Doing research the past few days and was intrigued by the Xotic studs, mainly bc I think ARP is overpriced. Tried to reach out to Xotic, but they have no live phone support. Used their online chat support and talked to “David” in the Philippines. Asked “David” a few questions which were answered with links to the Xotic website, then asked where the studs were manufactured and David abruptly ended the chat. I was able to track down the parent company and CEO information, but by then I’d made up my mind to buy the proven, and American made ARP’s. Btw, the parent company address on Google earth shows up as a muffler shop at an industrial park in eastern Canada. Xotic might be just fine, but their clandestine approach lost my business. 

Lots of people run these. I believe BlueOx01 does, and he uses his truck for work.  I've never actually heard a negative thing about their product that easy purely speculation. If my cylinder head ever comes off, I will likely go back with Xotic studs. 

I agree with the OP. A company may be fine and produce a good product, but customer service and the ability to actually talk to someone for answers or problems makes a difference to me.

Maybe not so much on lesser cost items, but on costly and highly involved installation parts, customer service and availability are the tipping point for me.

I can’t even find an email for them. I called a couple of the vendors they have listed on the site and none of them knew where the studs were made either. What are they hiding? Is it just the stigma of having their product made in China? I have no idea. If Xotic reads this let us know guys…can’t send you my money when I know nothing about your company.  My research leads me to believe the CEO of Xotic is Haji Siddiq…so Haji, let us know what’s up dude. 

Seems to be alot of good reviews, but with the secrecy of the company.... don't know if I believe them. Like I said, important part that isn't all that simple to install.

 

At 63, I've done the save a buck, best price thing many times. Didn't always work out. Now I look at stuff differently. Hate redoing something just because I thought with my wallet.

Edited February 24, 20223 yr by Max Tune
Additional thought

3 hours ago, Max Tune said:

because I thought with my wallet

I guess at only 42 I'm still willing to learn from both the failures AND the successes of others.  Considering these have zero moving parts and are far from cutting-edge technology, I guess I don't really understand how much customer service could possibly needed.  But, it's your money and I certainly can't fault anyone's choice to choose American-made, long standing company reputation and great customer service.

 

Here is the link to BlueOx01's Xotic post:

 

Edited February 25, 20223 yr by LorenS
Add link

2 minutes ago, LorenS said:

I guess at only 42 I'm still willing to learn from both the failures AND the successes of others.  Considering these have zero moving parts and are far from cutting-edge technology, I guess I don't really understand how much customer service could possibly needed.  But, it's your money and I certainly can't fault anyone's choice to choose American-made, long standing company reputation and great customer service.

 

Are arp studs overpriced? Maybe. It takes money to pay people to answer phones and handle customers questions. Are xotic studs just as good as arp? I don't know. Maybe. Perhaps they cut their overhead to bare minimum and pass the savings on to the consumer. I don't know.

You're right, they're not cutting edge tech but they are important. I've learned from others myself, but I'm the one having to redo a job if a less expensive part fails and a job that big isn't one I'd like to have to do over.

 

I have no horse in this race. I was just expressing my thoughts on the OPs inability to contact a company. His contact was terminated when he asked questions. It's everyone's own choice who to do business with. I just don't let price drive my decision anymore, but that's just me.

I don't have a horse in the race, either.
However, dealers do.  Perhaps it'd be best to call one or two.  There are two more dealers in KY, and the 2nd closest dealer to Maryville, TN is in Georgia, near Atlanta.

CT Diesel Performance
4130 Simpson lane
Richmond, Kentucky 40475, United States
Ph: 859-699-8712
Fax:

Website:CT Diesel Performance

chris@ctdiesel.us
M-F 8:00am – 5:00pm

They are one of the dealers I called. They don’t know either. I went ahead and ordered the ARP studs. The only thing I know for sure about Xotic is they are cheaper. Consumers really need to stop waiving the white flag so easily. I can’t think of any other product that costs nearly $300 that makes it this hard for their customers to contact them or are so unwilling to disclose where their product is made. You can tell yourself whatever you want, but the only reason anyone would order the Xotic set at this point is because they’re cheaper. And if they fail, it’s not just the $300 you lose, it’s the 2K for a head job. 

arp is proven in the industry, they might be more money, you know what you are getting.  

Just gonna toss my 2 cents in on this..

 

Because my work place deals with aviation and gov't/military sales, we have to have all the specs for each material we make parts from. They (the specs) specify what materials make up the final item and what properties it must have. I'm bringing this up to highlight that ARP probably uses a certified material with material lot sheets and a paper trail if some thing goes wrong. Xotic probably (most likely) doesn't. And if you are getting the runaround like you are, I'd be questioning what they are actually made from.

 

For what its worth, I have ARP studs in my truck. I got them because I had seen them in Diesel Power since I started reading the magazine in like 05-07.. I had seen the power levels that they were holding and when I finally got my truck I knew that those were the ones I wanted to go with. 

 

I also follow @Max Tune's mentality. I've seen the fallout of using cheap parts, or only going in and replacing some of the items in a large project. I don't want to have to repeat a fix shortly down the road because of bad quality. But I also try to balance paying for a brand name. Rock Auto has kind of taught me that, since you can see the part numbers and brands, the amount of re-branding is nuts.

While I admit I didn't try as hard the OP when choosing my studs, the lack of available info on the Xotic studs is what further pushed me to stick with the ARP.  

I took the advise of @dieselautopower when I bought my ARP studs from them. Sometimes its best to discuss things with the vendors. Like myself I trust @dieselautopower completely to provide quality products. So far in all the stuff I've bought for my truck or customer trucks the failure rate is very low. Don't get me wrong nothing is absolutely perfect and crap happens but to have a vendor that stand behind there products with quality service can't go wrong.