BoostGuy951

This post is designed to be a reference for experiences with the different tuners. Please post your experiences (good and bad) about the different tuners that you have dealt with. Here is a list of all the tuners I am aware of in no particular order:

Powerhaus
Technodyne
John Anderson Motorworks
Huntley Racing
Lindsey Racing
Speed Force Racing
Guru Racing
Vitesse Inc
Windward Performance

I know I forgot some, feel free to add any I may have missed.

DangerIsland

I don't have any real experience with any of them, but I would also like to hear from anyone that has worked with Majestic Turbo, so I guess add them to the list.

This thread has the potential to be uuuugly, I hope it doesn't turn out that way.

Andy

Okay, I'll start.

Powerhaus (from my limited contact) was not too interested in my business unless I planned on dropping a bunch of money, and don't ask too many questions before you buy something.

GuruRacing, I have not bought anything for them yet but they have always answered questions and offered to help.

Technodyne, I have not bought anything for them either, but Chris did answer several questions when I was shopping for an MAF a couple of years ago.

Vitesse, I have known John for a couple of years now. I bought my used APE MAF from him, he had it on his white race car for a while. He has always been helpful.

MySwiss

I have posted my great appreciation of the service so far from John at Vitesse on another post.All I can say,is this company means business.John answered all of my e-mails and call immediately and thoroughly.He even spend more time answering my questions then I would of expected.The prices at Vitesse are the best by far,and my dyno results, from my recently purchased stage 1 kit,will be shown on the list around the 20th of april.I've received a few e-mails from other customers that have dealt with him and there all amazed by quick response,service and most of all the products that he offers.

I also wanted to mention that the guys at 944racing.com are just as amazing for price and service,for mostly OEM parts and after market parts.

Dwayne Williams

I've really only dealt with Guru, Lindsey, and SFR.

Guru - bought Stage I MAP, had some difficulties getting it installed, turned out to be my fault, but Travis was kind enough not to make fun of me when we figured out what the problem was. Danno has an amazing amount of knowledge when it comes to 951s. I did have Stage II Autothority chips in my car and the MAP kit gives better power, better driveability, and smoother power. So far I've been very happy with Guru. They need to clone themselves so they can spend more time developing products.

Lindsey - bought dual port wastegate, some gauges, manual boost controller, and a 3" exhaust system. Worked mainly with Dave and he is great. Answered tons of questions before I ever spent a dime and continues to answer all my "what if" questions. All the products I've gotten from Lindsey were very good quality and they deliver when they say they will. Very happy with Lindsey and am looking very hard at either a new turbo from them or their 363 kit. I will be spending more money with Lindsey in the future.

SFR - bought stainless steel fuel lines. Less enthusistic about answering questions than the other two and took a while to ship out the hoses. Once they did arrive, the lines were great, just took a lot longer to ship than I thought they should. Probably won't buy anything else from SFR because I had better experiences with Lindsey and Guru.

Here's the approach I use for tuners - I see if they are willing to answer questions and talk about their products with prospective customers. ALL reputable and reliable businesses should do this. I don't buy this "buy my kit and THEN I'll tell you what you get" approach. Then I buy something small - if the product works as advertised and they ship when they say they will (or let me know why there's a delay) then I spend a little more with them. Personally I look for tuners/shops that take care of ALL their customers, not just the ones that can drive in or drop huge $$$ right away.

They're not a tuner, but I've had good experiences ordering parts from Pelican as well.

Konstantin

Powerhaus
he NEVER replied my emails for almost 7 years now

Technodyne
I had some small problems about the shipping but very knowlegble and I would recomend him for power upgrades

John Anderson Motorworks
I bought some stuff from him. The delivery took longer but at the end I received the parts I ordered

Huntley Racing
I never had problems with him and I got fast what i wanted. Though this was 4-5 years ago.

Lindsey Racing
fast reply and he delivers fast

Speed Force Racing
never had a bad experince with TIM

Guru Racing
never had a problem with Danno but I bought only standard parts that you cant go wrong nothing like a MAF or MAP.

Vitesse Inc
Very helpfull and always reply with many tech infos. I recomend him. If you have a problem John will help you to solve it and wouldn't let you before he solved your Problem.

Windward Performance
I didn't bought from them. I had a bad feeling so i ordered thze parts from others especialy from paragon which I recomnd for Porsshe parts

Turbonetics.
Never replied my emails

Konstantin

Ski

My dealings:

Lindsey - I have purchased many things from Lindsey, all excellent and installed with ease. Dave has been super.

Guru - best custom chips I have ever put in the car. Danno has been unbelievable on getting my A/F dailed in with all my mods and suggesting tuning tips.

SFR - great exhaust, on time.

Powerhaus - just their fuel pressure kit w/gauge

Technodyne - Chris has always been great and almost got my head and turbo from him but Lindsey is much closer for me.

Windward - won't get anymore of my business

wjk_glynn

So what differentiates a Tuner from other vendors of performance products? Is it that they do the design and engineering of their products or that they do actual integration work?

Karl.

PS - My own list of tuners & performance product vendors:
<a href="http://www.weissach.net/924-944-968_Suppliers.html#TuningRacingPerformanceProducts" target="_blank">http://www.weissach.net/924-944-968_Suppliers.html#TuningRacingPerformanceProducts</a>

m42racer

If I may butt in here, as I suggested this thread. Maybe there should be a complete board for this sort of thing with RULES. May I suggest you only post good comments, and maybe some sort of simple "no comment" or "no further purchases" if you have had a bad experience. Remember these are businesses and many people rely on jobs etc. Just think if someone started posts about your abilities. I think we can all figure out if the post is positive or negitive without slinging mud. There is always two sides to every story. But I think this sort of forum will have a remarkable effect, if monitored and will rules.

LIFT THE BAR BOYS.

SIMON

wjk_glynn

Does anyone have a URL for Vitesse?

Thanks.

Karl.

adrial

Vitesse has no web page...From what I've seen his customer satisfaction and dyno charts speak for themself...but I've never worked/spoken to him so everything I say is 2nd/3rd hand.

oi-punx

Here's my limited experience:

Lindsey Racing: I ordered a very small item from them. It was shipped when they said it would ship and arrived when they said it would arrive. Dave was very friendly on the phone with me even when I was asking him questions about things that didn't pertain to the part I ordered. I'd do business with them again.

Guru Racing: What else can I say that hasn't been said already? I ordered a chip kit and paid standard shipping. Danno overnighted the kit to me so that I could install it on a Saturday. From the postage printed on the package I can say that this wasn't cheap. I also received excellent instructions via an email detailing the install. I have personally witnessed Danno hunched over cars installing MAP kits in cold, dark November weather. Guru's reputation is well deserved.

Speedforce Racing: I ordered an exhaust from Tim early in Feb. '03. I was told that it would arrive the week of the Feb. 16th. I had taken the 21st off in order to install it. To my dismay the exhaust never showed. I waited several days and when it did not appear I called SFR and
was told that it was welded and shipped on Feb. 27th. It was at that point that I received a tracking number. The exhaust finally arrived on Monday March 3rd. Unfortunately there were some pieces missing. I called Tim and he overnighted the missing pieces to me. I had them on Wednesday March 5th. The quality of the product I purchased made up for the mishaps. However, I wish I wasn't told that the exhaust was shipped when in fact it wasn't. I know Tim sold a lot of these in the month of February as part of the group buy so i'm not too worried about it. I would buy from SFR again because Tim agreed to overnight the missing exhaust hardware to me.

They aren't tuners, but Paragon and Partsheaven have awesome customer service and won't hesitate to answer tech questions over the phone.

Alan C.

Bodymotion

well, ummm, but, er. Just can't think of anything nice.

Alan C.

Danno

Alan, I think you should make an appointment with my therapist... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Bill

The following are my oppinions:

Speed Force Racing - Stage II Garrett BB Turbo, Maf, Arc II, Arm I, Tial wastegate, SS Exhaust.

Fabrication quality is exceptional. Good modification knowledge, less skilled in trouble shooting. Poor time management. Overschedules projects and accepts orders without having stock on hand. My project took way longer than justified because of the above. Terrible mechanical skills (many missing and untightened bolts, oil leaks, did not return replaced parts as requested, bad solder connections).

Windward - Centerforce Clutch

Best price. Salesman made sure that I had a complete kit of everything I needed to put it back together. Not just the basics to have the kit cost appear lower. I was in a rush and the clutch was not in stock so salesman had Centerforce drop ship direct at no extra cost. I later attempted to purchase high end shocks that they carry, and possibly a different salesman blew me off. Tried to channel me to a lesser shock that I did not want. Asked to take another call and took my number. Never returned my call. May or may not purchase from them in the future.

Milledge Engineering - no purchases

E-mailed questions and recieved resonce the next day. I was looking to have headwork done and was interested in engine management. John was upfront and stated that he was not currently doing work on public projects just yet. His racing projects are keeping him busy. He however answered my questions and asked my oppinion of products that I noted I had.

Guru Racing - Custom Chips, 65 lb injectors.

Has the most complete understanding of the 944 series systems of anyone I have spoken to with the possible exception of John Milledge. Milledge is less inclined to share knowledge. I had Autothority K-27 chips that had idle/transition to midrange issues. Explained issues to Danno and recieved chips. Guru chips improved but did not cure. Danno sent new chips at no additional charge and second set performed flawlessly. Ordered injectors prior to a Bay Area Pizza run. Danno offered to come up to the Bay Area a day early and assist in installation. Also did electrical connections for an Apexi AVCR (purchased elsewhere) at the same time. In conversation with Guru, Danno is willing and capable of "pushing the 944 envelope". He is persuing the release of sorley needed, inovative and exciting new products. My only concern is how Guru intends to beta test these exciting products for longevity. Given Danno's "above and beyond the call of duty" attitude my concerns are minimized and I will purchase future Guru products.

Lindsey Racing - Stage I headwork, Stage II Intercooler.

Build quality and craftsmanship exceptional. Product testing exceptional. Very willing to share knowledge and will lead you to what you need. Not sell what you don't. Great follow up. Turned my head rebuild in three days, just as promised. Called two days later to confirm reciept and ask "how do you like our work". Sent e-mail a week later to see if install was complete and how it performed. Impressive business practices. I will purchase more Lindsey products.

The strength of this forum is that we, the end users, can share our experiences. Hopefully we learn something from them. It has to be done truthfully, "matter of fact" and without mallace.

Keep in mind, this is my experience. Others experiences can and will differ.

To the business that also use this forum, they will see that we are open, informed and unwilling to be taken advantage of.

As another Rennlister brilliantly pointed out....the cream always rises to the top.