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Originally Posted by SCSL
"Sorry guys, but I have to take the opposing view on this one. Lately the boards have been a "pile on" SG... I've had nothing but positive experiences w/ SG and their products..."
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No need to apologize, you've been fortunate and I am happy for those who can make statements like that. Hopefully, you will at the very least concede that you are part of a small minority of faithful customers. I don't however agree that this SG bashing is new. You can find posts (not all me) on the D90 yahoo group archives that go back to the late 90's talking about what a crap company Safari Gard is. My first bad experience with them was somewhere around '97 and over the years I've heard customers repeatedly complaining.
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Originally Posted by SCSL
"...SG was a pioneer of aftermarket Rover mods and still makes a damn fine product..."
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Agreed. They were one of the first to make stuff for D90's back when there were very few owners thinking about modifying their vehicles. I suppose I owe them a thanks for that.
But, a damn fine product, no. I don't agree. Everything they make someone else makes better and sells cheaper, except the 3-link which I'll get to in a minute.
Their bumpers look great but are not as strong as the competitors boxed versions. Yes, I know the ARB is not boxed either, but it has more mass out front (sticks out further) to compensate for this and works well. The downside is the bad approach angle which others like Rockware addressed by making a similar bumper to SG but boxed for strength.
Sliders: These had to be redesigned because the first ones they sold were flexing into the bodies of the vehicles. Now they market the new ones as heavy duty. They should have been heavy duty in the first place. Again, there are others making better ones, cheaper.
Diff guards, they fall off if you hit them. How is that a good protector? Yes you can tack weld them on, now. The first versions didn't have a hole for the drain plug. When a friend of mine called to complain, Greg's response was "so drill one". Nice customer service, dick. Interestingly enough, the next version offered had a hole. Buy a mantec if you want a strong diff guard.
Okay, now to the three link. Too radical for a daily driver. Seriously, why would anyone want one? Think about the reasoning of someone who would want purchase it. If you want to make your Rover more capable off-road, buy a locker. It is stupid and dangerous to completely change the geometry of the front end to get a bit more wheel travel. If you want a rock crawler, build or buy a real one like this:
http://www.4x4wire.com/feature/sniper00/ I just don't get this mentality that causes someone to trash a vehicle thinking they can turn it into something it will never be. There was an over-modded D90 here in Colorado that recently sold that was a perfect example of this. The idiot owner with obvious phallic issues kept hacking on it until he realized it wasn't going to become the jeep rock-crawler he wanted. Now I've heard he's finally building a buggy instead of trying to polish a turd. Musta grown a brain. That or his mommy found out how much of her money he was throwing away. Before him there was another red D90 owner that went the same route because he had too much into it to stop. I doubt he ended up with something he wanted either. I just laugh at the morons who can't accept that they will never get where they want. Even Safari Gard realized that they could only go so far and built a buggy:
http://www.safarigard.com/newRock90.htm
I do applaud the owners of Rovers who bobtail or chop tops or do other major mods with a plan in mind to get to a desired and well thought-out end result.
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Originally Posted by SCSL
"...I've always been able to contact them and haven't had any issues. I'm not arguing w/ those who may have had different experiences, but the constant negativity towards SG is confusing, at least to me. It's hard running a small business w/ a limited target market. I can't speak for SG but I would imagine they do their best to take care of their customers and effectively run their business..."
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Hopefully, my rant will help explain my negativity at least. To sum up
my opinion: I think their products are over-priced crap, their business practices suck and I would not be the least bit sad to see them go away.
But, what the hell do I know
~Art Vigil (slipping back into lurk mode)
