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Waiting for thew roof liner, as a small side job (still few hours of work) my trimmer did the upper dash as well. It had two damages, over the passenger airbag there was a large mark in the leather as if somebody put some glue on it and it has eaten the leather. Same by the driver´s A pillar. Also, my dash was covered with one piece of leather with no stitching and I really prefer the version that has a contrast stitching around the instrument cluster. Turned out nicely:
On top of that I will have real parcel shelf done in the same way. This was not really planned and there was nothing wrong with it. But ordering that thin leather for the roof liner and dash, one leather hive was not enough and two hives were too much so a lot of leather would be left. As I am paying it I decided to use it on the parcel shelf just not to leave a large piece of leather unused.
For the moment that’s it on the interior part as without the roof liner and parcel shelf I cannot assemble the rest of interior and boot (parcel shelf is bolted from behind the boot trim).
In the meantime, I progressed on another mechanical projects.
Few months ago I bought Formula Dynamics ARB kit. Well, it was not that easy. My experience may be (and hopefully is) only exception but it didn’t go that smooth.
I contacted FD during November Black Friday promotion when they offered 15% rebate. They replied on the next day that they can sell/ship worldwide except Europe and myself being in Europe I have to go via Larini as their European distributor. I don’t see any real benefits for EU customers in this setup as since Brexit buying from UK is equal pain as buying from US and I have to go via customs process and VAT declaration etc. Also all the world could get FD Black Friday deal except EU customer buying from Larini but OK. I can live with that as would buy the kit for full price anyway. But what I really didn’t expect was the Larini response time. First, I contacted them via their website form end of Nov. No response so after a week I sent them an email. No response again so 3 weeks later around Christmas time I sent them a reminder. No response again. OK, I will not bother anybody over Christmas holidays, so I waited early Jan and then I decided to give them a call. I called Larini and reached a nice lady. She took a note of what I needed, she took my email and phone nr. and promised somebody would get back to me ASAP. Nobody did. So end of January I contacted FD again that I am trying to buy their product for two months already but I cannot get any response. FD responded quickly that they would take care of it. The same day Larini came back to me, offered the FD ARB kit, shipping, payment options etc. I also received an apology for not coming back to me because they had mail server issues. Ironically this message was sent to me as reply on my December email so it was received indeed. Also forgetting the fact that I called them as well and never heard back. But all went quickly from that moment, I paid on the very same day and within a week I received the shiny new ARB kit. Well maybe except a tiny issue at import customs declaration as I had proof of payment for over 1000€ including postage and Larini shipped the ARB kit with an invoice saying “exhaust components” and 500GBP. Customs officers are usually not too happy if the proof of payment does not match the invoice but as I agreed to pay customs fees and VAT out of the higher amount they were OK to release it.
But all is forgotten looking at the cool ARBs. Some years ago I installed on my E350 E-class ARBs from E63s AMG to make it a bit less floaty barque and that one was 32 or 34mm “only”. The front FD one is 38mm. Yes, it is a hollow bar design, but looks HUGE.
As a similar story to compare with I recently bought also Supersprint downpipes with HJS 200cell cats to go with the silenced X pipe I got from them previously. I do have a very clear idea about all the mods I want for my GS just cannot afford them all at once And Supersprint downpipes with cats are a serious bullet to bite. I thought I had nothing to loose if I ask them nicely for a discount so I did. I dropped them an email that I am a long term customer, I do have their complete setups for two Alfa Romeos plus the Maserati X-Pipe from last year. I told them I was interested in the downpipes as well and if they could do me some slightly better deal. They responded on the next day, offered me a 20% discount and free shipping. That was some serious saving for just one email. A week later I was unpacking a tempting box:
And this is how they look together with the silenced the X-Pipe. Shame that one is slightly dented.
Not too far from musical instrument looks.
On top of that I will have real parcel shelf done in the same way. This was not really planned and there was nothing wrong with it. But ordering that thin leather for the roof liner and dash, one leather hive was not enough and two hives were too much so a lot of leather would be left. As I am paying it I decided to use it on the parcel shelf just not to leave a large piece of leather unused.
For the moment that’s it on the interior part as without the roof liner and parcel shelf I cannot assemble the rest of interior and boot (parcel shelf is bolted from behind the boot trim).
In the meantime, I progressed on another mechanical projects.
Few months ago I bought Formula Dynamics ARB kit. Well, it was not that easy. My experience may be (and hopefully is) only exception but it didn’t go that smooth.
I contacted FD during November Black Friday promotion when they offered 15% rebate. They replied on the next day that they can sell/ship worldwide except Europe and myself being in Europe I have to go via Larini as their European distributor. I don’t see any real benefits for EU customers in this setup as since Brexit buying from UK is equal pain as buying from US and I have to go via customs process and VAT declaration etc. Also all the world could get FD Black Friday deal except EU customer buying from Larini but OK. I can live with that as would buy the kit for full price anyway. But what I really didn’t expect was the Larini response time. First, I contacted them via their website form end of Nov. No response so after a week I sent them an email. No response again so 3 weeks later around Christmas time I sent them a reminder. No response again. OK, I will not bother anybody over Christmas holidays, so I waited early Jan and then I decided to give them a call. I called Larini and reached a nice lady. She took a note of what I needed, she took my email and phone nr. and promised somebody would get back to me ASAP. Nobody did. So end of January I contacted FD again that I am trying to buy their product for two months already but I cannot get any response. FD responded quickly that they would take care of it. The same day Larini came back to me, offered the FD ARB kit, shipping, payment options etc. I also received an apology for not coming back to me because they had mail server issues. Ironically this message was sent to me as reply on my December email so it was received indeed. Also forgetting the fact that I called them as well and never heard back. But all went quickly from that moment, I paid on the very same day and within a week I received the shiny new ARB kit. Well maybe except a tiny issue at import customs declaration as I had proof of payment for over 1000€ including postage and Larini shipped the ARB kit with an invoice saying “exhaust components” and 500GBP. Customs officers are usually not too happy if the proof of payment does not match the invoice but as I agreed to pay customs fees and VAT out of the higher amount they were OK to release it.
But all is forgotten looking at the cool ARBs. Some years ago I installed on my E350 E-class ARBs from E63s AMG to make it a bit less floaty barque and that one was 32 or 34mm “only”. The front FD one is 38mm. Yes, it is a hollow bar design, but looks HUGE.
As a similar story to compare with I recently bought also Supersprint downpipes with HJS 200cell cats to go with the silenced X pipe I got from them previously. I do have a very clear idea about all the mods I want for my GS just cannot afford them all at once And Supersprint downpipes with cats are a serious bullet to bite. I thought I had nothing to loose if I ask them nicely for a discount so I did. I dropped them an email that I am a long term customer, I do have their complete setups for two Alfa Romeos plus the Maserati X-Pipe from last year. I told them I was interested in the downpipes as well and if they could do me some slightly better deal. They responded on the next day, offered me a 20% discount and free shipping. That was some serious saving for just one email. A week later I was unpacking a tempting box:
And this is how they look together with the silenced the X-Pipe. Shame that one is slightly dented.
Not too far from musical instrument looks.
