We get a lot of vendor bashing on this board. Enough that I really want to hear about more good experiences to balance things out. So today I have one for you.

You may have read my post about the other night when my pressure plate experienced a catastrophic failure after only about 3,000 miles of use. It was a Kennedy StageII I had put in last fall in anticipation of finishing the turbo project.

I just pulled the clutch out and sure enough, the diaphram is busted. On a whim I looked up Kennedy's number and called the shop only expecting to leave a message on the machine (It's 4:30pm on Saturday). Instead I ended up having a very nice conversation with the owner. He didn't care how many miles I'd driven or how long the plate sat on my shelf before I installed it. He didn't care what motor it was holding back either. He just wanted to fix it and get it back to me. No charge. He was actually appologetic. He explained that because the space inside the Sachs housing is so limited they can't beef up the diaphram enough and consiquently they are a little over-stressed, and while not common, they do fail on occassion. I told him he didn't have to appologise, and that I understand he's doing everything he can within the limits of the design he has to work with. Real nice guy, and I would be happy to do business with him in the future.

-Ben M.

Ditto -
I bought my Kennedy pressure plate and disk from a second party and when I had questions about it Kennedy was very helpfull despite the fact they never made a dime from me. Very uplifting attitude for these days.

Paul B.

I had inquired about clutch choices for my V8 and since I don't have the KEP adapter, they recommended I change to theirs. I finally spoke to the owner on a late Friday when the employees were away and he said he could modify my Jaide flywheel for their clutch so I wouldn't have to buy a new adapter saving me ~$600.
Nice to talk to owners who know their product...
Felix

I had a suspected clutch problem, brougth the car to Brad.
He took out the clutch and the Kevlar disk and every thing seemed fine.
Brad sent it down to Kennedy and they checked the specs, went through all the measurements. They determined nothing was wrong with the pressure plate or disk, rebuilt the p-plate anyway because it was an older style that was not powdercoated.
Charged me nothing!
I was even the third party owner of the clutch/car.

They really impressed me as a company that wants to figure out whats wrong, not try to pass the buck.
It is refreshing to find people like this and I will recomend them and buy from them whenever they carry the parts I need.

George

Way back in 1982 I purchased an adapter, starter, clutch disc, flywheel, etc. from Kennedy for a VW project. Hobart Kennedy's service back then was the same as you are seeing today. That is why he is has been in business all this time. I think part of it is that he really enjoys what he is doing.

-Jeff