Unfortunately, I’m extremely disappointed after spending $420 on what I believed would be a high-quality part.

I’m sure the mount will physically do its job, but this review is strictly about quality control, packaging, and customer support.

The billet portion of my mount arrived with multiple nicks, scratches, and gouges, along with machining that is visibly inconsistent across the surface. The machining pattern and finish change noticeably from one area to another. For a $420 component, this is not the level of finish I expected. But I do understand nothing is perfect unfortunately.

The black mounting bracket was more disappointing. It has circular marks throughout the finish that look like the paint had not fully cured before the part was wrapped. The bubble wrap appears to have left its imprint all over the painted surface.

And that brings up another issue: the packaging itself was extremely lacking for a part at this price point. There was very little protection between the components and the packaging material. Whether these imperfections happened during manufacturing or were caused/worsened during packaging and shipping, proper packaging should have prevented a brand-new $420 part from arriving looking like this. It honestly comes across as cutting costs on packaging at the customer’s expense.

I contacted support about the issues and waited 8 days for a response. When they finally responded, their answer was essentially that the defects are cosmetic and don’t affect the fit, function, performance, or integrity of the part.

That response really tells you everything you need to know about how they view quality. Apparently, as long as the part functions, the condition it arrives in isn’t important. I didn’t pay $420 for a used-looking part that merely functions. I paid for a new, high-quality component.

Their solution for the damaged paint was to offer to purchase some spray paint for me so that I could repair their finish myself. I couldn’t care less about the $15 worth of spray paint. The issue is that I shouldn’t have to sand, prep, repaint, and repair a brand-new $420 component because the company couldn’t deliver it in acceptable condition in the first place.

What makes this even more frustrating is that I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable. I simply brought the condition of the parts to their attention and expected a company selling premium-priced components to stand behind the quality of what they’re shipping. Instead, the response essentially amounted to “it works, so that’s good enough.”

If you’re paying this kind of money, don’t expect the quality control or customer service to match the price tag. I personally would spend the extra time looking at other options. If you want a quality, well-built part from a company that actually stands behind the product and cares about how it arrives in the customer’s hands, I’d recommend looking into an HPI mount instead

Cobb 08-14 Subaru STi Front Mount Intercooler Kit - Black