuse to cover is shortfalls. Its always someone elses fault (which it is when you rely on out sourcing). Most of the time it is a slow powder coater or a vender.

His parts and service may have improved a little in the past 5 or so years, but I'm done. Only the big names for me. I will probably be spending more money, but at least I know what I have is bar none high quality.

BTW, Hotchkis has pretty kick azz customer service too.

[gflentge]

I'm with tflyboy77......Dave is a great guy and his products are well engineered, high quality and built in the USA (Grayslake, IL) by an entrepreneurial businessman offering great products at a great price point. I've been to his shop and appreciate his abilities and production as a small business in a world-wide marketplace.

I run some Hotchkis stuff, some PTFB stuff, some Comp Engineering stuff, QA1 stuff, etc......

All of the parts I have are all good quality and I have no complaints.....Dave's products stand up to any and all of the other manufacturers I run.

My dealings with Dave are all positive, and I appreciate his personal knowledge, attention and ability. Dave is a one-man shop, at this time, which I'm sure is how many of the other companies started out. His personal attention to customers can sometimes get overwhelming and probably slow his production. I was with him at his shop for 1/2 day on a Saturday and I think he was on the phone repeatedly offering free consulting and guidance on 2nd gen tire fitment, suspension geometry, caster/camber, and all sorts of other questions from callers and not once did I hear him say "I can sell you something ......." His small business status most likely suffers in comparison to the "order today and receive tomorrow.." Mentality that I often times fall victim to. When he isn't in production, Dave is in Shipping, or email, or telephone customer service, or r&d, or accounts payable/accounts receivable......

His products are all good quality and I understand that he relies on other suppliers to support him. If he can't get parts, or powder coating orders done, his production slows until the supplier gets him restocked or back in sync.

That all being said, outsourcing is a natural progression in growing a small business into something more. But outsourcing also can lead to other issues involving poor quality, poor customer service, and other negatives.

I can wait a bit for good quality parts for a good price. And I feel good supporting a small businessman grow his potential future.

Just my 2-cents

G

[sinnner70]

I experienced a bit of both with Dave but in the end was disappointed with his customer service and commitment to do the right thing.

Yes, he took the time with me initially, being readily available to answer questions (no issues getting through to him during this period, literally every call answered). I initially engaged him in November of 2012 and ultimately made a purchase of front end rebuild kit, leafs, body bushings, wilwood rears and UCAs with tall ball joints. I am in Canada and have in-laws who snowbird down south so made arrangements for the parts to be shipped to them to save on shipping fees. In doing this, they weren't coming back until March/April timeframe which would give Dave plenty of time to fill my order. I did my research as well and read about the mixed experiences but felt overall this was a reputable product and the window I was giving him would be more than enough for him to meet the delivery date I needed him to. To help ensure this, or so I thought, I agreed to pay him in full, up front (in November) in order to mitigate any delays due to powdercoating or other supplier issues. Said as much to Dave which he confirmed would give him plenty of time to fill the order.

Shipment time came and some parts were not ready to go. I was not happy to hear this as he and I discussed and agreed to (and again, why I paid in full up front), that the parts would be in hand ready for me to give him the go to ship, but I didn't bother relaying my thoughts to him as I felt it would be pointless. He scrambled though and got the last part to my in-laws a day prior to them leaving. Made me sweat unnecessarily in my opinion but he got them there.

When I got the parts, all looked good, I readily admit that I didn't scour the part IDs, rather did more of an inventory check. Regardless, wouldn't have made a difference as they were here now. Got them to my shop and the rotors were for a Ford 9" (I have a 12 bolt which of course was outlined in the order process) and a pair of LCA bushings weren't for my car.

So now came to dealing with Dave to get the right parts sent asap as the car is down at the shop halfway unassembled on a lift. Without going into a full chronology, this is where the questionable reputation came into play. Some initial calls answered with an apology and will get my distributor to send the right brakes, yada yada. Had my shop order the new bushings as it was quick for them to do so and so they could complete that work. The majority of follow up calls unanswered and voicemails not returned. When he did, his distributor was the cause of what turned out to be a lenghty delay. Dates promised, missed, no follow up calls, they had to come from me. Anyways, got the rotors mid-July, wrong off set, we made them work fortunately but at my expense of course. No offer of anything from Dave for the delays and trouble and additional costs to me as a result other than replacing wrong parts. The last correspondence from him was to make arrangements for shipping the other rotors back. Maybe he didn't owe me any restitution but the bottom line was that he had my money since November and didn't hold up his end of the bargain by having everything ready and accounted for as agreed upon, costing me additional expenses around parts and labour required to make everything work and most important to me, the availability of my car for what is a short season to begin with up north. Won't be a returning customer.

[badazz81z28]

Thats exactly why I now rely on the big names...Parts are in stock and they ship the correct stuff. No worries to keep a project on a lift. Its been years, but I recall sending a part back for being incorrect. I want to say it was the drag link.

[riles]

I've bought from the so called big names too and have received crap, not at all what they show in their catalogs or on their site and had difficult times getting the correct items or no refund because I "put a bolt to the item", yet never actually used the item, big $$ that I had to eat. I just received a part I ordered (in october) from a BIG NAME company, was placed on back order after back order and now have to send it back as it won't fit. After talking to a person who has no clue what I was actually ordering, I finally got approved for a return. So BIG NAME doesn't always mean good service or quality.

I agree with gflent, wholeheartedly. Dave has done some work for me (recently)and I was impressed with the quality of the product. He is a one man business and does 90% of the fabbing and welding himself (Some parts are outsourced).Unfortunately, because Dave works alone, he does get back logged because of high demand at certain times of the year. I just talked to him (cpl weeks ago) about getting some more items (that is a one off part I'm working on/ non F-body)and was advised there may be some delay, because he's catching up on his best Jan./Feb orders. I can wait because Dave is knowledgeable and a great resource that I am happy to continue doing business with.

Like others have said, at least call him.

[sinnner70]

I agree that Dave is great to talk to. Had good conversations with him around what I wanted for my car (sales). Conversations around where parts were didn't centre around his accountability (service).

My post was rather long winded, this would summarize my experience and others' that I have read on other forums pointing to what is at the crux of dealing with Dave better:

Money not in hand = Dave very likely to answer phone
Part not in hand = Dave much less likely to answer phone

That is what he needs to greatly improve on. Busy is understood, why his availability tends to depend on the above is what's questionable. Anyways, it doesn't matter for me, once burned, twice shy. My dealings with Hotchkiss for my springs and Bilsteins was very positive. Will go back to them for future needs.

Would be interested to know how it's going with Bruteforcehighspeed.

[bruteforcehighspeed]

Thank you to everyone for your replies and insight. I will order some parts from PTFB and we will see how it is. Thx!!

[Aluminum]

Sorry! i don't know particular. But i suggest, you can find in google.

[LeighP]

I've been importing parts to Australia for Dave for a few years.....sometimes I have to wait a little while for production to catch up, but I've never not got anything. The couple of small errors on packing that I have experienced were fixed as soon as possible by Dave, so I have no gripes...especially as I'm at the end of a long supply line, here.
My car was lots of PTFB parts in it.....everything seems to work fine.
I always keep in mind that Dave is a one man, small business.....another thing I like is the ability to discuss and special order stuff. My springs are an example, I wanted a slightly higher front setting than his regular GT springs. He supplied springs custom wound, and the car sits exactly where I wanted it......try that from a large supplier.

[bruteforcehighspeed]

I agree that Dave is great to talk to. Had good conversations with him around what I wanted for my car (sales). Conversations around where parts were didn't centre around his accountability (service).

My post was rather long winded, this would summarize my experience and others' that I have read on other forums pointing to what is at the crux of dealing with Dave better:

Money not in hand = Dave very likely to answer phone
Part not in hand = Dave much less likely to answer phone

That is what he needs to greatly improve on. Busy is understood, why his availability tends to depend on the above is what's questionable. Anyways, it doesn't matter for me, once burned, twice shy. My dealings with Hotchkiss for my springs and Bilsteins was very positive. Will go back to them for future needs.

Would be interested to know how it's going with Bruteforcehighspeed.

Sorry, it's been a year, but here is my experience with PTFB: Purchased mid February 2014 and by end of March 2014, I was still waiting for my order to be shipped. I could not reached Dave on either phone or by email. I finally reached him and he confirmed my order was shipped 1 1/2 months later. When I received the product, I have to admit that I was very impressed. I was a quality product that was easy to install. It looks and works great. The issue is not the products but the service. I purchased for 1000$, I expect an answer and some follow up on my order if there are delays. The delays were the usual that were mentioned previously (i.e. powder coating, etc.) I am considering purchasing a complete suspension set up from PTFB but I am debating if I want to deal with the delays and bad service again....

[kevs79]

I am in the process of getting my suspension parts from Keith at Custom Works. He has been great to deal with so far. Answers the phone and emails promptly. There have been some issues w/the supplier on my leafs. They were marked with the wrong part#s. He has been fast to respond to the issues so far.
http://www.customworksperformance.net/

[bruteforcehighspeed]

I am in the process of getting my suspension parts from Keith at Custom Works. He has been great to deal with so far. Answers the phone and emails promptly. There have been some issues w/the supplier on my leafs. They were marked with the wrong part#s. He has been fast to respond to the issues so far.
http://www.customworksperformance.net/

They seem to focus on Camaros mostly. Which makes me nervous about buying parts for my Trans Am. I've heard several business make the F-Body claim but I have had problems with some of the products that fit the Camaro but not the Firebird. Actually, some products will fit the Firebird and not the Trans Am!

Anybody buy products for a Trans Am from Custom Works Performance?