I do wanna state that when I contacted Scott Drake not only were they very helpful, they were aware of some production that was firmer than past runs and working on correcting it. They also made it right for me.
Did you read my thread? You need to buy the Daniel Carpenter brand made in the USA not the foreign stuff
EZ
How do you find Carpenters parts. I went on 5 of his authorized dealers sites and either couldn't find him listed as a supplier (NPD, Summit) or the dealers didn't have a listing of suppliers and a site search for Carpenter brought back a 0. I'm not about to do that for the multitude of dealers he has listed on his site. He has no info on his site about his products part numbers or description so you can't search for that.
I emailed Carpenter and they emailed me back several mustang suppliers who sell it. I ended up buying the package kit that laurel mountain offers for the whole car as I was doing the windshield and back glass on mine. I think MU offers it as well as GN and Kentucky Mustang. I can say that without a doubt, it's the best. All my doors, windows, and trunk shut perfectly with that nice crisp "chunk" sound and NO slamming.
I got all my made-in-the-USA Daniel Carpenter weatherstripping from NPD. On the website, it is not listed by brand, but if you look at the descriptions, you can tell which one is which. You want the one with the description that reads "Best repro - US made". I think they offer 3 different weatherstrips for the trunk, and the difference between the high & low price is minimal. Instead of going with overseas made weatherstripping, you can go with the best quality US made stuff for a price difference of probably less than $30 for the entire car (doors, trunk, & roof rails). I know there are budget conscious people out there who want the cheapest thing they can get, but the frustration and lack of proper function just isn't worth it - especially when you consider that in most cases they end up ripping the cheaper stuff off and installing the one they should have used in the first place. I've read nothing but horror stories concerning door & trunk weatherstripping that was not the best US made stuff. I'm sure the cheaper stuff has worked for someone, but I've never heard anything bad about the USA made stuff.
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'66 Emberglo Coupe - Restoration in progress
Modifications:
5.0 EFI conversion
T56 6-speed
Rod & Custom Motorsports IFS
TCP subframe connectors
Vintage Air Heat & AC
To confirm, YES, 43720-2B is the U.S.-made Carpenter weatherstrip.
Rick
NPD
Hey Rick,
Why do you even offer the "foreign made" w/s?? You state in an earlier post that you want to offer the customer the choice of the cheaper w/s.....that you admit doesnt fit right. You also state that it outsells the "us made" 3/1. So for every 4 you sell, 3 people are not going to be happy. Why not just not offer it and save everyone a lot of aggravation??
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69 Mach 1, owned for 25 years, 64.5 Coupe,
65 fastback, 67 fastback, 88 GT convertible, 20k original miles.
Ha. I can answer that one. The cheap outsells the good 3 to 2. If he quits selling the junk those customers will just buy the junk somewhere else. It's amazing how many folks shop on price alone. If they have only the good ones in their catalog, price shoppers will see that X vendor has cheaper ones and shop there. And while they are at it they are likely to buy a lot of other stuff there. You can't stay in business if you encourage the largest part of your customer base to shop elsewhere.
I like to shop with NPD. They sell the junk too, for the same reasons. When you go there in person the counter guy will do what he can to encourage you the buy the better parts. THey even go so far as to pull one of each and show you the difference sometimes. Other vendors do the same thing, if you see them in person.
But if you know a part is not going to fit for crap because the density is wrong and etc., is it really worth the time and headache to deal with dissatisfied customers and processing a return/exchange or possibly losing return business?
@BiffStroganoffsky - one reason that came to the top of my head regarding your post was "How many people are willing to go through the hassle of returning an unsatisfactory, or better yet 'well, it looks okay for now' item?" Or just slap a project together to sell it to someone else and make it their headache/issue? Yes, some of us are willing to pay the extra bucks for quality parts, but the key word there is "some".
Why do you even offer the "foreign made" w/s?? You state in an earlier post that you want to offer the customer the choice of the cheaper w/s.....that you admit doesnt fit right. You also state that it outsells the "us made" 3/1. So for every 4 you sell, 3 people are not going to be happy. Why not just not offer it and save everyone a lot of aggravation??
I never said it "didn't fit right", I simply stated that the Carpenter US-made was softer and had a slightly (emphasis on slightly) more petit profile. So, yes, the US-made Carpenter would be a preferable product to use at a higher price. That last sentence applies to most EVERY "cheaper/pricier" choice we have in our catalog, yet a good amount of folks still want to save the money... Don't blame us for that...
I get to slap my forehead every day as I watch people "settle" for mediocrity in exchange for saving a buck. I hope it's not the new normal.
Obviously the OP had issues getting his w/s to fit/seal right, and apparantly it was the Carpenter import (prior to this, there had been no issues reported on the Carpenter import to my knowledge, only the Drake w/s had been in-question). That, by itself, does not equate to us knowingly selling a product that can't work. We've been selling the imported Carpenter w/s for many years, thousands upon thousands of them have gone out the door, so if every install resulted like the OP's experience, we'd have a torch wielding mob out in the parking lot (i.e. we'd have a stack of complaints and exchanges... Which we do not have...). We do remove products from our product-line if we determine they're not functional within reason/value, but our (Carpenter) imported trunk w/s has no record of complaints to-date... Prior to this thread, and when I made my comments, all of the discussion had been focused on a different brand import.
I'll be keeping my ear to the ground, and if anyone else here has purchased our 43720-2 w/s and had similar issues, PM me.
But we have to offer the choices... And along with that, we'll happily take back any cheapo item you buy from us (in fact it's too cheap to bother returning, we'd just run the exchange and tell you to toss the cheap w/s), and exchange it for the better version. You learn a valuable lesson in the exercise, and it only further amplifies the benefits we (NPD) afford you by offering the premium stuff, and the cheap stuff alongside, so that you can RECOGNIZE that it's not just "all the same", and choose accordingly. Without the choice in front of you, you're shopping rather blindly...
Having the choices in the catalog is the best way for us to educate the buyer that there are different options available on the market... Otherwise, you'd be prone to assume that everybody sells the same stuff coming over on the same boat, and you'd shop on price alone. Lord knows there's enough of that going on as it is.
Anyhow, again, if the Carpenter import is giving anyone else headaches, email over the site or send me a PM. But typically, when it's a high-volume sku, if it's "unworkable", we hear about it every day.
Last edited by 69bossnine; 12-06-2012 at 03:24 PM.
Some people are fine with buying the cheap stuff and cutting it down with a razor blade. Especially the ones that don't have to get billed for the installation.....
It's one of those facts of nature. If it's popular, you'd better offer it.
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