First off, ImportShark has been around for over 10 years and we have exclusively served the Hyundai
aftermarket for this entire period--exponentially longer than any of the new vendors who are popping up now that Hyundai has a rear
wheel drive car. So to answer your question, yes we are "legit".
As for your order status, you know you are always welcome to e-mail
sales@importshark.com for detailed information. That being said, we obviously have nothing to hide, so I will happily explain the delay with certain grills or painted parts.
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LUXON GRILL
The Luxon front grill was a very good product when it was first released. Aside from a few complaints here and there about Luxon's paint jobs not being 100% immaculate, it was virtually pain-free. After a few months though, this grill started to develop an alignment issue where it did not meet up with the plastic
KDM upper attachment correctly. For the most part, people were able to make slight adjustments with a drill or dremmel--but it eventually got to the point where the
KDM upper attachment did not align with three of the four screw holes. The reason for this product developing fitment issues is because Luxon's mold is very basic and was only made to accommodate 40-50 grills max. After that point, cheaper molds like this tend to start warping from use--and that's exactly what happened here.
After multiple attempts to get Luxon to take the time and minimal expense to create a new mold, we eventually gave up and stopped offering this product. (Like some other vendors in this market). Luckily, another manufacturer, Sarona Designs, had already produced a nearly identical grill around the same time Luxon's found it's way to North America. The main advantage of this alternate product was because Sarona's is a 1-piece grill, which obviously did not require the
KDM upper attachment. As such, we quickly contracted Sarona Designs and started offering their version of the "Luxon" grill instead.
Due to a high work load at Sarona Design and a few mold edits, we decided to produce the Luxon/Sarona grill in polyurethane. This is obviously a much higher quality material and costs exponentially more, but also takes quite a bit less time to produce once the initial mold is made. Not only that, but it's surface is much easier to prepare before being painted. We are currently manufacturing this piece and it is due to be released within the next 2 weeks. We are offering this upgrade to any customers with outstanding orders at no extra charge.
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PAINTED PARTS
Regarding parts being painted in Korea, there have been multiple hurdles to overcome due to the extremely harsh winter they are experiencing over there. It is quite literally the worst winter that Korea has experienced in nearly 50 years. Aside from people having difficulty traveling to work, certain businesses such as bodyshops or paint shops can not finish work they are doing because of the climate. The reason for this is because most of these shops do not have heated booths--and the combination of poor heating and seemingly non-existent workshop insulation results in an alarming number of blemished paint jobs.
Before our Korean office ships out a painted part, they do a full inspection so we ensure there are no blemishes in the surface which may result in an unsatisfied customers. Well, when the paint shop started delivering parts that failed inspection, the parts were obviously sent back to be corrected. This process went on for several rounds before we had to make the decision to disappoint our customers with inadequate painted products or move our painting services over here to the USA. As most of you know, bodyshops here in North America charge quite a bit more for paint & labor. For example, a front grill which might cost $40 to paint in Korea will easily cost $90 over here. (Or up to $175). That being said, after three unsuccessful attempts at contracting a bodyshop to take over our pre-painting services, we have finally made a deal with one who has recently started to handle this workload. (Most shops hate fiberglass due to the labor required to properly prepare the surface). We are absorbing any extra costs so as to deliver the products that we promised to our customers.
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So as you see, there is always an explanation when extenuating circumstances come into play. It is our hope that the above will calm any nerves out there. We haven't disappointed in over 10 years and certainly don't expect to start now.
Please feel free to e-mail me at
sales@importshark.com for further questions, comments, or information.
Thank goodness for this forum. I was about to order from them. Now ? NEVER !!!
