Well I finally got my sc kit's idler pulley fixed. Everything is currently running fine. Pretty quiet now too.

However, the whole process was not without hastle. When I first called in to Dean(at Stillen). He recommended that I go to Auto Gear to have my work done under warranty.
After a lot of phone calls between Stillen and AutoGear, AutoGear said that no longer deal with superchargers at all.
I decided to just order the pulley and have my local mechanic to the work for me. Dean asked me which one of the idler pulleys I was having trouble with.

Me: "what do you mean which one?, I am pretty sure there is just one".
Dean: "There are two."
Me: "Are you sure you are not looking at the newer kit for the V2".
Dean: "Both kits are the same. Which of the two is it."
Me: Well, I only see one. Send me the upper one(the only one I see from above is making noise). Can you check the
specs to make sure I really use to.
Dean: Okay I will call you back.
(
Shouldn't as sales rep be at least as knowledgeable as the customer's. At least admit it when they don't know something.)

---->Dean never calls back.
The next day, I call back.
Me: Have you checked which pulley I need and how much it cost.
Dean: You should probably order both of them, and replace both pulleys and the belts in the process.
Me: Okay I will do that. However, there seems to be a problem with pulleys going bad.
Dean: don't worry about that. We are now using a new high tech polymer that can withstand much higher temps. and rpms

--> After receiving & opening the package 5 days later, I notice that both pulleys are smaller than whats there already.
I call back dean to notify him.
Me: Neither pulleys I received are the same size as what I have.
Dean: That’s fine. Even though they are not the same size, they will work fine.

Away, I drop the car off at my mechanic(Ray) and told him that all off the parts are in the back seat.
Ray, proceeded to take the car apart. A few hours later Ray called me and said that the pulleys do not match. I told
him that stillen said it would work. Ray tried this, but the belts we not the correct size when everything was assembled.
--> I called Dean to notify him of this and he was unreachable.
After talking to Ray, we decided to re-try the installation process with smaller belts from the shop.
At this point, the belts fit tightly but, rubbed against one of the sections from the bronze bracket.

Obviously, what I was sent, was completely wrong.
I called back stillen and asked not to speak with Dean and with someone who knows what their talking about.

I spoke with Bill(tech/product support). I gave Bill my original SC order number and immediately confirmed that I was sent the wrong idler pulley setup.
It has indeeded changed on the V2 setup. I was sent a pulley the next day. This pulley was installed the following day.

Conclusion:
I am pretty ****ed off with Stillen right now. There was a problem with their product. The recommended installation center no longer supports the product.
My car was down for 3 weeks. The run around is ridiculous. Sales rep(Dean), just lies when he has no idea what he is talking about.
I paid my mechanic 300 extra buck from having.
him take apart the car 3 extra times. This is unacceptable.

Matt P

 

We should have a sticky thread for bad stillen experiences.

 

That sucks... but good to hear you got everything fixed. Give Hamilton a call... I still think he's one of the better sales reps.

FYI, the top pulley is the idler pulley while the lower one is the tensioner pulley. You can move the idler pulley up and down... it should also have rails vs. the idler pulley that doesn't.

 

if its the plastic one.. buy a couple more because they are going to keep breaking

 

re: did you get on that was not plastic?

 

Phil changed his pulley to an aluminum one... because the plastic one kept breaking..

email him for info

pstockmal@mail.com

or on AIM phil96se

 

Mark, you should really demand some kind of compensation for the extra costs you incurred for receiving the wrong parts. It's not just a simple case of receiving the wrong parts. You specifically stated that these were wrong and the idiot salesman specifically stated that these wrong parts were in fact correct. He did this twice. To me, that's just way outa line. You should at least demand $300 somehow. It will probably be a big hassle but someone should be held accountable here.

 

I think I will raise some type of complaint with managment there.

Matt

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. Unfortunately this is one reason why Autogear no longer deals with Stillen, not just for superchargers, but for anything. After the incident with Jose's kit, they saw Stillen in a different light. It's sad really, by alienating both retail AND wholesale customers, they are committing corporate suicide.

Jim

 

Good luck, but I think we all know what the outcome of that will be.

 

The Better Business Bureau may also be of some help. Also, if you paid for the parts via credit card, you may have some recourse through the credit-card company. Some, like Citibank, will credit you the amount you spent until the problem is resolved.

Jim