West Coast Customs

Street Customs and (Inside) West Coast Customs (2007–2018)

Nevertheless, after leaving Pimp My Ride, Friedlinghaus would almost immediately begin a new television program that aired simultaneously on Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, Street Customs, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. Instead of building the cars for the people chosen by MTV, the new show followed ongoing customizations being done for consenting customers of West Coast Customs. Friedlinghaus described the difference between the two shows thus: "I want to build cars on TV, not for TV." While the breakup was described as amicable, others at WCC were not so subdued: Sean Mahaney, a then-employee of WCC, reportedly said "Most of the MTV people are not real car guys... They pay us to build the cars, so we do what they want even if it sucks."

Street Customs would change names twice and networks four times, but its format remained constant. While cars would still be built for individuals, more and more episodes were devoted to brands as the show ran on. Because MTV was no longer footing the bill, all episodes of the new series were about cars built for people who could afford the high cost of customization. Some notable vehicles built for celebrities in Street Customs include one for Carroll Shelby, a Cadillac for Shaquille O'Neal (according to Friedlinghaus, O'Neal had already had 30 cars built for him by WCC by July 2007), a modified Range Rover for an unnamed member of the royal family of Dubai, and a Cadillac CTS-V for Justin Bieber. Brands built for included Chronic Tacos and Vans.

According to Friedlinghaus, in an interview with The Press-Enterprise, the Great Recession affected his business heavily: he had to lay off half of the company's employees, orders decreased, and customers opted to have used cars repaired instead of buying brand new cars to be customized.

In 2010, West Coast Customs designed three identical customized 1955 Ford F-100 pick up trucks that were prominently featured in the film The Expendables. One of these cars was for Sylvester Stallone, who sold it at auction in 2011 for $132,000. In 2015, WCC created a car by combining the body of a Ford Maverick and the internals of a Ford Ranger for another film, Mad Max: Fury Road.

After the 2009 season, the show was renamed Inside West Coast Customs. Along with this change, it was also moved to Discovery HD Theater, which later became a different specifically automotive related cable channel, Velocity.

In 2012, Jalopnik reported that the rapper will.i.am and Friedlinghaus organized a publicity stunt wherein will.i.am pretended that his car, a DeLorean modified by West Coast Customs at a cost of $700,000, was stolen. Friedlinghaus then pretended to find the supposedly stolen car. No police report was filed, nor were the police even called; Jalopnik describes the event as a "viral marketing stunt gone badly".

In June 2013, Fox Sports Network took over the production of the show, dropping the word "Inside" from the show's name, and continued to produce new seasons of the show until 2016. In March 2017, the television show moved back to Velocity with a new season; Velocity then renewed the show in January 2018.

On August 29, 2018, it was announced Six Flags Magic Mountain was in the process of constructing a roller coaster named West Coast Racers, which was designed in part by West Coast Customs.

Besides problems caused by the long period of time that the vehicle was in the shop, for around one half of a year, Glazier claimed that the quality of the vehicle he received was also severely compromised. According to Glazier, when the muffler was removed, three "fake" exhaust pipes were substituted instead: these were used to make the engine sound much more powerful to viewers of the television show, but they made the car needlessly loud. He also claimed that very little or no mechanical work was done to the car, to the extent that he had trouble driving it home from the show's set. Due to all of the mechanical trouble, one month after acquiring the car from West Coast Customs, he sold it to MTX Audio for $18,000. According to Glazier, MTX did not buy the car to drive it, but merely to prevent it from falling into the hands of their competitors. Glazier further claimed that when it was time to receive the car, Dana "Big Dane" Florence intimidated him to act more enthusiastic for the cameras, saying "Listen, we put a lot of work into this. We expect you to be a little more fucking enthusiastic." Larry Hochberg, an executive producer for MTV at the time, disputed Glazier's statements, saying that in reality great lengths were taken to provide the participants in the show with automobiles in good driving condition, and that MTV even paid for some further repairs and tows after the cameras were rolling.

Despite the problems he faced with the vehicle, and with the caveat that he appear on a show with the same format as Pimp My Ride where MTV paid for all work done until the car was delivered (and for some afterwards, depending on who one believes), Glazier said he would happily participate in the program again if given the chance.

Trisha Paytas' Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen

There have been several high-profile incidents of quality issues outside of the context of the MTV program. In 2015, Trisha Paytas, a singer-songwriter and internet personality, had her three-week-old 2014 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen customized by WCC. Among other customizations, she requested that the car be painted pink, that Swarovski crystals be integrated into the headrests and steering wheel, and that the floormats be changed out with customized ones. According to Paytas, after bringing in her vehicle, she was promised that it would be ready by November 17, but the company missed both that deadline and a further one on December 9. After the second deadline was missed, she uploaded a vlog to YouTube about her experience, and thereafter claimed that WCC threatened her with a lawsuit if she refused to remove it. December 17 became the deadline that the company would ultimately keep, but when Paytas came to pick up the vehicle, she found that none of the electronic components worked, including those that are required for safety in the United States, such as turn signals, headlights, and windshield wipers. Furthermore, the dashboard instruments did not function. To her complaints about these issues, Paytas claims that the company told her to drive the car home and then to the Mercedes-Benz dealership from which she bought it to ask them for an in-warranty repair. Paytas uploaded yet another vlog five days after this incident, after which point WCC uploaded its own video in the form of a scrolling text public relations statement. In the statement, besides denying that they had "talked down" to Paytas, WCC denied that its customization was the reason for the issues with her vehicle, claimed that the vehicle was late because she had changed what she had ordered "several times", denied that they had ignored Paytas as Paytas claimed, and invited Paytas to contact them with any further requests or complaints for an "immediate resolution," noting that they had already committed to fix the problem (which, though they wrote it was "unrelated to their services", they would do it anyway "as part of providing excellent customer service"). The company also noted its track record, but did not provide any concrete details. As of December 23, 2016, the statement-as-YouTube video, which has had its comments disabled, had 261 "likes" and 1,652 "dislikes", or a ratio of 6.32 dislikes for every 1 like.

After receiving the repaired vehicle, Paytas wrote on Instagram that although "it was a bit of a struggle getting [it] [...] I do love my [car] so very very much."

Firefall bus for Red 5 Studios

In 2010, Chinese online game operator The9 Limited announced Firefall, an MMO first-person shooter to be developed by Red 5 Studios as their first game. The game would enter closed beta in 2011, and open beta in 2013. Mark Kern, a video game designer, was appointed by The9 as CEO of the new Red 5 Studios. As CEO, one of Kern's major tasks was promoting the game, and he chose to do this in part with a custom designed tour bus worth US$3 million made to look like one of the vehicles in the videogame and to be converted into a game room on wheels. The customization of the bus was featured on Inside West Coast Customs in Season 3 Episode 4. While in the episode itself it is made to appear that the bus was on-time, arriving at the Los Angeles 2012 Anime Expo which took place between June 29 and July 2, in reality it arrived much later than anticipated, according to both then-CEO Mark Kern and a report by Tech in Asia. Kern also accused WCC of not delivering what he wanted and of going over budget, while Tech in Asia noted that the bus was delivered missing some of its key features, and that it missed all of the key video game conferences for the year 2011 (such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, which was held between June 5 and 7). According to their report, it now "sits in a warehouse somewhere, collecting dust." A Twitter parody of the bus describes itself as a "gross demonstration of capitalistic overindulgence."