I wasn't planning an attack on Daryle. Sorry if you took it that way. Since he did respond to the list, I feel that I should take his letter point-by-point. My responses are prefaced by a ----
Phil -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Daryle Redlin Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 4:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [F500] Kodiak Rim shell issues Hello, Well before everyone starts to burn me on a pole I thought I would wade in to give a slightly different outlook on things. I can understand racers wanting everything to last forever and never break but that isn't really the way things work. ---- First, I wasn't trying to burn you on a pole. Just wanted to know who else has seen this issue, and warn others to watch out for it. Did I expect them to last forever??? No, I just wanted a quality set of wheels that would last more than about 6 races. Want to see my logbook? If I was running track record type times, or had any significant off track excursions, that would be different. The first statement most customers give me is "I want the lightest wheel you can make", so we try to accommodate. Now, we don't get stupid and make the wheels super light but they are on the light side. The first 10in wheels that we made, or sold rather, were not even made by us and to my knowledge we replaced all of the parts over the years. Now the first batch of Kodiak wheels were sized based on what some customers told us they wanted, that turned out to be a problem. They worked but were almost impossible to mount without damage. We thought we were doing the right thing. We have since changed our process and rim shell thickness and haven't heard much from anyone. ---- I will admit, you did replace the shells in 2003 due to the mentioned issues. But I think these were still before you had your machine in-house running. The current shells are better, but seem to lack some engineering. Now in Jay Novaks case we made only the rim shells and at the time we w! ere having some teething issues with our new spinning machine and we made some parts that were not up to Jays standard. We replaced them and then at the runoffs they had a wheel failure, now, Jays car doesn't have a wheel center like a conventional three piece wheel and after much discussion with Jay it was decided that since the Douglas wheels were welded together it stiffened the area where the rim shells took the most load and that was why they didn't have any issues. We are in the process of redesigning the tooling to give a larger radius on the nose and hopefully that will suffice, but what if it doesn't. Is that our issue or the customers? ---- Is that your issue or the customer? Kind of depends on who specified the design and materials. In my case, I did neither. I think that customers sometimes forgot what business we are in. We make custom, one off sets of wheels the best we can. Can we make them stronger, you bet. Will customers complain because the wheels are now heavier? you bet again. Racing is a fine line. ---- The issue here, I believe, is the bend radius. The inside of the bend is almost a zero radius. Wouldn't need to make the wheels heavier to improve this. Things do change. Whether you like it or not the wheel loads now are higher than they were say five or six years ago. We don't really get much feedback from f500 customers. We haven't sold an f500 wheel in probably over a year. ---- How are the wheel loads in comparison to 2003? That is when you shipped me the other wheel shells. Also, wouldn't the higher wheel loads be derived from higher cornering speeds? Faster lap times? Hate to admit it, but I'm no faster than I was in 2003. Haven't been in the car since middle of 2004. I thought that I was being perfectly fair in offering to sell the replacement rim shells to Phil Green for wholesale. I don't remember him mentioning that he phoned the shop at about 6:45pm and I was still here working. ---- I guess I'm sorry I bothered you when you were working late. I work late all the time. My phone is on 24/7 for my customers. Didn't really know this was an issue. I wasn't full of excuses at all, rather suggested that I didn't have an exact answer as to why the part cracked. I looked into our stock on the floor and told him that we could ship him replacements on Monday. What is wrong with that? I would like to see other companies treat there customers as well after they purchased product three or so years ago, then call up and complain. ---- Not even going here. If you think our wheels are no good why would you run them in the rain? By the way, for safety reasons you cannot just weld the wheels up and continue to use them. If they crack they are done. I'm sure you'll say that the welding worked but it is not a good idea. Ask Jay, he'll tell you why, remember this ! stuff is T6. ---- Yep, you are right. Shouldn't have welded them. Don't have any more money to throw at this thing right now. If it rains, they will be on the car. If it doesn't, they won't. Anyway, it may not matter at all what I have said but I feel better now. I work hard for my customers and have always tried to do what is right. If that is not good enough for the f500 crowd well I'm sorry for that. Best wishes. Daryle Redlin Kodiak Motorsports Inc. ---- Daryle, I wish you the best. Phil _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! *** _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! ***
