People with any CSR E issues come in here

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mayaman
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Finally received my replacement CSR Elite wheel on Monday from Fanatec (only took a couple of months) but didn't unbox it until Tuesday. As I pulled the wheel out of the box I could hear something 'rattling around' inside the wheel. I continued shaking the wheel until the items causing the rattling finally fell into sight.

Immediately sent an e-mail to Fanatec, awaiting their reply.

Here are the photos I sent to Fanatec (I hung the wheel upside down on the back of a door in order to take the photos).

DSC_1649-2.jpg


DSC_1649a.jpg


DSC_1652a.jpg


Anyone have a clue where these parts go or have a similar problem with a new wheel?

Needless to say I have not plugged in or turned the wheel on.
 
Well that sucks... nope I don't have any issues; my CSR-E is supposed to be here tomorrow. Crossing fingers.

Sorry, no help with the screws, but I'd get the go ahead from Fanatec before opening up the chassis (in writing); you may void the warranty otherwise.

Cheers.

Edit: grammar
 
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/sarcasm on "which quality checks?" /sarcasm off

Now we know the reason for the window in the CSR-E :sly:

Sorry to see this. I feel for you. Hope they can solve this issue very fast. This should not happen, regardless which company we are talking about. 👎
 
That part goes on the axis shaft pulley that the code wheel mounts to. Is it an extra that was left by accident or is it missing off the code wheel?

It should be mounted like the pic below:

cad93b13.jpg


There should be 4 screws plus that screw holding the code wheel in place.

If you like its easy to install it if you want. There are 4 hex head screws holding the matte black nose cover on the base. Removing those will allow the cover to come off and will make it very easy to install it where it belongs. If you choose to do that make sure you don't tighten it too much as the code wheel could crack if you over do it.

Still inexcusable for the wheel to have left the factory like that.
 
thechosenwonton
Well that sucks... hope I don't have any issues; my CSR-E is supposed to be here tomorrow. Crossing fingers.

Sorry, no help with the screws, but I'd get the go ahead from Fanatec before opening up the chassis (in writing); you may void the warranty otherwise.

Cheers.

Edit: grammar
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Definitely have no intentions of opening up the wheel without written approval from Fanatec.
 
thehawk05
That part goes on the axis shaft pulley that the code wheel mounts to. Is it an extra that was left by accident or is it missing off the code wheel?

It should be mounted like the pic below:

cad93b13.jpg


There should be 4 screws plus that screw holding the code wheel in place.

If you like its easy to install it if you want. There are 4 hex head screws holding the matte black nose cover on the base. Removing those will allow the cover to come off and will make it very easy to install it where it belongs. If you choose to do that make sure you don't tighten it too much as the code wheel could crack if you over do it.

Still inexcusable for the wheel to have left the factory like that.
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Thank you thehawk05 for the very useful information and photo.

I turned the wheel manually to check the screws, there are four screws and an empty hole - it appears that these are not extra parts but are parts missing from the code wheel (see photo).

DSC_1697-2a.jpg


If they were installed at the factory why did they fall out, i.e. stripped screw hole or some other reason? It looks as though they were installed by the marks on the code wheel, don't understand how they could just fall out during shipping.

In any case I am not planning on opening up the wheel without authorization from Fanatec. If they authorize me to open the wheel I should be able to tell if the screw hole is stripped or not.
 
I'm betting somebody assembling it stripped the hole on the axis shaft pulley (easy to do with it being aluminum) at the factory. It almost looks like they used some sort of adhesive or something to hold the screw in place. It certainly wouldn't have backed all the way out during shipping. I'll bet if you look inside that hole the threads are stripped clean.

Send a PM to Fanatec... on here to make sure Thomas sees that so he knows what's going on at the assembly line.
 
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thehawk05
I'm betting somebody assembling it stripped the hole on the axis shaft pulley (easy to do with it being aluminum) at the factory. It almost looks like they used some sort of adhesive or something to hold the screw in place. It certainly wouldn't have backed all the way out during shipping. I'll bet if you look inside that hole the threads are stopped clean.

Send a PM to Fanatec... on here to make sure Thomas sees that so he knows what's going on at the assembly line.
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Tried to send a PM to Fanatec but received error message saying Fanatec has chosen not to receive private messages.

I'm still waiting to get a reply from Fanatec support on my original e-mail informing them of the loose parts in the replacement wheel (and a refund of the $20.65 it cost me to ship my first wheel back to them).
 
At this price point Thomas should seriously consider having his high-end wheel assembled in-house and just charge a bit more for it. Leave the lower end products as they are now.

I also think there is too much focus on the next product and not improving the existing ones. If he can't get the $530 wheel perfect then I'm not going to believe the next one is going to get there.

I hope your issue gets resolved quickly.
 
geo1098
At this price point Thomas should seriously consider having his high-end wheel assembled in-house and just charge a bit more for it. Leave the lower end products as they are now.

I also think there is too much focus on the next product and not improving the existing ones. If he can't get the $530 wheel perfect then I'm not going to believe the next one is going to get there.

I hope your issue gets resolved quickly.
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If it's assembled in house- meaning in Germany and paid the wages expected by German workers in Euros- Fanatec probably need to charge more than just a bit more. Besides the assembly there's also the question of parts that goes into building each wheel. In China, they could source the parts locally and save cost.

If the scenario is that the assembly is moved to Germany- if the parts are sourced locally (to save import and shipping cost), the prices for parts alone would add to the cost (along with the increased labour cost). Perhaps to off-set the rising production cost, Fanatec can now produce limited amount of wheels. Of course, how many depends on whether Thomas wants to make any money or run Fanatec as a non-profit company ;)

IMHO, the $500+ Fanatec is charging for the CSR-E (especially looking at the build quality) is a steal. It's still a relatively new product and if there are problems, I'm sure the company is looking at a way to improve the tooling/manufacturing and it's a good thing that the CSW is being held back. So, I do agree they need to concentrate and perfect the current crop of wheels instead of coming with a better one. If there's one good thing about a company like Apple is that they understand restraint- that performance is only as good as the user's experience.
 
Received a reply from Fanatec today, here is what they said:

"Thank you for your email and I´m sorry that there are issues again.
Would you please open the black base cover, let this piece fall out and test if the wheel works properly."

So with Fanatec's approval I removed the base plate (very easy) and shook the parts out (screw and bolt). Instead of just letting the pieces fall out and testing I inserted the screw to check the threads, it appeared it would screw in properly. So I inserted the washer on the bolt and inserted both back onto/into code wheel (with a very small dab of Locktite on screw threads)... threads felt good once screw was over halfway in (so still a little concern there), finger tightened then tightened about a 1/8 extra turn (felt firm but not overly tight).

Won't be able to mount and check it out until tomorrow evening, hopefully everything will stay in place. Here are a couple of pics of CSR Elite with base plate removed showing the remounted screw and washer.

DSC_1701a.jpg


DSC_1700a.jpg


Anyone notice anything else that looks or might be out of place? What about the wire that runs over the heat sink and down into it on the right hand side... is that proper?
 
WTF... will they give you a discount for having to mount the damn thing? I wouldnt go for it... but thats just me I like to buy my new gear all properly assembled.
 
that red and black wire at the heatsink is ok - it is the temperature sensor for the fan.
are you sure the threads on the pin were ok.
if any doubt - get another wheel
 
Glad to hear you got it sorted out without having to send it back - I just received my CSR Elite yesterday and it works perfectly, no issues. The new ones come preloaded with firmware 7.22 if anyone is interested, which is the latest greatest firmware.

Unfortunately other than hardware impressions and wheel strength, I can't review, as the CSR-E pedals aren't shipping until the end of this month :(
 
thechosenwonton
Glad to hear you got it sorted out without having to send it back - I just received my CSR Elite yesterday and it works perfectly, no issues. The new ones come preloaded with firmware 7.22 if anyone is interested, which is the latest greatest firmware.

(
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So far so good, I've only had a chance to play for a while on the XBox and a bit on the PS3. One thing I did notice as soon as I mounted the wheel on my rig was that the rim appears to be worn in a couple of places before I've even used it (the wheel covering on the TS500 is much nicer).

Look at the upper right and the center of the wheel in the photos:

DSC_1739a.jpg


DSC_1738a.jpg


I can only believe one of two things; either I received a refurbished wheel (which I should not have) or the quality control at Fanatec isn't very good (which is pretty obvious from the fact that there were parts loose inside the wheel when I unboxed it).

Anyone else receive a new wheel that looked like this?
 
Take a soft cloth and spray some Windex on it and wipe it to see if it removes it. It kinda looks like a film on the coating. Generally that coating when worn away will be shiny underneath.
 
No, had no issues at all with mine, everything as it should be, looks brand spanking new.

I will agree, the rim is a little cheesy; the shifters and FFB are pretty awesome though. Looking forward to a replacement rim when they come out that more matches the quality of the actual wheel; I'm assuming this was a price point decision (which I can respect); I do not expect it to effect my driving though, which is my only REAL concern.

Hope to get the pedals late this week and do some actual testing; just from initial feel the wheel is miles ahead of my current beloved and venerable DFGT.
 
thehawk05
Take a soft cloth and spray some Windex on it and wipe it to see if it removes it. It kinda looks like a film on the coating. Generally that coating when worn away will be shiny underneath.
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Tried what you suggested, wheel looks much better now.... Thank You!
 
Love my CSR Elite but can't wait to get a new rim for it. Does anyone think I should return this wheel for a new one or wait for the new rims to come out? The black self-adhering foam on the back of my right paddle shifter has come off :-(
IMG_1398.jpg
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