Hello everyone. I just wanted to put a post up of my experience with SP about 2 weeks ago. The post is edited so that ( no name) shop doesnt get bashed or causes any fueds between the two shops. No name shop did a great motor build, but as far as customer service goes recently ... blah.... If they choose to call themselves out in this post Ill be more then glad to add more then my .02 of a more detailed experience.


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I just wanted everyone to know about my experience at Sound Performance the past 2 days.

I want to give a quick backstory. My car was built by (No name) in another state. I spent a huge some of $$$ there ( I'll throw a # out hmmm $20k enough? ) They "WERE" a sponsor of mine and gave me some good deals on pricing/labor. I had issues however w/ my exhaust being restrictive and the Tune could not go beyond 4800 rpms and capping me at 11.5psi until I returned. So a little over a year later ( past 2 days ) I decided I wanted SP to finish the tune and get my car on race gas for this season !!!!!! I didn't feel like driving to (another state) just for a tune right now. I had planned on going there for further work and upgrades in the summer though when I was ready.....


Well SP installed a nice new electronic boost controller for me and when they were about to dyno tune it turns out (no name) "locked" the ECU so that "NOBODY" else could tune it.......So Vin ask me if I could call em and ask em for the code. I figure sure no prob. I call and "(Mr. Arrogant) " answers ( new guy to me, but hes from a failed business and recently started working for them) I tell him my situation and he decides to be very arrogant. He insist I drive the car there or ship it to have the tune done or just pay SP to redo the "whole tune" instead. I explain I'm one of their sponsored cars and that I spent $20k w/ them last Jan. He didnt seem to care and still "REFUSED" to give me the code for it. I asked him to call ( owner) for me to ask for me. He said he would , I called back in 10 minutes, he didnt do it...... so I asked for (owners) cell. He wouldn't give me that either and I already had it at one point when I was flying there to pick the car up.....

We end up calling it a day at SP and wait till tday to see if (no name) will give me the code and if I can talk to (Owner). I speak with (Mr. Green) today and he knows me at least. However same situation. Wouldn't give me the code/ (owners) cell. and (owner) never called me back both days or anything........ I said screw it and told SP to do it from scratch . It didnt bother me that it was going to cost more $$ to dyno the car from scratch.

Its the damn principal that if I pay $20,000 F*cking dollars for "MY CAR" that "CODE" for "MY ECU" is my F*cking code. Why am I not entitled to it? What if i sold the car to someone else? Whats the issue with giving me the code? SP ships out ecus' n tunes w/o a locked code all day everyday! All in all SP got the car tuned perfectly on pump gas, and a bit on race gas ( car needs more fuel pressure 1 pump aint cutting it lol. ) SP has gained the rest of my business for life. Thier Pricing was great. Customer service was A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chris/ Tim/ Vin/ Larry all great guys!They even lent me a $300 part until I replaced it with one I had ordered already..... I had a blast while I was there. I've cut off all my ties with (no name), and now rocking the SP banner .

I just wanted to openly thanks Sound Performance so that others can give them a chance. SP made a name known for themselves with Supras and are doing it with the 350z. Check out thier shop 350z! Everytime I call I get an answer and quick response. I get called about updates to the car as well. They are doing built motor Twin turbo packages for a VERY VERY reasonable price! Wish I would've built my car with them at that price!

 

Locking tunes is pretty common. Sorry for all your hassle, but there have been a lot of issues due to having unlocked tunes in the past.

 

Exactly...the majority of the good shops do this.

 

 

lol good attempt at eliminating the other companys name but it was really easy to tell when you threw in the sarcastic remarks

not being to vague there, but none the less glad ur happy with the results and locking the ecu is done by 90% of the tuners

 

Wow, I have tuned hundreds of cars in the past 20 years and never thought of locking the map!! I probably could have made more $$ that way as my maps for supras are shared all over the place. But even though.... if I did lock a map and the car was now in a different state, I would have certainly given them the unlock code after they spent 20K with me. It is not like we are an unknown shop that would see some secret magic information in a tune up!!

 

^word i like your style.

 

The problem is when you give the owner of the car the code and then the owner of the car thinks he knows how to tweek the tune and F'S it up and blows the motor and then comes on here screaming and crying about how the tuner screwed up the tune and blew his motor.

SP I agree with you to a point, and glad to see the above hasn't happened to you guys over the years.

Try to put your self in the shoes of the unknown shop/tuner he is referring to and you give him the code and he blows his motor and starts giving you all kinds of bad PR.

 

i could easily throw diseal into my engine and blame the tune, or mis shift, or not change my oil for a year. or unplug my utec. u get my point.

what happens when im on a road trip and theres a tuning issue and the local shop can do jack because im not going to my tuners shop and he wont give me the code. eitherway i understand why it is done yet respect shop for trusting their customers and not locking them out of the setup.

if a shop allowed me to have my ems unlocked the last thing i would do is take advantage of it and resell my tune or f with it and blame them when i blew the motor

 

^ Most def. My mindset exactly

 

It's happened more than a couple of times and the shop bashing began.
Also it would be easy to determine why you're engine blew based on the items in your 1st paragraph and you would not be able to blame it on the tune when the motor was torn down.

 

Oh I agree with you there. There are many of my customers that in no way shape or form should ever attempt to tune a car.

But this is a bit different as we were calling the other shop. Therefore if we made changes to the tune and the car broke because of the tune, it would then be our fault.

 

Hi

lol

Sounds great Brandon, can't wait till the ground warms up some for us to go *ahem* test things

Tom

 

Yes Tom, I should PW protect your ECU!!

 

great work sp! what kind of powa did it make? dyno pic pwease!?

 

Most big name shops lock their tunes. This is a way to make sure the customer doesnt do anything to mess with the tune and if they need a retune, they will need to bring it back to the original shop.


I dont see why there is a problem with this.

 

+1

 

Oh I agree with you on the locking.

The problem I have with it is that if a customer is now 1000 miles away, and you KNOW the shop that he is at, and you KNOW that they are reputable and you will not give the unlock code to the shop.... then that is just wrong.

 

OP, is your sig correct?? I'm no drag king, but shouldn't a TT Z do better than 16.XX in the 1/4 mile??

 

He's a joker.. it's some 500+whp turbo car. I'm sure it's quite a bit lower than 16's.