It came to my attention recently that several “Made in USA” Kinetic ropes have been acquired and the manufacturing has been outsourced. With this change has come a quality control difference, both in size of rope and materials. I ordered a Voodoo Rope that was labeled 7/8” by 30’, only to find it larger in diameter and with a completely different material of fiber. This meant the rope would no longer fit in my old K.R.A.B setup. That’s when I discovered many ropes are manufactured overseas and size is rarely consistent. I made a new larger rope bag, but the new ropes are less flexible (ironic for “kinetic”) so they no longer fit as neatly into the bags.
Oversizing a kinetic rope is not a good idea, so now who knows how many people own a rope that isn’t truly ideal for their vehicle. A kinetic rope should be sized to the “towing” vehicle. If the rope is too large for the towing vehicle, the rope reacts more like a static rope, which creates shock load. Moral of the story, double check where your rope is being made, even if its a company you have bought from before, and measure the diameter versus the claimed diameter.
