Mike Erickson

Just wanted to share a recent experience with Fabtech Performance. While they seem to be one of the few places that offers items for our Mercedes (I own an (E55 AMG Renntech) and an (E63 AMG Weistec) the unfortunate fact of the matter is that I would recommend staying away from Fabtech Performance. I decided to do an E63 AMG conversion to the front of my E55 AMG rather than pulling the bumper and having it repainted which would result in about a $700 to $1000 cost. I felt the upgrade was a better way to go. After paying almost $1800 including $250 to ship the bumper "painted" and with "all the hardware" and expecting "MB parts" the bumper arrived with damage to the clear coat from the packaging (I ran a collision repair facility for 15 years and worked on Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Maserati, Jaguar, Range Rover), the parts were not all "MB parts" and I had to go and purchase all of "the hardware" to install the bumper. After tear down we noticed the damage to the clear (which was unfortunate, because I was out $200 in labor costs - I no longer have a facility to do this work myself, as I have moved into the cigar business and firearms business). After contacting Steve at Fabtech Performance (I should have heeded all of the previous warning on these forums but did not) I was told that the bumper was shipped in good condition and it was not their fault that there was damage. I was also told that it was my responsibility to pay for insurance for the bumper to cover damage while shipping. I now have a $2000 paper weight, as Steve expects me to ship the bumper back to him for inspection at a cost of $250. I paid for a product which was definitely not as described. The inner side of the bumper was modified to accept a butchered inner attachment, the inner attachment was barely connected to the bumper itself and required additional modification, the fog lights were not MB and the hardware was not included. In fact, I do not recall any MB parts aside for the hood release. The paint could have been great expect for the damage to the clear coat, which was not my fault. My expectation was a part that would be able to be placed on the vehicle without any major issues, and there was nothing but issues. Definitely a major let down and a huge disappointment. I won't be going back to Fabtech Performance for anything and urge others to really consider other options. It just isn't worth the headache or let down. These are not Honda Civics. These are high performance luxury cars. There needs to be a higher standard to how vendors handle packaging and shipping of high priced items.