I cannot resist. I have kept quiet long enough. I got burned by CARS on some repop date coded wires myself. I ordered them for a '66 340c.i. (LeSabre). When they came they were wrong. The ones they sent were for a big block and the contents even said so. I called the manufacturer since they were located only minutes from my house. They said I must go through CARS for an exchange. I did. They looked up their files and yes indeed they did make the mistake. Told me to return them to them in N.Jersey. And said that I should reorder the correct ones. They gave me a return number to mark on the package. I did. I sent them to CARS via the USPS. My first mistake. My second I didn't insure them. I got the new correct ones pronto from this same outfit so close to home. The credit never showed up from CARS. When I contacted them 3 times they said that the return never arrived. When I asked if they could double check their inventory or return area I just got kind of blown off. Granted, it wasn't very smart to send them uninsured with no tracking number but by the same token these wires wound up somewhere?! Perhaps in Bob's Wildcat?? Just kidding Bob. I had bought regularly from CARS since 1990. Now I beat the bush trying to sidestep them whenever possible. Now..... anyone want to talk about the universal thermostats that they sell as fitting a 340 engine? You know, the one that came half way across the country only to be thrown into file 13 after realizing I would have to grind it or trim it to fit?!
OK, enough, the wires were defective, no doubt, but why didn't the two venues, manufacturer and vendor, catch the issues before others/customers had to do the reverse R&D to find the problem(s) they let get past them? Answer, they didn't care, didn't pay attention, and that ain't good. I go to a W Chevrolet web site, 348/409, and the impressions of the CARS people on that site is the same, not to deal with. Now, what I know about silk screening is all held on the tip of a pin, but I do know that the ink is easily removed with common cleaners like laquer thinner and acetone, and a silk screen pattern isn't hard to make, and that is why a number of people I know have had date coded screens made and have ink at hand, to remark wires they replace. This way, a nice set of correctly colored wires, magnetic suppression, spiral or magna core, could easily be cleaned and remarked with the correct logo's and all would be happy.
