To ALL Stillen front splitter owners!!!
 

By now most of us are aware of the defective nature of the Stillen front lip. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of this until after I ordered it. I was so caught up on hoe subtle and clean the lip looked, at the time its the only one I wanted. I hoped for the best and thought maybe the issue with the product was fixed or maybe I'd luck out. Nope. My lip has been mounted for less then two months in a car that is not daily driven. I installed the lip using multiple mounting points in hopes it'd prevent this from happening, nope. The center of my lip, approx 14", is staging drastically, it looks like my lip is smiling at me, it's drooped and sagging at least an inch from its original location. So low now that it rubs the ground almost every time I go over a dip, something it did not do when first installed.

I'm surprised that such a well known reputable brand would produce an item of such poor quality. Has anyone reached out to Stillen about this? Does anyone have a contact or is there a contact here on the forum?

People have brought the issue up with Stillen in the past. Their response was something along the lines of either "you didn't use our hardware to install it, piss off" to "you used our hardware to install it, we're going to tell you we'll get back to you and then forget you ever existed". It was pretty disappointing how they (didn't) take care of the buyers.

I hate this story. I had good luck with other Stillen products, yet I must listen to all the folks that have had miserable experiences with them before I ever buy more.

Good luck OP. I think it is a throw away.

That's what confuses me. Other than this lip and their supercharger kit, they make pretty good stuff.

The short answer for you is you are hosed.

Stillen now says the support rods are required. Run without at your own risk. I bought my lip from a vendor so it was likely old stock. According to Stillen they now apparently put the support rods in as part of the kit.

Here is what Stillen had to say back in April.



I recently bought this lip after full well knowing about the sagging issues others are having with it. However there is another fix, that likely wont help you at this point, that doesn't require the support rods to keep the clean look. It uses another form of support but you must do it prior to ever installling it or at least prior to having issues with the lip itself. Buy a piece of aluminum L-bar stock at your local hardware store. Fit it over the lenght of the middle section of the lip. Use 100% polyurethane adhesive to attach the bar to the lip for added rigidity. Then mount it to the bumper securely.

Another member has done this method and hasn't had any issues of it bending or sagging many months after install and going through the elements. This convinced me if you are willing to spend $30 more in hardware and adhesive (you gotta buy better hardware to mount anyway). Then doing the little DIY project of installing the bar for support then the Stillen lip may still be worth considering. I really like the way it looks. The only others I like are the Top Secret and Mines. Or the Sunline Racing if doing the full lip kit. But even after buying the extra hardware you come in way less than these and still have a nice look.

Surprisingly there was no notation on Z1s site about needing support hardware, as mentioned this was a recent purchase. I had some other fitment issues with the lip so I'm unlikely to put more time or effort into it. Shoulda went with the Sunline lip : /

This is a shame because I've considered a full bumper change and one bumper I do like is Stillen but.... due to this situation Ill be avoiding their products going forward.

I believe this to be a breakdown in communication from Stillen and not a reflection of how Z1 conducts their business. As you see I got this information from them directly. They are not going to send support rods for old stock to all the vendors who carry the lip. If you ordered it directly from Stillen you may have gotten the support rods. But in my case I am not going to run support rods anyway and chose to take a chance on doing the mod as mentioned in my post above.

I understand how you feel about the company after having a bad experience with one of their products. But as others have mentioned minus the shortcomings of the lip and supercharger they do make some good products i.e. G3 intakes. Members are running the full bumper without any major issues with fitment... your mileage may vary on this as well though.

The only other lip that is in this price range that you may consider is the Ings+1 rep from Nextmod.com. Or if you like the Evo-R lip. To me in order to run the Sunline lip you need to run the full lip kit, otherwise it looks like a snow plow or shovel attached to the front IMO.

I ordered direct from Stillen and had to ask and pay extra for the support rods. There weren't any instructions with the rods so I guess I'll have to just try and figure it out. Anyone for any pics do where they're supposed to go or any pics of this aluminum bracket mod?

Sunline with side blades is a strong option at this point

Unless you are in the process of handing Stillen money, they will not get back to you. This coming from a guy who has done all his shopping through Stillen. Even if its a question of what settings you should use for sway bars or something. You will never hear from them. Your best bet is to sneak any questions or comments within another email that says you want to give them millions of dollars. Besides that you're talking to a wall. Perhaps it's the guy I've been dealing with, who knows. I'm actually going to be sending another email this week about another issue, we'll see how that goes.

If it was me I would do something similar as to what this member did with his front lip but just make it alot smaller:

http://www.the370z.com/exterior-inte...ip-bumper.html

Rather than just throwing the lip away it help to keep it longer