The Saleen Forums at soec.org header image

Go Back   The Saleen Forums at soec.org > Saleen Vehicle Discussions - Tesla, S7, Focus, Sportruck and XP > 2007-2008 S331 Sportruck
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Mark Forums Read

2007-2008 S331 Sportruck For discussion of the F-150 platform "Thunder."

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 08-30-2008
DeadEyeLefty DeadEyeLefty is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 1
Default Thoroughly Disgusted Owner!

I bought my '07 SC331 Saleen truck #121 in April 2007. Since then I have encountered many issues with this vehicle.

First, in May 2007I received a recall notice from Saleen regarding the wheel hub assemblies. It stated that "due to a manufacturing defect the wheel hub may become loose, eventually resulting in the wheel separating from the vehicle, resulting in a potential crash." Wonderful. I took it to the only Saleen dealer in my area which is an hour away to have them replace the wheel hub assembly on each side. The truck was there for 16 days.

Then, the truck started having issues with the cooling fans. The headlights would constantly dim whenever the electric cooling fans would turn on and off. The fans would cycle on/off every 10 seconds. I contacted Saleen and their answer was "It's normal." I think not. In October 2007, the electric cooling system burned itself out and the truck broke down in rush hour traffic. Since there was no cool air coming from the fans anymore (and it's 90 degrees in Miami nearly all the time), the engine chugged down all of the coolant and there was none left in the resevoir. This led to the truck being towed into the dealer and fixed by replacing the electric fans with a belt-driven fan system. The truck was at the dealer from October 9, 2007 until November 12, 2007.

Now it's August 2008 and I had recently noticed the tire cords were showing through the tread on inside of front wheels. I paid to have the tires replaced (fronts only) at a local shop because I assumed it was normal wear for such large tires at their camber. The tires had 14,266 miles on them when they were replaced. The rear wheels and outsides of the fronts had plenty of tread left. Two weeks later I noticed a major vibration in the steering and heard a low grinding noise coming from the front of the truck. I had a friend who races cars look at it and was told that I should stop driving it immediately because there was a major problem with the front wheel assembly. He was able to jiggle the wheel once it was jacked up, but the lug nuts were completely tightened.

The next day the truck was towed to the dealer. The wheel bearings were worn out and Saleen has decided to replace BOTH wheel hub assemblies AGAIN.

Please be advised of the following: Ford has ZERO parts on hand to repair anything on the truck that has been modified by Saleen. Everything must come from the Saleen factory in Michigan. The Ford dealer will only offer a rental for TWO days and Saleen will not pay for any type of car rental. So I have to pay out of pocket for a rental until the vehicle is fixed (UNDER WARRANTY) again, which is supposedly not for 10 days.

You would think that a company who builds a $600,000 super car would take more pride in everything they produce. Instead, it seems as though they are just out to make a quick buck in whatever aftermarket vehicle they can create.

You can see my frustration with paying a lot of money for a vehicle that doesn't perform. Don't you think repeat business would be important for a company? Has anyone else experienced these problems or noticed anything like I did after their wheel hub assemblies were replaced?

Your patience in reading this is appreciated. Any feedback is welcomed.

DeadEyeLefty
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 08-30-2008
Jim D.'s Avatar
Jim D. Jim D. is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Posts: 2,746
Default

Welcome to the Saleen Forums at SOEC!

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying it's unfortunate you've had such an experience with your S331... hopefully when it is running right it's a very enjoyable ride!

Certainly sometimes there are hickups with a new model... unfortunately you've had a couple of recurring problems, and it's also unfortunate that you're so far away from a dealer who can service you appropriately.

I would hope there would be a dealer closer than an hour from Miami.

But hopefully soon these problems will be behind you and you can start enjoying your Saleen without interruption.

As with any specialty vehicle, there can be inconveniences, so it somewhat goes with the territory, though I can understand your frustration.

Should you need further assistance with your vehicle and you're not getting satisfaction from your dealer, please contact me offline and we'll get in touch with someone at Saleen who can hopefully help expedite things with your dealer and get you back on the road faster.
__________________
Email me: jimd@soec(dot)org

Aiding The Addicted™
SOEC Headquarters
Huntington Beach, CA USA

Join Saleen Owners and Enthusiasts Club on Facebook



Meet Steve Saleen at the following Signature Events co-hosted by SOEC:
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 12-09-2008
gomez331sc gomez331sc is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Westport, Ma.
Posts: 68
Default

ive started noticing a slight shimmy in the wheel @ 70mph ive brought it to the dealer TASCA FORD an they rebalanced them asid that should do it. well it still there BUT not as bad, an as for the fans ive got the same dimming effect an vibration when the second fan kicks on. TASCA does do the SUPER COBRA JETS with 725 hp. an the service manager said they could do upgrads to my 331 SCwith out voiding the warrenty!? (i was confused!) but their not a SALEEN dealer. an the place i bought my 331SC is no longer in business. an the closest SALEEN dealer is 2 1/2 hrs away. besides how much will the belt driven fan take from the motor. thanks
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 12-09-2008
Meikol02's Avatar
Meikol02 Meikol02 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Seabrook, TX
Posts: 944
Default

Hey Gomez, read the thread from JimIII regarding the JDM truck kit for info on the fan parasitic losses. There are a few interesting tidbits in there as well.

I have found when it comes to servicing my Saleen, that even the Saleen Dealers are woefully inept at dealing with the cars they have sold. That being said, the delays are usually on the dealer side in my experience. The Dealers don't find it to be a high priority. I had some things addressed quickly by Saleen, and had them send me the parts only to have the dealer take a week (on the second trip, they missed the window I gave them the first time and I retrieved my car) to install a days worth of work. Service departments are no longer that.

On the upside, I know I drive a unique vehicle that brings me great joy, with some expected frustrations when I have to have a bug shook out.
__________________
Michael
'07-0449
S281 SC Coupe - 1 of 1 as optioned
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 12-09-2008
gomez331sc gomez331sc is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Westport, Ma.
Posts: 68
Default

well your right about dealer services, if i trated my customers like that id been out of business years ago! but i thought bringing mt truck to TASCA! (being in the performance line since the early 60's. that the treatment would be different. i wanted the "TIRES rotated! well i was told there was NO REASON for it! well they should have been done! im paying for it "DO IT"! i like to rotate tires every 6K miles, (i got 121K miles on 1 set of tires. (98,F150) 95% highway.) an my S331 has 7,300 on her an the tires are wearing funny. (slight scallop on the out-edge) gonna try a SALEEN dealer but its 2 1/2 hrs away. gonna have them call me when they got everything to do my truck. lest see what happens!
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 12-09-2008
burnouts331 burnouts331 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ashburn, Ga
Posts: 41
Default

I was under the impression that the tires were not to be rotated since they were directional tires and I have heard that the back tires had an offset from the front. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here because if I am I seriously need to get mine rotated. I have around 9500 miles on mine right now and the front two are wearing away on the inner side. I haven't even priced tires for these 23" monsters yet but I can bet that they will cost a pretty penny. Does anyone know how many miles we should be expecting to get on the tires that came with the truck? Maybe Jim III can tell us how many sets of tires he has went through so far in their truck.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 12-09-2008
hattrick hattrick is offline
Senior Saleen Forums Participant
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Keller, TX
Posts: 181
Default

I had to replace the front tires on mine at approximately 14k miles for the same reason. Mine came with the BFG KDW's and you can not truly rotate the tires without re-mounting them as they are uni-directional and the wheels have a different offset for front and rear. I could not find anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that had these tires. I ordered from Tire Rack which had the best price, $394, and had them the next day. I had mine re-aligned so hopefully this set will last longer. That was another trick! The only place I could find that could align a truck with 23's was an off road shop.
__________________
00-503 S281-SC
07-246 S331-SC
95-115 S351-R Speedster
89-100SSC
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 12-09-2008
burnouts331 burnouts331 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ashburn, Ga
Posts: 41
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by hattrick View Post
I had to replace the front tires on mine at approximately 14k miles for the same reason. Mine came with the BFG KDW's and you can not truly rotate the tires without re-mounting them as they are uni-directional and the wheels have a different offset for front and rear. I could not find anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that had these tires. I ordered from Tire Rack which had the best price, $394, and had them the next day. I had mine re-aligned so hopefully this set will last longer. That was another trick! The only place I could find that could align a truck with 23's was an off road shop.

Do you think it would be worth re-mounting these tires to get extra miles out of them? If so how many extra miles do you think we would get? And was that the price per tire?
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 12-10-2008
SaleenKS SaleenKS is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Junction City Kansas
Posts: 71
Default

Holly Hell 394$ a tire, I figured maybe 2 something.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 12-10-2008
2007SaleenS331's Avatar
2007SaleenS331 2007SaleenS331 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Billings,MT
Posts: 124
Default

I priced these tires when I got my truck and the BF Goodrich G-Force were $389 and Toyo makes this size for $189.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 12-10-2008
gomez331sc gomez331sc is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Westport, Ma.
Posts: 68
Default

ya can rotate the TIRES but yes they have to be dis mounted an rebalanced.but they should stay on the same side. was told if they were to change sides they could ruin the tires. somthing with belts inside the tire.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 12-10-2008
Meikol02's Avatar
Meikol02 Meikol02 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Seabrook, TX
Posts: 944
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by gomez331sc View Post
ya can rotate the TIRES but yes they have to be dis mounted an rebalanced.but they should stay on the same side. was told if they were to change sides they could ruin the tires. somthing with belts inside the tire.
To rotate you have to have them dismounted and remounted/balanced on the opposite side wheel with directional tires. The same problem exists on many high performance set ups with different front/rear wheel widths and directional tires. My Pirellis are left to right rotation as well, but thankfully not directional as that runs the price up tremendously. The Corvettes, and the Pontiac GTP (which runs a slightly detuned LS motor) have to do this as well. The recommendation on the Pirellis is to rotate every 3000 miles.

I have never heard about what Gomez331sc said about the "belts". My dad has a GTP that freaked out the tires guys because they have to be dismounted and remounted for every rotation due to the issues mentioned, and they did not understand. (Directional tread with different rim widths and the GTP has wider FRONT wheels)

Fun part is the dealer that sold my car CANNOT rotate my wheels because they don't have a machine that can balance the 20" wheels! They also had to buy a new grease gun and the HD Marine grease for the Sway bars bushings.
__________________
Michael
'07-0449
S281 SC Coupe - 1 of 1 as optioned
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 12-10-2008
Light02atl Light02atl is offline
Senior Saleen Forums Participant
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 430
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meikol02 View Post

Fun part is the dealer that sold my car CANNOT rotate my wheels because they don't have a machine that can balance the 20" wheels!
Same problem here. My Saleen dealer cant balance a 23" wheel. Saleen will not warranty anything not done by a Saleen dealer. The dealer wanted me to pay a local tire shop to have my tires balanced and aligned when I had 125miles on the clock....that didnt happen.

Discounttires.com has tires in this size for $154 (continentals) or the stock goodyear kdws for $345. I think Saleen changed the tire brand in the late 2007/2008 model year. Price does not include shipping. To me, shipping is $18 per tire.

http://discounttires.com/list.php?si...earch=tiresize

Last edited by Light02atl; 12-10-2008 at 10:13 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 12-10-2008
burnouts331 burnouts331 is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ashburn, Ga
Posts: 41
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meikol02 View Post
To rotate you have to have them dismounted and remounted/balanced on the opposite side wheel with directional tires. The same problem exists on many high performance set ups with different front/rear wheel widths and directional tires. My Pirellis are left to right rotation as well, but thankfully not directional as that runs the price up tremendously. The Corvettes, and the Pontiac GTP (which runs a slightly detuned LS motor) have to do this as well. The recommendation on the Pirellis is to rotate every 3000 miles.

I have never heard about what Gomez331sc said about the "belts". My dad has a GTP that freaked out the tires guys because they have to be dismounted and remounted for every rotation due to the issues mentioned, and they did not understand. (Directional tread with different rim widths and the GTP has wider FRONT wheels)

Fun part is the dealer that sold my car CANNOT rotate my wheels because they don't have a machine that can balance the 20" wheels! They also had to buy a new grease gun and the HD Marine grease for the Sway bars bushings.
Do you think it would be okay just to rotate the front tires since we have to do a side to side swap in these trucks? I was thinking it wouldn't be necessary to swap the back tires around since they should wear pretty evenly.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 12-10-2008
gomez331sc gomez331sc is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Westport, Ma.
Posts: 68
Default

i think im missing somthing here,but arnt the s331's wheels all the same with? its just the offset thats different. why should they have to go from side to side, thats not rotating thats swapping sides?
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 12-11-2008
risaleen risaleen is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Rhode Island
Posts: 45
Default

I have an extreme mustang, but my daily driver is an expedition. I bought the 23" silver (non chrome wheels) from the consolidation auction and had a local town fair tire install the 'general' uhp tires. I think the tires mounted, balanced, shipped and taxes cost around 650.00 I have about 3k miles so far and no shakes or abnormal wear. I know thats not a lot of miles yet but compared to what a 17,18,or 20" wheels look like I am happy with the 23" versions.

Performance always comes with a price. If you want better acceleration get a smaller lighter wheel/tire combo. The worst tire life I have had on my cars have always been from heavy vehicles or wide tires.

04 viper - 8k miles on the 345 rears
02 and 04 z06 - 315 rears 15k miles tops...
94 h1 hummer - 41" x 13.5 iroks = 10k miles
06 extreme mustang - 295 rears (too early to tell but 15k will be a lot)
64.5 mustang - stock skinny wheels/tires 45k miles easy...
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 12-11-2008
1966-Galaxie's Avatar
1966-Galaxie 1966-Galaxie is offline
SOEC Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Posts: 31
Default

Not sure when Saleen switched, but my 2008 331SC SuperCrew has Continentals on it from the factory.
__________________

2008 S331 SC, Bumper #21
2003 Mustang Cobra SVT Coupe
1994 F150 Extended Cab, 4.9L, 5 spd
1966 Ford 7 Litre Convertible, 4spd, 428 V8
1966 Ford Country Squire, 390 V8
1966 Ford Custom, Original Washington State Patrol Car, "P Code" 428 V8
1965 Ford T-Bird Landau, 390 V8
1958 Edsel Corsair (Canadian built) 410 V8
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 12-11-2008
gomez331sc gomez331sc is offline
Suspended Account
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Westport, Ma.
Posts: 68
Default

risaleen, your the second person ive talked to this week from RI nice collection of vehicles. here i like my fords. good luck with your toys. maybe well run into eachother at one of the shows. an the same to Bruce.
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 12-11-2008
Light02atl Light02atl is offline
Senior Saleen Forums Participant
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 430
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1966-Galaxie View Post
Not sure when Saleen switched, but my 2008 331SC SuperCrew has Continentals on it from the factory.

Late 2007/early 08

Continentals are listed as factory tires on the saleen site now.

Funny, the continentals are $220 (each) less than the KDWs. Too bad Saleen didnt knock $800 off the price of S331s equipped with the cheaper tires....or did they?

Last edited by Light02atl; 12-11-2008 at 01:54 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:19 PM.


Orders placed through these advertiser links help to support SOEC and this website.

Tire Rack Wheel Clearance

When you buy one Valeo® ULTIMATE™ Wiper Blade from Tire Rack, you'll get one free!

Dunlop $50 Rebate


| SOEC.ORG | ABOUT SOEC | MEMBERSHIP | SHOWROOM | LITERATURE | VEHICLE PRODUCTION | THE SALEEN TRADER | SALEEN AUTOMOTIVE | CONTACT SOEC | SOEC @ FACEBOOK |


All Original Content Copyright © 1991-2021 Saleen Owners and Enthusiasts Club, LLC (SOEC). All Rights Reserved.
SOEC is the official independent, non-profit organization for owners and enthusiasts of vehicles by Steve Saleen and Saleen Automotive, Inc.