First, this top is on my daily driver and will stay on it full time. It is being evaluated from that standpoint and looks first and as a functional fastback second
So I recently picked up the new fastback from mike (Grinder). First, his shop seems to be in the middle of nowehere on a dark night and I was ready to pull over and call him to verify I was going the right way then I saw the light at the end of the tunnel(kind of litterally....he stayed open with all the lights in his shop on just so I could pick it up and head to kinod after that two huge thumbs up for customer service
I usually rate on a 1-10 scale with a total # and an overall percentage at the end.
Customer service categories:
Communication 10/10 Mike let me know once everything was ready to be picked up because he knew I wanted this badly.
actually staying late when I told him I was running behind 10/10 (I can't count the number of times I've called a shop on my way only to have nobody be there once I arrive)
product advisement and installation help 10/10 (Mike litterally installed it for me and told me everything I could ever want to know about installing it and gave me some foam so the fiberglass wouldn't scratch the paint)
he didn't have the brackets in at the time of me picking it up(had to use a set I had on my NB already) so he offered to take some $ off or will ship those to me at a later date (Still need his set them to put the OEM hardtop on my NA) very cool guy, most places would say tough luck on the brackets
he also told me the proper sealant to use for the windows to try and weatherproof the top
overall customer service 100%
Product fitment
top to car 10/10 the top actually seems to fit BETTER than my other hardtop(OEM style like what chaser sells, which fit pretty good) notice in the pics the fitment opf the front edge of the top to the windshield frame
trunk to car 10/10 the trunk fits perfectly to the car with even body gaps at both sides. only thing I'm not totally happy with about the trunk is the pull out design but I knew that going into it so can't complain.
top to trunk(edge where both fiberglass parts join) 8/10 to be expected when using multiple fiberglass parts, I'll need to do a little block sanding to eliminate the raised edge of the trunk from the top ....sits up about 1/8" from the last ege of the top
lexan windows 10/10 mike did a damn good job at making the templates for cutting the windows they fill the ridge where they belong on the top perfectly
B pillar trim to top of the top 9/10 seems a little odd, on one side it's almost a smooth transition on the other side it's a slight bulge which I'll sand down to be smooth like the other side. other than that it's fine. makes for a nice decorative trim piece to what would otherwise be a plain edge of the lexan side windows
Overall fitment 94%
Functionality shall be unrated since I can not provide any concrete numbers but, I will say on the freeway driving 50-65 mph there seems to be a slight difference, after 80mph though the ass of the car seems to be firmly planted on the ground more so than before.
So far having driven about 200 miles prois/cons I've came up with:
PROS
-sexy looks
- VERY light almost as light as the other top (OEM style, made of fiberglass with 1/8" thick lexan rear window held on with about 15 S.S. bolts/lock nuts)
-great overall fitment
-great customer service
CONS
-area between side window and main rear window creates a bad blind spot, just need to check your mirrors closely)
putting this as a pro and con:
-nobody knows what the hell car is anymore (causing lots of amusing questions....but they get old quick....best question so far...."WTF did you to that S2K.....why the hell would you go 4 lug?" LOL)
currently cons but should be fine later:
-lexan rattles abit due to not being sealed on... after they are siliconed on I'm 99% sure the rattles will dissappear
-since I got the top from the pics of Mike's thread on the silver MSM it was pretty dusty since he's currently worlking on the NB widebody and other projects, my car needed to be cleaned anyways(as you can tell from the pics ) so a little extra bondo dust isn't gonna hurt anything
-no provisions for 3rd brake light....plan at this time is getting an 10" LED bar from pepboys, drilling a mall hole inside the back of the fastback for the wire to go through and wiring it into the plug of the OEM socket and having the light be at the bottom of the main rear window
-no provisions for license plate lights....agaiun due to the design.....I will likely slit the top to the rear bumper just above the plate and put an "L" bracket to attatch the lights to
Pics from kinod last friday.
thanks to daniel(gunwoo) for taking the pics and to Haig (Haigog) for properly hosting the pics from flickr
close up pics of mentioned fitment issues:
Front of top to windshield frame = SUPER flush .....never seen an aftermarket top fit this well:
Pics of trunk-> top fitment....like I said I'm picky so this 1/16" - 1/8" edge is going to be sanded flush:
B pillars (again being fairly nit-picky since I bought this top primarily for looks ) :
pics of fitment near gas cap area, no particular reason for this pic was just requested.....gas cap is not effected at all:
So I recently picked up the new fastback from mike (Grinder). First, his shop seems to be in the middle of nowehere on a dark night and I was ready to pull over and call him to verify I was going the right way then I saw the light at the end of the tunnel(kind of litterally....he stayed open with all the lights in his shop on just so I could pick it up and head to kinod after that two huge thumbs up for customer service
I usually rate on a 1-10 scale with a total # and an overall percentage at the end.
Customer service categories:
Communication 10/10 Mike let me know once everything was ready to be picked up because he knew I wanted this badly.
actually staying late when I told him I was running behind 10/10 (I can't count the number of times I've called a shop on my way only to have nobody be there once I arrive)
product advisement and installation help 10/10 (Mike litterally installed it for me and told me everything I could ever want to know about installing it and gave me some foam so the fiberglass wouldn't scratch the paint)
he didn't have the brackets in at the time of me picking it up(had to use a set I had on my NB already) so he offered to take some $ off or will ship those to me at a later date (Still need his set them to put the OEM hardtop on my NA) very cool guy, most places would say tough luck on the brackets
he also told me the proper sealant to use for the windows to try and weatherproof the top
overall customer service 100%
Product fitment
top to car 10/10 the top actually seems to fit BETTER than my other hardtop(OEM style like what chaser sells, which fit pretty good) notice in the pics the fitment opf the front edge of the top to the windshield frame
trunk to car 10/10 the trunk fits perfectly to the car with even body gaps at both sides. only thing I'm not totally happy with about the trunk is the pull out design but I knew that going into it so can't complain.
top to trunk(edge where both fiberglass parts join) 8/10 to be expected when using multiple fiberglass parts, I'll need to do a little block sanding to eliminate the raised edge of the trunk from the top ....sits up about 1/8" from the last ege of the top
lexan windows 10/10 mike did a damn good job at making the templates for cutting the windows they fill the ridge where they belong on the top perfectly
B pillar trim to top of the top 9/10 seems a little odd, on one side it's almost a smooth transition on the other side it's a slight bulge which I'll sand down to be smooth like the other side. other than that it's fine. makes for a nice decorative trim piece to what would otherwise be a plain edge of the lexan side windows
Overall fitment 94%
Functionality shall be unrated since I can not provide any concrete numbers but, I will say on the freeway driving 50-65 mph there seems to be a slight difference, after 80mph though the ass of the car seems to be firmly planted on the ground more so than before.
So far having driven about 200 miles prois/cons I've came up with:
PROS
-sexy looks
- VERY light almost as light as the other top (OEM style, made of fiberglass with 1/8" thick lexan rear window held on with about 15 S.S. bolts/lock nuts)
-great overall fitment
-great customer service
CONS
-area between side window and main rear window creates a bad blind spot, just need to check your mirrors closely)
putting this as a pro and con:
-nobody knows what the hell car is anymore (causing lots of amusing questions....but they get old quick....best question so far...."WTF did you to that S2K.....why the hell would you go 4 lug?" LOL)
currently cons but should be fine later:
-lexan rattles abit due to not being sealed on... after they are siliconed on I'm 99% sure the rattles will dissappear
-since I got the top from the pics of Mike's thread on the silver MSM it was pretty dusty since he's currently worlking on the NB widebody and other projects, my car needed to be cleaned anyways(as you can tell from the pics ) so a little extra bondo dust isn't gonna hurt anything
-no provisions for 3rd brake light....plan at this time is getting an 10" LED bar from pepboys, drilling a mall hole inside the back of the fastback for the wire to go through and wiring it into the plug of the OEM socket and having the light be at the bottom of the main rear window
-no provisions for license plate lights....agaiun due to the design.....I will likely slit the top to the rear bumper just above the plate and put an "L" bracket to attatch the lights to
Pics from kinod last friday.
thanks to daniel(gunwoo) for taking the pics and to Haig (Haigog) for properly hosting the pics from flickr
close up pics of mentioned fitment issues:
Front of top to windshield frame = SUPER flush .....never seen an aftermarket top fit this well:
Pics of trunk-> top fitment....like I said I'm picky so this 1/16" - 1/8" edge is going to be sanded flush:
B pillars (again being fairly nit-picky since I bought this top primarily for looks ) :
pics of fitment near gas cap area, no particular reason for this pic was just requested.....gas cap is not effected at all: