Hotchkis vs BMR

[BMR guy]

Originally Posted by urr2slo

i must respectfully disagree, i forgot to mention in my last post, hotchkis is very focused on the 5th gen's. they just dont rush a product out without extensive testing. they have purchased their own 5th gen for continued development of new parts as well as long term testing.
here on the west coast where they are located they've held several events and open houses and been at most the major car shows as well with a large trailer and several cars, never seen bmr at any of the shows, not much support for our family in my eyes. i guess will see who has the best display at camaro5fest, my money is on hotchkis.
hotchkis truely has the best solution here, i feel as a vender here you may be bias, maybe due to something refered to as profit margin.
ive driven a bmr equipted 5th gen, not even close, ride quality, stance and handling were all better with hotchkis.
hotchkis equipted 5gens have been winning and setting fastest lap times at the good guys events, hurst/b&m all american muscle car challenge, camaro performers duel in the desert, the list goes on, where is bmr? all this can be verified here on camaro5, so check your facts before you post, hotchkis is focused on this niche and are active supporters of this community.

a wise man once said " good stuff is never cheap, cheap stuff is never good "
maybe that explains the price difference between hotchkis and bmr. just a thought.

First I need to say that I have nothing against Hotchkis products, they are quality made parts designed very well. In fact, of all the suspension manufacturers we compete with for all the applications we make products for, I have the most respect for Hotchkis as a company. Now, on to your post. Being a cheerleader is fine. Your happy with their products, that's great. That being said, price isn't everything. For someone accusing Apex Chase that he needs to get his facts straight, you couldn't be more off mark yourself. Lets look at your post a little...

"here on the west coast where they are located they've held several events and open houses and been at most the major car shows as well with a large trailer and several cars, never seen bmr at any of the shows, not much support for our family in my eyes."

It's your eyes apparently. Hotchkis is in California, we are in Florida. Maybe we should raise our prices so we can afford to attend California car shows? Sorry for the sarcasm but really? Just because you don't see us at your local events on the opposite coast doesn't mean we don't attend our local events or other events for that matter. I don't see Hotchkis coming to this coast either. Regardless of who does what, how much a company spends on marketing (because no matter how you look at it, exhibiting is marketing)does not have any bearing on the quality of their products.

Supporting the community can be done in more ways then spending money on car shows and open houses. How about providing your products with smaller margins so more customers can enjoy this hobby we love. All I am saying for those of you reading this is that there is a reason our prices are lower and it has nothing to do with quality. We are on our 14th year of business and we have always designed, manufactured, and assembled everything in house. This keeps our margins tighter and your prices lower. No outsourcing, no middle men. We purchase materials in quantity for deeper discounts, manufacture in quantity for better efficiency. A streamlined manufacturing process saves costs which trickle down to you, the end user. The dilemna we face is that the market has been ill-informed that a low price means inferior products. 20 years of inferior off-shore merchandise can probably be blamed for this. There are 4 main suspension companies on this forum and we are the least expensive of the 4. I would bet our products against any in the industry for quality, design, form and function...So do we just raise our prices to where everyone else is or keep fighting this battle? I think the thousands of happy BMR customers appreciate our efforts and the fact that we provide a more economical alterative is a key point to our success.

I apologize in advance because I rarely stoop to this in my posts but I just had to point this out:

"i guess will see who has the best display at camaro5fest, my money is on hotchkis."
This quote kinda makes me considering they weren't even at Camaro5Fest last year while we exhibited and many of our customers competed. This year the Camaro5fest is on the West coast and we will not be attending for the same reason Hotchkis didn't attend last year, its just too expensive to travel that distance for a one-day event. Btw, guess who also wasn't at PRI in December when we showed up with this display:

[caverman]

LOL.....I agree. I think both BMR and Hotchkis are great quality. You probably won't go wrong with either one.

I bought Hotchkis springs when they first came out for the 2010....mostly because I had them on my '69 with great success and looks. At that time BMR wasn't ready with their springs.

Also at the time everyone was pushing Pfadt....and still do. I just didn't care to cut my bump stops though, I was afraid the 1.25" front drop might be too much, and Hotchkis was about $50 cheaper.

If I were just looking at springs today I would've probably picked BMR....but that's just me. My factors would've been a little cheaper in price, their support on this forum....actively on here answering questions, and I like the idea of 1" front | 1.4" rear. To me the rear needs to come down just ever so slighty more than the 1". I also like the fact that BMR offers two different spring rates.

Am I sorry that I bought Hotchkis....absolutely not!

I am curious as to why I haven't seen any bushing replacements from Hotchkis though. Maybe I just haven't found them yet.....or maybe they are still doing R&D?

Again....for the OP. It's probably just going to be personal preference and what fits your wallet the best. Either one is going to be a great product.

[axis]

Since the OP asked for other top notch brands, I'll throw the Pfadt stage II package into the mix. It's $600 for the same parts as the above packages. I don't think any will disagree that Pfadt is top notch.

Their sways are powdercoated a darker shade of grey, so they go well with a blacked out look.

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by axis

Since the OP asked for other top notch brands, I'll throw the Pfadt stage II package into the mix. It's $600 for the same parts as the above packages. I don't think any will disagree that Pfadt is top notch.

Their sways are powdercoated a darker shade of grey, so they go well with a blacked out look.

Pfadt definitely makes top notch parts, but the SEMA/Holiday promo is over now. They have lowered the Stage 2 package price to $700 now.

[BLACK10]

Originally Posted by urr2slo

i must respectfully disagree, i forgot to mention in my last post, hotchkis is very focused on the 5th gen's. they just dont rush a product out without extensive testing. they have purchased their own 5th gen for continued development of new parts as well as long term testing.
here on the west coast where they are located they've held several events and open houses and been at most the major car shows as well with a large trailer and several cars, never seen bmr at any of the shows, not much support for our family in my eyes. i guess will see who has the best display at camaro5fest, my money is on hotchkis.
hotchkis truely has the best solution here, i feel as a vender here you may be bias, maybe due to something refered to as profit margin.
ive driven a bmr equipted 5th gen, not even close, ride quality, stance and handling were all better with hotchkis.
hotchkis equipted 5gens have been winning and setting fastest lap times at the good guys events, hurst/b&m all american muscle car challenge, camaro performers duel in the desert, the list goes on, where is bmr? all this can be verified here on camaro5, so check your facts before you post, hotchkis is focused on this niche and are active supporters of this community.

a wise man once said " good stuff is never cheap, cheap stuff is never good "
maybe that explains the price difference between hotchkis and bmr. just a thought.

[Dmactampa]

I have the BMR package on my camaro and I love it. I am local to the shop so I had them install it. Great guys and a great product!! You can't go wrong with either.

[IBM/2SS/RS/LS3]

Where's my damn popcorn????







Here we go again..........

[VR Baron]

Originally Posted by IBM/2SS/RS/LS3

Where's my damn popcorn????







Here we go again..........

They are all great!!!

Can we go home now?

[S-eatin-grin]

I'm having a total suspension done in the spring and wanted to go with all one company...figured the parts are engineered to work together...I chose BMR over hotchkis because all other things being equal (both great products) I didn't see complete bushing kits from hotchkis that were packaged up the way BMR has everything. I'm sure they probably have them...maybe BMR's IT/webdesigner guy is the only thing superior to Hotchiks

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by S-eatin-grin

I'm having a total suspension done in the spring and wanted to go with all one company...figured the parts are engineered to work together...I chose BMR over hotchkis because all other things being equal (both great products) I didn't see complete bushing kits from hotchkis that were packaged up the way BMR has everything. I'm sure they probably have them...maybe BMR's IT/webdesigner guy is the only thing superior to Hotchiks

You won't believe the change just upgrading bushings makes.