Vipair hood is an excellent fit!

treesnake

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This hood was done in "GTS Blue".

You can see the raised center section and the larger scoop opening...




 

VIPER R

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I know I just got lucky, but am VERY happy with the Vipair hood so far.

You could not have said it any better. You are lucky! The hood I purchased from Steve was an absoloute horrible fit. At first site the body shop was thrilled with the initial apperearance. After a trial fit as you did before paint they were not so happy and neither was I. The hood was warped the driver side front lined up with the bumper but the passenger side was very high the gaps from the front of the fenders to the rear went from tight to almost a half inch gap. There wasnt enough adjustment on the fenders from the factory to even make it come close. The body shop cut and welded new adjutment bolts in so that they were able to move the fenders enough to make it look decent. The under side of the hood contacted the engine, they raised the hood latcha s far as it would go and that didnt help. So they sanded down the X (if you will) on the underside of the hood to where there was no more material left to sand. Then had to make it concave with fiberglass so the hood would not come in contact with the engine. Needless to say this involved numerous hours of labor and much extra cost to me. After all of this I can say the hood look nice and I get complements on it often. Kudos to the body shop for making this hood work.
Has anyone had this kind of trouble with a factory hood?
 

GTS-R 001

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Oh believe me I went round and round with Steve and have many emails along with pictures from the body shop to prove how much work was neeed to get this hood to fit.
I asked for money, he offered parts that I really had no use for. There is no warranty with the hood. After a few months of back and forth with Steve he tells me if I want money I will have to wait a month or two while he sells off some items. I waited and waited and never heard from him. So actually a few weeks ago I emailed him to ask what he planned on doing and I got no response. By the way I had this hood installed a year ago almost to the day, and to date Steve has not made good on reimbursement for the added cost to me because of a bad mold. If he was willing to offer me adjustable suspensions, wings, front facias and such that he sells for several hunderds of dollars and some at over a thousand, how could he not send me a check for 500 bucks. Totally dissappointed with his customer service. I can only hope for the perspective buyers of this product the mold is better as well as the customer service.

HI GONABITE,

Please send me your last email again, I can't seem to locate it. also send me some details on your paypal account of you have one and we will get this cleared up. The slow economy has hurt all of us this year and funds are tight but we will offset some of your out of pocket on what the body shop has told you they needed to do (PS. The fender bolts are not welded to anything) and this is the first I have heard of the hood being warped.

I had 2 06 coupes that I put my hoods on to and in looking at the inner fender liners on each, each coupe fender (same sides) was shimmed differently both in height and in side to side. The factory files the holes and moves the fenders to fit for the hood gap, one of my coupes the hood fit perfect, the other I moved the fenders in about an 1/8th on each side. the Gen 3 and Gen 4 Vipers are way more precisely built than the Gen 2 vipers were but there is still a lot of latitude in their construction and unfortunately most body shops will take advantage of their customers to some extent. Even my own, on my wife's VCA coupe panted and installed one of my hoods and then claimed it would cost me about 2 to 4 hours labour to make it line up on one side where the gap was wider yet (the gap was too thin on the other side), I asked him for a ratchet wrench to loosen and move the hinge over a smidge, he then said he would do it and it wouldn't cost a thing.

That hood cost me around $800 to have painted and striped, I have had solid color hoods cost as low as $300 to paint, it just depends.

Like I stated earlier send me your last email again and we will get this worked out.

Thanks

Steve
 

GONABITE

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Steve,

I will do what you asked and sorry it had to come to me bringing this public. If you make this right I will make sure everyone knows. I dont mean to slander you but I am talking abouit facts.

Maybe the weld term was my mistake I do know the holes were elongated or something of that nature to be able to make further adjustment than the factory adjustments were allowed. You may have forgotten about the warped hood I i did keep you informed of all problems the body shop was having. It is till warped but they adjusted everything around the hood to make it look right.

Email sent lets hope we get this straightened out. Thank you.
 

FLATOUT

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Great talking to you on the phone today Steve and I look forward to putting the new hood on!

Damn that carbon hood is still the one I want though:) Thats the same way I was going to paint it too treesnake.

Andy Wheeler
 

treesnake

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HI GONABITE,

Please send me your last email again, I can't seem to locate it. also send me some details on your paypal account of you have one and we will get this cleared up. The slow economy has hurt all of us this year and funds are tight but we will offset some of your out of pocket on what the body shop has told you they needed to do (PS. The fender bolts are not welded to anything) and this is the first I have heard of the hood being warped.

I had 2 06 coupes that I put my hoods on to and in looking at the inner fender liners on each, each coupe fender (same sides) was shimmed differently both in height and in side to side. The factory files the holes and moves the fenders to fit for the hood gap, one of my coupes the hood fit perfect, the other I moved the fenders in about an 1/8th on each side. the Gen 3 and Gen 4 Vipers are way more precisely built than the Gen 2 vipers were but there is still a lot of latitude in their construction and unfortunately most body shops will take advantage of their customers to some extent. Even my own, on my wife's VCA coupe panted and installed one of my hoods and then claimed it would cost me about 2 to 4 hours labour to make it line up on one side where the gap was wider yet (the gap was too thin on the other side), I asked him for a ratchet wrench to loosen and move the hinge over a smidge, he then said he would do it and it wouldn't cost a thing.

That hood cost me around $800 to have painted and striped, I have had solid color hoods cost as low as $300 to paint, it just depends.

Like I stated earlier send me your last email again and we will get this worked out.

Thanks

Steve


Guys
You really can't automatically blame the hood...:dunno:

All Vipers are different..period. A body part that fits on one car, might take a lot of adjusting to put the same part on another car.

One example... I have a Diamondback hood on my 01 GTS. The guy that painted and installed my hood has also fitted three other D-back hoods on three different cars.

First hood went on fairly easy and looked great, no major adjustments..:D

Second required some hood shims and adjustment, still looked good...:)

Third required hood shimms, fender shims a lot of adjustment....:(

Fourth hood (mine...of course) required major hood adjustment, fender shims... a lot of work. Body guy actually had to sand and reshape the headlight openings....:rolleyes:

All four hoods were identical, the cars were different. This is true for most of the body parts on our cars. Might fit great on one car but require a lot of work on another, "similar" car.
This is true for all Generation Vipers. I have learned this fact through experience. It's just the way it is.

My point is that our cars are handmade and therefore slightly different.

It may not be a "bad" hood. It might be a characteristic of the car...

:dunno:

FWIW... I have several "Vipair" parts on my cars from Steve (VIPAIR)
He has always been there to answer questions and offer constructive suggestions.
As he stated above, I believe he will take care of any issues or problems you might have....

Good luck
 

treesnake

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Great talking to you on the phone today Steve and I look forward to putting the new hood on!

Damn that carbon hood is still the one I want though:) Thats the same way I was going to paint it too treesnake.

Andy Wheeler


A CF hood on a black car...... :2tu::headbang:

I don't know, sure would look good....
 

pattymelt3605

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My hood from Steve fit great! All I had to do was move the fenders in just a tad on each side, just like he said. I also had to move the hood latch up, but it does clear the intake. His shipping was fast and he was easy to deal with over the phone. Thanks Steve! Did you ever hear back about the shipping refund?

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The hood is not closed in this pic.
 

Sneaky Pete

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Looks great guys!

My experience with aftermarket panels has been hit and miss over the years. I don't think I've ever had an aftermarket panel that didn't need modding in some way, or didn't require some type of adjustment for fitment. Overall, aftermarket panels are never up to OEM levels when it comes to quality and fit. Then again, OEM is also boring! :D
 

GTS-R 001

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My hood from Steve fit great! All I had to do was move the fenders in just a tad on each side, just like he said. I also had to move the hood latch up, but it does clear the intake. His shipping was fast and he was easy to deal with over the phone. Thanks Steve! Did you ever hear back about the shipping refund?

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The hood is not closed in this pic.

AWESOME LOOKING!

They told me to go pound on the shipping, the person I talked to said that was only for the guaranteed service that costs twice as much, otherwise their delivery date is just an estimated delivery date.

Send me some pics of that car!

PS, I have a really nice splitter... :drive:
 

tucker

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That hood looks better than the factory hood IMO. The carbon poking through is a nice touch. TreeSnake's is going to look even more insane with that on.
 

GONABITE

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HI GONABITE,

Please send me your last email again, I can't seem to locate it. also send me some details on your paypal account of you have one and we will get this cleared up. The slow economy has hurt all of us this year and funds are tight but we will offset some of your out of pocket on what the body shop has told you they needed to do (PS. The fender bolts are not welded to anything) and this is the first I have heard of the hood being warped.

I had 2 06 coupes that I put my hoods on to and in looking at the inner fender liners on each, each coupe fender (same sides) was shimmed differently both in height and in side to side. The factory files the holes and moves the fenders to fit for the hood gap, one of my coupes the hood fit perfect, the other I moved the fenders in about an 1/8th on each side. the Gen 3 and Gen 4 Vipers are way more precisely built than the Gen 2 vipers were but there is still a lot of latitude in their construction and unfortunately most body shops will take advantage of their customers to some extent. Even my own, on my wife's VCA coupe panted and installed one of my hoods and then claimed it would cost me about 2 to 4 hours labour to make it line up on one side where the gap was wider yet (the gap was too thin on the other side), I asked him for a ratchet wrench to loosen and move the hinge over a smidge, he then said he would do it and it wouldn't cost a thing.

That hood cost me around $800 to have painted and striped, I have had solid color hoods cost as low as $300 to paint, it just depends.

Like I stated earlier send me your last email again and we will get this worked out.

Thanks

Steve

Steve,

Its been over three weeks. I have emailed you also sent you a PM and I have heard nothing since you said you would take care of this.:confused:
 

GONABITE

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Got your email, thanks

shoot me your address so I can send you something

do you have any flattering pics of the car with the hood on it? One suggestion i would have is to take some black electrical tape and run it along the inner fender sills where the body bolts are, that will darken up the body lines on the side of the hood, either that or remove the shimms under the fender inners , that will lower the inner and allow shadow darkness to fill the body line

Thanks

Steve


Quote:
Originally Posted by GONABITE
Steve,

Is this still your email address?? I sent an email to you yesterday.

Michael



A month later and still no "something" in the mail. Customer service and the product very sub-par... I would reccomend not doing business with somone who lies in public to save face but then does not follow through. What a con artist!!!
 

GONABITE

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anyone who would like references of this poor product supplier please contact me I can also post emails for anyone interested in seeing what is behind the smoke and mirrors. Also pictures of the extensive work that had to be done to the hood to make it half a** line up and the carving that had to be done to the underside of the hood to make it not hit the engine. Customer service lies and poor product support. :mad:
 

kllymartin

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Yep...right on par.
If you want a Gen IV looking hood...buy a factory Gen IV hood.
 

GONABITE

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Do Not Buy From Member "gts-r 001" - Viper Alley - Dodge Viper Forum

Why should Vipair be allowed to advertise here if he is going to continue to rip people off and not make good on customer complaints, refunds or products promised to ship after payment is made? I think the moderators need to get involved here and have him pay up or be banned. Unfortunately i am not the only one having problems with Steve and his products.:dunno:
 

GTS-R 001

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Do Not Buy From Member "gts-r 001" - Viper Alley - Dodge Viper Forum

Why should Vipair be allowed to advertise here if he is going to continue to rip people off and not make good on customer complaints, refunds or products promised to ship after payment is made? I think the moderators need to get involved here and have him pay up or be banned. Unfortunately i am not the only one having problems with Steve and his products.:dunno:



OK GONABITE,

I am gonna bite on this thread now.

I have been out of the country for a few weeks,

I requested a check for your payoff before I left and it was not there before I left.

I have been told it is on my desk waiting for signature, so I should see it in the morning when I get into the office.

Before I send it out, I would like an explanation of how you were conned and who was ripped off?

Your comments are slanderous and defamatory and I suggest that you apologize.

You bought a hood. Your body shop charged you extra to fit it and charged you exorbitantly for some simple work. I offered to help out. Most would not. In hind site I should have told you to ship it back.

That is not a con job, you did not purchase under false pretenses. You went to a body shop and fell prey to the old "its gonna cost a fortune to get this thing to fit" stunt.

I would like to see pics of the new holes that were drilled and tapped into your fender supports like you and your body shop claimed had to be done, JUST TO SEE WHO IS CONNING WHO HERE.

Just as an FYI, I just bought a hood of a VCA member in Palm springs that had to have a skim coat and block and sand, a factory mopar hood, He didn't think he got conned because it needed prep, yet it did. I bought it off him to help him out.

Just because you bought a hood that touched your throttle body on your hand built, no 2 cars are the same, car, DOES NOT MEAN YOU GOT CONNED, IT MEANS THAT YOUR CAR HAS YOUR ENGINE SLIGHTLY HIGHER IN RELATION TO YOUR HOOD LATCH AND FENDERS THAN OTHER OF THE SAME CARS.

I have had 4 hoods out of over 50 have this happen where the throttle body barely touched the X brace in the hood inner and I must say that outside of Kelly Martin every one else has been much more professional in their behavior and expectations of what is entailed in aftermarket body part prep, but then Kelly Martin did get his hood for free through more or less dubious means, so I can see why he constantly poaches and posts negative things about the hood he has, (that he lists as a selling feature in his for sale ads for his TT car, LOL!).

A few years ago I bought a lemans facia from another VCA vendor here for my 2000 GTS and it needed body work, prep, fixing, modification, fabrication etc. to the point where I spent more on the fixits than I did on the part, $3K in fixits on top of the $1900 price for the part, yet I acted professionally and I did what I had to do to get the part to fit and look the way I wanted it to. I don't expect you to act in any way near how I did, you seem to have a disorder of some sort, so I can understand your obsessive compulsive need to post the same derogatory comments over and over.

But to recap,

your check for your being conned by your body shop is on my desk,

it will be signed in the morning and

be in the post tomorrow,

you can apologize or not,

I really do not care

I hope this closes this chapter of your life. :2tu:
 

GONABITE

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You have been out of the country but you have access to the internet so your getting emails your getting *** and your even posting on the forums. So that story does not hold any water with me.

The body shop I used is one of the best in the area and I have been dealing with them for years, you can find their paintwork on numerous cars in the Dupont registry. On first inspection they loved the hood until they went to fit it, contacted the intake manifold and air filter housing. I sent you several pictures during the project, I don't feel I need to send any more pictures.

As far as buying the hood under false pretenses. I asked you in email several times what worked was going to needed to be done to the hood. Your response was somewhere in the area of just a skim coat of filler is all that will be needed. This was obviously not the case. Which is why you offered me suspension systems, rear wings, front fascias and such which cost upwards of $1,000 or more. I can post all of those emails as I still have them.

I think that after almost a year form when you said you would send me some money in return, that I have been more than patient, and have a right to be irate about the situation especially after just 5 weeks ago you said you would make god once again.

Maybe im out of line a bit for posting this publicly but unfortunately this is the only way I have been able to get a response from you.
 

GTS-R 001

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Gonabite/Mike,

Your check went out today,

The issue I have is this

These pictures were taken before your body shop did any work on March 4th, 09











These pictures are from you after your body shop supposedly spent 16 hours fitting the hood to the fenders









The thing that is really dumbfounding to me is the price you paid for the paint job, you mention that these guys advertise in Dupont registry and such and I would expect a body shop that does so to more "higher priced" than ones that do not do so, so I find it incredibly incredible that they only charged $528.77 to paint a viper hood and stripe it, including paint materials and labour, when most people pay at least $1K and a lot of times $1500.00 for a striped paint job on a Viper hood, yet they charged you only $528.77 and they charged $1100+ to fit the hood, and from what I see in the pics it looks like you should have sent the hood to pattymelt for his 10 minute fitment job instead of using these guys as it looks like it fit the same before and after.





Like I said earlier I sent you a check for you trouble in having them do a few hours of work shaving a half inch off the X brace.

DO you think these guys can paint other VCA member hoods for $528.77, including stripes, labor and paint and material et all?

If so you should post their contact details for all the members here to use them, that is a heck of a deal, I paid almost double that for each of my 08 hood paint jobs!
 

GONABITE

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I love that you posted the pics, thank you. The fifth picture down shows one of the problems with the hood that wont go away maybe you have a solution. The hood is warped as you can see it goes from being in line with the fender to rising above the fender and once again every adjustment has been made to lessen the effect and it is slightly better now but still noticeable and annoying to me.

And if you read I did not say they advertise in Dupont. I said there are cars that are advertised with their paint work. And the cost of the the paint job just goes to show they are reasonable, painting and striping a hood is not a major job for most body shops. So why would they try and rip me off on labor charges? Obviously they had many hours into the hood I was there on numerous occasions to see the problems as they wanted me to know exactly what they were doing and why.

You say check is in the mail... again. Thank you in advance but hopefully not premature.
 

treesnake

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Gonabite/Mike,

Your check went out today,

The issue I have is this

These pictures were taken before your body shop did any work on March 4th, 09











These pictures are from you after your body shop supposedly spent 16 hours fitting the hood to the fenders









The thing that is really dumbfounding to me is the price you paid for the paint job, you mention that these guys advertise in Dupont registry and such and I would expect a body shop that does so to more "higher priced" than ones that do not do so, so I find it incredibly incredible that they only charged $528.77 to paint a viper hood and stripe it, including paint materials and labour, when most people pay at least $1K and a lot of times $1500.00 for a striped paint job on a Viper hood, yet they charged you only $528.77 and they charged $1100+ to fit the hood, and from what I see in the pics it looks like you should have sent the hood to pattymelt for his 10 minute fitment job instead of using these guys as it looks like it fit the same before and after.





Like I said earlier I sent you a check for you trouble in having them do a few hours of work shaving a half inch off the X brace.

DO you think these guys can paint other VCA member hoods for $528.77, including stripes, labor and paint and material et all?

If so you should post their contact details for all the members here to use them, that is a heck of a deal, I paid almost double that for each of my 08 hood paint jobs!


I would agree here. I really don't see the difference....:dunno:

The "pricing" is an old scam. The shop made it "appear" that the cost of the painting was modest, but the bodywork/adjustment was expensive.

Kinda' like the car "trade in" scenario....
The salesman will either give you a lot for your trade in and little off the sticker price of the new car...OR, take a lot off of price of the new car and give you little for trade in.... :dunno:
There"s a number ($) that the body shop wants, doesnt matter how they describe it.... IMO (from experience...:()
 

GONABITE

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TREESNAKE,

If i had been a first time customer of theirs I might believe this was the case. I have had 3 complete cars and numerous body panels painted over the years and have never had and adjustment to an estimate like this. I saw the work that was done, I was there on several different days as they wanted me to see the problems and the work they did to correct them.
 

kllymartin

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Does the hood in question rub on the intake? Check the webbing support on the underside of the hood. :mad:
 

GONABITE

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Here is some of the pictures of the underside of the hood that had to be removed so it woudl not contact the intake manifold and air filter housing, becasue there was not enought adjustment in the hood latch or fenders to move the hood up any higher.
 

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