UPR

[Hysteria]

I was wondering...A few weeks ago at NMRA, I was talking to Stacy over at Fore Precision Works (Cool chick BTW), and we were discussing Fore's products. I asked her the reason why they stopped making the Differential Covers and she said because the cost of aluminum has gone up.

I later went over to the UPR's table there's almost the same Diff Cover and I think they're making similiar looking Fuel Rails.

Last night I come home and the new MM&FF mag is sitting on the counter with the days mail. I start flipping through the pages and guess what, they've got a new Tensioner which is similiar in design to another company.

I guess UPR good for budget minded enthusiasts, I have used them for their dress up pieces, but damn.

I know it's free enterprise and all, and I guess the patents have run out on both designs, but does this bother anyone else or am I the only one?

 

[KungFuHamster]

I was wondering...A few weeks ago at NMRA, I was talking to Stacy over at Fore Precision Works (Cool chick BTW), and we were discussing Fore's products. I asked her the reason why they stopped making the Differential Covers and she said because the cost of aluminum has gone up, and that another company (she rolls her eyes) started copying their design.

I went over to the UPR table and sure enough, there's almost the same Diff Cover and I think they're making similiar looking Fuel Rails.

Last night I come home and the new MM&FF mag is sitting on the counter with the days mail. I start flipping through the pages and guess what, they've got a new Tensioner which is similiar in design to another company.

I guess UPR good for budget minded enthusiasts, I have used them for their dress up pieces, but damn.

I know it's free enterprise and all, and I guess the patents have run out on both designs, but does this bother anyone else or am I the only one?

i remember back in 03 when i got my Tremec TKO for my 01 GT i opted to go with the UPR Blu Thunder shifter because it was ~$50-70 cheaper than other shifters on the market at the time. most recommended Steeda or even worse, MGW. both quality shifters but way more expensive (esp MGW).
i can tell you this...i wish they wouldve brought a shifter to the market for the S197 sooner because if they had, i would have one in my car now. i loved that shifter in my Tremec and wish i had one of their shifters in my car now.

 

[jeostang]

I think UPR copies BMR as well.

 

[Hysteria]

Yeah, they just came out with new suspension pieces that look just like BMR's didn't they?

UPR is kind of like the Walmart of the Mustang Industry.

 

[jroc07gt]

So you're saying that one of the things that makes USA so great, is bothering you? It's not about who can come up with something first, it's about who can produce it the cheapest without sacrificing quality.

 

[ShadowLands]

I know it's free enterprise and all, and I guess the patents have run out on both designs, but does this bother anyone else or am I the only one?

Benchmarking is a standard practice in the American manufacturing industry and has been for over a century. If there is one single thing different from the original then it is not a "copy" and the patent protection is not applicable.

Case in point: Exile Turbo Systems designed the undercar-mounted twin turbo system for the Mustang GT and the Chrysler Hemi cars (Charger, Challenger, 300, etc). Did Rick file for a patent? No, simply because he knew that all someone had to do is make one aspect of the design different and they were covered. Fast forward three years and Hellion now offers an undercar-mounted twin turbo system for the Hemi cars as well. Damn near identical except for the turbo mounting and the turbos themselves. This was done roughly nine months after Urist stuck his head under my car at the NMRA Atco race in '08.

I'll leave you with this one as well. In late 2001 I was asked by an individual at Ford what I thought would be an ideal exhaust port configuration for a modular cylinder head with one exhaust valve. At the time, I figured we were discussing a possible third generation two valve head design. I submitted a cylinder head chunk with an exhaust port that had the floor raised and flattened then the roof of the port raised slightly and shaped into an oval. The finished product was a "D" port similar to several Chevrolet designs that worked very well. The port flowed better than any two valve port I had seen up to that point. Never heard a thing back from this person at Ford nor did I know what happened to the chunk I had submitted. Fast forward to 2005 and the new 3V engine makes it's debut in the Mustang. That exhaust port sure looks familiar. Can I say it was based off my design? Not with any certainty. Should I raise hell with Ford? Yeah...good luck with that. Do I think mine was the only D ported head chunk submitted? I doubt it. And that is the point. Who knows? And it damn sure isn't worth the litigation to find out either.

 

[Hysteria]

So you're saying that one of the things that makes USA so great, is bothering you? It's not about who can come up with something first, it's about who can produce it the cheapest without sacrificing quality.

So the one thing that makes the USA so great is producing a product the cheapest w/o sacrificing quality, isn't that what leads many companies to outsourcing the manufacturing process from the US to other countries?

I understand economics, what I am saying is that I feel bad for the people that designed a Tensioner, Fuel Rail, Differential Cover, or Suspension Pieces, only to see an almost identical design come out of UPR.

Benchmarking is a standard practice in the American manufacturing industry and has been for over a century. If there is one single thing different from the original then it is not a "copy" and the patent protection is not applicable.

Case in point: Exile Turbo Systems designed the undercar-mounted twin turbo system for the Mustang GT and the Chrysler Hemi cars (Charger, Challenger, 300, etc). Did Rick file for a patent? No, simply because he knew that all someone had to do is make one aspect of the design different and they were covered. Fast forward three years and Hellion now offers an undercar-mounted twin turbo system for the Hemi cars as well. Damn near identical except for the turbo mounting and the turbos themselves. This was done roughly nine months after Urist stuck his head under my car at the NMRA Atco race in '08.

I'll leave you with this one as well. In late 2001 I was asked by an individual at Ford what I thought would be an ideal exhaust port configuration for a modular cylinder head with one exhaust valve. At the time, I figured we were discussing a possible third generation two valve head design. I submitted a cylinder head chunk with an exhaust port that had the floor raised and flattened then the roof of the port raised slightly and shaped into an oval. The finished product was a "D" port similar to several Chevrolet designs that worked very well. The port flowed better than any two valve port I had seen up to that point. Never heard a thing back from this person at Ford nor did I know what happened to the chunk I had submitted. Fast forward to 2005 and the new 3V engine makes it's debut in the Mustang. That exhaust port sure looks familiar. Can I say it was based off my design? Not with any certainty. Should I raise hell with Ford? Yeah...good luck with that. Do I think mine was the only D ported head chunk submitted? I doubt it. And that is the point. Who knows? And it damn sure isn't worth the litigation to find out either.

Good info.

I guess it's just like Bill Gates and the Windows Program.

 

[jroc07gt]

I'm just happy that we live in a country where we have so many options for great performance products. Can you imagine if we had only 1 company that produced these items? The cost would be through the roof!

 

[94tbird]

actually the patent didn't run out on the Thump_RRR tensioner they just ignored it because they felt it didn't apply. There is no doubt they copied everythnig in the thump_RRR tensioner as we bought one and measured everything and its all equal to the thousanth. they do use cheaper bearings, a cheaper spring, and do not grease anything. the UPR will fail over time.

As far as copying the fore diff cover, everyone saw that coming. UPR's entire business is copying other parts, just like Granetelli Motorsports. I personally will never use UPR again. I encourage others to do the same

 

[EagleStroker]

This is just modern business. We have a certain competitor that had a way of releasing whatever we did same year, solution you may ask? We quit releasing products before the big shows. The funniest incident was when this company picked up one of our catalogs at SEMA, and actually produced a part for PRI that year that was a typo in our catalog! SD is dead on when he says it doesn't matter. As a business you have to continue moving forward and producing new/innovative designs to keep the money coming.

 

[jp's performance]

actually the patent didn't run out on the Thump_RRR tensioner they just ignored it because they felt it didn't apply. There is no doubt they copied everythnig in the thump_RRR tensioner as we bought one and measured everything and its all equal to the thousanth. they do use cheaper bearings, a cheaper spring, and do not grease anything. the UPR will fail over time.

As far as copying the fore diff cover, everyone saw that coming. UPR's entire business is copying other parts, just like Granetelli Motorsports. I personally will never use UPR again. I encourage others to do the same

come on ron that's the name of the game.is it right no,but it will always happen that way.i have all upr rear control arms,dbl adj upper,HD adj lowers made out of cm very light to.it all comes down to what the person wants to spend,and what makes them happy.

 

[94tbird]

so patent infringement is the name of the game? lol

 

[Hysteria]

actually the patent didn't run out on the Thump_RRR tensioner they just ignored it because they felt it didn't apply. There is no doubt they copied everythnig in the thump_RRR tensioner as we bought one and measured everything and its all equal to the thousanth. they do use cheaper bearings, a cheaper spring, and do not grease anything. the UPR will fail over time.

As far as copying the fore diff cover, everyone saw that coming. UPR's entire business is copying other parts, just like Granetelli Motorsports. I personally will never use UPR again. I encourage others to do the same

I didn't want to name the original tensioner company because I didn't want to sway business from them for the UPR product.

But I'd be willing to bet money that the UPR product would work, but not stand up to the abuse of some of the higher horspower cars that need the strength of this tensioner. I remember the stories of Pete going to the track bringing 5 belts and and several tensioners, just to make 4-5 runs.

This is just modern business. We have a certain competitor that had a way of releasing whatever we did same year, solution you may ask? We quit releasing products before the big shows. The funniest incident was when this company picked up one of our catalogs at SEMA, and actually produced a part for PRI that year that was a typo in our catalog! SD is dead on when he says it doesn't matter. As a business you have to continue moving forward and producing new/innovative designs to keep the money coming.

That's funny. The Automotive Performance Industry is pretty aggressive. From certain Tuners slandering each other to Performance parts. It's very competitive.

come on ron that's the name of the game.is it right no,but it will always happen that way.i have all upr rear control arms,dbl adj upper,HD adj lowers made out of cm very light to.it all comes down to what the person wants to spend,and what makes them happy.

Like I had mentioned before, UPR is good for a lot of their dress up pieces, and now they're offering a lot of performance parts that are budget friendly.

I was thinking to myself yesterday, how come UPR hasn't come out with a Turbo kit yet? I mean seriously, You look at some of the kits out there, a turbo kit consist of prebent pipes, a turbo (made by another company), Boost Controller (another company) and BOV (another company), couplings (made by another company).

Like SD had mentioned about the Hellion Kits. Replicate someone's kit design, strike a deal with Turbonetics, Tial, Greddy. etc...

 

[jp's performance]

so patent infringement is the name of the game? lol

no but sad to say it will happen.

 

[94tbird]

i know it happens, and my choice is to not use upr for anything.

 

[kdesigns]

There are 2 sides to this discussion, and I've done work for companies on both sides. The bottom line falls to you - the purchaser. Do you want to pay a little bit (or a lot) more, and support a company who innovates and creates the part, or save your $ and support a company who can produce a similar part for less. As I see it, there's a market for both. You decide.

 

[Hysteria]

There are 2 sides to this discussion, and I've done work for companies on both sides. The bottom line falls to you - the purchaser. Do you want to pay a little bit (or a lot) more, and support a company who innovates and creates the part, or save your $ and support a company who can produce a similar part for less. As I see it, there's a market for both. You decide.

You're absolutley correct and I concur with your statement.

I'm not bashing UPR by any means, so I hope that this thread wasn't taken as such. I was just discussing moreso that a few of the products that they have come out with look very close to the originals and UPR lacked originality.

But it is a free country (at least for the moment) and it's free enterprise.

 

[weeloGT]

its part of life, with anything you do, not just with car parts, if you want quality then pay for it, if you want cool parts on a lesser budget, then you get what you pay for, there is nothing wrong with that in my eyes, thats what keeps this whole thing going around. no one is losing sales cause if they didnt have the money in the first place to buy what works best, what makes you think they will save up more to get a single part when they can save money or put money else where. everyone will live and learn and at some point parts get swapped out for the real deal pieces. case in point, look through a summit or jegs catalog and youll see they are now making everything in house as that of the parts they sell for less, so it goes back to how deep someones pockets are. the economy is bad and and companies should be happy there are still people buying items

problem is that when new items are introduce they promote them way before they hit the stores that it gives other companies time to rip it off, and once big items do hit, they are usually on backorder where as the cheaper company stock their shelves knowing the item will sell

 

[ZmanM3]

Disappointing that companies do this. I just pick and choose who I buy from.

 

[irishpwr46]

i do it like this. i find out what i need, check to see who offers it, and then go with the company that has the smallest advertisement in the magazines. those are usually the smaller companies that rely more on reputation than 6 page spreads in the front of a mustang rag. and 99 times out of 100, you will get better customer service, a more knowledgable staff, and a more pleasent transaction than when you order the big guys. unfortunately, sometimes the big guy is the only person who stocks or sells or makes the part you want or need. then you are kinda forced into it. dont get me wrong, im sure that they are plenty cool to deal with and some of them have some very nice products. but sometimes, like with some of the smaller vendors here, its nice to get the dealer on the phone and talk a little shop. i have talked to a few of the shop owners, and ALL of the ones i have talked to were 1. very helpful. 2. very knowledgable. 3. more than wwilling to go the extra mile to get you what you need, even if its not through them, but through another shop.

and i still drive past home depot to my local hardware store to buy anything i can from them.