21 replies to this topic

[Thorney]

Oh, I´ve seen that you are a professional dealer. You sell AP-Racing.

look and see...click!

I think thats pretty clear from my posts I approached several brake manufacturers (including Hispec) spoke with them all about what we wanted to do and selected AP.

During my investigation Hispec had the poorest response in deflections tests (done by some US magazines on BMW's) and from Stoptech (who I also spoke with ref BMW stuff - but don't sell) that the Hispec calipers failed in their own tests. Also, have you tried ringing Hispec and getting a response...on anything? I will only deal with companies who want to treat their customers the same way I would want to be treated, thats not to say everyone we dont deal with is bad but only that we have to stand by our selection.

Someone asked about Hispec and I gave my personal opinion, based on my experience. Can't say more than that can I.

[nonterraquous]

In this forum however still nobody made bad experiences with HiSpec?

I have had experience with HiSpec, and I can agree with everything John has said.

I have a HiSpec billet 4 kit on my CRX and had, until very recently, the AP upgrade on my VX.

It was seven months between me ordering the kit from HiSpec and actually receiving anything after being told three weeks. I usually phoned them once a week after the promised delivery never turned up.
Two months in I was finally told that a specific kit for the CRX didn't exist and they would need a car to measure up. I arranged this. Then there were tooling problems. Then they stopped doing the specific disc I needed (?). Luckily other people had ordered the same kit or else I think I would have been put off indefinitely. The lady on their phone (Fiona) got to know my voice very well and we had little chats about the weather and how her mother was doing after going into hospital.
In the end I had a friend who was coming up to Scotland from London pick my kit up so I could guarantee getting it, after over a month of it being ready and "on the shelf"!

The kit itself was good (I thought - I was younger then ). It only required minor fettling with an angle grinder to the knuckles to fit, however after using it I found it needed more fettling to actually stop the calipers from hitting my alloys. I did order the biggest kit that would fit under a 15" alloy and it was tight but calipers shouldn't flex approximately 2mm (at all IMHO), which is what they were doing.
The stopping power is, or should I say was, excellent though. However the two piece discs got warped to hell a while ago, probably due to the flex, and with the car not being used much in the two years I've had the VX I've never found the time to get rid. I have standard Civic Type R calipers and discs waiting to go on right now.

The AP kit is just in a different class, it oozes quality compared to the HiSpec product I received. I ordered through this site's shop and it arrived shortly after - no phone calls were needed to chase it up, the price didn't change halfway through the (short) waiting time, there was no fuss with delivery. The performance of the brakes themselves is outstanding and the only reason I have removed them from my VX is because it is for sale.



It seems I went off on one there

In summary:
AP product and Thorney's customer service
HiSpec product and alledged customer service