smashten

After seeing the post on summit who I believe to be reputable and stand behind their products, let me tell you a story about Lakewood.

At the advice of many from the forum I called UPR and told them what I was looking for in a whole new suspension. I went with their advice to get some sort of a "matched" system and got their coil over setup, tubular K frame and A arms, their rear control arms and had some adjustable steeda uppers. They recommended Lakewood street strip struts 70/30 and the 50 / 50 shocks. Had them all installed by a 20 yr Ford mechanic that has an extensive background with high perf stangs.

Got the car back and didn't want to throw the old man card out because I expected more NVH, been there before with other rides. Handling went to total **** on me, started getting the front end hop so I finally took the car back to my mechanic.

Now it had been past 6 months or so and I guess I had put 3000 miles on the car. I had been out of town a lot spending time with my Mother as she was suffering a miserable death from lung cancer. Getting the car back to the shop wasn't on my priority list.

I guess my mechanic saw leaking oil from one of the shocks and thought that was my problem. I called UPR to find out they were out of warranty. Anyways they helped me out. I bought a new one, swapped the bad one out and sent it back to UPR who still managed to find a way to give me credit.

Problem was not solved. The bouncing was still there so I find out my struts are shot. UPR figured they had done their duty and again, they went above what they had to do. They suggested I call Lakewood and ask them if they could do something. I left a few messages with no return calls for a couple of weeks. When I finally get a hold of someone and mentioned I left a few messages they said yeah race season is busy time. So I tell them my story and this is what the said.

"3000 miles is a lot of quarter miles." So I told him it was all street. He said "the 70/30's are race struts and should not be driven on the street, they are supposed to bounce." I told him that I thought the 90 / 10's were their "strip only strut". He said the 70 / 30's are good to drive to the strip but that the first pothole could very well ruin them. So the 70/30 street strip struts shouldn't really be driven on the street? By this time I am having a hard time restraining myself talking to this arrogant pissant who could have just come out and said "Hey the warranty is only 6 months".

I spoke with UPR again relaying what Lakewood had said about the struts being good only for the strip. And they sarcastically said "yeah that's why it says street strip on the box". Now the good thing about using credit cards is I could have disputed the charge saying the manufacturer misrepresented their struts as a street product, but I had paid UPR after asking their advice on what setup I should get. Didn't feel right going after them although I hope they kept that in mind when the next guy asked them what they should get as a strut to complement their suspension setup. I actually gave UPR more business and got the adjustable Strange struts and am way happier with them.

It just kind of pisses me off when the week after I deal with this tool from Lakewood I get an email advertising their 70/30 street strip struts. I guess I might as well copy this and post it on the BBB site while I'm thinking about it. At least all of you MFers know the deal with Lakewood.

benwhite911

Thank you for your information on Lakewood Struts. I was considering them as well as Strange adjustable struts. I will also go with the Strange Struts of my 05 Mustang.