Anyone?

 

It looking to put a Chinese roof rack on my $250k car


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Given the much lower price, I would certainly be skeptical that the quality would be compromised, but it certainly is possible that it's the exact same item with a few distribution channels bypassed.

My guess is that it's going to be nearly impossible to get a good answer on this unless an unbiased party is able to closely compare a known LeTech rack and one of these side by side. If it is a knock off, chances are that it wouldn't be too difficult to spot differences; the gutter mounts would probably be one place where they would cut corners in the quality and where differences would likely be pretty visible.

If it is the exact same product, it isn't really in the best interest of those who are closely involved with distributing and selling the LeTech rack to say so. If it isn't the exact same product, there will most likely be some skepticism if those in the know speak up and say so.

 

I will go ahead and chime in as a totally biased party as I own two of the Genuine LeTech racks and have sold over 10 of them in the US to date.

First thing I notice on the link is that the primary photo they use is a photo of the Brabus Adventure they ripped off straight from the Brabus press releases.

Next, if the photos of the racks they show disassembled are the actual racks they are selling, they copied a very old version of the rack. There are two things right away that I see that are of an older design, the new updated racks are much stronger and more stable then this one will be.

Not sure what they are doing with the ladders, none of the ones they show on the website are even copies of the LeTech ladder.

Also missing from the photos of the disassembled racks is the front light mounting bar.

From what I can see in the photos of the disassembled racks they look pretty good but we could actually be looking at photos of an actual old version LeTech rack for all we know!

The whole deal looks pretty sketchy to me, looks like a website that you would wire money to for ordering a part and then never see it or it will take 8 months to show up.

Positive that it is not the exact same product, for sure LeTech is manufacturing their racks in Europe.

The main reason the Genuine LeTech racks are so expensive here in the US is because of the (usually crappy) exchange rate, import duties and the high cost of shipping them. They are a pain to ship because of the long side structures. They are just awkward, not that heavy, 128lbs for the 4x4² version and 132lbs for the full size version.

 

Las Vegas G - what do you sell the original ones for?

Mine isn't a $250K truck, its a 2015 g550 so like an $80K truck.

 

If you want a low price rack im very happy with proline rack cost me about 1g about 4 years ago

 

I just purchased this particular rack. I have studied quite a few pictures of the original and can not find any differences. The weight is identical to the OEM manufacturer's specs so I can't see that they have cut any obvious corners structurally. I also ordered the ladder, and it too seems to be solid. The final test will obviously be when I get my car out into the Norwegian wilderness and throw a reindeer or caribou on the rack!

Shipping took 6 weeks from China to Oslo, Norway. It came in a plywood box weighing in at just over 95 kg (210 lbs). It was nicely packed in bubble wrap. I got a kick out of the fact that they had used tape With the MB logo to secure the bubble wrap. Assembly was easy, but took a good hour.

If anyone is interested I can highly recommend contacting Penny Liu at Eurocarparts. I emailed her at: penny@eurocarparts.com.cn

We then did all the practicals via WhatsApp which is brilliant for sending Pictures and small video files

 

I just purchased this particular rack. I have studied quite a few pictures of the original and can not find any differences. The weight is identical to the OEM manufacturer's specs so I can't see that they have cut any obvious corners structurally. I also ordered the ladder, and it too seems to be solid. The final test will obviously be when I get my car out into the Norwegian wilderness and throw a reindeer or caribou on the rack!



Shipping took 6 weeks from China to Oslo, Norway. It came in a plywood box weighing in at just over 95 kg (210 lbs). It was nicely packed in bubble wrap. I got a kick out of the fact that they had used tape With the MB logo to secure the bubble wrap. Assembly was easy, but took a good hour.



If anyone is interested I can highly recommend contacting Penny Liu at Eurocarparts. I emailed her at: penny@eurocarparts.com.cn



We then did all the practicals via WhatsApp which is brilliant for sending Pictures and small video files

1 post, brand new member. Not sure I’m buying it. Sounds more like the company itself promoting their product.


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Oh, very interesting! I'm curious how that ladder mounts, if it is the same as the original or not. It may be different. Would you be willing to post pictures??

 

As a doctor to doctor I can assure you I'm in no way assosiated with this company. Just impressed by the general level of service that I recieved. As soon as the weather gets better here in Norway I will mount the rack and attempt (yes I am a new member) to post some pictures

 

Please do as I am interested in the rack as well. It’s just a little unusual having a new member come to the forum, registering, and their single post be a response to a Chinese copy of a le tech roof rack.

Would love to see some actual pics of the rack off the car and on it!


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I will definately post picture as soon as I get the rack mounted. I have assembled it, but as it weighs nearly 200 lbs I will need help from my three sons to lift it. Hopefully next weekend. I was trying to upload a picture of the ladder but was unsuccessful. Anyone know how to do it?

 

Hi,

I am Fran from Spain. I have bought and tried to install this. In short, do not buy.

Short review:
This is a cheap imitation with bad quality fabrication and finish. You are all discouraged to purchase these roof racks

Long review:
I ordered this a month ago encouraged by the pictures and a 5 star review from someone who also ordered in Aliexpress.

Shipping:
They shipping was quite expensive and they packaged the thing in bubble plastics and soft carboard. The shipping time was quite fast. It reached Spain in something more than a week. Upon arrival I noticed the cardboard was crushed probably because of the internal weight and the bad quality cardboard and humidity of travel. As a result some supports of the aluminum plate were bent and some solders were broken brittle. That susprised me. Because either they hit very hard the package or the solders are wrong. I notified Dalian Europarts and they are still dealing with it.

Coating:
Apart from these shipping issues I realised soon the poor quality of the rack. The coating is crap. In some parts you can even peel it with your hands, as it it was not properly stuck to the steel. Probably due to dirt and grease in the part before painting. The coating is so thin, in some parts you can see the color of the steel, specially in the internal parts. In some other parts, specially joints and near soldering there is already rust formed. The whole thing needs to be repainted.

Soldering:
There was a problem when they did this rack, solderings break easily and whithout notice. While assembling and tightening screws 4 solderings broke. The whole supports need soldering reinforce. I cannot put this heavy load in my roof. The whole thing might go away at any time.

Design:
As someone stated in this thread the design must correspond to an earlier version. You can only step in the bars, if you step in the plates, specially between the supports the aluminum bends easily. I will reinforce it with more supports when I will reinforce the solderings. But be warned.

Quality:
The longitudinal side bars is funny. Apparently they did not have such a long bar and they soldered two together. But the joint is crappy and the bars are distorted.

Overall review: 2 out of 5
Price: 3 out of 5 considering the rework it needs
Reliability: 1 out of 5 as is, I plan to reinforce it to 5 out of 5. Not that hard but time consuming

Some videos of the issues:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... rihBXq69De

And Pictures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ey8Uvi3Eu8xXgzJl1

Someone else had my same experience also. Check out this review: https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...-ladder-for-G_1450099384.html?spm=a2756.order-detail-ta-ta-b.0.0.57212fc20XPDXP

Also check this thread https://clubgwagen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10208&start=50&hilit=letech

I am in an Alibaba dispute process. If I can I will return the product, otherwise I will try to fix it. The customer support is inexistent, they said it was not their product. They want to refund 50USD for all the faults. Literal;ly they could send you a stone and it would be very little you could do.

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCY_feTwmZiEe5qpP7PYi4lrihBXq69De Apparently the link to videos was not properly sent.

Please spread the word. We have to avoid scammers like these. I paid the scam, I think it is enough

 

And there you have it. My point below exactly. You get what you pay for.

Las Vegas G and I have come up with a good solution. Will let you guys know shortly


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@Fran-Sitges - sorry to hear that, as suspected, this rack was too good to be true. Hopefully you can either get a refund or make modifications to get the rack to a point where it's usable.

 

Thanks for posting this review! At least some good (a warning to others) came from your misfortune.

 

I ordered a rack from GfG in Germany. I thought I was getting the real deal, but given the price, I doubt it.

It was professionally installed, the paint has occasional imperfections, but for a $5000 discount I am okay with that.

Oh yeah, it is the SWB version.

 

I have this and am super happy. However i lucked out and found on eBay after some back and forth with alibaba people rubbed me the wrong way. eBay people screwed the order up a bit but because of eBay protection , they made it right...quickly.
Build quality is excellent. Upgraded to stainless steel screws. Super durable.
Very happy.


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I see there is not a wind deflector. Does the rack make any wind noise?


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