Skydive@AI

I feel it's fair to let everyone know that in terms of "bad raps", Hartmann Motorsports has proven to me, that they are making strides, (big ones), towards becoming far more customer service oriented.

A couple of years ago, I purchased a set of Intrax prototype coilovers from someone who had already purchased them on the used market. The understanding was that I would need to spend less than $100 to have a proper set of upper front mounts fabricated, as these were "inverted shock" types. At the time of purchase, the kit was at Hartmann awaiting a rebuild.

It took several weeks, but eventually, Hartmann completed the rebuild, and shipped the coilovers to me, free of charge.

Several months went by, and I tried, at various points to obtain more information about what exactly needed to be fabricated, and why. At times I became frustrated with the Hartmann/Intrax folks, but as it turns out, this wasn't really fair:

Early this year, I spoke in some detail, with Scott Hartmann himself, at the LA Autoshow. As it turns out, the original prototypes were built and provided for *free* to a racing organization in Canada. Intrax had incurred expense, as part of a testing program, and never made a dime. The people in Canada then *sold* these units to an individual in Chicago, at a substantial profit. They were in turn sold to me, when the Chicago owner decided to get something from H&R. So... the real culprit was the profiteer in Canada, who made money at the expense of myself, the Chicago owner, and Scott Hartmann.

Just to be clear...

Hartmann did not sell these units, ever.
Hartmann rebuilt them, and shipped them to me, free of charge.
Hartmann eventually provided me with information that would have allowed me to fabricate the parts I needed to make them work.

In any case, I wanted to let everyone know that Scott was kinde enough to arrange a very reasonable price for me on the latest ARS coilover system, for my S4. I now have a very nice Intrax suspension system, and in the end, it was Scott Hartmann who provided the solution, even though he had little, if anything, to do with the original problem.

I've kind of tracked Bageldog's dilemma, and his nightmares with Zerin's car. (In fact, I rode in Zerin's car at the APR-B-Q before Bageldog ever owned it.) After my own experience with Hartmann, and his willingness to make things right for me, I have to say that I am really beginning to think that he has gotten the short end of the stick there, too. I saw the car yesterday, and it appears to be right again... Yes... Hartmann brokered the car, and yes, they run a busy shop that does a lot more than just Audi tuning... but I don't think it's fair to blame Hartmann for the entirety of Zerin's mess.

Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Fabrice. The ARS system is very nice.

chuangs4

Any update?

Skydive@AI

The transmission is very, very nice... We're still working on the engine tuning. There's a bunch of room to make more power, but the car is running very nicely.

Pat-SoCal

where they a universal style mount or basically an eyelet with a bearing?

Mark P

I think "wraps" are the replacement for a bun on a low-carb diet. "Reputations" is what you want )

markbradford

Actually - I think he was going after "Raps," as in rap sheets.

mpwolf

Huh, I thought he was going for "rep", as in "We kept our rep, bro."

mike5

I think the issue with HMS is that they are not good at fixing problems with cars...they can install turbo kits and suspensions all day long without problems...but when it comes to resolving issues, they come up short (I've actually had them tell me they give up...not in those words but close enough). Otherwise they run a clean shop and work on some fast cars. It's just the troubleshooting skills and doing things right the first time they seem to have issues with.

mike

Skydive@AI

To work properly in a street S4, the would have needed a more robust "pillow ball" type of spherical bearing, in place of the rubberized bushings, on the top endof the fronts.<ul><li><a href="http://users.rcn.com/raudi77/SkydiveS4Suspension/AllComponents.jpg">http://users.rcn.com/raudi77/SkydiveS4Suspension/AllComponents.jpg</a</li></ul>