BEWARE!! Finish Line Denver Horsepower BEWARE!! Finish Line Denver Horsepower

MKMotorsport

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Roughly a year ago I had Finish Line / Denver Horsepower of Colorado install a Maximum Motorsports 4 point in my Mustang. This winter I had it completely apart to install the field retro-fit door bar kit, and SFI harness and harness mount bar, which I did myself. In order to do this, I had to take the entire interior out, and get the car down to where they had it... lo and behold, I find some disturbing stuff. I did my best to represent the issues in these photos, and all these photos represent their untouched, unmodified, as I found it work, of Finish Line Denver Horepower, of Denver Colorado. I was shocked to say the least.... I will do my best to keep the snyde remarks to a minimum, as I'd like this thread to stay as a fair warning to others....

The MM kit is a "bolt in" cage kit, which also replaces the B gussets with nice beefy plated pieces, to mount the main hoop. In going through to re-torque the bolts, I notice MOST of the washers were pulling through, extremely deformed. That is because they had enlarged and ground out almost every single mounting hole in every piece, to make stuff line up, rather than take the time to fit the pieces correctly to the car. The underside of the previously installed washers (these are from the B-pillar gussets) that support the entire main hoop, clearly show the "witness marks" of the underlying hole shape of the bracket, and how large some of them had been enlarged to get the bolts through. I'd have to think in a severe impact, these would simply pull straight through...
IMG_20160319_174742338_zpsekumfvat.jpg

This dent and paint damage was added to my car while in their custody, the paint damage was fresh when I picked it up. The owner acknowledged the damage. It looks as if at some pont during the bar fitment and lifting it in and out of the car, the bar was dropped on the car. There is a severe dent on the inside facing portion of the rear quarter. You can see where the rubber seal now does not fit flush next to the paint damage area. There is some overspray on the external finish in this shot- they did not do that.

IMG_20160319_174843700_zpskvl6y8cw.jpg

Both sill plates were destroyed by them. They attempted to pound them back in, even though there were broke bits of the factory staples in the holes, hence the mounting tab destruction. Owner acknowledged, gave $200 back at the time of pickup; however $200 barely covers the cost of a set of plates for this car.

IMG_20160319_175129491_zpsxt8brinc.jpg

The welds are cold, tall, and ugly. I pointed this out immediately upon pickup to which the owner responded, the "metal was difficult to weld". I'm a hobbiest welder and fabricator (hence why I did the door bars and harness mount bar myself), and I weld quite a bit better than this.

IMG_20160319_175034293_zpss3pzewpt.jpg


The WORST offense by far is this. One of the Bpillar bracket bolts was broke off; that in of itself; no big deal just sloppy work..... whatever. What completely floored me, was the attempt to superficially silicone the broken bolt head in place; to make it look as if it was there, and doing something/ and to hide the fact they broke the bolt and made 0 attempt to either repair it, refasten it in any way, or at the very least be honest and tell me they broke it. After all this is not a superficial styling bar, this is supposed to be the foundation of an actual NHRA legal roll bar/cage setup. Someone's life could depend on this! Silicone is evident on the bottom of the bolt as well as concentrically on the bracket; both spaced almost perfectly so almost imperceptible.

PM me for the rest of the pics unless I find an appropriate way to add them.... (5 pic limit...) wasn't aware of that. I have about 10 total that show all the damage, I'm not going to create another thread and spam up the place as that is NOT my intention.....

IMG_20160319_174958299_zps39sxzeff.jpg

I also have pics of but cannot add here, will not create another thread unless I receive permission from an admin, etc...A verbal description will have to do for now..........

Both rear speaker brackets require clearaning for the main hoop, both are hacked up.

Both rear seat interior trim panels where the main hoop supports pass through to their wheel well mounts, were hacked up with a sidecutter!! with 0 attempt made at smoothing any of the rough chewed up edges.

Both rear interior panel top plates (where the main hoop passes through), were chewed up. One didn't even come close to matching the bar exit/contour, it is up to 1/2" ! off. It looks more than redicilous, and will need to be replaced entirely.

The driver side seatbelt was reinstalled with a twist in it, so that it didn't cleanly pull or retract. This would have required disassembly of most of the rear trim panels to correct.

1 of the drivers seat mounting bolts itself, was hopelessly cross threaded. It took a tap/die and a couple hours of work to cut some semblance of threads back into the floor pan so the drivers seat could be mounted securely.


There might actually be more, LOL, but I'm rattled since the site isn't letting me post the pics. Again, PM me if in doubt and i'll gladly send them to you or email them to you. Also, I'd be happy to show the car to anyone in person who is interested/concerned enough, or in fact doubts the severity of these items. I think the pics can do a lot to minimize stuff, however in person it all reads pretty loud and clear.
 
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evolve

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Crazy! I plan to move to the Denver area eventually and was shopping for a shop. Good to know which to avoid too. Word of mouth is powerful amigo! Thank you for the heads up and sorry this happened to you.
 

MKMotorsport

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Yep, it's too bad really. I really wanted to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. I have to see them at the local track too so this complaint is well founded not ill intentioned really... ackward if anything. However I also believe they do not deserve the relatively good reputation they seem to carry here. In all honesty, most customers would never check their work, disassemble a car back down to the level I did, so would not even see what they had done, that is the alarming part!!!!


Buyer beware in the mile high city/Denver for sure!!!
 
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Weather Man

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They compromised your safety and that is complete bullshit. Where they rounded out the mounting holes almost requires welding in small strengthening plates.
 

MKMotorsport

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They compromised your safety and that is complete bullshit. Where they rounded out the mounting holes almost requires welding in small strengthening plates.


Actually I did, because I fear for my life!!! I welded up what was reasonable to account for those bolts now being worthless. The downside is to re-do even 6 point, let alone anything else, will require a lot of cutting at this point. I realize I made my/or a competent chassis fabricators job ALOT more difficult in the future, but will cross that bridge when I come to it :(

few more pics: these are cosmetic obviously, but still speak volumes in the context of the safety issue.

speaker bracket:

IMG_20160319_175359270_zpsnmurah1j.jpg

rear seat trim panel:

IMG_20160319_175200070_zpspkzxqzw5.jpg

They got one of the trim panel hoop pass through's right; even a blind squirrel finds a nut I guess:
IMG_20160319_175229268_zpsa0qgfhod.jpg

The borked up side... I was playing with epoxy to see if there was any way to fix the hole size (the clearish/yellowish mess). Not really...You can see the contour of the hole is egg shaped, not round even remotely...

IMG_20160319_175254852_zps2lagvuju.jpg


I feel the work is shoddy enough I actually notified my next of kin, LOL, in case the worst were to happen, the bar were to fold up and fail on their welds/or bracket fitting... I'm not joking. That might sound WAY overly dramatic, but that is how unsure I am about it. No one should have to feel like that about one of these cars.

Like that ridiculous anti-motivational poster... "Your purpose in life may be to serve as a warning to others". Ok maybe too dramatic again, but if nothing else, my hacked up car can serve as a warning to others.... :lol1:
 
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Pribilof

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Wow. My wife, whose never tuned a wrench in her life, could do better than that and show more care for her work.

Thanks for posting this. I was considering Finish Line for a clutch replacement. I wouldn't let those guys within a mile of my car after seeing this.
 

WutApex

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Wow - shoddy work to say the least

Hanksville Hotrods does good work; put in a number of cages for CMC & AI cars as well as NHRA legal rollbars in Mustangs. He's also the lead Safety Tech for the NASA Rocky Mtn region so he knows what he's doing. He can do a new cage or correct the **** ups with the MM bar.

If you're starting all over, Built by Bones can fab you up a high quality cage too. Let me know if you need his contact info.
 

LOW_S197

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Good looking out because I live in Denver and was thinking about getting things done from these guys!
 

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