My relentless fab experience

Thought I would write about/review my bumper. I ordered my bumper back on september 18th 2011. I was given a lead time of 3 months, which was fine with me and would have me getting my bumper mid december. Maybe a month or so after the order I rear ended some one and contacted eric to make sure my bumper would be done in time that way I wouldn't have to worry about fixing it since I would be swapping it out anyway. He ensured me that I would have my bumper on time. Around mid december I asked about my bumper and eric let me know he had been busy so I should get it the first week of january. Mid january I asked again about my bumper. I was told 3 more weeks. On february 1st Eric informed me that my bumper would be built and shipped the next week. My bumper eventually shipped march 1st or the tuesday before (feb 28th). When I finally got my bumper it was right at 6 months. Double the time I was told.

Overall I hated my experience with the order. I generally have little patience to begin with. So this had me pretty upset. I also felt like I was getting the run around most of the time. My sliders and rear bumper are CBI, I had them in 3 weeks and not only was the quality top notch and on time, thier customer service was great with emails and phone calls about tracking my order. Same with my old truck when I had demello sliders. Relentless uses fastenal, which has no traking service and when I would call the people sounded clueless.

Most of the welds on the bumper looked decent, but some looked rushed and sloppy. It's a shame considering how long it took. Also the bumper itself is a little uneven, while on the ground it had only 3 points of contact instead of four. This also is clear after I mounted it and one side is touching the fender slightly while the other is off of it.

Overall I'm not sure I would do it again. I love the design and wanted an aluminum bumper to save weight but looking back a steel bumper in a reasonable time frame seems tempting. I think the biggest shame of all this is that I originally planned to get Relentless skids and a bed bar later on, but I wont be doing business with the company again.

Here are some pics. Like I said it's aluminum, and linex'd like the rest of my armor.






Also I never saw anyone mention it before, but in order to mount the little brace pieces I had to drill through my resi mounts. No big deal, just a heads up.

Also It's not my intention to bash relentless or keep people from buying his stuff. Just wanted to share my experience. I really hope relentless works on getting better all around, their designs are great and innovative.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the resi mounts, I ordered an elite bumper and was wondering about that.

 

Yeah six months is a pretty big time to be waiting for a bumper, definitely should be faster Imo considering you are paying him pretty good money, thanks for the heads up

 

For the price you paid, your order should be filled in a timely manner, not just in someone's spare time. 6 months is way too long, thanks for sharing.

 

Looks sick though, I ordered my set three weeks or so ago, I had read very similar stories, but went into it knowing that and Eric was very up front about the time. I was told 5 months min.
However I think his front armor is the best looking, and I wanted an aluminum front as well, for the weight savings and non rustablity.
Are you happy with the aluminum? I was concerned about how strong they are, do yours seem pretty sturdy?
Also did you use a two part primer on the aluminum before painting?

 

Nice write up mike, always good when people share their experiences. And the right side of that bumper looks great, not so much on the left. But still a good looking bumper all around.

 

6 months + its not right?

that would sure make me one unhappy camper.

 

I think you need to only adjust the bumper for perfect fit.

 

Thanks guys. The aluminum seems good to me. I'm not exactly sure what they did but the linex shop mentioned having to do something different for the aluminum.

 

The long wait time is exactly what deterred me from ordering from Relentless when the money was on the table and it was time to place an order. However, like it was said already, I was aware of the long lead time. As for the fit, I would definitely say it is sub par on your particular bumper. Looks twisted for sure. Probably got tweaked in the process of welding. Aluminum has a strong tendency to do that and takes LOT of heat to fuse. Bummer dude. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully you and Relentless can work something out to make you happy in the end.

 

That bumper looks sick. It's unfortunate you got the bad experience you did though. 6 months is hella long.

 

Yeah it is def tweaked. I played around with it for while but that was the best I could get it. I may try it again latter down the road.

 

No bueno

 

I wonder if you could force a rotation in the left side by the use of some washers under the mounting locations at the front on the left side

 

X2

 

you will have clunking sound coming from the bumper hitting the fender line. try to adjust a bit to see if you can get more "gap" on the fender.

 

Essentially he is a one man show and hand crafts all his armor, so the lead time is high, but FWIW Eric's really trying to bring that down.

Not sure how many guys work at CBI.

Did you let him know you were unhappy with the delays and fitment?

Edit: I'm not suggesting you shouldn't be unhappy, just stating...

 

Aluminum warps a lot in the welding process. Not every bumper is going to be 100% perfect when you oreder totally custom. Especially with aluminum. The reason his lead time is so long is because he has so many projects lined up to begin with, and to get the quality he alone produces takes time.

I'm sorry your experience wasn't the best. You should PM Eric about these issues.

And try what OZ mentioned with the washers.

 

Im aware its a one man shop, but thats not a legit excuse for a buisness. I know he's working on getting help and i hope it address the issues.

 

That's a pretty crappy rebuttal post...the product was promised in 3 months and was delayed MULTIPLE times, not just once. That on it's own is terrible business practice...If you can't handle the business you should follow other small time vendors and only take orders when you can fill them in the promised time...

The bigger issue to me is how expensive the bumper is and the fact that the bumper was so late AND it isn't even straight. That is a load of crap and you should be giving the customer money back since you didn't provide the product he purchased and waited for.

This review and your pathetic response have struck your name off of my shortlist, hopefully you reevaluate your business strategies to improve quality and customer service.

For how much these bumpers are they should be perfect. These aren't guys working out of there garage, they are a legitimate company offering a product. If it won't be straight they need to advertise as such so the consumer can decide if a non-straight bumper is worth the money and wait time...