FUN LS1
10-08-2009, 17:54
Original thread:
http://jkowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15547
So I spent two hours at Xenon's corporate building having a chat with their VP and their lead designer/fabricator. Before I go any further I'll just say that Xenon came through and stood by their warranty - and now is doing their homework. Boils down to they are well aware that the urethane they are using is warping in the sun and that they will now begin carrying support brackets for the front and rear in their wide flares, and smaller support brackets for the front in the narrower style. If you order a Xenon kit now, you will get the brackets.
Basically they explained to me that if they made the urethane any stiffer (which would prevent the sag) they'd shatter instead of flex. The support brackets - which are now shipping in all wide kits, are supposed to alleviate it. In my case, the support brackets failed not because of install error - but because the sheet metal on the front and rear of the Jeep's body is too thin to work well with the "nutzert" hardware they ship with kits. In some places the sheet metal is so thin that when you torque down on the nutzerts they fail. They are going to rewrite their install instructions telling people to not torque down so hard. They ended up stripping a few of the nutzerts themselves when replacing my flares. I have a few extra holes on each side on my rear fenders. The lead fabricator agrees that they need to research new mounting hardware.
So - in the end, they installed a new set of narrower flares which we will see if end up warping in the sun. Now that they've been installed by Xenon themselves there care be no question over installation issues.
We'll see and only the trail will tell.
-Jason
As some of you may know I've been having fitment and quality issues with my Xenon fender flares. They are drooping (sagging) and don't fit well against my Jeep's body. Originally purchased in June.
I went to their site this morning and filled out the claim form to be issued an RMA. An hour later I received a phone call from "Dr. Xenon" aka Charlie who expressed surprise about the issues I listed in my claim form. He talked to me for a few minutes, asked a few questions, then asked me to snap some photos so he can see what's going on. I've listed them below.
Turns out they are located just a few miles from me so I might be swinging by their shop this week to see what they say. I've expressed that I do not want an exchange - I've never actually seen a set that fit well and don't sag.
We'll see what they say - but I was very surprised to receive a phone call the same day I filled out the form. So far - so good.
-Jason
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0263.jpg <-- front pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0264.jpg <-- front pass side gap at middle of flare
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0265.jpg <-- front pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0266.jpg <-- front pass side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0267.jpg <-- rear pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0268.jpg <-- rear pass side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0269.jpg <-- front pass side supporting bracket
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0270.jpg <-- front pass side support bracket
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0271.jpg <-- front driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0272.jpg <-- front drier side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0273.jpg <-- front driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0274.jpg <-- rear driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0275.jpg <-- rear driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0276.jpg <-- rear driver side bolts
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0277.jpg <-- rear driver side bolts backing out
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0278.jpg <-- rear driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0279.jpg <-- rear driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0280.jpg <-- pass side front and rear droops
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0281.jpg <-- driver side front and rear droop
http://jkowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15547
So I spent two hours at Xenon's corporate building having a chat with their VP and their lead designer/fabricator. Before I go any further I'll just say that Xenon came through and stood by their warranty - and now is doing their homework. Boils down to they are well aware that the urethane they are using is warping in the sun and that they will now begin carrying support brackets for the front and rear in their wide flares, and smaller support brackets for the front in the narrower style. If you order a Xenon kit now, you will get the brackets.
Basically they explained to me that if they made the urethane any stiffer (which would prevent the sag) they'd shatter instead of flex. The support brackets - which are now shipping in all wide kits, are supposed to alleviate it. In my case, the support brackets failed not because of install error - but because the sheet metal on the front and rear of the Jeep's body is too thin to work well with the "nutzert" hardware they ship with kits. In some places the sheet metal is so thin that when you torque down on the nutzerts they fail. They are going to rewrite their install instructions telling people to not torque down so hard. They ended up stripping a few of the nutzerts themselves when replacing my flares. I have a few extra holes on each side on my rear fenders. The lead fabricator agrees that they need to research new mounting hardware.
So - in the end, they installed a new set of narrower flares which we will see if end up warping in the sun. Now that they've been installed by Xenon themselves there care be no question over installation issues.
We'll see and only the trail will tell.
-Jason
As some of you may know I've been having fitment and quality issues with my Xenon fender flares. They are drooping (sagging) and don't fit well against my Jeep's body. Originally purchased in June.
I went to their site this morning and filled out the claim form to be issued an RMA. An hour later I received a phone call from "Dr. Xenon" aka Charlie who expressed surprise about the issues I listed in my claim form. He talked to me for a few minutes, asked a few questions, then asked me to snap some photos so he can see what's going on. I've listed them below.
Turns out they are located just a few miles from me so I might be swinging by their shop this week to see what they say. I've expressed that I do not want an exchange - I've never actually seen a set that fit well and don't sag.
We'll see what they say - but I was very surprised to receive a phone call the same day I filled out the form. So far - so good.
-Jason
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0263.jpg <-- front pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0264.jpg <-- front pass side gap at middle of flare
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0265.jpg <-- front pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0266.jpg <-- front pass side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0267.jpg <-- rear pass side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0268.jpg <-- rear pass side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0269.jpg <-- front pass side supporting bracket
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0270.jpg <-- front pass side support bracket
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0271.jpg <-- front driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0272.jpg <-- front drier side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0273.jpg <-- front driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0274.jpg <-- rear driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0275.jpg <-- rear driver side droop
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0276.jpg <-- rear driver side bolts
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0277.jpg <-- rear driver side bolts backing out
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0278.jpg <-- rear driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0279.jpg <-- rear driver side gap
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0280.jpg <-- pass side front and rear droops
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/signedfor4/my%20jeep/xenonflares/IMG_0281.jpg <-- driver side front and rear droop