Avoid Tuning By Paul @ DBTuned
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Registered User
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 54
From: Sacramento, CA
Car Info: 2006 Subaru STi
Avoid Tuning By Paul @ DBTuned
Do not go to DBTuned unless for service, bolt-ons, or mechanical issues, but don’t let him tune your car. My car (Original Owner) is an 06 STi with about 41k miles currently on it. Paul has been the one and only person to touch my car. He did the entire install and tuning that was done (Mods listened below). Also it took Paul a month to finish the install. I started to notice some issues with my performance, boost levels, and my Aquamist kit. My boost was at .11mpa which is 16PSI, Car felt like my stock STi, and my Aquamist kit DDS3 was showing 8 bars when it should be 5-6 bars.
I decided to take my car to a very-well known tuner last Saturday who asked to be anonymous to avoid confrontation. We will refer to him as Tuner X. First thing Tuner X did was perform a compression test to make sure everything is ok. Keep in mind Paul is the only person to ever touch my car. Compression test came up as follows:
Cylinder 1 - 130
Cylinder 2 - 136
Cylinder 3 - 125
Cylinder 4 - 136
That’s 9% off tolerance, below the tolerance call for 7% by specifications. Then they start to check the cam gear to see if it slipped a tooth since one bank (Cylinder 1 & 3) was off. Cam checked out perfect. Then they ran another pressure test on the valves to determine if it was a ring or a valve issue (can’t remember what it was called). It turns out it was the intake valve in cylinder 3. We checked the spark plugs and found signs of bad detonation. Tuner X advised me about the issue and told me it will have to be pulled out and need repair. Also keep in mind I was out in the garage working with them so I wasn’t going off what was on paper and I helped them perform the tests. I know you can argue about the methanol mixture but I’m very detailed and **** about my water/methanol mixture, I’ve been very consistent.
My call was to ignore fixing the damage for now since it really isn’t severe but not good at all. Tuner X hooked up his laptop and cables to see how Paul’s tune ran out on the street. Tuner X could only do one pull before he had to bring it back in for extreme detonation and knocking. He showed me the log files and pointed out each line of data that showed detonation. When I originally left Paul’s place with my tune my graph showed 285hp - 318tq @ 19PSI. This is really low for my setup on a mustang dyno. Paul’s answers for the low numbers were “Some cars just don’t make boost”. Tuner X showed me the actual power graph of Paul’s tune which showed 281tq – 262hp and took until 4000rpm for full spool, that’s above and beyond horrible
At this point I told Tuner X to double check the car for any other issues since I lost trust in Paul. Paul has outstanding mechanical skills since Tuner X was impressed with his install and found no other issues.
Tuner X removed my Stock Boost Control Solenoid and placed in an NBC Manual Boost Controller. We did as many pulls as we can perform before I started to run out of water/methanol. We did several 2nd gear pulls, 3rd gear pulls, and 1-4th gear pulls. My car now puts down 348tq – 281hp @ 21.5PSI and is quieter, more responsive, and power you can definitely feel. I could have gotten more power but we forgot to change out the Aquamist jet since Paul put in the smallest jet. Like before he showed me the log files of his tune and my car was running as health as you can get (besides the damaged that was already done by Paul). No knocking or detonation.
I know Paul has a large following and people may attack me for posting this but I know what I felt, saw and know. I am not here to knock Paul as a person or a mechanic but as a tuner. Paul has great mechanical Skills and a very nice guy to talk with, just he can’t tune. Trust me when I suggest you look for another tuner.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Mods:
*Cobb Turboback Exhaust w/ Cat
*Cobb AccessPORT v2
*Perrin Up-Pipe
*Perrin Headers
*Denso Plugs
*Walbro Fuel Pump
*Aquamist HSF-5 Water/Meth Kit
After Paul:
*NBC Manual Boost Controller
I decided to take my car to a very-well known tuner last Saturday who asked to be anonymous to avoid confrontation. We will refer to him as Tuner X. First thing Tuner X did was perform a compression test to make sure everything is ok. Keep in mind Paul is the only person to ever touch my car. Compression test came up as follows:
Cylinder 1 - 130
Cylinder 2 - 136
Cylinder 3 - 125
Cylinder 4 - 136
That’s 9% off tolerance, below the tolerance call for 7% by specifications. Then they start to check the cam gear to see if it slipped a tooth since one bank (Cylinder 1 & 3) was off. Cam checked out perfect. Then they ran another pressure test on the valves to determine if it was a ring or a valve issue (can’t remember what it was called). It turns out it was the intake valve in cylinder 3. We checked the spark plugs and found signs of bad detonation. Tuner X advised me about the issue and told me it will have to be pulled out and need repair. Also keep in mind I was out in the garage working with them so I wasn’t going off what was on paper and I helped them perform the tests. I know you can argue about the methanol mixture but I’m very detailed and **** about my water/methanol mixture, I’ve been very consistent.
My call was to ignore fixing the damage for now since it really isn’t severe but not good at all. Tuner X hooked up his laptop and cables to see how Paul’s tune ran out on the street. Tuner X could only do one pull before he had to bring it back in for extreme detonation and knocking. He showed me the log files and pointed out each line of data that showed detonation. When I originally left Paul’s place with my tune my graph showed 285hp - 318tq @ 19PSI. This is really low for my setup on a mustang dyno. Paul’s answers for the low numbers were “Some cars just don’t make boost”. Tuner X showed me the actual power graph of Paul’s tune which showed 281tq – 262hp and took until 4000rpm for full spool, that’s above and beyond horrible
At this point I told Tuner X to double check the car for any other issues since I lost trust in Paul. Paul has outstanding mechanical skills since Tuner X was impressed with his install and found no other issues.
Tuner X removed my Stock Boost Control Solenoid and placed in an NBC Manual Boost Controller. We did as many pulls as we can perform before I started to run out of water/methanol. We did several 2nd gear pulls, 3rd gear pulls, and 1-4th gear pulls. My car now puts down 348tq – 281hp @ 21.5PSI and is quieter, more responsive, and power you can definitely feel. I could have gotten more power but we forgot to change out the Aquamist jet since Paul put in the smallest jet. Like before he showed me the log files of his tune and my car was running as health as you can get (besides the damaged that was already done by Paul). No knocking or detonation.
I know Paul has a large following and people may attack me for posting this but I know what I felt, saw and know. I am not here to knock Paul as a person or a mechanic but as a tuner. Paul has great mechanical Skills and a very nice guy to talk with, just he can’t tune. Trust me when I suggest you look for another tuner.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Mods:
*Cobb Turboback Exhaust w/ Cat
*Cobb AccessPORT v2
*Perrin Up-Pipe
*Perrin Headers
*Denso Plugs
*Walbro Fuel Pump
*Aquamist HSF-5 Water/Meth Kit
After Paul:
*NBC Manual Boost Controller
Last edited by Spike_916; Feb 2, 2009 at 06:14 PM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
iTrader: (1)
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 54
From: Sacramento, CA
Car Info: 2006 Subaru STi
Sorry but I didn't talk to Paul yet because I was out of Town all Weekend. Finally got on the computer today to post the story. I have nothing to say since I have lost trust and respect for Paul. I am just going to take my loss and move on. Sorry
Token Toyota Mod
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 52,306
From: Palo Alto, CA
Car Info: Something german
Do not go to DBTuned unless for service, bolt-ons, or mechanical issues, but don’t let him tune your car. My car (Original Owner) is an 06 STi with about 41k miles currently on it. Paul has been the one and only person to touch my car. He did the entire install and tuning that was done (Mods listened below). Also it took Paul a month to finish the install. I started to notice some issues with my performance, boost levels, and my Aquamist kit. My boost was at .11mpa which is 16PSI, Car felt like my stock STi, and my Aquamist kit DDS3 was showing 8 bars when it should be 5-6 bars.
I decided to take my car to a very-well known tuner last Saturday who asked to be anonymous to avoid confrontation. We will refer to him as Tuner X. First thing Tuner X did was perform a compression test to make sure everything is ok. Keep in mind Paul is the only person to ever touch my car. Compression test came up as follows:
Cylinder 1 - 130
Cylinder 2 - 136
Cylinder 3 - 125
Cylinder 4 - 136
That’s 9% off tolerance, below the tolerance call for 7% by specifications. Then they start to check the cam gear to see if it slipped a tooth since one bank (Cylinder 1 & 3) was off. Cam checked out perfect. Then they ran another pressure test on the valves to determine if it was a ring or a valve issue (can’t remember what it was called). It turns out it was the intake valve in cylinder 3. We checked the spark plugs and found signs of bad detonation. Tuner X advised me about the issue and told me it will have to be pulled out and need repair. Also keep in mind I was out in the garage working with them so I wasn’t going off what was on paper and I helped them perform the tests. I know you can argue about the methanol mixture but I’m very detailed and **** about my water/methanol mixture, I’ve been very consistent.
My call was to ignore fixing the damage for now since it really isn’t severe but not good at all. Tuner X hooked up his laptop and cables to see how Paul’s tune ran out on the street. Tuner X could only do one pull before he had to bring it back in for extreme detonation and knocking. He showed me the log files and pointed out each line of data that showed detonation. When I originally left Paul’s place with my tune my graph showed 285hp - 318tq @ 19PSI. This is really low for my setup on a mustang dyno. Paul’s answers for the low numbers were “Some cars just don’t make boost”. Tuner X showed me the actual power graph of Paul’s tune which showed 281tq – 262hp and took until 4000rpm for full spool, that’s above and beyond horrible
At this point I told Tuner X to double check the car for any other issues since I lost trust in Paul. Paul has outstanding mechanical skills since Tuner X was impressed with his install and found no other issues. Then I noticed one thing though, I paid Paul for a Boost Control Solenoid, which my car’s Solenoid was dead Stock, unless for some odd reason Paul took another Stock STi Solenoid and swapped it?
Tuner X removed my Stock Boost Control Solenoid and placed in an NBC Manual Boost Controller. Tuner X loaded me up with a base map and off to the back roads for some tuning. We did as many pulls as we can perform before I started to run out of water/methanol. We did several 2nd gear pulls, 3rd gear pulls, and 1-4th gear pulls. My car now puts down 348tq – 281hp @ 21.5PSI and is quieter, more responsive, and power you can definitely feel. I could have gotten more power but we forgot to change out the Aquamist jet since Paul put in the smallest jet. Like before he showed me the log files of his tune and my car was running as health as you can get (besides the damaged that was already done by Paul). No knocking or detonation.
I know Paul has a large following and people may attack me for posting this but I know what I felt, saw and know. I am not here to knock Paul as a person or a mechanic but as a tuner. Paul has great mechanical Skills and a very nice guy to talk with, just he can’t tune. Trust me when I suggest you look for another tuner.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Mods:
*Cobb Turboback Exhaust w/ Cat
*Cobb AccessPORT v2
*Perrin Up-Pipe
*Perrin Headers
*Denso Plugs
*Walbro Fuel Pump
*Aquamist HSF-5 Water/Meth Kit
After Paul:
*NBC Manual Boost Controller
I decided to take my car to a very-well known tuner last Saturday who asked to be anonymous to avoid confrontation. We will refer to him as Tuner X. First thing Tuner X did was perform a compression test to make sure everything is ok. Keep in mind Paul is the only person to ever touch my car. Compression test came up as follows:
Cylinder 1 - 130
Cylinder 2 - 136
Cylinder 3 - 125
Cylinder 4 - 136
That’s 9% off tolerance, below the tolerance call for 7% by specifications. Then they start to check the cam gear to see if it slipped a tooth since one bank (Cylinder 1 & 3) was off. Cam checked out perfect. Then they ran another pressure test on the valves to determine if it was a ring or a valve issue (can’t remember what it was called). It turns out it was the intake valve in cylinder 3. We checked the spark plugs and found signs of bad detonation. Tuner X advised me about the issue and told me it will have to be pulled out and need repair. Also keep in mind I was out in the garage working with them so I wasn’t going off what was on paper and I helped them perform the tests. I know you can argue about the methanol mixture but I’m very detailed and **** about my water/methanol mixture, I’ve been very consistent.
My call was to ignore fixing the damage for now since it really isn’t severe but not good at all. Tuner X hooked up his laptop and cables to see how Paul’s tune ran out on the street. Tuner X could only do one pull before he had to bring it back in for extreme detonation and knocking. He showed me the log files and pointed out each line of data that showed detonation. When I originally left Paul’s place with my tune my graph showed 285hp - 318tq @ 19PSI. This is really low for my setup on a mustang dyno. Paul’s answers for the low numbers were “Some cars just don’t make boost”. Tuner X showed me the actual power graph of Paul’s tune which showed 281tq – 262hp and took until 4000rpm for full spool, that’s above and beyond horrible
At this point I told Tuner X to double check the car for any other issues since I lost trust in Paul. Paul has outstanding mechanical skills since Tuner X was impressed with his install and found no other issues. Then I noticed one thing though, I paid Paul for a Boost Control Solenoid, which my car’s Solenoid was dead Stock, unless for some odd reason Paul took another Stock STi Solenoid and swapped it?
Tuner X removed my Stock Boost Control Solenoid and placed in an NBC Manual Boost Controller. Tuner X loaded me up with a base map and off to the back roads for some tuning. We did as many pulls as we can perform before I started to run out of water/methanol. We did several 2nd gear pulls, 3rd gear pulls, and 1-4th gear pulls. My car now puts down 348tq – 281hp @ 21.5PSI and is quieter, more responsive, and power you can definitely feel. I could have gotten more power but we forgot to change out the Aquamist jet since Paul put in the smallest jet. Like before he showed me the log files of his tune and my car was running as health as you can get (besides the damaged that was already done by Paul). No knocking or detonation.
I know Paul has a large following and people may attack me for posting this but I know what I felt, saw and know. I am not here to knock Paul as a person or a mechanic but as a tuner. Paul has great mechanical Skills and a very nice guy to talk with, just he can’t tune. Trust me when I suggest you look for another tuner.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Mods:
*Cobb Turboback Exhaust w/ Cat
*Cobb AccessPORT v2
*Perrin Up-Pipe
*Perrin Headers
*Denso Plugs
*Walbro Fuel Pump
*Aquamist HSF-5 Water/Meth Kit
After Paul:
*NBC Manual Boost Controller
Tuner X sounds like that dude ed@eqtuning. lol
Last edited by soggynoodles; Feb 2, 2009 at 03:05 PM.
plays well with others
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From: In Mother Russia...
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As a general comment....It should be common courtesy, respect and good business sense to communicate these situations to the builder/tuner first and allow him the opportunity to resolve such matters (regardless of your emotions). Business's ability to address problems, stand behind their work and learn from the experience matters as much, if not more, than the actual work...especially for ones dealing with modified cars where unpredictable things can happen.
Good luck getting your situation resolved.