Thrustmaster support/warranty

Miscellaneous Hardware & Peripherals
1

After waiting for years to get myself set up with a reasonable racing chair and wheel setup I managed to get one.
The brand new thrustmaster TX arrived yesterday so I installed the firmware update as it said inside the box, checked it out within the PC drivers bit, all looked well, then put it to one side to await the chair and read up on what to do with it.
The chair arrived today, great, can get set up and an evenings racing on a proper wheel!

After getting it all assembled, loading forza5, configuring the wheel within the game, I hit the track, road Atlanta, a class just to get a feel for it. Hmmm. This feels a bit lumpy and awkward, so I back out and go back to the settings. Change the ffb strength down to 25% strength, previously had it set to 50, and the wheel lasted just over one lap before it expired amongst a smell of burning plastic.

Now, the mode light comes on (green, previously it was red I think) and what I presume is a white power light, but that’s all it will do. No calibration, no connection to the xbox, nothing. I’m kind of frustrated and just posting here as I’ve wasted the evening trying to get the thing working only to find out their tech support is now closed until Monday, when I at work, great. Their support webpage won’t work for me either, after creating an account and logging in, everything else comes back with an error.

I’m sure, come Monday, I’ll have been able to sort out some form of replacement, I just hope it doesn’t turn into a string of dodgy hardware that some appear to have experienced. Also hope that the lumpy feeling wasn’t a “feature” of the wheel, and was just because it was faulty, cause it didn’t feel like driving to me!

Has anybody else got this wheel and is able to reassure me that this is a decent bit of kit if I can get a working one?

2

Yeah,when they work they are great,don’t use e-mail,call one of the numbers in the owners manual. My first wheel went up in smoke but was replaced very fast. Also the replacement wheels are coming with the firmware update already imstalled and these wheels seem to have less problems. When the wheel is working it is very good.

3

I just had a problem with my first wheel last week with it not calibrating and I already have my new wheel. It seems as though these V2 wheels are a little better as my first wheel didn’t have an external power source and my new wheel base does. So hopefully it lasts and brings a lot of years of working properly. But Thrustmaster was very good at replacing my base and getting it sent to me.

4

Are you in the US,Slimy? I asked about the external power supply and TM told me me it was for countries besides the US.

5

I’m on my 3rd wheel at the moment - hopefully this one will last. Thrustmaster aren’t that quick with support tickets but they get there eventually. It took about a week from me opening a ticket to getting a replacement wheel base (in the UK).

However, if I had a wheel that died within a day of receiving it - I’d just send/take it back to the online/offline shop I’d purchased it from and demand a new one.

6

Was the firmware preinstalled in your replacement wheels guys? I have read on the TX FB page the new ones are being shipped that way.

7

Yes. My new wheel came installed with the latest firmware already on it and yes, I’m in the US. So I don’t see why TM would tell you it’s only for those that are outside of the US.

8

Well my 2nd wheel went bad and when i was on the phone with TM i asked about the external power brick and thats what i was told,talked to them on Friday and was told it would be Monday before the order would be ready,did get an e-mail saying order was placed and would recieve e-mail with tracking # when order was shipped. How long did it take to get your wheel and did it feel different than the version one? Thanks Slimy.

9

The handbook that came with my wheel lists all three power supply options: on-board 100-125 VAC, on-board 220-240 VAC, and external 110-240 VAC. It describes the difference as regional, which would follow. It doesn’t indicate that the external supply is a V2, or that it represents an improvement to the design.

10

I’m in the USA. And yes, my replacement wheel base arrived with the external power supply, and latest firmware installed.

In addition to the external power supply, I’d say the new base has a stronger fan. Though, that may just indicate that the fan wasn’t functioning properly in the original base I had that died.

In answer to TRSylverFyre, no, I don’t think you should be feeling anything “lumpy” in the wheel movement. Mine have both been quite smooth. While the wheel is turned off, there may be a very fine notchy feel almost as if you were moving gearing, but I think this is caused by the magnets in the brushless motor. While the wheel is on, movement is very smooth. There may still be a slight notchiness, but if so, it is so minor compared to the force feedback that it is not a factor.

Overall, it’s a great wheel when it works. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

It took about a week total from the time I emailed them to the time I got the wheel. To me, it feels the same, but also it feels as if the wheel doesn’t loose force throughout the entire time I’m playing. My first wheel felt like it lost strength the more I played.

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12

Thanks for the replies everyone. I’ll be phoning Thrustmaster support tomorrow. My first thought was to get a swap from the retailer (dabs.com) but they appear to deny all responsibility for this, which is technically against UK DSR’s, but I think I’m more likely to get a wheel that will have another issue (ie. From the same batch) if I go back to them. It sounds a lot like the first batch of these wheels has a problem so I think there’s better odds going to thrustmaster direct.

I didn’t get any paperwork with the wheel that gave any support numbers so was going to call the 0845 number of their website, does anyone have any experience with this? Is it the same number?

I’m hoping to get this sorted in time for the 2.4 hours of Le Mans event coming up!,

13

The 0845 number is the right one. You’ll be on hold for a while so don’t phone from a mobile.

I didn’t know there’s now a version with an external power supply. It does makes sense though - it was my internal; power supply that blew up, so it has to be easier for them to replace the power supply than the wheel base. This may sound off, but I’m kinda hoping that my replacement wheel base (with internal power supply) develops a fault so they replace it with the external power supply base :D.

14

I didn’t know it either until I opened up my new base and was like “Wow. This is different.” It’s always better when there is an external power supply.

15

Tried all day to get them today on the phone just to constantly get a recorded message directing me to the website. In these types of cases I’d prefer to speak to a person, but reluctantly filled in the form to email support, now it’s all waiting :frowning:

16

That’s poor, sorry to hear that. Based on my experience they take a really long time to get back to emails (days), but they were pretty responsive on phone. Hope you get yours sorted in a quickly. I know it was suggested before, but you might want to try with DABs again.

17

Can anyone of you tell me how long it was after you recieved your e-mail saying an order was put in for a replacement wheel base,untill you recieved an e-mail with a tracking number. I talked to TM on Friday the 6th,recieved an e-mail latter saying order was placed with logistics with an order # the guy said i should hear something Monday the 9th-today but nothing,are they normaly slow,thanks.

18

Both times I’ve done an RMA, its taken about a week from the support note to the wheel arriving (in the UK). They ship from France - it takes a few days for their logistics to get it processed and then 3/4 days for shipping (i.e. its not priority or anything).

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19

It took 7 days from when the order was raised for the wheel base to arrive.

The tracking ref was a saga. I emailed 3 times asking for it and was told I would receive it soon. They couldn’t give me an estimated delivery date. I then phoned and was told the same. The wheel arrived on a Friday and the following Tuesday (yes 4 days after) I received the tracking reference.

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20

Are these version 2 Thrustmaster wheels in stores. Is there a serial number to look out for?