I am looking at hotseat parts for my Scrambler 500.I have heard a few negitive comments from other riders.I would like to hear positive or negitive feedback from anyone who has purchased any of their aftermarket gear. ie clutch kits,silencers or any other parts.

 

It is going to be hard to get an honest opinion about Hotseat. If someone who has purchased $500 worth of upgrades from a company (any company) then they are obviously going to have a bias opinion. "OF course it works, I spent $500 bucks on it. I have not purchased anything from Hotseat yet, but they are a reputible company. And look at it this way, they specialize in Polaris Performance parts. HPD also specializes in polaris, but they act like they don't want your business. I have heard from other posts and from my dealer (who races polaris quads) that hotseat has some good stuff, but they also have some bad stuff. Their clutch kit for the $500 is said to be good. Their pipe in my opinion is a waste of money. I have heard of problems with melting the plastic, I have even heard of LESS performance with their pipe than stock. But, no one has a good pipe for the 500 HO YET. HPD has one, but there are drawbacks to the installation, and it is not very attractive. Also it does not add much horsepower. Everything else from hotseat as far as I know is OK. HPD has better replacement shocks, but its impossible to get them. Note that I am only speaking about upgrades for the 500 HO. Hotseat has some great stuff for the sport and 400 scrambler. But just about anyone can make a good pipe for a 2 stroke. I do not claim to be an authority, but I would not get a pipe from anyone yet. Within the next year there should be a good one on the market. For now the hotseat or hpd clutch kits are the best bolt on performance you can get for the 4 stroke. Hotseat has an excellent web site, and a good catalog. They are easy to get parts from, and most of their stuff it proven to work. I know I will hear alot of negative things from those who have spent a few hundred on a 500 pipe, but this is just my opinion. Yes I know ritter, DG, FMF, and others make pipes. I just don't believe any of them are up to standard yet (like the pipes for the 400ex). I wouldn't hesitate to order from hotseat if I were getting a clutch kit. I own a 99 500 HO and I will wait until there is a good proven pipe before I drop my hard earned cash. I am going to get a clutch kit in the next week or so, but I am going with HPD (just because my dealer uses HPD parts in his race machines, and he deals with them alot).

 

My dealer swears by Hotseat. I too was a little leary from what I have heard on the forums. I finally went with the Hotseat performance clutch. I have no idea how it works yet because I have to get my machine out of hock at the dealer.

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Scott Colson 98 Scrambler 500 91 Yamaha Moto 4 250

 

. ...I own a 99 500 HO and I will wait until there is a good proven pipe before I drop my hard earned cash. I am going to get a clutch kit in the next week or so, but I am going with HPD (just because my dealer uses HPD parts in his race machines, and he deals with them alot).

Good idea. Do not buy the Hot Seat 500 Pipe. I have seen two installations and they are both poor. The header pipe is too short and the muffler bangs on the rear suspension. The pipe is noisy and does very little for performance. Look elsewhere, or fit a Scrambler muffler onto your HO. Do not waste your money with Hot Seat, their customer service satisfaction level is also very low.

 

What Thor said! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Hotseat has pathetic customer service. I think I posted the problem I had with them a few months ago. I won't talk about all the problems I had with their parts and terrible service. I will say that I recently bought a billet aluminum starter and choke cover plate. It didn't even fit, I had to take a dye grinder to widen the hole so it would slip over the choke assembly. I could have sent it back, but it would have taken forever and they definitely wouldn't have given a discount for their screw up. I have been down that road before. I guess I didn't learn my lesson from all the other stuff I had problems with. I can't stand hotseat or the people I had to deal with. As far as I am concerned they are jerks just looking to rip people off. Almost like a used car salesman (No Offense to car dealers). I am now a firm believer that if customer service is bad, then the company isn't very good. Customer service should always be good if you are going to pay that much money for aftermarket parts. I hear HPD and Rick Ritter have excellent customer service. I should have went with them. Just my experiences and opinions.

 

We are a dealer for Hot Seat, HPD, and AAEN. My finds have been HPD is best for customer service, utility clutch kits, roller clutch, and several other products. Hot Seat for 2 stroke exhaust, sport clutch kits, performance packages, and UFOs. AAEN for fuel items, 4 stroke muffler (do not buy a head pipe from anyone - see below), and performance handbooks.

The stock headpipe makes more HP in the operating rpm than any aftermarket. I spoke to Olav Aaen and got into a fairly deep discussion on head work and he stated they tried a couple competitors headpipes, stock headpipe, and several types he had built. In the end the stock pipe made more HP and torque throughout the rpm range than any other.

As a personnal recomendation the biggest gains I have seen is the AAEN pipe. We have only ever ran 3 mufflers though. We have ran a Hot Seat, Supertrap, and the AAEN. The testing was done on a Sportsman through a fixed distance with a stop watch (not perfect but it told us which was the best).

 

you're talking about the 4 stroke scrambler,i don't known about the 500 engine but as far i'm concerned i come from quebec and last year i've used the hot seat stuff and i've never been dispointed about lack of performances or customer service,that for the 2 stroke scrambler,they made excellent chassis and suspension upgrade,their gen 2 scrambler 400 pipe is awsome,but not as quicker than hpd race pipe,
they're better in polaris snowmobile stuff than in the atv business...
this year i must say that i run HPD stuff ONLY and when it come to polaris atv performances, hpd rule over everything else,more specialist into the engine mods than any others aftermarket shops...
the choice is yours,depending on what you want...

 

Hey guys~
As far as modifying the 500 engine, it is a lost cause unless you go all out with 4 Stroke Tech. A clutch kit will help use the power more efficiently, but horsepower gains will be very minimal unless going with the wild mods from 4ST. Also, I have tried the AAEN silencer on my 325 trailboss, but I sent it back after a half hour of riding on the machine. It was definitely louder, but power still wasn't any better than stock. Maybe the 500 is different, I don't know.

 

Save your money. ***** Seat sucks. I would never deal with that company ever again. They really talk a good game but their clutch kits are rider specific. The HO clutch kit is for a stock machine and a 200 pound rider with no accessories. Now how many of you out there weigh 200 pounds and have a stock machine?

This clutch WILL NOT WORK WITH TIRES BIGGER THAN 25" ! But do they tell you this when you buy the kit? NO

The customer service is also a joke. I dropped off my machine 3 different times for them to tune their clutch kit. The last time it sat there for 17 days and they did not even touch it! Bunch of liars. I am so mad right now I called my credit card company and filed a dispute case to get my money back based on poor customer service. They offer great lip service they just don't deliver the goods when it counts. It is a 60 mile round trip to their shop. So far I have over 300 miles on my truck trying to deal with these people. I pitty the guy that has bought out of state.

BTW you can get better results by changing to a white dive spring and 47gr weights than spending 159 dollars on one of their kits.