Considering you can put a new FMIC on the ralliart with no tune at all from stock, I don't think it's a major issue. The variances are so small that the basic learning seems to take care of it. So far, everything has been fine, and didn't notice anything but a slight bit of lag which diminished after a while.

As for the intake, who said it wasn't recommended, and were they definitely talking about the new beta maps on the forums? (The map I'm running is actually "Stage 2 + AEM Intake".)

 

Ya I forgot about the Beta maps. They have beta intake maps now. Regardless, you can say that you don't think it is a major issue (running stage 2 with upgraded intercooler), but every person at Cobb I talked to (4 different people), told me that they would not recommend it.

 

AMS is definitely one of the top companies, quality is top notch and customer service is VERY good. Tis the busy season, they are probably swamped and parts are back-ordered. Not just them, anyone in this industry. I waited 3 months for my Spec-R's you don't see me ranting and raving.

 

This is an AMS FLASH on a new E63. Tell me AMS loses you power
http://amsperformance.com/amsperform..._Dynograph.jpg

 

Wow! That is a amazing bump in hp and tq. Hard to believe that's just from a flash though unless that's one of the new turbo amg engines cause if that is a na v8 I dont believe those are simple "flash" numbers.

 

I believe that's a twin turbo V8

 

Their parts are good, yes. No argument there. I am using an AMS catback and it is very well made. Their sales, however, is "sketchy". I have been through what I would describe as three weeks of aggravation. You may have had an ok experience, but mine was not fun and people should be aware that it's entirely possible they could have an unfortunate experience there as well. I can go into further detail of exactly how things went starting with day one, but I thought my overview above should suffice. Their stage kits aren't a great deal. Do the research and buy individual parts.

They may be busy, but that should not be an excuse for this. I felt like I was talking to a used car salesman most of the time I was dealing with them. The net result of my dealings with them is I am out about $40 and I have nothing in return. After these past weeks, I'm considering that *a good outcome* compared to some alternatives. I wouldn't be "ranting and raving" if I just had to wait a couple of weeks for a shipment...

Edit: After hearing back from them again (post below) I'm willing to cut them a lot more slack -- some things weren't their fault or were merely misunderstandings. My experience was unfortunate, but it may have been mostly one-off problems, not something systemic. I've toned down my aggravation level in this post to mesh better with this new information.

 

I had a pretty mediocre experience with AMS as well (not ZOMG TERRIBLE, just mediocre I'd say)

though it seems to depend on why I'm calling. I got decent service when it came to technical questions, but sales wasn't

after more research, you'll find that the "staged" upgrades aren't that special. because Cobb AP never caught on, the community never trended towards Off-The-Shelf maps that the AP offers - so people did their own reading and picked parts individually (as well as their own tuner)

I made a thread to help make your research easier
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/09...g-your-ra.html

 

Yeah, probably just their sales department.

Anyway, YES! Thanks for the excellent work on that guide -- that is what I followed. Anyone looking to upgrade parts on their Ralliart *must* read it.

Note: Exyia did some awesome write-ups on exactly what parts should be prioritized and what to look at for replacements, especially which EvoX parts are perfect (and cheap) bolt-on replacements. READ HIS GUIDE.

I've put a line out to Braden about intercoolers, and trust what he says, since he's working on them. I'll let you guys know when he responds.

 

Hello Adam!

Again, I'd like to apologize for your difficult experience recently. I know over the phone we were able to hammer out all of issues with the order and everything was resolved amicably so I don't particularly understand where all of this animosity comes from.

When you had originally contacted us. we had put together a custom stage 1 and 2 package with parts withdrawn and also added to the stages. This obviously led to a price discrepancy which was caught on both our ends. We had this resolved and moving forward before the parts were even ready to ship. I also went as far as to continue packaging your order before we were even paid for it as you were working through a hang up with your credit card company. This obviously isn't normal practice for us, but I was willing to go above and beyond to facilitate your order.

When you phoned back the following week, we cancelled your order no questions asked and made sure a refund in full was returned to you for the original order.

There were two suspension items that you wanted to keep on order which we obliged, having the parts sent out direct from the vendor the following day, before payment was even applied to the order. Again, something that isn't normal practice for us, but I was willing to go above and beyond to facilitate your order.

When you received the suspension pieces, I understand the disappointment in finding that one of the Whiteline pieces wasn't as pictured on our website. We get all of our pictures and descriptions direct from the manufacturer before they are added to our website, and it would appear that Whiteline has updated the part between then and now. For that part we offered a full refund including the entire shipping charge for that order. The other part that was included with that order was the only item that we required our restocking fee on. This was because there was no mitigating circumstances for the return of this part, and therefore was applicable for our restocking fee as it is a special order item that is not kept in stock here at AMS.

Yes, the order had a few hiccups, but they were all resolved quickly, and at no expense to you. We were also able to stretch a few of our policies to provide a more streamlined experience for your order. I unfortunately do not know what more could have been done to satisfy you as a customer here at AMS. I have been in this position for over 5 years now, and I have found that not everything will go as planned, but what truly matters is how the situation is handled and what kind of solution is found for the problem that best serves the customer. In my opinion we have adhered to that philosophy. If there is anything in the future that you need, do not hesitate to ask, we will try our best to help you in any way we can!

Ty Curtin
Sales Representative
AMS Performance

 

One of the best setups right here Bet it looks good too.

 

Sorry to hear about that, we are always accepting of constructive feedback to help better our service. Feel free to send a PM to us if you have a moment to spare.

Just FYI, the sales staff answers all technical support calls here at AMS.

Cheers,

Ty Curtin
Sales Representative
AMS Performance

 

I'd say semi-amicably, yes, though I still was left feeling a bit put out about the last part -- keep reading.

This was caught, but not until after my card was charged, and I caught it and called you about it. You said you caught it too and just hadn't had a chance to call me yet. Maybe this is true, but I have heard the same thing from other people before, who were definitely just back-peddling. Also, even after you sent me multiple formats of the invoice via email, there were still small discrepancies in your pricing (to the point where I was wishing I had just ordered it all individually on your website instead of trying to work out a semi-custom package deal on the phone).

Edit: Going back through the whole experience in my head again, this is definitely what planted the seed of distrust that probably colored the rest of my experience -- I really didn't think that I should have to spend a lot of my own time researching *your* pricing to make sure I didn't pay more over the phone than the prices you advertised on your website.

I asked not to be charged (again) until I got a new credit card in the mail, yes, and you were able to accommodate me. I was pleased with that, but it did not seem THAT impressive, since you weren't going to have the parts all together to ship until the end of that week anyway -- vendors not charging my card until the products ship is not something new.

I do appreciate that -- though again, I'm not sure how this is "above and beyond", since you hadn't shipped the parts yet. If I'm underestimating how much difficulty this was for you, I do apologize.

Edit: (A note for others, because it looks like my cancellation here is somewhat out of the blue: I would have gone ahead with this anyway, but I had surprise dental bills that morning that totaled about 1.5k and I wasn't sure if my insurance would cover any or all of it, or when my claim would actually go through. Fortunately it went through rather quickly and I got about half of my money back, which is why I was able to afford the above mentioned wheels/tires only one paycheck later. I *was* quite pleased that they were able to cancel most of my order, but I was still high from the dentist so "the color orange" was also making me enjoy myself quite immensely at the time.)

Correction -- I didn't *want* to keep them on the order, but you said it was too late to cancel them, so I said "that's ok then, I guess" and left it at that, since there was apparently nothing I could do (and I figured I could at least afford some of the parts still, and some is better than none).

If the part descriptions and pictures were given to you directly from Whiteline incorrectly, then that's no fault of yours. I understand that checking each of them individually would be tedious beyond belief and that you would have no reason to suspect such work would even be necessary (I have been in the same predicament before). However, it's not just that they weren't as shown on your website -- they were also, as one of my friends who was present when I opened them for the first time noted, scuffed and scratched from being poorly packaged for shipping (which I'll touch on again in a second).

The sales person I talked to on the phone about returning the parts told me how to ship the incorrect part back, and was very helpful. By this point though, I was somewhat frustrated with the whole process, and I just wanted to go back to square one, so I voiced my frustration to him and asked if I could return the other part as well. He said that I could, and that would not be a problem. I was not made aware of any restocking fee that would occur (though he never said specifically that I *wouldn't* have one -- possibly this is in one of your return agreements somewhere? Though since I ordered via phone, I'm not sure when I would have seen it).

I shipped out the parts at the beginning of the next week, and you called me when you received them, to inform me that there were problems with my return because "I had packaged them incorrectly for the return shipment, and the parts were damaged" (see above). As this was exactly how the parts had been shipped to me, I was immediately very suspicious. Now that you've told me (in this post) that they were shipped directly from Whiteline, I know that this was not your fault. Prior to this, I was under the impression that you had shipped the parts like that and then turned around to blame me for the poor packaging. I guess that was an unfortunate misunderstanding.

I will admit, most of the problems were ironed out within two or three days, which is not that bad. Don't forget about that $35-40 restocking fee I'm not getting back, since by the time I knew I'd have to pay it, you already had the part back, and I didn't want to deal with having you ship it back to me again (I was assuming for a comparable charge, at this point).
I will readily acknowledge that things could have been *MUCH* worse. Overall I was a bit frustrated and a bit annoyed, but ended up at least getting 99% of my money back and while this was a waste of my time, that's *all* it was. Given some new information, I'd say that I'm actually much less upset about the experience than I was when I made the posts above. It's possible I would consider buying parts from you in the future (though I'd guess at this point you'd be happy to be rid of me forever :P).

PS: Back on topic, I still think the Stage Kits are only a good deal if you're too lazy to do research yourself and buy the individual parts you want -- I may have been subconsciously assuming (incorrectly) that they'd be at a package discount of some sort, but at best they come out exactly even to buying parts individually.

 

I did get a response from Braden (the lead engineer on the Mitsubishi tunes at Cobb). I asked him if I should take out my aftermarket FMIC when using their maps, in favor of the stock FMIC.

He said:
So, I'm still not sure who you talked to, but I am going to say they're probably wrong. As I was saying before, from my research, the FMIC is not really related to the tune; it is a simple bolt-on part and basic learning should take care of almost any installed intercooler.