Well since I am the one who instigated the whole thing I will express my feelings.
As for performance and quality I have close to 3000 miles on mine and it has no problems. Out of 42 units a warranty for one unit was needed and covered right away; that was the result of a broken pulley thread boss.
Now as for pricing I am very disappointed at the turn of events. I was very open and honest with Precision Machine/Thumprrr racing.
I tried my best to convince him to keep prices down but his main motivations were the prices of his Mustang units, and seeing the NOS aftermarket ones on sale by a vendor for $350.(I showed him that) his reasoning was a billet one with a warranty is certainly worth $100 more.
My reward was basically receiving a free unit for every 10 sold. I received four, 2 of which I installed and I have 2 sitting on a shelf.
Towards the end of the production we had conversations of developing other products but his prices were insane. I told him how the Buick community was innovative and can copy or make a competitive product and it was a best policy to keep costs as reasonable as possible. But we couldn't come to an agreement for other parts so we just agreed to proceed with further production runs of the tensioner.
Well a few weeks later when I showed him the White racing copy he freaked, and lowered his price to (IMO) what they should have been in the beginning, and cut me out altogether.
So currently there is a good deal for all, as they are quality products-- another good thing is used stock units have come down to earth.
Bad part I felt the first group of guys were taken advantage of and I was part of it......
and if I had to do it over I would not have divulged any info on year, make, and model car and any market values of NOS/used parts when I commissioned him to make them. I also would have went to more than one fabricator to have them bid against each other.
But I wouldn't hesitate to buy one from him they are quality pieces. The White Racing one looks fine too. If you want to buy one I have on the shelf $265 shipped and I can steal a sale from both of them.
So that is the story behind these and how there is some good and bad in it all.