Guys running Calmini and swayaway coil overs

[Calmini Products]

Originally Posted by frontyfan

Fabtech 6" for 1700 doesn't include coilovers. Waste of money. So is calmini. The SAWs that they sell don't have good reviews. I don't have personal experience so i won't say anything else since you're not looking for advice if it's not first-hand.

If you want it done right, Titan swap. If you insist on a drop bracket lift, go with coilovers from PRG, designed specifically for drop brackets. You'll get a lot more lift out of those ones than the crap Calmini is selling.

Frontyfan,

You seem pretty bitter about things. Is your system you purchased from us giving you any problems? Additionally, you need to be corrected about our coil over offering, they most definately are made for our Knuckle/Subframe system. Also, you made a crack about SAW shocks, what is your beef with them? I know I'm seeing more SAW's on Trophy Trucks than the other brand you mentioned. Please, speak up and let us all in on what you think you know about this subject.

CALMINI Products

[Camperguy]

Originally Posted by Calmini Products

Sir, we sell every one of these systems we make. How does that equate with poor customer service?

CALMINI Products

My apologies I should have said same old story about having the Frontier lifts on backorder. If these kits are so popular why arent they in stock and why in the hell are they so expensive. Another question Im assuming from the price that they are made in the good ole USA by American workers? I have no problem paying for high quality products made by Americans. I have just about every Shrockworks product to prove that. Even my Jap truck is made here,lol. I havent given up on Calmini far from it but Im trying to build a summer cottage and it has priority. I want 35`s in a bad way and it will happen. I didnt know you guys were lurkers, its good actually ,maybe you guys will listen to all our *****ing and moaning and make us some more cool stuff for our Frontys!

Bill

[ScottB1982]

Camperguy- I'm not sure how you think the prices are unreasonable. They were the first name in lifts that I ran across when I first bought my truck. That should speak about the quality. In fact, I really want a prerunner bumper from them, and think their price is VERY reasonable for that! (Have to wait for my stock bumper to be put out of commission first. Prices are high and parts are on backorder because there is a shortage of companies who are willing to put the time, money, research and effort into making products for our truck. If most of their parts are built "in-house," I would rather them focus on the quality of the parts they manufacture than worry about making too many new parts.

Now, besides that... you mention you want 35s. Have you looked at the problems people have had running 35s on Frontiers with stock axles? I remember reading about axles coming out of the housings on the highway with those. Just a heads up before you spend the money and effort on the suspension and tires.

[Camperguy]

Well, if the laser cutter is bought and the program is made then as long as you have steel its pretty easy to pump these kits out. Now if your outsourcing you usually wait for a minimum order to cover overseas shipping costs. Usually why most parts are on back order. No one wants to keep stock any more because of end of year tax penalties. If your a sucessfull business and your order times are in excess of 8 weeks you hire more people. If things slow down you lay them off. As far as the frontys tires falling off with anything larger than a 33 well I would blame the driver and his exuberant use of the skinny pedal. Now I have to wait at least 12 weeks for my Shrock stuff to come in. Excessive for sure , it was almost 6 months for my front bumper. Its worth the wair for the quality but it boarders on the insane. People are afraid to hire but obviously there is a need to.

Bill

[frontyfan]

Calmini -

For the application in which I originally purchased your product, I was immediately unhappy. Of course, this was prior to you selling SAWs. Your drop bracket is designed for mall crawling. Nothing more. It gets hung-up on just about everything, and provides about 1/2" extra ground clearance at the bracket. Pretty sad for a 5" lift on 33s. My truck has since grown to a pretty capable IFS vehicle, which I cannot say I give credit to you guys for. I do feel however, that a Calmini drop bracket is a good starting point if you plan to dump thousands more into a Frontier or Xterra, in order to make it capable of offroad adventures.

The ONLY thing I have left from your original kit, is the actual drop bracket. The rear shocks were quite nice, but blew-out rather quickly. I replaced the coffee-can like spacer and stock front suspension with Radflos. Your blocks were on par for blocks, so I won't complain about them, nor will I complain about your shackles.

For what your kit does, mall crawl, it does it well. It looks nice, and gives a taller stance. But, you guys marketed it as an offroad kit. This is not the case, and to argue such is moot. This is backed up by every single person with experience with your kit, through every Nissan offroad forum I have been on.

Am I bitter? No. Actually, I often find myself defending your product when others bash it. For example, a few years back, we had a member here claim that your drop bracket creased when he allegedly "bumped" into a small rock. I have offered my personal experience of repeatedly bashing my drop bracket into large boulders, and to date, it has not bent. I think the inconsistency is that the member voicing BS had a 2wd truck w/o a skid plate. I am convinced that, with the skid plate in place, "bending" of the drop bracket will not happen...which I've proved on countless offroad adventures.

I will not complain about your customer service. I never have actually. I was told by your company that there would be a bit of a wait, prior to placing my order, so I was prepared for that. Nobody treated me negatively, so I have never offered a negative opinion on your customer service. However, I also wasn't treated with great customer service...it was more of an understanding that your salesman knew he had what I desired, and sold me that. He wasn't rude, but he also wasn't friendly. This, obviously, is quite important if you want repeat customers. Apparently, you guys do not.

My Radflo coilovers are designed for your lift, and the seller valved them for my truck, and I was able to request the spring rate that I wanted, in order to ensure it wasn't a "one size fits all" application, unlike your SAWs. I was able to get a hold of the seller and inform him of what I had on my truck, what I was going to put on it and any other pertinent information he needed in order to ensure I had a ride quality that I would enjoy on and offroad. All of this is done regularly by this company, at no extra charge, and he even offers pretty good discounts for loyal customers. We are loyal to him, because no matter how busy he is, he takes the time to offer his advice and opinions, and never attempts to sell us anything we do not need. He is a very friendly person that leaves 98% of his customers with nothing but amazing things to say.

SAWs are great coilovers. The ones you sell, I feel, are more of an entry level coilover that you market...similar to your rear shocks that you send out in your lift kit. Again, this goes back to what your goal for your product is...show products. Am I comparing them to the high-end SAWs...No. But, I don't want to waste time or money with entry level, bottom shelf products that I'm paying for just the name. I highly doubt the ones you sell can perform like other SAWs or even my Radflos. This is why most people around the Nissan forums buy from other vendors, so that they can get the ones they actually want, vice a "good enough" coilover. My Radflos gave me almost 4 more inches of lift, and that was with 3/4" of preload, so I didn't have to sacrifice ride quality to get what I was after. Since even you guys claim they offer an extra 1/2" to ride height, I won't need to mention that yours don't compare. Now, I don't want ride height. I know the name of the game is big tires and low COG. Our enemy here is the body lines of our vehicles. At the time, my truck was still relatively new, and I was not too happy with cutting sheet metal.

If a person wants ride height, ground clearance, better performance, more articulation, and better ride...a Titan Swap can be done cheaper than your kit, and the consumer won't have to add anything else to it. I bought your kit for ~$1500, and I achieved ride height. I had to cut my fenders to clear 305/70/16s, didn't gain articulation, didn't increase performance, but I did keep the factory ride. Had I done the appropriate research, I would've saved myself the trouble of spending 1500 for a mall crawling kit, and just Titan Swapped.

You mentioned Trophy Trucks as if you think any product you sell is worthy of being mentioned on the same level as a Trophy Truck. If that's the case, a Porsche Boxster must be comparable to a Porsche GT3...after all, they are the same brand. I think you are confused as to what type of demographic you are addressing and who your consumer base is. My truck in no way resembles a trophy truck, nor do I care about high-speed desert racing. Do you sell good brands? Yes, however, you sell the bottom shelf products of those brands. Also, the company I went through to get my products..which blow yours out of the water, not an insult, but personal experience, is a mom and pop company. Which, although again I have nothing negative to say about Calmini customer service, I will say that the other company has me consistently referencing them to others at gatherings and during conversations with people that stop me because they like my truck. I can't say the same for Calmini. Your company definitely didn't make me think that I'd like to buy from you again. Not to mention, I got everything I wanted out of my other products. I didn't get remotely what I wanted out of yours.

You asked me to back up my opinion/comments. If people want just a drop bracket so that they can stuff a larger tire on their vehicle, I actually always chose Calmini over Fabtech. If the person then states they want offroad performance, I inform them that your products should be removed from the decision. Its not to slander Calmini, it's not out of spite, it's fact. The truth hurts at times. I will continue my stance on your products...which is neutral. I am frequently asked about my opinion of your lift, and I still provide an politer version of what I wrote in this thread. I offer my experience, and the minute a member discusses offroading their rig, my experience nor opinion is not in your favor. There are much better ways to go about modifying one of our rigs than with Calmini or Fabtech. I am not interested in your argument. You are bias. I am not. Continue to expand your product line and hire some friendlier customer service reps and you will not have such a bad rap around here. Base level SAWs and Bils are not exactly what most of us are after when we want to lift our trucks. Personally, you should have a product line that affords us options, and customer service that is willing to discuss these options, not just take our money and be done with the conversation. Then again, it's your product, it's your company, do with it what you want. I'm just a consumer...or I was one once.

I'm sure you will come back with your recent improvements in order to compare to other vendors. You'll probably tell me that you can change the springs and whatnot. So, as a disclaimer, I'm sure you guys have improved since I last paid you any attention. I bought your product circa late 2008/early 2009. I have not paid any attention to any improvements you may or may not have made since. I'm aware of your increase in products, but as I stated, nothing you guys did or provided me when I personally dealt with you, made me want to give you any more of my time.

[Nomad 13]

Originally Posted by Camperguy

Well I talked to Calmini today and they said you can get about 1/2" more out of the coil overs. Fabtech has a sale right now for their 6" kit for $1700 shipped. Its $1595 for the Calmini shipped. They said 2-3 weeks they will have the lifts in, right now there on back order...this sounds familiar with what everyone says about their customer service.


Bill

I'd definitely go with the Radflo's. I've had great luck with them and you get lots of adjustment.
As for the DB lift, that's another story.
The Fabtech lift is a lot heavier gauge metal than the Calmini but the development is seriously lacking. I have lots of issues with alignment angles, components rubbing and you actually LOSE ground clearance under the front diff due to the ridiculous way they tilt the front diff with the Fabtech DB. Not to mention the issues with spindle spacing and decreased backspacing required on your wheels to clear the spindles. It's great to get your truck off the ground and get clearance for bigger tires (which is the only way you get the lost clearance back under the diff btw) and clearance under the rest of the truck but there are no "best of both worlds" out there as of yet.
Feel free to hit me up (or PM me) if you have any questions whatsoever about the Fabtech kit. I'd be more than happy to talk with you. In fact I think I'm going to start a thread this weekend for those of us with DB lifts to chat about issues, what works and doesn't etc..
Good luck and keep us posted