Problems with new firecat 400

[cartemj06]

I have heard great things about Martin's customer service and I am hoping that since a few of the Martin employees are on this board I can get a little Direction from them here...

I purchased a brand new 2011 Martin Firecat 400 from my local dealer. After I had it all set up I noticed a few blemishes in the finish that I was willing to overlook, however, as I shot the bow to get it dialed in for the fast approaching spring turkey season here in PA I have had more problems.

The new problems are not only cosmetic but also mechanical. The grip on my bow has started to slide around and even came un-glued from the right hand side of the riser. This is cosmetic but combined with the other cosmetic flaws I am beginning to get frustrated. I know I may be a little picky but I was really looking forward to this bow and I had such high hopes, I saved money for six months to get it and it is upsetting, I just feel like it should be better.

After shooting about twenty arrows from my bow I started to get a weird noise. I checked the rest and the site and as I was preparing to call the archery shop I got the idea to check the cams and modules. My lower module had come loose. I tightened the module only to have it come lose again about twenty shots later. I tightened the module yet again and after a few more shots the ominous noise returned, except this time it was my upper module.

So I was hoping that the Reps on here may be able to help me. If it is just something that I can loc-tite in place and call it a day that is fine. As far as the finish on the bow goes and the grips I hope someone can let me know what I can with that.

PS I am not trying to flame or make a big deal, and I completely understand that any bow or any product can have flaws, and that no factory can ship 100% flaw free. The real test of any company I feel is standing behind their product and their customer service. So the reason I went with martin was all the reviews about their customer service. I heard that their reps frequent these boards and since my work schedule makes it difficult to call and my email is Gmail and the site says that they can't respond to that I just posted this here.

[Speedykills]

Hello,welcome to the sight,as far as module screws go put a little string wax on threads,work great to keep them tight or blue lock tight will work also,dont use red.
As far as grips go,im not familiar with the new ones but the thermo v grip you can just re-glue them,super glue,gorilla glue ect.

[Lung Buster]

I can't blame you if you are not happy you are not happy! A slight blemish is one thing but a series of blemishes is another! I would definitely make a phone call to CS I am sure they will make things right! when you make an investment into a brand new bow the last thing you want is problems. Oh and string wax is great on bolt threads!

[bfisher]

You didn't fill out your profile so I don't know where you are located except in Pa. I'm in Pa., too. Who is your dealer? If you're not too far away I would make the drive and see for myself what all you're talking about.

I'm going to make a suggestion that may or may not pan out. Is your dealer the type of guy that would swap this bow for a new one and then handle the issues with Martin himself? If so it would be nice for you.

If that can't be done then call Joel Clark at Martin's warranty dept and explain the situation to him. He's likely to tell you you have to work thru your dealer with warranty issues, but he still needs to know about these types of problems so that the people working in Quality Control step up their game.

In the interim you can do as Speedy says and use Blue (#242) loctite on the module threads. This should help to at least get you through turkey season.

If the riser's finish is that bad then maybe it should be replaced and with a new grip. I don't quite understand what's going on with the grip. This is the second one I've heard in as many days doing this. I've used the Thermal Elite grip on my bows for 7 years now and never had one come loose, but mine have been wooden sideplates bolted together through the riser. Who knows?

Just FYI, the only Martin employee that gets on this forum is JoelC (Admin) and that isn't too often. There are a few of us that are staff shooters of one level or another and the rest of these nice gentlemen are just die-hard Martin shooters. We're here just to help guys like you who have problems or need suggestions about one thing or another in archery. And we all welcome you to the forum.

[HawgEnvy]

you have a legit concern and stated them politely. We won't take that as bashing or flaming. Don't worry. Even if you were,its not what you say,its how you say it.

as bfisher said,we're all here to help the best we can. Welcome to the forum.hope you get things straightened out.

[leeindy]

every martin ive seen for 2011 has had these problems.

loctite the cams

get some epoxy and fix the grips.

the vem arrow rest will come loose as well

and order and sos or two for back ups.

[schell]

Had the same things with my new Firecat. Blue locktite on the mods and Gorilla glue on the grip and no more problems.

[wick]

I've got the same thing going on with my grip also. This just started to be a problem when the weather started to get a little warmer and the glue on the grip became more plyable. Kinda dissapointed for such a simple grip on such a nice bow. You can read the posts on my thread titled Thermal Grip Problems posted two days ago, But what I kinda got from everyone was that just glue it back on with a real good glue. I havn't had time to re-glue mine so I can't tell you if it has remedied the problem or not but its worth a shot.

[cartemj06]

Thanks everyone for the help, I will Gorrilla Glue the Grip and if Loc-tite will work for the modules I am ok with that. I just didn't want to go putting that on there if it was not advisable.

Is there a replacement grip available like one that is wood or plastic? and are they as thin as the thermal Grip? I really like the thin grip and that was one of the things that I loved about the bow when I bought it.

If the simple fixes work then I am ok with it, and the blemishes in the finish aren't going to break my heart by themselves since I am likely to scratch the riser at some point myself in the future. I am really mostly concerned with the grip so that I can shoot, and the modules so that the bow doesn't have some sort of catastrophic failure while I am shooting.

I can say that if it weren't for the little problems, I am fairly happy with the performance so far. I will try to get back on here in the next couple of days to update everyone.