Nissan 370Z Forum - Cannot Recommend AAM Competition Anymore

THIS IS A LONG REVIEW BUT PLEASE READ IT IF YOU ARE A NISSAN/INFINITI OWNER AND ARE PLANNING TO TAKE YOUR CAR TO AAM FOR ANY KIND OF WORK.

I am writing this review in conjunction with my friend. I own a Nissan 370Z and he owns an Infiniti G37S. When I purchased my car in 2010, I learned about AAM via a Google search when I was looking at cat-back exhausts. I really liked the way that the AAM true dual 2.5 inch exhaust sounded in an audio clip on AAM’s website. The exhaust was reasonably priced, easy to install with basic hand tools, and of good quality/craftsmanship. Nearly 6 years later, it is still installed on my car today and I have no complaints regarding the quality, fitment, craftsmanship, sound, etc. Based on my positive feedback, my friend also purchased the AAM short-tails exhaust not long after and had AAM install a cold air intake onto his car. Again, both of these aftermarket parts were reasonably priced compared to competitors, easy to install, and of good quality. These events all took place in the 2010-2013 time frame.
Fast forward to December 2014, and the clutch on my friend’s G37S one day refused to come up from the floor. His concentric slave cylinder had failed and a local Nissan dealer immediately quoted him $2000+ for a new clutch. He however brought the car to AAM because of my recommendation and he thought that he would use this opportunity to upgrade his flywheel, clutch, etc. with stage 1 parts. We worked with Marken Smith at AAM who said that we could order the parts from Z1 Motorsports ourselves if we wanted. Marken said he was going to do the same thing himself anyway and just to make sure that the parts ship to the shop. We were never told that by purchasing the parts ourselves and having them shipped to the shop that AAM couldn’t warranty their work on the car.

The parts that were installed on my friend’s G37S included the following:
1) Z1 Motorsports 370Z/G37 performance street clutch and flywheel combo kit with braided SS hydraulic clutch line
2) Z1 Motorsports concentric slave cylinder elimination kit with fluid
The total for the parts including shipping was around $1,200.
AAM quoted the following for labor:
1) AAM shop supplies = $100
2) AAM clutch/flywheel/concentric slave cylinder elimination kit = $1,391.00 or 13 hours of labor at $107/hr.

AAM total labor quote with tax was $1,580. This quote ended up being closer to $2,000 for labor when the final bill settled because AAM said they ran into some difficulties with the install. Why was my friend up-charged on his bill because AAM didn’t know how to do their job? AAM said that they had never installed a concentric slave cylinder kit before and so it would require some extra time. Today, we know that a clutch/flywheel job on a Nissan 370Z/G37 shouldn’t take more than 5-6 hours. We were stupid and didn’t do the research at the time. We didn’t think to question the 8+ additional hours of labor to install the concentric slave cylinder elimination kit.
After more than a month, my friend received his car back in mid-January 2015. The clutch pedal was extremely heavy to modulate. Again, we were stupid and didn’t do the research so we thought this was normal for a stage 1 clutch’s feel. Over the next few months in 2015, my friend brought the car back to AAM a few times because it wasn’t shifting right. It felt like the clutch wasn’t disengaging and engaging the gears correctly all the time. For example, sometimes the shifter would pop out of gear into neutral. The clutch fluid reservoir in the engine bay was also not holding fluid and would become low after a few days. On each visit back to AAM, they would make small adjustments or say that this was normal for the kit blaming it on the parts which we bought. They never took responsibility.
Finally in 2016, my friend’s car got to a point where the clutch hydraulics started showing signs of problems and eventual failure. If the car was left sitting for a few days and you wanted to move it, you would have to let it warm up and pump the clutch 20-30 times before it would let you put it into gear. With no recourse available from AAM, we did some research and learned about Hill’s Garage in Elkridge, MD. I visited the shop a few times with my buddy and we spoke to Frank and Suzanne Hill who are good people. We explained to them our situation and they told us that there was something definitely wrong with my friend’s car. They also said that a lot of cheated AAM customers come to them to fix their now broken cars. Frank and Suzanne Hill were able to get my friend’s car into the shop quickly. They pulled the transmission and immediately notice the sub-par work performed by the techs at AAM. A bolt was just resting freely inside the transmission bell housing and many of the parts were not lubricated as they should have been. This is probably why the clutch felt extremely stiff to modulate from day 1 of AAM’s installation.
Hill’s garage was able to set up my friend’s car correctly with another Z1 clutch/flywheel kit and give the car back to him in a little under three weeks. A large part of the wait was because of waiting from parts from Z1 Motorsports to arrive and an issue with the carrier who damaged the first shipment of parts. The car drives really well now.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1. A shop will look for anyway to get out of warranting the work that they do on your car. Don’t give them that option by buying parts from one of their vendors directly and shipping it to their shop. They are still going to stay that you supplied the defective parts and look for an out.
2. Do your research concerning labor estimates for the type of work that is going to be performed on your car. This way you can tell if the shop is competent or trying to up-charge you, because they don’t know what they are doing or think you are an idiot.
3. Document everything in writing and with pictures or videos.
4. AVOID AAM COMPETITION. We did some research and found out that they having been jumping from one platform to the next since the 1990s. They have employed good techs who do a few good builds but then leave become of management’s shady practices of ripping off customers and up charging jobs. Once AAM is done with the Nissan/Infiniti community, they will move onto to something else with a new name and location.
5. Finally, post your experiences at different businesses whether they are positive or negative. This will help other consumers out there doing research before their next big project. It also forces businesses to remain competitive and have some accountability.