Some of these are kind of nit-picky but I want to list them in case somebody at Polaris may someday read this page. I have been a big fan of the Yamaha and Hondas I have owned and have gotten used to their quality control. Also, I am curious if any other Predator owners out there have had similar issues? I am fully aware that this is a first year model and issues like some of mine will be corrected in later models.

Faulty Oil Reservoir (pic)
As I opened the garage to roll out my new toy I noticed a pool of oil underneath the Predator. It looked like it was originating from the external oil reservoir so I called Andy and dropped it off to have him check it out. I am fully capable of working on it myself but any work I may have done could risk my warranty. Besides, a $6000 quad shouldn't need me to work on it after riding it for less than an hour.

Andy, at Team Polaris in Fairborn, Ohio found the oil reservoir had a crack in it where the two sections were assembled. Polaris overnighted a new one for him to install the following day at their cost and I picked it up that day. I haven't had a drop of oil leak out of it since then so I guess it was just a manufacturing defect? It was all covered by warranty and I got a free oil change and filter out of the deal so it wasn't that big of an inconvenience.

Nuts and bolts vibrating loose
Polaris must not believe in thread lock when assembling the Predator. I think the majority of non-pinned nuts and bolts have either loosened or came loose. After losing several nuts and bolts I have checked and thread locked any that were starting to loosen. Any of you that have serviced any Yamaha or Honda know that they are not shy when applying the thread lock to their equipment.

The first fastener that came loose was the front seat holder bolt that held the seat in place to the gas tank. This is just a Torx flat top bolt with a stainless steel spacer that screws into a brass insert in the plastic tank. (pic) This bolt came loose within the first hour of riding also and another bolt and washer had to be substituted until the factory replacement arrived.

Seat coming loose from hard impacts
This is an issue that most racers have had to deal with no matter what brand of quad they race. The Polaris is no different and probably has the weakest type of seat latching I have been exposed to in late model sport quads. The weakness lies in the single front bolt with spacer the seat slides into wearing and allowing the seat to move forward and unhooking the back latch. I have a simple modification that will help somewhat with this issue but a better design is needed for the future models. There are also some aftermarket systems that deal with this issue but I haven't tried any at this time.

Pro System steering bushing failure
I had only 3 short rides on my Predator before I started noticing a sloppiness in the handlebars. Evidentially, Polaris did not lube this bushing during assembly because it was bone dry when I replaced it. The other bushing is still doing well and has not shown any signs of wear.

THINGS FOR POLARIS TO IMPROVE:

Hard to reach idle adjustment (pic)
Unless you live in the moderate climates in the world there will be times you may want to adjust your idle for colder weather idling to warm the motor before taking a ride. I like to raise the idle speed to keep the motor from stalling but drop it back down after the motor has warmed. I'm sure the engineers had no other option for the idle adjustment but it's almost impossible to adjust the idle, when the motor has warmed, without burning your hands.

Hard to reach fuel petcock
During a long ride, or hare scramble race, there may be a time when fuel is getting low and requires a switch to reserve without stopping. The placement of the fuel petcock is near the front of the tank and requires leaning far forward to make the switch. This is very hard to do while moving and maybe future models will place the lever somewhere within easier reach?

Too many different fastener types
This may only bug me but I really am not fond of the different types of fasteners on the Predator. Along with the philips, allen and hex head nut and bolt combinations Polaris also threw in different sized Torx fasteners without any tools to tighten them with in the tool kit. While this may seem like a small issue, try being out with all of your riding buddies and borrowing a Torx screwdriver and different sized bits to tighten a loose bolt.

Weld splatter (pics)
This is a quality control issue in my opinion. The weld jobs seem to be fine but somebody needs to follow the welding procedure with a light grinder to remove the splatter on the frame. It looks like crap and could have been easily fixed before painting the frame.

Like I said, some of these are very minor but I want to list them for future improvements. The biggest issues was the top 4 items and I'm sure these will be addressed, if not already, by the Polaris engineers.

What I like about the Predator