The 2012 racing season is well underway now, but some of you are still waiting on shiny new bits you want to buy from Vorshlag. In racing, deadlines are short and missing races because you are waiting on overdue hardware is never fun. We here at Vorshlag want to apologize to our customers that have been patiently waiting for a few delayed parts that we have had on order from outside suppliers for many months. We hate back-orders and delays, but even worse than that is passing along promised delivery dates from vendors that are then missed. As much as we try to build most of our products in-house, we do not control every manufacturing process for every single part we sell and invariably a supplier will eventually miss a promised date or two.
There are two major products that we have talked about, helped co-develop (on our Mustang test mule, above), and promoted publicly that have been delayed beyond explanation in 2012. Our custom-ordered S197 Mustang 18×10″ Mustang wheels from D-Force and dozens of sets of AST 4150s are both over three months late. We cannot explain it and other than wringing our hands and angry calls to vendors, we are powerless about these two particular set-backs. We share your frustrations and we are sorry. When we get blamed for late deliveries that are out of our control it sucks, but that’s part of this business – shared blame.
Some Good News!
We were waiting on some brand new products to arrive that are now in our hands and we have made several improvements to existing Vorshlag components. All of the new parts that make up our Vorshlag S197 Mustang camber-caster plates, that we completely redesigned in Q1-2012, are finally here and they look great. Several parts are going to the electro-plater today (April 25th) and the new camber plate assemblies should start shipping within a week or so. We have been waiting to put these on our own S197 Mustang and cannot wait to get them on track!
Also, another bearing holder (see below) that is used in a number of Vorshlag camber plate designs is now back in stock in massive numbers, and many customer and dealer camber plate back-orders were built and shipped this week. We have also fully switched the coating process on all Vorshlag bearing holders to a more expensive nickel plating, which should help customers in the “salt belt” see better corrosion resistance if they drive their cars in the harsh winters. Along those same lines, all the bearing holder mounting bolts in Vorshlag camber plates are now stainless steel.
For another corrosion improvement development, we have upgraded the custom-built steel OEM style upper spring perches (used on BMW/MINI camber plates with OEM style springs) to a more expensive powder coated finish. This greatly enhances corrosion resistance in the salt belt. The base perches we use come from BMW and one part number (the 1996-99 M3 perch) has more than doubled in price this year, so there is a price increase on that particular option that we have to pass through. Otherwise there have been no price increases on any Vorshlag camber plate in nearly 3 years, even with updated designs, hardware improvements, and coating upgrades. As always our camber plates are made in the USA to ensure the highest quality standards and to minimize shipping delays from overseas.
Thanks for reading this blog entry. Please know that Vorshlag is taking actions to minimize all part delays and back-orders, and always striving to improve everything we make.
Terry Fair – Vorshlag Owner
