The machine work that’s used to create high-performance parts is astounding, but sometimes accidents happen when the parts are being made. ATI Performance Products has an extremely high standard for its parts, so if something happens to them during the manufacturing process they won’t be sold as new. That has opened the door for ATI to sell its blemished Super Dampers at a discounted price.
ATI considers any Super Damper that has a damaged shell, scratched hub, or less-than-perfect plating a blemished product. Now, the company could just scrap these harmonic balancers, but that would be a waste, so they’re sold as a blemished item. These are just cosmetic blemishes and they don’t affect how the damper functions in any way.
There are some cases where these dampers have timing marks that are mis-marked, or are missing from the unit. ATI won’t sell a blemished damper that has timing marks that aren’t 100% accurate. If the damper has a blemish at TDC through 40 degrees it won’t be sold. Many of these blemished dampers only have a small ding or dent in a non-critical region that has been machined off. These dampers won’t have any plating in that area, but they will still function perfectly fine.
The blemished dampers that ATI sells are complete and ready to install. Most of the time, you can’t even see the blemish, but since there is even a slight issue with the damper ATI won’t sell it as new. You can see what blemished Super Dampers ATI has for sale currently right here on the company’s website.