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Dominanteng.com def worth the wait

13K views 45 replies 14 participants last post by  starfuryt550 
#1 ·
I got Dominic's rear lower control arms, heim sway links, upper camber arms, and toe links. It was worth every penny and I cant wait to get it all on. I have dealt with him multiple times on this forum before he was banned, and I still deal with him through his site. Before this I purchased his off road & flex pipe combo. Sure you may have to wait a few weeks to get the parts but where else are you going to get this kind of quality ? No one has any patience waiting for their parts. There is another big name on here I wont mention that I paid almost 1,000 up front for parts and it took 9 months till I got everything so I can only laugh when people are freaking out after a 2 week wait.

Thanks Dom and rest assured I will be in touch for more for my other cars.
 
#5 ·
Bought ORP and flex w/ v-band a month ago. Had an issue with the ORP not being bent correctly. Needed everything back ASAP. Next day shipped back to him. He had an issue with the supplier with bending the tubes. Got a sample back and said he welded my fittings on and was sending out. That was over a week ago and 2 emails to him later and no response yet. Got alot of cash wrapped up in these 2 pieces and shipping. Hope he's just busy. Would like my parts though.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Just got it tonight when I got home from a meet. Can't wait to get them put on. Will be doing so tonight.

I've heard good and bad about him. It took a little bit to get it fixed but I did get it. I'd like to order all the suspension pieces for the focus from him but I am cautious. Plus they aren't OCA. But no one makes them OCA. He seems like a nice guy. Just not the greatest on communication at times.
 
#10 ·
Yep....I have had my fswerks race since I ordered it and the flex/orp from D.E.. So I just installed the catback and waited for the flex/orp to get back to me. I've got video of my stock exhaust and will be taking video of my current setup (wrapped header, stock flex and cat w/ fswerks race) as well as video with the flex/orp on tonight. It's raspy and I'm sure it will only get worse once I swap out the stock flex and cat for the D.E. flex/orp. I may wrap the ORP just to help with oil temps. Wideband may be my next addition. Dominic has good stuff.....just concerns me with the trouble and what others have posted and said. But he did make things right for my order. As long as it fits tonight (crosses fingers).
 
#11 ·
I was absolutely impressed with Dominic's welding on his website. I ordered the flex/ORP combo on June 6th and finally received on the 17th of JULY... All excited I went to install only to find that it rubbed on the pass drive half-shaft. I'm a design engineer/prototype machinist/programmer and proof my parts for fit once complete... Needless to say I sat down, reverse engineered the flange, programmed, and cut a 3/4" billet T6 spacer that put everything where it was supposed to be.

I will chalk it up to a talented welder, that's it. Not giving him another penny of mine. Hope he gets his stuff together.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Yeah, I was impressed as well with the welding. But it seems his fab skills on these pipes aren't thought through. I had the same issues you had with rubbing on the passenger side half-shaft. Sent it back weeks ago and finally got it back last night. Got it installed tonight. Very, very tight fit. Almost like the flex is too long. Not impressed. So far no leaks but I am going to have to keep an eye out for stressing.

On a side note. The ORP makes a big difference in sound. Much louder vs with the stock cat/flex.
 
#17 ·
I've had mostly positive transactions with him.
Worst is the lack of communication often and wait times. He usually fixes things and makes it right.

I do need the lower rear control arms from him, though, with the adjustable perches.
 
#19 ·
Everybody and their need for instant gratification.

you guys DO realize that not only is he a one-guy show, but he also does parts for mazda guys, dodge caliber guys, and im sure a bunch more, not to mention custom-one-off requests AND he works a day job...this all out of his basement....and to top it off, he no longer has a focus.

...unlike a certain other vender who has an entire shop, several staff and is in the business all day, 5 days a week and still take MONTHS to finish little things....starfuryt550 knows what im talking about ;)
 
#21 ·
The annoying thing about the ORP is its a 50/50 shot its not the ORP and its your header. I went through 3 used headers I had laying around trying to put stock exhaust back on a car and all 3 were bent. 2 had the tell tale dent in the one primary the 3rd looked flawless but its hard to put an o2 sensor in when the header has the o2 bung in the cat pushed under the oil pan.


I got everything from Dom in I think about a month give or take and I love the suspension stuff it fits and looks great.

Unless he got help he was a 1 man show last I checked so you just need to deal with that fact when you order parts.
 
#22 ·
I would agree in most cases, but when the header is brand new there isn't an excuse. The window of tolerance is huge and to be off 3/4" is an "almost complete design".

With that said, there maybe a simple explanation, like, he sourced a new tubing bender and the old one had the golden recipe (what we call it in CNC programming). I'd give him the benefit of the doubt if he was upfront with his lead times. I have to quote jobs everyday and the potential customer always gets a time to completion estimate with each one.

It's great that the suspension parts fit nice (that is the part that will kill you if it failed[xx(]), and they have always looked good in the pics I've seen! Post up some pics Bennyfocus and show off your goodies![driving]
 
#24 ·
As for my goodies the only person on these forums that has seen my car is PumkinSvt, if you are interested I'll pm you some pics of it. I don't care much for the opinions and attitudes of some on here so I prefer to not make a build thread and open up that can of worms.[/QUOTE]

I'd love to see your mods on your Foci. It great to mod your car & this forum is a great place for it. I believe a great number of people here would enjoy seeing your pix.
 
#27 ·
I seem to be in trapped in the same situation SVTF 03 and apparently a bunch of others found themselves...

I ordered my ORP/Flex combo from Dominic about a month ago (July 30). The initial ORP rubbed the half-shaft. Dom was quick to respond saying he'd correct it, which was excellent. I asked if he would need the flex pipe as well and he said he would not, so I shipped him only the ORP.

I received the re-worked ORP from him on August 23rd and tried to install it that night. The ORP now clears the half-shaft, but the result is that the flex is about 3 inches below where it needs to be to interface correctly with the cat-back. I have to put a huge amount of force onto the flex in order to get it anywhere near the cat-back so, unlike some others, I’m still boned.

I sent Dom a set of pictures documenting the issue that night and asking what he could do, but he hasn't responded to any of my emails since August 19th. I've had to give up as I need to get the car back on the road. Hopefully he'll stand behind his product and refund me my money as otherwise I'll have spent close to $400 for him to make me a fairly cumbersome paperweight.

I understand the ‘one-man-band’ issue, but leaving a paying customer who has received defective goods in the dark for 10 days now isn’t on. It doesn’t take more than thirty seconds to email saying ‘Dammit, I’m sorry. Send it all back for a refund as this is not representative of the standards to which I hold myself.’

tl;dr: ORP/Flex still doesn't fit after a re-work and Dominic appears to be avoiding contact.

Any ideas?
 
#28 ·
Wish you were closer to me. I'd help out. Mine was a little long as well but I got it to work. I have the v-band? Do you? I bolted my orp and flex together and bolted that to the cat-back and then the header. It's tight. I was worried about it at for a bit but its been about a month and no issues as of yet. Just make sure everything is tight.
 
#29 ·
I do have the V-Band. I had the ORP and the flex together during my installation attempts, but I kept them slightly loose to allow the alignment to be tweaked. Initially I bolted the ORP up to the header and the resulting misalignment was so bad that I couldn't get it anywhere near lining up.

Here's a shot of the non-alignment:


Now, that's actually pushing against the cat-back rearwards so hard that it's distorting the hangers... and I've got the Poly ones on the rear three mounts. Here's an image showing that:


Thus the alignment is off both longitudinally and vertically.

Connecting to the catback first didn't work as the front mount point ends up interfering with the underside of the engine so much that I can't get it torqued up at the rear. So, I decided to try to disconnect the V-Band and attach both ends... that was a wreck. It's just not close enough to be functional in any way.

[facepalm] Ugh.
 
#31 ·
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I was slightly worried about the fitment prior to ordering as it did seem like he was a small shop, but he assured me that he uses jigs based on the OEM setup. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to interpret that now. I can lay the OEM parts I have on the ground next to the Dominant Engineering setup and see the error without any sort of jig or measurements.

Oh well. If I don't hear back from him soon, I'm going to be attempting a PayPal dispute. I find it all very odd as his workmanship seems extremely professional, so why would he jeapordize his fledgling business by ignoring a customer who is trying to help him fix a problem of his own making?

I'm glad to hear you managed to get yours working, though. The fewer people being scammed, the better. May I ask where you got the front poly hangers? I ordered mine through CFM but didn't notice the front ones being available...
 
#34 ·
Cool, I'd appreciate the link. And thank whatever diety that they're softer as the CFM ones were quite a challenge.

So does Dominant Engineering have a phone number or address where I can reach them (him?)? If it comes down to having to send formal correspondence, I'd like to have my ducks lined up.
 
#36 ·
Thanks for the link. How's the fit on the fronts? I nearly had to open up the CFM ones as well. I managed to get them all on, but it was quite a workout.

The package from Dominant does have an address on it. I just googled it and it looks like a residential neighborhood. So I'm not sure I can show up and ask to see Customer Service.

He still hasn't responded to an email since Aug 19th. I assume others on here are able to communicate with him during this time? Is Dominic on the forum?
 
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