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fast evo
02-07-2005, 12:49 PM
Just wanted to know the opinions of others. I need to know who is the best tuner in So Cal that is not afraid of pushing a car to its limits. I need someone that can tune a car up to 36-38 lbs of boost.

WavMixer
02-07-2005, 12:52 PM
In my opinion, there is only one shop to go to when it comes to 4G63 experts:
ROAD///RACE ENGINEERING

www.roadraceengineering.com

Absinthe
02-07-2005, 12:56 PM
Just wanted to know the opinions of others. I need to know who is the best tuner in So Cal that is not afraid of pushing a car to its limits. I need someone that can tune a car up to 36-38 lbs of boost.

sounds like you want a drag racer? if so why not look at RNR as they have one of the fastest evo's out.

Richard EVO
02-07-2005, 01:26 PM
As Mueller's "poster boy", I too will endorse Road Race Engineering in Santa Fe Springs. However, I don't know if they will tune your car to run 38 lbs. of boost, which sounds like a recipie for your engine to go "KABOOOM!!!" Call RRE and ask.

evolved_st8
02-07-2005, 01:57 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

Absinthe
02-07-2005, 01:58 PM
Um yeah I hope he was joking...

gofaster87
02-07-2005, 02:01 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

RRE does use a dyno for tuning, They just have to use one thats not on the premises. RRE and Scott Gray are great EMS tuners. Give them a try, you wont be sorry.

QuickShifter
02-07-2005, 02:06 PM
What else does road race have the capability of tuning?????

Xede???

Autronic?????

or just ems.?????????

nevermind safc's or any other crap

and what kind of dyno????? your help is appreciated

GokuSSJ4
02-07-2005, 02:08 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

are you serious ???
if they couldnt tune mr bubbler, gt40 and perversity car that were cars running from 270whp-440whp. what makes you think that they will be able to handle a car that can push more then 600whp at 38psi ???
i understand the dyno part and that can be solve with no worries, but the tuning is the most important part. Just because they have a dyno doesnt mean they know how to tune Evos. The dyno is a good measuring tool to rate hp or whp but it doesnt make it any better then road tuning. As we have seen RRE tune several cars and get amazing results.

GokuSSJ4
02-07-2005, 02:09 PM
What else does road race have the capability of tuning?????

Xede???

Autronic?????

or just ems.?????????

nevermind safc's or any other crap

and what kind of dyno????? your help is appreciated

you can add the motec system to that list, and i believe theres a shop that has a dyno not to far away from RRE

kipper215
02-07-2005, 02:12 PM
Just wanted to know the opinions of others. I need to know who is the best tuner in So Cal that is not afraid of pushing a car to its limits. I need someone that can tune a car up to 36-38 lbs of boost.

man that is a mean ass car you got there. the setup is nice...gofaster87 is steering you in the right direction. esecially since he's rollin a super modified car.

WavMixer
02-07-2005, 02:15 PM
Gee, I wonder how Mike Welch (400HP 4G63 mirage) and Scot Gray (400+ HP) 1G DSM are able to drive their cars without proper tuning?

Knower
02-07-2005, 02:52 PM
Gee, I wonder how Mike Welch (400HP 4G63 mirage) and Scot Gray (400+ HP) 1G DSM are able to drive their cars without proper tuning?

Who knows, and what the hell is with this Pokemon Yellow Evo of Ricky Rogers that Scot Gray/RRE tuned to be 550whp on a conservative "road racing" tune?

http://www.dragsport.com/issue/2005/0205_cover_story.shtml

They don't know how to tune for shit. :roll:

Oh wait, there's a dyno chart in the magazine article. I wonder how that got in there since they don't ever tune on dynos. :roll:

:D

RRE is where you want to go, whether it's Mike or Scot doing the eventual tuning.

evolved_st8
02-07-2005, 02:52 PM
owe i didnt know they dynotuned. When i went they told me they could road tune only. If thats changed they yea i suggest them. they are great with the 4g63 and the ct9a

CT9A RS
02-07-2005, 03:00 PM
You want very aggressive tuning find Dr. Charles Madrid. Hes a honda guy but hes done Nissans with success as well. He was tuning for Area 51 Fabrications in Irvine before they closed doors. Last i heard he was piloting the Skunk 2 Drag Integra this last season. Neways probably giving Skunk2 a call would be good. Dr Charles is a very agressive tuner and brilliant at it.

leaveit2bevo
02-07-2005, 03:19 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

your car must suck then because brainstorm is crap.

GokuSSJ4
02-07-2005, 03:28 PM
You want very aggressive tuning find Dr. Charles Madrid. Hes a honda guy but hes done Nissans with success as well. He was tuning for Area 51 Fabrications in Irvine before they closed doors. Last i heard he was piloting the Skunk 2 Drag Integra this last season. Neways probably giving Skunk2 a call would be good. Dr Charles is a very agressive tuner and brilliant at it.

if this would be a honda board, i would agree with you but its not. An if thats the case then i can recommend a bunch of peeps that can do tuning as well :P

WavMixer
02-07-2005, 03:57 PM
Here are a couple more links talking about how bad RRE is. Geez, who would ever want to take their car there :roll:

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0406scc_evo09/
http://features.evolutionm.net/index.php?page=rrmcorner
http://features.evolutionm.net/article/evomfeatures/47
http://www.dsmporn.com/magazines/scc/doubleentendre.htm
http://www.dsmporn.com/magazines/overboost/story.htm

fast evo
02-07-2005, 04:49 PM
I am a little hesitant to let someone just tune the car until I know there background. I will make a few phone calls or I will go with what I know. I have already contacted AMS in Chicago and I will probably end up flying there guy here to do the tune. We already have it tuned to 550 whp at 29lbs. of boost. It is a very reliable tune, but there is more there. I just want to make sure that it is done right again.

CT9A RS
02-07-2005, 05:00 PM
You want very aggressive tuning find Dr. Charles Madrid. Hes a honda guy but hes done Nissans with success as well. He was tuning for Area 51 Fabrications in Irvine before they closed doors. Last i heard he was piloting the Skunk 2 Drag Integra this last season. Neways probably giving Skunk2 a call would be good. Dr Charles is a very agressive tuner and brilliant at it.

if this would be a honda board, i would agree with you but its not. An if thats the case then i can recommend a bunch of peeps that can do tuning as well :P

Im just saying he could probably pick it up really easy. And everything ive seen him pick up has turned out amazing.

fast evo
02-07-2005, 05:15 PM
Thank you CT9A..

Blak94GSX
02-07-2005, 07:10 PM
Just wanted to know the opinions of others. I need to know who is the best tuner in So Cal that is not afraid of pushing a car to its limits. I need someone that can tune a car up to 36-38 lbs of boost.

Are you Doug?

If you want to tune your car closer to the limit that can certainly be accomplished, although I consider the tune your car has now to be pretty good as a reliable setup.

Something to keep in mind is that the stroker motors are more about the torque than the HP. The peak HP will be lower than a 2 liter, but the overall usable powerband is superior.

From where you are at now, the tune will need to be made specifically for the intended purpose. Meaning there will be a drag race tune for a specific boost range and type of fuel, and a separate road racing map, or whatever you want to do with it.

fast evo
02-07-2005, 07:15 PM
Can we do this? I want to know what this car can do.

Blak94GSX
02-07-2005, 07:18 PM
Who should I have this done by?

I would be more than happy to continue the work I have done on your EVO. I messed up my knee, so I'm not really able to do any tuning for a couple of weeks, but after that, just make an appointment with Sam and we'll go from there.

toku-one
02-07-2005, 07:30 PM
does that mean you arent going to india?

Blak94GSX
02-07-2005, 07:34 PM
Nope... :(

I might go in April now instead, but my knee is going to be broken for a few weeks.

beavis4g63t
02-07-2005, 07:42 PM
damn scott what happened to your knee? i think you may be clumsier than i am. and to end the confusion yes rre uses dyno's when necessary. not all tuning occurs on a dyno and if anybody needs proof of quality tuning i would be more than happy to provide it. as scott said tuning for conditions/race type/driver ability is more important than overall peak numbers.

toku-one
02-07-2005, 07:57 PM
get better soon!

gofaster87
02-07-2005, 08:03 PM
Todd, are still popping those pills today?

toku-one
02-07-2005, 08:10 PM
ill pop you

GokuSSJ4
02-07-2005, 08:10 PM
Todd, are still popping those pills today?
thats what keeps todd happy

leaveit2bevo
02-07-2005, 08:15 PM
get better soon!

nj1266
02-12-2005, 06:02 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)
So RRE does not have a dyno to tune the car. How do they know if the car gained power from the mods that they have done?

tasco
02-12-2005, 08:07 PM
So RRE does not have a dyno to tune the car. How do they know if the car gained power from the mods that they have done?

Im not a tuning expert (by any means) but to me, having a driveable car is much more important than having X amount of horsepower. To this day I havent dyno'd my car but I have felt a HUGE difference over stock with my buschur/dynoflash setup.

nj1266
02-12-2005, 09:19 PM
Im not a tuning expert (by any means) but to me, having a driveable car is much more important than having X amount of horsepower. To this day I havent dyno'd my car but I have felt a HUGE difference over stock with my buschur/dynoflash setup.
I get your point, but there is a big difference between feeling that the car made power and knowing that the car made power.

Let me give you an example. On my race car I went from a full 2.25 inch exhaust with a 19 inch resonator (glasspack) and a 20 inch panckae muffler to a 2.5 inch 15 inch resonator and open pipe that dumps under the car right behind the driver. You would expect that the car will make more power since there are fewer restrictions in the exhaust system and I am running aggressive cams that love to breath.

I put the car on the dyno and I actually LOST power with an almost open exhaust than with a full exhaust. I did not lose more than 3-4 hp, but when you are NA 3-4 hp are hard to come by. The upside was I saved 25 lbs of weight with the short exhaust.

Dynos are important and inorder to do accurate work you MUST dyno before and after every mod. We are currently working on a Spec V project and we dyno after every mod and publish our results. So far we have gained close 25 whp from I/H/E/P and balance shaft removal. I know that is peanuts compared to the EVO, but the point is w/o a dyno we could not have known the results.

Dynos are important not becuase they meausre maximum power, but because they tell you how much power you gained from your baseline, where the power was gained and how does the area under the curve look like.

fast evo
02-12-2005, 11:29 PM
In my case I need to see how much more we can get out of it.. If there is no dyno then there will be no tune for me..

Mister
02-15-2005, 02:05 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

are you serious ???
if they couldnt tune mr bubbler, gt40 and perversity car that were cars running from 270whp-440whp. what makes you think that they will be able to handle a car that can push more then 600whp at 38psi ???
i understand the dyno part and that can be solve with no worries, but the tuning is the most important part. Just because they have a dyno doesnt mean they know how to tune Evos. The dyno is a good measuring tool to rate hp or whp but it doesnt make it any better then road tuning. As we have seen RRE tune several cars and get amazing results.

What do you mean they couldn't tune mr. bubbler, gt40, and perversity's cars? :?:

Blak94GSX
02-15-2005, 03:18 PM
RRE has several dynos. Most of the cars they tune are tuned on the dyno, then fine-tuned at the track.

leaveit2bevo
02-15-2005, 05:47 PM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)

are you serious ???
if they couldnt tune mr bubbler, gt40 and perversity car that were cars running from 270whp-440whp. what makes you think that they will be able to handle a car that can push more then 600whp at 38psi ???
i understand the dyno part and that can be solve with no worries, but the tuning is the most important part. Just because they have a dyno doesnt mean they know how to tune Evos. The dyno is a good measuring tool to rate hp or whp but it doesnt make it any better then road tuning. As we have seen RRE tune several cars and get amazing results.

What do you mean they couldn't tune mr. bubbler, gt40, and perversity's cars? :?:

they tried to tune there cars but since they dont know shit about evos they did a half ass job of it

Mister
02-15-2005, 06:02 PM
^ Interesting.

I've seen a number of Evo's there, and the customer's were extremely happy with their results.

I'm in West LA, so I was thinking of having all my work/tuning done there because they are local; and every Evo owner I have talked to at their shop, were only speaking good about their experience.

This is why I'm a bit confused why you say "they don't know Evo's"

leaveit2bevo
02-15-2005, 06:06 PM
well the people you have been talking to dont know any better, because there are plenty of people who have had problems with them. And they dont know evos, RRE has been working with 4g63 for years and years brainstorm just started

alex_alex
02-15-2005, 06:12 PM
^ Interesting.

I've seen a number of Evo's there, and the customer's were extremely happy with their results.

I'm in West LA, so I was thinking of having all my work/tuning done there because they are local; and every Evo owner I have talked to at their shop, were only speaking good about their experience.

This is why I'm a bit confused why you say "they don't know Evo's"


they suck. the evo owners at their shop are the ones that haven't left yet. all the people who got half-ass tunes were smart enough to leave.

Mister
02-15-2005, 06:20 PM
^ I have a feeling alot of this is rumors started on the internet. This doesn't really make alot of sense.

Mister
02-15-2005, 06:25 PM
Also, I see half the people on both Evo boards saying, stay away from Dynoflash; then you got half of the members running one of their flashes, and praising it.

I still think the whole story isn't there.

8-AGAIN
02-15-2005, 06:30 PM
If you dont want to take people's advise , then dont.....

Go there and get your work done.....I think they can do alright with installs but Id be worried about the tuning.....Maybe youll have a different experiance.....

Good Luck!!!!!

alex_alex
02-15-2005, 06:33 PM
^ I have a feeling alot of this is rumors started on the internet. This doesn't really make alot of sense.

i have first hand experience. back in the day, the engine management i was running wasn't making the power it should've been making. this was before i had the wisdom to put in a boost gauge.

the guys at Brainstorm offered to tune it for me, and said that they knew exactly what was wrong. I was running too rich. I begged to differ, as i was already running at 11.5:1. Turns out, there was nothing wrong with the tune at all, instead, the aftermarket BOV was leaking like mad, and the sparkplugs i had inside were complete crap. They spent 2 hours on the dyno, WITH a boost reading, and couldn't figure this out.

you can think whatever you want, as you've obviously got an emotional stake in convincing yourself that brainstorm rules, but just know that you would have to do so notwithstanding the numerous people on this board that know better.

Absinthe
02-15-2005, 06:34 PM
its a really long story about brainstorm and it mostly invloves two things:

1a.) the quality of their work is passable but not good the kind of stuff you might be ok with if you did it your self, but that your damn pissed about if you pay for it. one example of this was an AEM EMS installed with alligator clips, damn it quit being lazy and solder the shit. on top of this they charge a lot to work on cars.

1b.) they claim to know how to tune EMS but its more like they tweak the base map and charge full tuning prices, again poor effort level and knowledge plus high prices = pissed off people.

2.) they dont seem to know when to just admit they are out of their league due to a lack of experience or stable staff and let someone else handle the job.

Thats said a moron can install an exhaust so if thats all thats being done I'm sure people are happy.

Mister
02-15-2005, 06:42 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

alex_alex
02-15-2005, 06:54 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

if you have another car or can arrange a ride, you can drop the evo off at RRE the night before. believe me man, im in the same boat. i live out on the west side too.

Absinthe
02-15-2005, 06:54 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

yea me too, you can shcedule ahead at places and get work done on a saturday, thats what i usually have to do.

Richard EVO
02-15-2005, 07:46 PM
My car was worked on at RRE until well after midnight one time, and til 9:00 or 10:00 pm another time.

jondukes
02-15-2005, 07:54 PM
yeah my car was worked on until two in the morning one time,very good people-will stay and work on you till your finished,even when they might be losing sleep-thats a testiment to their dedication and professionalism

alex_alex
02-15-2005, 08:29 PM
http://www.socalevo.net/forums/images/avatars/4477332314208620a7569a.jpg

thats what happens when you dont wipe the bird poo off your trunk immediately. it leaves an etched outline. :lol: just kidding

leaveit2bevo
02-15-2005, 11:45 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

I live 5 mintues from brainstorm, ya it sucks that they suck RRE should buy them and move in :D

Knower
02-16-2005, 02:50 AM
^ Interesting.

I've seen a number of Evo's there, and the customer's were extremely happy with their results.

I'm in West LA, so I was thinking of having all my work/tuning done there because they are local; and every Evo owner I have talked to at their shop, were only speaking good about their experience.

This is why I'm a bit confused why you say "they don't know Evo's"

You can't really listen to Evo owners about having a good experience. What is a good experience? Did they gain some power and are thus happy? Did they have ANY power expectations going in? Did they get their butt wiped and thus they feel they got their money's worth?

A good number of Evo owners fall into that category. If location is your main reason for going to Brainstorm, I'd call up RRE and discuss making an appointment (they certainly won't wipe your butt, but they can arrange drop off later in the day)

Mister
02-16-2005, 02:52 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

I live 5 mintues from brainstorm, ya it sucks that they suck RRE should buy them and move in :D

Damn, that sounds like a good idea! :idea:

Mike W
02-16-2005, 04:49 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

What time do you get off work? Midnight? Or do you live in Phoenix?

:-)

Mike W

Blaze
02-16-2005, 04:59 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

What time do you get off work? Midnight? Or do you live in Phoenix?

:-)

Mike W

I didn't know RRE closed?
They are the 7-11 of shops.

Mister
02-16-2005, 08:24 PM
Wow! Well thanks for your input everyone.
I was hoping I had the best of both worlds- A shop thats local, and a shop that can tune. I guess not. :roll:
Basically my problem is, by the time I get off work, and sit in traffic on the way down to RRE, they are closed.
:(

What time do you get off work? Midnight? Or do you live in Phoenix?

:-)

Mike W

I get off around 7pm every day except Sunday. :(
Soonest I can ever get down there is between 8:30-9pm.
I didn't realize you guys were night owls. :)

gofaster87
02-16-2005, 10:23 PM
Yea, those guys are there pretty damn late. Ive been there while they were still working well past midnight.

Anonymous
02-17-2005, 11:48 AM
I used to take my Evo to Brainstorm since they were located closeby. Every appointment I made, I had to wait at least two weeks. Then, when I'd drop the car off at 8am, they'd tell me it'd be ready by noon time. I'd be back after noontime and they'd tell me it'd be ready by 5pm. At 5pm, they'd ask if I wanted to leave the car overnight. Then, I'd come back the next day to pick it up and pay a ridiculous amount of money. One job they did, they tuned my car on 100 octane with cams, FMIC, and other basic mods. I kept on hitting fuel cut when I'd race the car (very embarassing). I was boosting at 1.7 bar on stock injectors and pump. Then I went back to them and they said, "Well the gauges always read higher than what it really is".
Reasons I don't go there anymore...
1. Waiting time
2. High prices
3. Risk to the engine

They are conveniently closeby though. However, I'd drive the extra mile to get the best service... RRE.

cas909
02-23-2005, 07:23 PM
Dont forget XS Engineering and it looks like we also now have SP Engineering on the list. Anyone try SP?

Evo-8
02-24-2005, 12:04 AM
Doug. Dont go to RRE to tune ur 600HP monster. U need that car dynotuned. Take it to brainstorm performance. RRE road tunes and wont be able to hande that car as it is right now. If they had a dyno they would be the best. But Brainstorm is awesome. They tuned my evo when i had my HKS EVC V in it and my Safc. Never any problems. PS. I can do ur lights this week :)


WARNING: I have heard NOTHING except HORRIBLE things about BRAINSTORM. I would highly recommend you STAY AWAY from them. Thank you.