So an update on Tractive suspension and warranty
I always try to look on the internet to see if anybody has had any warranty issues before I buy something from a company or a product that I don’t know much about as I always think every company gets warranty issues but it is how they deal with them that marks them out as a good or bad company to deal with. When I fitted Tractive to my car it seemed it was a fairly new product for a Porsche and I could find very little on any of the usual forums so this a bit of feedback from me on my experience with Tractive
I had the suspension fitted back in August 2021 (doesn’t time fly) and was really pleased with the results, looking back at the original thread I started I think most people that have had it fitted since agree it is pretty good
I checked the car over during Christmas 2021 after a couple of track days and was slightly concerned when I noticed that one of the front rubber dust covers was getting damaged by the spring, one side was ripped and the other was pushed out of position so I emailed 9E pictures and mentioned there might be a problem with the spring size. Ken emailed Steve at Tractive and Steve forwarded it to Tractive in the Netherlands but not much happened after that. Clearly I should have chased it up but the car got looked at during its MOT and nobody was too concerned about the dust cover so I drove it for the rest of the year and didn’t worry too much about it
Roll on one year to January 23 and when I had a proper look round the car for the start of the year and I realised the spring wasn’t just rubbing on the dust cover but had also rubbed on the thread for the spring perch, so clearly it bit more serious. Another e mail to 9E who contacted Tractive who initially seemed surprised and knew nothing about the previous email apparently the person who received it had left
Anyway 9E did some chasing and Steve came back with the response that it was probably a bent spring and they would replace one spring and the dust cover under warranty.
Well maybe I am grumpy and picky but I wasn’t happy that the thread was damaged but when I spoke to Steve on the phone he basically told me the thread didn’t really matter as the damaged part of the thread wouldn’t be used. My logic was that every time I checked the car it would annoy me intensely, so I was delighted to see Tractive had a stand at the Goodwood FOS to discuss face to face
I had a very nice conversation with Steve who passed me back to one of the Directors of Tractive from the Netherlands who agreed that if it was a bent spring Eibach could pay for it so a new tube could be supplied and rebuilt. Great, car booked into 9E on August 14th with me off on holiday and car not doing another Track day until October so plenty of time for the parts to arrive and get the work done
Guess what, phone call from Adam at 9e, Tractive have changed their mind and they will only supply a single spring and dust cover and not rebuild the shock absorber. Surprisingly Steve isn’t answering his phone when I call him now so I wasn’t too impressed. Spoke to Adam and told him I would pay for the shock absorber to be rebuilt myself and discuss it with Tractive later so 9e order a new tube and we wait, and we wait and finally the parts arrive just over a week before the Track day in October so just enough time to get it sent off to Raceshocks to be rebuilt. What could possibly go wrong with that plan
Well it looked like it was a good decision to have the tube replaced after a phone call from Adam to tell me its nothing to do with the spring being bent it’s a faulty design of the spring perch that apparently Tractive have now modified so the other shock has to come off and we have to wait for Tractive to send two replacement perches and yes I miss my last track day of the year but I don’t now have to pay for the rebuild.
So I finally collected my car over Christmas after dropping it off in August. Adam at 9e has been really busy and I really enjoyed having the room in the garage for another car so I kept telling him not to hurry so that was all good. I have a rebuilt shock absorber two new perches, front suspension basically rebuilt and fully set up with new Geo, a knock from the front that I just couldn’t find seems to have gone as well and it has all been covered by warranty after two years so I should be a happy bunny.
Reading between the lines it looks like 9E have done all the work FOC and Tractive have supplied the parts. I am not sure how to conclude this really, I basically have a good result, credit to 9e who have stood by their work and look like they have lost out financially and Tractive have it seems reluctantly supplied a few parts FOC. I still love the way the car drives, the suspension works really well and only needed a rebuild because of a very small and relatively cheap external component. I am just not sure how Tractive’s reputation comes out of this. I feel they could have dealt with this better but at the end of the day I really can't complain.
I guess the conclusion is try to research who you deal with and check your spring perches
I always try to look on the internet to see if anybody has had any warranty issues before I buy something from a company or a product that I don’t know much about as I always think every company gets warranty issues but it is how they deal with them that marks them out as a good or bad company to deal with. When I fitted Tractive to my car it seemed it was a fairly new product for a Porsche and I could find very little on any of the usual forums so this a bit of feedback from me on my experience with Tractive
I had the suspension fitted back in August 2021 (doesn’t time fly) and was really pleased with the results, looking back at the original thread I started I think most people that have had it fitted since agree it is pretty good
I checked the car over during Christmas 2021 after a couple of track days and was slightly concerned when I noticed that one of the front rubber dust covers was getting damaged by the spring, one side was ripped and the other was pushed out of position so I emailed 9E pictures and mentioned there might be a problem with the spring size. Ken emailed Steve at Tractive and Steve forwarded it to Tractive in the Netherlands but not much happened after that. Clearly I should have chased it up but the car got looked at during its MOT and nobody was too concerned about the dust cover so I drove it for the rest of the year and didn’t worry too much about it
Roll on one year to January 23 and when I had a proper look round the car for the start of the year and I realised the spring wasn’t just rubbing on the dust cover but had also rubbed on the thread for the spring perch, so clearly it bit more serious. Another e mail to 9E who contacted Tractive who initially seemed surprised and knew nothing about the previous email apparently the person who received it had left
Anyway 9E did some chasing and Steve came back with the response that it was probably a bent spring and they would replace one spring and the dust cover under warranty.
Well maybe I am grumpy and picky but I wasn’t happy that the thread was damaged but when I spoke to Steve on the phone he basically told me the thread didn’t really matter as the damaged part of the thread wouldn’t be used. My logic was that every time I checked the car it would annoy me intensely, so I was delighted to see Tractive had a stand at the Goodwood FOS to discuss face to face
I had a very nice conversation with Steve who passed me back to one of the Directors of Tractive from the Netherlands who agreed that if it was a bent spring Eibach could pay for it so a new tube could be supplied and rebuilt. Great, car booked into 9E on August 14th with me off on holiday and car not doing another Track day until October so plenty of time for the parts to arrive and get the work done
Guess what, phone call from Adam at 9e, Tractive have changed their mind and they will only supply a single spring and dust cover and not rebuild the shock absorber. Surprisingly Steve isn’t answering his phone when I call him now so I wasn’t too impressed. Spoke to Adam and told him I would pay for the shock absorber to be rebuilt myself and discuss it with Tractive later so 9e order a new tube and we wait, and we wait and finally the parts arrive just over a week before the Track day in October so just enough time to get it sent off to Raceshocks to be rebuilt. What could possibly go wrong with that plan
Well it looked like it was a good decision to have the tube replaced after a phone call from Adam to tell me its nothing to do with the spring being bent it’s a faulty design of the spring perch that apparently Tractive have now modified so the other shock has to come off and we have to wait for Tractive to send two replacement perches and yes I miss my last track day of the year but I don’t now have to pay for the rebuild.
So I finally collected my car over Christmas after dropping it off in August. Adam at 9e has been really busy and I really enjoyed having the room in the garage for another car so I kept telling him not to hurry so that was all good. I have a rebuilt shock absorber two new perches, front suspension basically rebuilt and fully set up with new Geo, a knock from the front that I just couldn’t find seems to have gone as well and it has all been covered by warranty after two years so I should be a happy bunny.
Reading between the lines it looks like 9E have done all the work FOC and Tractive have supplied the parts. I am not sure how to conclude this really, I basically have a good result, credit to 9e who have stood by their work and look like they have lost out financially and Tractive have it seems reluctantly supplied a few parts FOC. I still love the way the car drives, the suspension works really well and only needed a rebuild because of a very small and relatively cheap external component. I am just not sure how Tractive’s reputation comes out of this. I feel they could have dealt with this better but at the end of the day I really can't complain.
I guess the conclusion is try to research who you deal with and check your spring perches
