EIP racing:
03-28-2007, 08:54 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Cali
Posts: 67
Car Info: Lotus now, 04 STI before
EIP racing:
I recently brought my 04 STi to EIP racing in San Jose, CA for some installations and a retune. Even though I am not from the area and have had a lot of hands work on my car previously, they were not reluctant to take on my already very modified STi.
I have been very pleased with the service, quality of care, and labor rates at EIPracing.
First off, the two guys running the shop, Louis and Paul, are honestly good people, are not out to take people for as much as they can. I have offered several times to pay them more for the work they have done, and for additional times I have brought my car to them for small questions/concerns I had, and they have not let me pay them extra, insisting that they only wanna get paid for the work they do, even when sometimes Paul has spent hours of extra time on my car.
First off, the work they did on my STI.
--Installed Rotora drilled and slotted rotors and Hawk ceramic brake pads.
--Installed SMC Enterprises Alcohol injection kit (and routed the tube from the trunk tank into the SMC tank so that I can use the trunk tank as a running reservoir when they SMC tank gets low while I'm out driving: I just push the water sprayer button to refill the SMC tank).
--Installed ATS/Carbonetics Twin plate clutch kit
--Retune the car
Those are the big things, they also did a lot of smaller jobs for me, changed the oil, wrap the header in heat shielding, re-stuck some accesories inside the car to surfaces, etc.
Some aspects of their service that have impressed me are:
trustworthiness
responsibility
bargain
Bargain: For instance, all the work they did for me, just the parts cost a few thousand (but when they found the part I wanted for me, like the ATS clutch, they got the best price I had been quote anywhere). The total labor charges for all the work they did for me was about $1600. I expected costs to be much higher for some work they did on my car. For instance, the brake work and alcohol injection kit installs were less than half the labor charges that other shops in the area quoted me. EIP was ALWAYS less than (sometimes very much so) and once equal to the quote they gave me for each item of labor they did on my car. Some small things I was not even charged for.
Responsibility: When I got my car back, after driving hard in the mountains for a while, I was having some problems with the car loosing electrical power and with the car shaking a lot. Of course, at first, I was very pissed off about this, the car having just come from a retune at thier shop (and they did spend hours retuning my car, got over 100 more whp and wtq on their Mustang-500-SE AWD dyno). So I called to tell them the problems. Immediately, they said the car should come back. I told them that I did not have time to bring the car back. They paid for a tow service, which was very good too, to come all the way out to where I am staying, in another county, and bring them the car back (at about $200 cost to them). They then inspected my car completely and found and fixed two problems: 1.) my ground to my battery (which is mounted in the trunk) came loose, and that's why the car was loosing power and turning off 2.) one of the shock towers was loose, which is what caused the shaking. They fixed both of these problems, neither one related to the work they had done on my car, and they further tested my car on the dyno and street for a couple days (because I didn't want it back until it was running perfectly) to make sure all was running well, and then they refused to let me pay them for their extra work or even for the tow service. Now, that's really going way above the call of duty to satisfy a customer. I don't think that anyone can read this story and not be impressed with that level of service. Another time a few hundred miles later, I brought the car back thinking that I might be having a clutch or transmission problem, but I did not actually have a problem (I am just a pain-in-the-*** customer because I'm paranoid about the car running perfectly, and hence I'm hard to please). Paul drove my car for nearly an hour with me waiting for this problem I had felt to happen, and it never did. He did not let me pay him for his time, and he told me that if anything comes up, to let him know immediately. And even though I have literally called them dozens of time with small concerns about the car, they have always answered the phone and been willing to hear my concerns and check out the car. These guys really do have great service.
Trustworthiness: My current set-up is capable of producing over 400 whp. However, the car is right now tuned to make just 330 whp/315 tq. Yes, the car has been detuned a little. This is because when Paul replaced the clutch, he noticed a slight head gasket leak. Though I had requested a retune after the clutch was fixed to maximize power, he did not go through with this 2nd retune on my car. Instead, he took pictures of the leak and showed me. He left the car detuned (as it was because the clutch was slipping) because he is worried that more boost (my car was doing 23.5 psi when I brought it to him) might blow the gasket. This is something that I appreciate, because he could have just retuned the car, run the risk of the gasket leak getting worse, and then took that opportunity to do more work on the car. Instead, as in his original tune of the car, he was careful to not push the limits of reliability on my car.
The only complaint that I have is one that I am past, but that I think some first time people to EIPracing might encounter and be concerned about, and so I want to mention it. This is communication. Though I am the kind of annoying customer who calls and e-mails all the time, they were always answering my questions and addressing my concerns. However, sometimes I did not know what was really going on with my car, when they were working on it, what exactly they were doing, etc. Also, I'm not very knowledgible, and so that means I have even more questions and that Paul and Louis need to explain a lot to me. In the end, they told me everything, but in the meantime I had to trust them a little on some of the details. And, it was worth trusting them, because they did good work. So if you are a new customer to their shop one day and get this feeling of wonder what's going on, don't hesitate to call them up, but also don't worry if all your questions are not immediately AND fully answered: your car is in good hands, and all your questions will be answered.
So, I brought the car when it was not running well, asked for a lot of different jobs on the car and a retune, got what I asked for, some extra work for free, and a much better running car after Paul's work. The car is running better all around, and for me now it's just a matter of time saving some money to bring the car back to EIPracing for an engine build, APS Twin Scroll install (I currently have APS SR55 turbo), and some other work involved with turning my car into over 600 whp. I will probably do that work with them in the fall. Since I am a very picky customer, hard to please, and careful about who works on the car and where I spend my money, that I plan to bring my STI back to them for all this serious work, like an engine build, when I could easily ship the car to any shop in the country, speaks volumes of how well I think of EIPracing.
Also, I went to their dyno day last Sunday. It was great. Lots of good cars there. Whoever is in the area but did not come missed out.
This shop sees a lot of subies, a lot of evos, and a lot of other kinds of cars too. They do great work with subies and evos. They've got a very well tuned damn near stock evo putting down 340+ whp right now (I saw that with my own eyes and was like "****, I should have gotten an evo.") In addition to regular maintence, tuning, builds, mods, this shop also does paint and body. So you can really go to EIP for all your car work. And it's obvious that EIP has great labor charges, does good work, has great service, and are trustworthy and honest people to work with. I don't really think you can ask for more. I have not in this message told everything they have done for me, but it has really been a lot. I have a lot of respect for these guys. All and all, I paid about $1600, but I was reasonably expecting, based on other quotes from area shops, to pay double that, and, honestly, I would have been happy to pay them double that amount based on the service and work quality I have gotten from EIPracing. And, remember, I am a pain-in-the-*** customer. I am not easy to please. I am very critical. I am also very busy (MD/PhD working all the time) That I am taking the time to write such a positive review for this shop says a lot more good about them then I am able to easily express telling you guys stories about EIPracing.
In short: these guys are great. If you've got any car, and especially a modified impreza or evo, and you live within a reasonable distance from San Jose, you are crazy not to give EIPracing a shot working on your car. They spent days (no exaggeration) with my car inspecting and tuning the car, and it runs really great now. I just drive this car a few times a week, but I drive the hell out of it. Performance is much improved after their work.
Sincerely,
hunter
If you have any questions about EIPracing please don't hesitate to call up Louis at the shop. He and Paul are great guys and will take good care of you and your car. Their number is 408-998-1693.
Also, I was not asked to write this review. I did not get any benefit from writing this review. I have put almost 1000 miles of hard driving on my STi since EIP completed all this work on the car, and I am still very satisfied. I simply appreciate all the good work and great service this shop has done for me, and that's why I'm writing this positive review of EIPracing and the guys who run the shop, Louis and Paul.
I have been very pleased with the service, quality of care, and labor rates at EIPracing.
First off, the two guys running the shop, Louis and Paul, are honestly good people, are not out to take people for as much as they can. I have offered several times to pay them more for the work they have done, and for additional times I have brought my car to them for small questions/concerns I had, and they have not let me pay them extra, insisting that they only wanna get paid for the work they do, even when sometimes Paul has spent hours of extra time on my car.
First off, the work they did on my STI.
--Installed Rotora drilled and slotted rotors and Hawk ceramic brake pads.
--Installed SMC Enterprises Alcohol injection kit (and routed the tube from the trunk tank into the SMC tank so that I can use the trunk tank as a running reservoir when they SMC tank gets low while I'm out driving: I just push the water sprayer button to refill the SMC tank).
--Installed ATS/Carbonetics Twin plate clutch kit
--Retune the car
Those are the big things, they also did a lot of smaller jobs for me, changed the oil, wrap the header in heat shielding, re-stuck some accesories inside the car to surfaces, etc.
Some aspects of their service that have impressed me are:
trustworthiness
responsibility
bargain
Bargain: For instance, all the work they did for me, just the parts cost a few thousand (but when they found the part I wanted for me, like the ATS clutch, they got the best price I had been quote anywhere). The total labor charges for all the work they did for me was about $1600. I expected costs to be much higher for some work they did on my car. For instance, the brake work and alcohol injection kit installs were less than half the labor charges that other shops in the area quoted me. EIP was ALWAYS less than (sometimes very much so) and once equal to the quote they gave me for each item of labor they did on my car. Some small things I was not even charged for.
Responsibility: When I got my car back, after driving hard in the mountains for a while, I was having some problems with the car loosing electrical power and with the car shaking a lot. Of course, at first, I was very pissed off about this, the car having just come from a retune at thier shop (and they did spend hours retuning my car, got over 100 more whp and wtq on their Mustang-500-SE AWD dyno). So I called to tell them the problems. Immediately, they said the car should come back. I told them that I did not have time to bring the car back. They paid for a tow service, which was very good too, to come all the way out to where I am staying, in another county, and bring them the car back (at about $200 cost to them). They then inspected my car completely and found and fixed two problems: 1.) my ground to my battery (which is mounted in the trunk) came loose, and that's why the car was loosing power and turning off 2.) one of the shock towers was loose, which is what caused the shaking. They fixed both of these problems, neither one related to the work they had done on my car, and they further tested my car on the dyno and street for a couple days (because I didn't want it back until it was running perfectly) to make sure all was running well, and then they refused to let me pay them for their extra work or even for the tow service. Now, that's really going way above the call of duty to satisfy a customer. I don't think that anyone can read this story and not be impressed with that level of service. Another time a few hundred miles later, I brought the car back thinking that I might be having a clutch or transmission problem, but I did not actually have a problem (I am just a pain-in-the-*** customer because I'm paranoid about the car running perfectly, and hence I'm hard to please). Paul drove my car for nearly an hour with me waiting for this problem I had felt to happen, and it never did. He did not let me pay him for his time, and he told me that if anything comes up, to let him know immediately. And even though I have literally called them dozens of time with small concerns about the car, they have always answered the phone and been willing to hear my concerns and check out the car. These guys really do have great service.
Trustworthiness: My current set-up is capable of producing over 400 whp. However, the car is right now tuned to make just 330 whp/315 tq. Yes, the car has been detuned a little. This is because when Paul replaced the clutch, he noticed a slight head gasket leak. Though I had requested a retune after the clutch was fixed to maximize power, he did not go through with this 2nd retune on my car. Instead, he took pictures of the leak and showed me. He left the car detuned (as it was because the clutch was slipping) because he is worried that more boost (my car was doing 23.5 psi when I brought it to him) might blow the gasket. This is something that I appreciate, because he could have just retuned the car, run the risk of the gasket leak getting worse, and then took that opportunity to do more work on the car. Instead, as in his original tune of the car, he was careful to not push the limits of reliability on my car.
The only complaint that I have is one that I am past, but that I think some first time people to EIPracing might encounter and be concerned about, and so I want to mention it. This is communication. Though I am the kind of annoying customer who calls and e-mails all the time, they were always answering my questions and addressing my concerns. However, sometimes I did not know what was really going on with my car, when they were working on it, what exactly they were doing, etc. Also, I'm not very knowledgible, and so that means I have even more questions and that Paul and Louis need to explain a lot to me. In the end, they told me everything, but in the meantime I had to trust them a little on some of the details. And, it was worth trusting them, because they did good work. So if you are a new customer to their shop one day and get this feeling of wonder what's going on, don't hesitate to call them up, but also don't worry if all your questions are not immediately AND fully answered: your car is in good hands, and all your questions will be answered.
So, I brought the car when it was not running well, asked for a lot of different jobs on the car and a retune, got what I asked for, some extra work for free, and a much better running car after Paul's work. The car is running better all around, and for me now it's just a matter of time saving some money to bring the car back to EIPracing for an engine build, APS Twin Scroll install (I currently have APS SR55 turbo), and some other work involved with turning my car into over 600 whp. I will probably do that work with them in the fall. Since I am a very picky customer, hard to please, and careful about who works on the car and where I spend my money, that I plan to bring my STI back to them for all this serious work, like an engine build, when I could easily ship the car to any shop in the country, speaks volumes of how well I think of EIPracing.
Also, I went to their dyno day last Sunday. It was great. Lots of good cars there. Whoever is in the area but did not come missed out.
This shop sees a lot of subies, a lot of evos, and a lot of other kinds of cars too. They do great work with subies and evos. They've got a very well tuned damn near stock evo putting down 340+ whp right now (I saw that with my own eyes and was like "****, I should have gotten an evo.") In addition to regular maintence, tuning, builds, mods, this shop also does paint and body. So you can really go to EIP for all your car work. And it's obvious that EIP has great labor charges, does good work, has great service, and are trustworthy and honest people to work with. I don't really think you can ask for more. I have not in this message told everything they have done for me, but it has really been a lot. I have a lot of respect for these guys. All and all, I paid about $1600, but I was reasonably expecting, based on other quotes from area shops, to pay double that, and, honestly, I would have been happy to pay them double that amount based on the service and work quality I have gotten from EIPracing. And, remember, I am a pain-in-the-*** customer. I am not easy to please. I am very critical. I am also very busy (MD/PhD working all the time) That I am taking the time to write such a positive review for this shop says a lot more good about them then I am able to easily express telling you guys stories about EIPracing.
In short: these guys are great. If you've got any car, and especially a modified impreza or evo, and you live within a reasonable distance from San Jose, you are crazy not to give EIPracing a shot working on your car. They spent days (no exaggeration) with my car inspecting and tuning the car, and it runs really great now. I just drive this car a few times a week, but I drive the hell out of it. Performance is much improved after their work.
Sincerely,
hunter
If you have any questions about EIPracing please don't hesitate to call up Louis at the shop. He and Paul are great guys and will take good care of you and your car. Their number is 408-998-1693.
Also, I was not asked to write this review. I did not get any benefit from writing this review. I have put almost 1000 miles of hard driving on my STi since EIP completed all this work on the car, and I am still very satisfied. I simply appreciate all the good work and great service this shop has done for me, and that's why I'm writing this positive review of EIPracing and the guys who run the shop, Louis and Paul.
03-28-2007, 09:51 AM
#2
Registered User
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: top of Mt. Hammy
Posts: 2,097
Car Info: 413whp/461wtq
hey hunter, you were at the dyno day right? I briefly spoke with you, nice car man. I was the guy with the white 04 STi.
anyways, +1000000 for EIP!!!! I have had nothing but good things to say about them ever since i started going there. Everyone who works there is very nice and will treat you with the upmost respect. Paul is a great tuner and i recommend him for anyone looking for a local Cobb ProTuner in the bay area.
anyways, +1000000 for EIP!!!! I have had nothing but good things to say about them ever since i started going there. Everyone who works there is very nice and will treat you with the upmost respect. Paul is a great tuner and i recommend him for anyone looking for a local Cobb ProTuner in the bay area.
Last edited by NorCalBugEye; 03-28-2007 at 09:55 AM.
03-28-2007, 10:14 AM
#3
Registered User
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: top of Mt. Hammy
Posts: 2,097
Car Info: 413whp/461wtq
oh i forgot to mention, paul recently tuned my car as well:
remeber my car is BONE STOCK!! not even a drop in filter
this was the initial tune and a retune, by baseline was about 219WHP,227WTQ
the car is currently at 258WHP and 266WTQ so im very pleased with my tune. big up's to Paul and Everyone at EIP Racing.
remeber my car is BONE STOCK!! not even a drop in filter
this was the initial tune and a retune, by baseline was about 219WHP,227WTQ
the car is currently at 258WHP and 266WTQ so im very pleased with my tune. big up's to Paul and Everyone at EIP Racing.
04-03-2007, 09:15 PM
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Cali
Posts: 67
Car Info: Lotus now, 04 STI before
Howdy:
Hey NorCalBugEye,
Yeah, I think that was me you saw at dyno day (car with horses). I remember you. Next time, we'll talk more. Sometimes I'm not too conversant in person if I'm not paying attention to others.
Well, nice numbers for an all stock STI. Shows you what Paul's tuning can do. Not as much of an improvement over baseline as for a stock Evo, but that's expected for several reasons I'm sure we all know now. I'm impressed with the power improvements his retunes make on the stock cars, especially the Evo. I'm always kind of bewildered, then, why his shop cars have been WRXs. There remains something to said for the subies, even if I'm becoming convinced that the Evo, though uglier, may be better. I, though, happen to be glad I've got an STI, since some really strong reputation companies (like APS) make great performance parts for the STI.
See you later,
hunter
Yeah, I think that was me you saw at dyno day (car with horses). I remember you. Next time, we'll talk more. Sometimes I'm not too conversant in person if I'm not paying attention to others.
Well, nice numbers for an all stock STI. Shows you what Paul's tuning can do. Not as much of an improvement over baseline as for a stock Evo, but that's expected for several reasons I'm sure we all know now. I'm impressed with the power improvements his retunes make on the stock cars, especially the Evo. I'm always kind of bewildered, then, why his shop cars have been WRXs. There remains something to said for the subies, even if I'm becoming convinced that the Evo, though uglier, may be better. I, though, happen to be glad I've got an STI, since some really strong reputation companies (like APS) make great performance parts for the STI.
See you later,
hunter
07-30-2007, 12:06 AM
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 507
Car Info: 2000 2.5 RS (really slow)
oh i forgot to mention, paul recently tuned my car as well:
remeber my car is BONE STOCK!! not even a drop in filter
this was the initial tune and a retune, by baseline was about 219WHP,227WTQ
the car is currently at 258WHP and 266WTQ so im very pleased with my tune. big up's to Paul and Everyone at EIP Racing.
remeber my car is BONE STOCK!! not even a drop in filter
this was the initial tune and a retune, by baseline was about 219WHP,227WTQ
the car is currently at 258WHP and 266WTQ so im very pleased with my tune. big up's to Paul and Everyone at EIP Racing.
Nice numbers
would love to see your AFR Graphs, just curious because thats alot of power for a bone stock STI w/ a tune. Also was this on pump or 100oct?
Last edited by 1WRXNFX; 07-30-2007 at 12:08 AM. Reason: Forgot to ask another question.
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