The long and the short of it is we had a great 2008 Dealer Conference in Texas. The location was next to perfect. www.HangerHotel.com The hotel is literally on the tarmac of the Gillespie County Texas Airport. We had the hotel to ourselves and enjoyed the Officer's Club and grounds. We spent our evenings watching the stars, talking and drinking. Our days were full. This is a working conference. Our discussions were moderated by the Dealers and our Aussie guests. We found time for food and drink. We did some testing, but not where we had planned. A military helicopter landed on our taxi way / Pedders morning skid pad with a maintenance issue. So we improvised at the nearby OTB. We recorded a constant .94 with peak readings of .97 on OE Bridgestone Potenza 050 in our Pedderised G8 with an eXtreme Track II. The pavement in the lot was rough -- very rough. We literally tore tread blocks from the tire. We moved on to shop work where we divided into Mike's Maniacs and Peter's Professionals. The contest: Who could tear down and install the front and rear of a GMT900 and install a Pedders Sport II Suspension faster with ZERO errors. Mark Pedder, the Managing Director of Pedders in Australia jumped right in. Everyone that is involved with Pedders knows suspension and gets their hands dirty -- EVERYONE. Mike's Maniacs took the lead in the competition. When Mike started screaming "We won, You're Done!" Peter took the lead in correcting that situation. Installing a Pedders Sport II on a GMT900 SUV radically alters the character of the vehicle. The Dealers that had not yet had an opportunity to drive a Pedderised GMT900 were chauffeured by the owner for a road test. We lowered it and it rides better. We lowered it and rides better OFF ROAD. The county fair grounds are about a mile away from the shop. The field used as a parking lot was empty. So we did highway testing to the fair grounds and off road testing at the fair grounds. The owners love their Pedderised GMT900 SUV. In fact, it is causing some problems. The owner is a school teacher. It is a small town. Everyone knows her. She has never had a speeding ticket -- until now. She says it is just too easy to drive fast now. At Pedders we refer to that as a high quality problem. You too can get in trouble with your Pedderised GMT900. https://secure.merlinsoftware.com.au/peddersusa/Default.aspx?ProdCode=GMT900 NA SPORT&Featured=Yes We moved from the GMT900 to the prototype installation of the ONLY ZETA / VE / Commodore / G8 eXtreme Xa adjustable coilovers in the world. Production is now under way and more will arrive in the USA in January. http://www.peddersusa.com/products/6 The new eXtreme Xa Coilovers are nothing shorty of unbelievable. Comfort, control, comfort and control... One Dealer noted that the G8 with eXtreme Xa coilovers was "better than sex!" They are right even if it is with a $10,000 specialist! The Xa range will include: Audi BMW Chevrolet Ford Honda Lexus Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Pontiac Subaru Toyota Volkswagen We did discover that the G8 rear camber and toe eccentrics are prone to failure. The eccentric washer is tack welded to the bolt. In severe use or after multiple alignment or both the welds fail and the eccentric acts as though it is stripped. It is an easy fix to lay down a bead and the alignment can proceed. That is dependent on knowing they are welded in the first place. The upper rear control arm mounting bracket have a sloppy fit. They can slide in and out 3 to 4mm. To get the G8 really dialed in we want the upper rear control arm brackets mounted as close to the rear fenders as possible. The rear trailing arm is also slotted. We like to see this arm locked down after the wheel alignment is complete. This sets the arm in a neutral position in elation to the alignment. eXtreme Xa Pedderised G8 Alignment Specifications Front Castor +7.75 Camber -1.5 Toe 1 Degree Total Toe Out A bit of Toe Out improved turn in. Rear Toe L 1.17 R -.18 Camber -1.8 Thrust Angle 0.00 Adjust Toe to a Zero Thrust Angle. The slight toe out improves turn in. At eXtremely high speeds the turn in requires a steady hand on the wheel. We do NOT recommend these alignment setting for tire life or daily driving. These specs are for a very aggressive driver on a road course, or for my personal daily driver. There are a number of other subtleties we discussed at the Dealer meeting to make certain that your local Pedders Dealer knows more about alignments and the cars we service than virtually anyone else. Then came Mike Haddad's G8 and a mystery noise which turned out to be a loose bolt. That comes as no surprise if you ever saw Mike Haddad drive anything. When Mike drives everything comes loose. The surprise comes when something doesn't come loose. Mike made out pretty well at the Dealer Conference. He took home my slightly used G8 eXtreme coilovers. He really wanted the Xa coilovers, but rank does have privileges. Now that they are installed on Mike's G8 he loves them. Next we'll have to get that girly blower off his engine -- whats her name -- of yeah Maggie. Then came Nathan E. Herschbach, Owner of www.Redfox-Racing.com. Nathan's trailer broke down, but burning midnight oil in a Pedders shop is nothing new. Nathan and his beast of an LX Dodge Magnum was on the way to SEMA and in need of a ride height adjustment to accommodate his monster wheels. While the rest of the crew went on to dinner, the hard core crew stayed on task. With Nathan good to go, we thanked Heath, owner of American Muffler & Brake 1230 S State Highway 16 Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830-990-8757 for the use of his shop, and went on for a bit of dinner and drinking with the rest of the crew. Since the Dealer Conference Heath and American Muffler and Brake Service have joined the Pedders Dealer Network. Another day of classroom style work and it was time to relax. We grabbed so group photos on the taxiway and headed out to the new Pedders USA, LLC North American Headquarters. First my family pictures. Front Row: LJ, Ani and Dani Back Row Mike, Deb, Con, Sam, Pete, Mark, Clayton, Peter, Dallas Mike, Rich, Gavin, Bob, Rob, Rich and Risha Not pictured: Michael, Ken, Adam, Dan, Dave and I am sure I'll be in trouble for missing some one! Our Dealer of the Year Kim and Rob. Our Aussie contingent was comprised of Australia's Best. Peter, Con and Sam are all long time Pedders Dealers and the Best of the Best. Sam has worked his way to being a top dealer with an amazing amount of dedication. Sam has earned earned everything he achieves. I look up to Sam as I do few men. Con started with Pedders when he was 8 years old. His father purchased a franchise for his son at age 8. Con's father worked the shop until Con stepped in at age 18. You'll notice Con is at the USA conference having performed better than all the others in his area -- including his father. Peter was with Pedders when Ron was just moving into the world of standardization. Peter brings with him more than success. Peter brings the culture and character of Pedders. You cannot imagine how proud I am to be associated with these men. Mark Pedders is his Dad. When I speak with him I have the strange sensation Ron is in the room. That is a good thing -- a very good thing. Gavin Cohen is my right hand in Australia. Gavin has been Americanized now. He understands when I ask for something what I really mean is why the (*&^% isn't it already done. He doesn't get ruffled, he just gets it done. Adam Gillick is our Marketing Manager. He has worked countless evenings and weekends to make the USA operations successful. These are three more men that have put so much work into our USA operations that I can't begin to imagine how we would ever succeed with out them. We had an incredible event. My Dealers, my friends and my family were all there. The feeling is awesome and humbling. I had a wild idea a few years ago. I had a vision. These people see share that vision. They support me and I do my best to support them. Pedders is far more than a business. We are family. We work and operate like a business, but we are a family across the ocean and here in the USA. Our new 14,000 square foot climate controlled warehouse and offices made their debut during the Dealer Conference. I think there were more than a few who were surprised at the quality of the the facilities. Dan Morris who has dialed in logistics for Pedders USA was unable to be with us. It was a sad time for Dan as his father passed away. Rick Johnson from Backstreet was also unable to attend while he took care of his mother and mourned the loss of his uncle. Then we ate more.... Our Dealer of the Year Rob Anderson said a few words -- very few. Rob and Kim did nothing short of a spectacular job in 2008 and they have every intention of doing it again in 2009 as do many of our Dealers. The Dealer of the Year competition started in earnest on November 1st of this year. There is much at stake. Of course there is a trophy and bragging rights, but it is much more. It is an honor that is EARNED. They EARN it everyday when they apply eXtreme Leadership skills to do more than any reasonable person could expect. They EARN it when they deliver eXtreme Customer Service. They EARN the trip to the USA Dealer Meeting. They EARN the respect of their peers. They will also EARN this:a trip to the Australian Dealer Conference in February 2010. Earn it. Earn this. So we wrapped the conference and drove the Aussies to San Antonio to depart for SEMA. For some strange reason, none of them wanted to ride with Mike White. I wonder why that is so?????? I'll never tell, but maybe Mike will. We took a side trip to the Alamo and then we were hard at it at SEMA. Allen Jay of Concept One did an exceptional job with his Pedderised G8. GM Racing did phenomenally well with the Pedderised Grand Am Challenge GS Camaro Race Car. Pedders worked with GM on this project and developed the Camaro street car radius rod bushes from math data. We went from can you do this to done and hand delivered in two weeks. The boys from down under busted their collective back sides on this project. Once they were delivered GM requested we install them. They didn't have to twist my arm very hard on that one. We did the work at http://www.backstreetper.com/ The GS Camaro will race on Pedders STREET PARTS. We have six critical suspension components on the GS Camaro. They are all street parts tested by GM Racing and approved designated as GM specification. https://secure.merlinsoftware.com.a...tListings.aspx?Level1=CHEVROLET&Level2=CAMARO Riley Technologies is the exclusive builder for the GS Camaro. http://www.rileytech.com/ Nathan made t to SEMA and his Pedderised Magnum looked great! Rick Bottom showed his Pedderised G8 in the K&N booth. https://secure.merlinsoftware.com.a...ProdCode=GM+G8+TRACK&Level1=PONTIAC&Level2=G8 It didn't look like this two weeks before SEMA. Kenny and Michael at Waukegan Tire did a great job of doing the Pedders Track II install with the SEMA deadline approaching. You can see details of the installation at this link. http://forums.peddersusa.com/showthread.php?t=450&highlight=waukegan+tire That engine bay looked very familiar to me. As long as we are in the G8 mode we should look at the G8 ST and the GXP STREET. The SEMA GXP Street was stunning. In this series of photos, the SEMA version is first followed by the driving on the street GM pool vehicle. Let's move on to Chrysler. The HEMI Orange Challenger that was Pedderised by Mike White and Mike Haddad at Haddad Pedders was in your face. Chris Cantella from Trojan Incorporated out did himself. www.LoudPedalMotorsports.com and Justin Liker showed www.PlumFloored.com Plum Crazy Charger R/T. www.LoudPedal.com is Arizona's newest Pedders Dealer. They didn't know about Pedders red so they went Plum Crazy. In a few months Pedders will release the LX Rear Upper Camber Link. We wish we could have had this ready for SEMA. www.HaddadMotorsports.com showed their Peddersised G8 with a Maggie in the Dyna Pack booth. Mike drove from California to Texas for our Dealer Meeting and then back to Nevada for SEMA. Mike loves to drive fast so we are guessing it didn't take long. Pedders displayed 14 vehicles at SEMA. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of them all. We will fill in the blanks as we collect photgraphs for them. It was interesting that so many people stopped us as we walked through the show. They new we were from Pedxders as soon as the could see the Pedders Bull. We want to thank www.HighPerformancePontiac.com and www.GMHighTechPerformance.com as thier articles have conttributed to our brand recognition. Pedders does NOT advertise in either of these two excellent publications. The editorial and technical staffs made the decision to use Pedders on thier Pontiac G8 and GTO. They wanted the best and that is exactly what they got -- PEDDERS. If you have not already seen the articles be sure to pickup a copy. Your can read the entire GM High tech Performance article on line. http://www.gmhightechperformance.co...iac_gto_pedders_suspension_upgrade/index.html October and November have been incredibly busy months for all of us at Pedders. The balance of the year isn't much better. We still have a Pedderised 300C powered by a 440 HEMI http://www.ArringtonEngines.com/p-1025-440-hemi-crate-engine-by-arrington-engines.aspx Shootout with my Pedderised and ProCharged G8. With the help of the Arringtons http://www.arringtonengines.com/t-about.aspx we should have a couple of drivers from a little organization known as NASCAR for drivers and good press coverage. Our 480 RWHP ProCharged and Pedderised G8 runs on Bridgestone Pole Position 275/35/19 tires. The Potenza RE050A Pole Position comes loaded with race-inspired technology: UNI-T for outstanding wet and dry traction, a tread pattern that promotes rapid water evacuation, variable dimensions in the tread blocks, and a smooth shape to reduce noise. An asymmetrical pattern in the RE050A Pole Position tread increases surface contact to enhance acceleration and cornering. Bridgestone Pole Position is the ideal tire to showcase Pedders Xa technology. http://www.bridgestonetire.com/ We hope you enjoyed reading about our Dealer Conference, the SEMA vehicles and new Pedders Products coming in 2009. 2009 is going to be a wild ride. I wish we could find a way to Pedderise our business schedule and my life. Enjoy this holiday season with your family and friends. We all work hard. Those who are closest to us are the people that pay the price for our success -- waiting for us to finish our work. They deserve better from us and yet their love is something they choose to give us. EARN it. EARN this.
Nice to see that the Installer and the Shop manager that did my install attended. What differance will the LX Rear Upper Camber Link make on the car? I have the Track II, but wish it hug the curves a little better.
