DKB Metal - [email protected] / [email protected]

[dkbmetal]

Fellow VW Enthusiasts,

We at DKB have decided to create this feedback thread for everyone who has purchased parts from us. We invite you to share your opinions and experiences for the benefit of all. As customers ourselves, we recognize the importance of knowing others' experiences with specific products before making a purchase. The internet today can be a minefield, with too many sellers offering products they don't possess or understand. Our goal is to foster transparency and openness. We encourage our customers to share their complete experiences, from browsing our website and ordering parts to receiving and installing them, including how any issues were handled.

This initiative will not only inform the community about the kind of company we are but also provide us with valuable insights to continually improve our parts and service. Rest assured, we monitor this post diligently, and as our past customers know, we routinely request feedback a few weeks after an order is placed.

We welcome all feedback, whether positive or negative. Positive feedback delights us and encourages others to trust us, while constructive criticism helps us enhance our offerings.

Additionally, we are eager to hear your ideas for new parts that you would like us to manufacture. If there's something specific you need for your Beetle/Bus that you're struggling to find, let us know! Your suggestions will help us better understand and meet your needs.

Thank you all for entrusting us with your business!

[my3bugs]

i saw the DKB grand opening sale here on the samba , 15 percent off .... so i bought one the split window bug armrests . everything went nice n smooth . Daniel was super friendly in emails , packaging was great , fast shipping , and the part looks GREAT .... the best part is we now have a local to California company selling replacement metal .... no more need to pay for over seas shipping ...got my part in just a couple days ...thanks Steve

[Nalu33]

I attempted To contact seller but was unsuccessful. After some creative ways of making contact the Seller then got through to me. Success at last! Thanks

[billmetric]

purchased a pair of <55 lower rear quarter panels with the 3 drain dimples and a <55 front spare wheel well with the 6 bendy tabs, all parts were outstanding, and were shipped quickly from USA stock paid for in USD, note to above poster, no one makes a 100% accurate rear H apron, yet, and any panel bigger than a bread box sent thru the mail is gonna have a dent(s) in it, most body guys are gonna expect this and most sellers mention this fact.
Looks like DKB is still adding parts to the web site, I need a few sets of front quarter front spare well sides also if you decide to add them, I'll buy !
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There is an idea of a Billmetric; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there...

[Vintage Vee-Dub Supplies]

Daniel was very courteous and fast in sending by UPS 24 Pieces of Beetle Bottom Hinge Rust Repair Panels and other Parts to Sydney Australia . They were here within a week ,and we are on the bottom of the Earth .They look exceptionally well made and accurate . They, (DKB Metals) make a lot of other Metal Sections which I will be purchasing in the future . Thank you Daniel .

[my3bugs]

i have made 3 purchases here now . split bug bumper brackets , split bug tail light bulb holders , split bug armrest and a few miscellaneous screws ........everything looks n fits GREAT ... Daniel is always happy to answer questions n help out . Thanks !!!

[Busstom]

Fellas,

Why are you focusing on the same market that Wolf and Virtanen have covered? That seems like a relatively small market. Your stuff all ends right about 1960, right?

You want to know where the huge market is that's waiting for someone to step up? It's what I call the mid-years, 61-67. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, sells a proper front quarter panel for a '65. And I talked to Wolf, he doesn't want to do it.

Why is that? Did somebody get dies for the earlier parts? How are these parts even made? Are they pressed in the same type of dies that the factory used??

Talk about a huge market that nobody's tapping into, 61-67, and if you're trying to set yourselves apart with "quality," the '68 on crowd has only access to shitty parts, they might want good parts too. Albeit, most entry-level enthusiasts are starting with later cars and doing it on the cheap, so I can see ignoring that market.

But 61-67? Come on now.
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My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom)

[AlanInMass54]

Bought a new pair of pressed Bus front bumper brackets from these folks. The price was great, the brackets are very sturdy and they shipped them out fast. Great place to deal with!

[challomoner]

How about producing a bus cargo rocker that fits. Huge market I'd imagine.

[Busstom]

[challomoner]

[challomoner]

Are these guys buying wolf and virtanen parts to copy cheaper out in asia?

[Busstom]

For some reason, I doubt it. If any company were to try to do that, the first thing that would happen is they would start using thinner, lower quality sheet. The next thing that would happen is, they'd quickly start to lose dimensional stability of the dies/tooling (if they ever achieve it to begin with). In short order, they'd wind up with.....well.....more of the same garbage that's already flooded the market.

It would be good if DKB jumped in and clarified their role in the whole matter. If they're just a reseller, so, it is what it is, no shame, just clarify it. If they're scratch-building panels, well, respond to potential clientele inquiries to either quash any hopes or take up the challenge.
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My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom)

[challomoner]

[56Cabrio]

Go to there IG @dkbmetal they have some videos of their manufacturing. They told me some sellers on here buy some of their stuff to resale...
I have asked some questions on Instagram and they have responded the same day.
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1956 Rag Top owned since 1988
1956 Convertible owned since 2000
1963 Hard Top

RIP Dad 4/20/1951 - 2/4/2023

[Busstom]

[challomoner]

[dkbmetal]

Hello guys,

First of all, sorry for not showing up here earlier. We did create this feedback thread when we opened our doors late last year. We used to receive an email notification from TheSamba when someone posted here (which wasn't much since people usually only show up here when something goes wrong! So with over 350 closed transactions in the last 4 months, we must not be doing that bad!). We didn't receive any notifications anymore (I wrongly assumed nobody was posting here) and I just came back because a very good customer of ours told us there was some activity here and I was impressed by the quantity of messages that had been posted by the time I started reading.

So I think it will be good to make some points clear.

@challomoner Thank you for the suggestion. We will look into this rocker. With so many different companies making this part now, I never imagined none of those fit. How about the SWT one?

@Busstom First of all, thank you for your suggestions. There is a reason for us focusing on the early stuff first. We did have many good original samples to start with, as well as many Splits and Ovals which need some serious body restoration. That's the first reason why we started making the parts. For that many cars, it made sense to actually reproduce them instead of buying them. Many of the cars need most of the lower body sections replaced. And yes, we are also moving to 1960-1967 panels in the near future. But first, we want to complete our early range. As strange as it may seem, we are having a hard time locating some good original panels from the 60s to reproduce. We are being asked a LOT for front quarter front repair sections as well as the panel as a whole. So if anyone here can help us with good samples, we will gladly take them and either pay cash or send some good sheet metal in return.

@Busstom I don't know where you got the information that we are merely resellers. It's actually the absolute opposite. We don't sell parts that we do not make. Not a single one. Every part that you see on our website has had our hands all over it. And yes, there are already some businesses buying from us to resell (we do have a great resellers program). We do our best to keep all of our parts in stock 100% of the time and not just a few of them, but a good quantity instead in order to be able to fulfill our resellers' requests. We currently have over 300 stamping dies of our own. Old school type of dies: male and female, with parts being stamped in huge hydraulic presses.

@challomoner We also do not buy from any other manufacturers in order to copy their parts. We would never do that as copying from a copy will just lead to less than acceptable results. We try to find the best samples we can and they always have to be original. Unfortunately, as much as we would like, NOS is not always an option so we have to work with very good used parts. But never, ever. we copy from a copy. That's strictly forbidden in our company. If you see a competitor part lying around that's just to figure out what wasn't done so good and make it better. You may notice, however, that our prices are usually lower than those of our competitors. We do not achieve this by lowering the quality of the products we manufacture. There are other ways to be able to reach better pricing which is, of course, being more efficient at production. I'm not completely sure of what I will say, but if I am not mistaken, the people you mentioned are working by themselves without the help of any collaborators, so it's basically just a one-man job. Even with the best tooling in the world, you can see there is a huge restriction there. Our team consists of 11 people working from 8 to 5 to make things happen. Saturdays as well.

@56Cabrio Thank you for sharing the Instagram information. Yes, nowadays we believe Instagram to be the easiest and most convenient way to share our work and most people seem to have an account there. Unfortunately, I just checked and indeed there is no way to see our account's content if you don't have one. It looks like you can use a Facebook account to log in, though. We thought about starting another thread on TheSamba to show the advances on new project developments and also everyday's production, but time is restricted and on a tight schedule, I am not sure we would be able to follow up the way we should. So that may still happen in the future. Comments on this are appreciated!

So I really hope this clears things up! Notifications are now re-activated so in case anyone responds here we should be able to assist you right away. Even though our schedule is pretty tight now, suggestions for new parts are always welcome.

Thank you all.

[Busstom]

Cool, thanks for clarifying everything and sorting out the suspicions/misinformation.

[challomoner]

Thanks for the response regarding the bus cargo rocker.

I bought swt last year, the seal channel is about 10mm to high and needs slicing along the entire length and welding back together. It's also bowed out in the middle.

I hear the ww rockers have a bow too so I believe there is a gap in the market for a rocker that fits properly.