Reply from Koch's regarding steering wheel quality

[Vw67lives]

I emailed Koch's after the discussion concerning their restored steering wheel
quality. I received the reply below.I had a phone conversation with them today
and the person I talked to was familiar with the case of the 74 steering wheel.
That job was taken on with no expressed warranty or guarantee. The newer wheels
are made of plastic and provide an unreliable base material for their 2 part
epoxy repair. They still took the cracked wheel back and attempted another
repair.

The bat wing steering wheels are recast using a mold that duplicates the
original,so you are getting a new batwing wheel for your $450.
To have my cracked 67 beetle wheel restored would cost $150, and since the old
wheels are made of a bakelite material, their epoxy repair would work fine and
they would guarantee the results. Mrs. Koch asked me in her email to post her
reply to this group to dispel any negative references to their quality or
customer service.
They make recast wheels for 56-59 beetles and also some bus steering
wheels.They seem like genuine,honest people,providing a much needed service to
our hobby.

Teresa Koch's reply:

Thanks for letting us know. I am sorry this person had a problem and felt that
he could not contact us directly. We warranty all of our work. We will
continue to restore the wheel or refund his money. We do everything possible
to make the customer happy.
Teresa Koch
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Vw67...@aol.com
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:50:17 EST

>Click here: Re: Batwing stering wheels this reply was posted on the RAMVA
>newsgroup-I had recommended Koch's for a restored batwing steering wheel.
Seems
>this fella had bad luck with your product. Fred Stedtler

[Hal]

I can vouch for Koch's, as I attempted to order a restored wheel from
them for my 74 super. After several delays, they explained what the
problem was(repeated cracking) and they agreed to send me a used wheel
that was in 'good' condition for the cost of shipping. I received a
complete wheel including the horn pad and the contact ring for 15
bucks. It has a few cracks but I can live with it, considering the car
had a grant GT on it when I got it, and that doesn't work well on a
super beetle.

They seem to want to keep their customers happy, and they did explain
that the repairs done on the "late" wheels do not seem to hold up.
Chris

[JSchield]

I had a standard thre spoke done, and am very happy with the results. They
seem to be nice folks to work with.
Jim Schield