Well this is now my second post re: RMR, hopefully it will be my last (until something else f*cking breaks on my car!)...

By the way Rhys, Blair, Eric...as a company you guys suck. F*ck trying to get any kind of refund for anything out of you. I'll let my attorney handle things from here on out.

Keep in mind this is my opinion of RMR, others might have had good luck with them, if so my hats off to you, consider yourself very lucky. I have never felt such bitterness or hatred re: an aftermarket tuner shop, especially after spending 15k. Here is what has happened to me part by part installed by them. First here is the list of parts installed on my car.

HKS GT2835 turbo kit
HKS 272/272 cams
Clutchnet clutch disc
RMR IC piping
RMR Induction Pipe
RMR Turbo back exhaust (test pipe)
Pruven FMIC kit
ECU Reflash
GReddy EGT
Power Boost gauge/controller
PWR Radiator
Tein Flex coilovers w/EDFC
Cusco rear sway bar
Cusco rear strut tower bar

ECU - They put my car on a dyno and reflashed the ecu, supposedly tuning the car for the mods I have, etc. Found out the other day when I took the car to Shiv's that it had detonation at idle and 50 degrees of timing advance at 1700 rpms!!! WTF? I had Shiv speak directly to Blair while I was there. RMR's solution? Ship them the ecu overnight and they will reflash it back to stock Shiv couldn't do any tuning on my car at all in the state the ecu was in. I get the ecu back today and put it in my car, it wont idle at all now with my foot off the gas. It dies if I keep my foot on the gas at 1500 rpms, wtf? Their response, well Tadashi (or whatever his name is) builds race cars for big motorsports companies. If that's the case why the f*ck cant he get some code right in my ECU?? Oh yeah, it cost me $200 for shiv to diagnose the problem with the ecu and $30 to overnight it down to RMR, when asked if I would be reimbursed for it, "uh, no, you didn't pay for the mod so we aren't going to reimburse you". Which is fine if the F'IN mod worked!

Clutch - I went with their recommendation regarding the upgraded clutch. They offer a 6 puck sprung hub clutch disc. I was told it would engage like stock. When I picked up the car the clutch felt "weird" in the way it engaged, but I figured it was something I needed to adjust to. Well I drove the car back from LA to Sacramento, and when I got into town, I could barely get the car to engage from a stop. The car would buck/shake violently no matter how I feathered the clutch, gave it rpms., etc. It got to the point I couldn't drive the car w/o fear of breaking a motor or tranny mount. I had to take the car to a clutch shop where I had them drive the car to make sure it wasn't just me, they agreed, the car was not driveable in that condition. Called RMR, their response, "well it drove fine when we had it here". I had to speak with Rhys himself to get a friggin refund on the labor (which I still haven't received, since I haven't sent them the receipt yet, going to wait and let my attorney file a demand for everything at one time)and had to source out a new clutch on my own. Went with the Exedy twin plate, issue solved, shifts great with just a bit if chatter in first. Thanks to Buschur for overnighting me one when there wasn't any left in the states. I've since pulled the Buschur, swapped in an Ogura Racing clutch, grabs like a ****, but I can't stand the noise from the drivetrain. So I'm putting in a pressure plate with higher clamping force and a stock disc.

EGT - I would of never really known I had an issue here unless I had to pull the ECU. First off it was wired like crap, everything was just shoved behind the dash, nothing wire tied, etc. My biggest gripe here is the probe location, it's mounted AFTER the turbo. Now before I go off here, tell me if I'm wrong please? The general consensus I have always heard is it's mounted in the manifold somewhere before the turbo, right? Preferrably in the runner from the cylinder that has the potential to run leanest. I asked them why it was mounted after the turbo and they said it's the proper location and that's where they put the probe on all their race cars. Once again wtf? Anyone?

Cams - I was able to finally track down my idle problems, although RMR says it isn't the cause of my car dying at idle. I had my 272/272 cams taken out, and voila, the car idles like stock again, no idle fluctuations, no sputtering and dying. Cost me $450 to have them and the cam gears taken out by the dealership. I called RMR, their response? Well it wasn't the cams causing the idle. Other people have them and their car(s) idle fine. WTF? If a car dies and doesn't idle before taking a part out, then once it's taken out and the factory part put in and the car idles fine, doesn't common sense tell you that the cams were causing the idle prob??? I asked them to refund me the cost of the labor to pull the cams out, they said no, the cams idle fine. Lot of common sense there huh?

Turbo Kit - Fast forward to yesterday, my car is now idling like stock and I'm somewhat happy that I get to actually drive my car for once. I've driven it less than 200 miles since the clutch issue first rendered the car undriveable. So I'm driving home, minding my own business, when out of no where, my windshield is getting sprayed, more like drenched with fluid! I'm like WTF? I'm on a freeway and have to pull over since I cant see ****. I open the door and I'm greeted with the wonderful smell of coolant. I'm thinking oh ****, head gasket, or something, but I wasn't even boosting, I'm in rush hour traffic going 55. Well EVERYTHING underhood is soaked in coolant and I'm searching for the prob and finally find the culprit. The lil cap that RMR (supposedly an HKS part) used to cap off my water line from the stock turbo is now missing and leaking coolant everywhere. Great right? Sad thing is, I'm not surprised at anything anymore with my car. I called Blair and he said, well that's an HKS part, shouldn't of come off. Also, once again they take 0 blame and say that since my car has been to 4 different shops now (fixing their **** ups), some other shop must have done it. Although the water lines are there on that turbo, they dont hook them up since that is what HKS reccommends, does that make sense? Why cap the lines, wouldn't you just do a loop back from the water feed to return? Doesn't coolant have to floe? Yet on the 3037 kit they use the water lines, go figure. I get the car to the dealership, and that is where it's at right now. The turbo kit is off the car now, I'm having my stock turbo, etc. put back on.

The most frustrating thing about the work done on my car is that they think everything that was done is fine. That their work is ok, that I'm just being picky. I dont complain unless there is an issue, and there is. I spent 15k, yes 15k there and I feel like I'm treated like a second class customer. I guess what I'm getting at is they don't care. They don't care my new EVO sits in the driveway broken down. Now I have to wait for their ecu programmer guy to get back to me with an ECU reset procedure, since supposedly that's the problem. Can you say lip service? I am so mad now I can barely see straight. Needles to say, I already have a call into my attorney re: the situation. I can tell this is going to get ugly.

I guess this is what I get for believing in a company and their claims, and wanting to be the "fast kid" on the block. All of this might not be so bad if it hadn't cost me 15k and my car was still running, which is isn't.

As far as RMR goes, I think they make great products, but I would not take my car there again if someone paid me. They knew this was my daily driver, and that the work done to it, had to keep the car dependable, which it is the furthest thing from. I'm sure some of you have had good luck with RMR, congrats to you, I haven't and I thought I owe it to all of you to share this. When it comes down to it, they are a company, a business, they exist to make money, which trust me, they did.

So please heed my warning or at least keep my experience in mind before taking your nice beautiful EVO to RMR. I hate my car so much now, I want to trade it in on a new unmolested (ie not touched by RMR) EVO so I can have a dependable car again. I'll even leave the 10k stereo system in the car. I just want my car the way it was or at least running dependably!!! So far to date I've had to spend over $1500 fixing their f*ck ups, have I got one dime from them to offset their mistakes? NO!

Shawn Glass
p.s. I'm selling most of the parts they installed. Here is a list of what I have, I'll entertain any decent offer. PM me or email me at sglass@intercareins.com.

RMR Downpipe
RMR Lower Tie Bar
RMR Test Pipe
RMR Cat back
HKS GT2835 turbo kit complete
Cams/gears are sold already

 

If you really are pursuing legal action I wouldn't sell the parts since they are neccessary to the case.

I've never heard anything bad out of the millen group. Its always sad to see an evo that isn't being driven.

 

Man.....sorry to hear that. I know what it is like to have your daily driver sittin in your driveway not working. When I blew my engine on my galant with my supercharger it was killin me especially since i spent soooo much money about 6500 at that point. but i had a GREAT shop doing my work RIPP Modification and Ross helped me out BIG time and really took care of me.

Dude....take a deep breath and like already said, keep the parts for the case (NO PARTS - NO CASE) that is your evidence.

 

sorry dude... hope everything turns out good...

 

These are the exact problems I have in mind that is going to keep my evo STOCK. Is it worth your problems for A LITTLE MORE PERFORMANCE?

 

I agree....stock it is for me also. Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

Re: the EGT probe

It is common in Europe to mount the probe after the turbo. Their reason for doing it is that if the probe is mounted before the turbo if it ever breaks off it will eat the turbine.

 

Well obviously there is a difference between doing a few go fast goodies (exhaust, intake, etc) and spending $15k on a ton of mods.

Anyway, hope you get the situation straightened out.

 

Haha. Funny. Sounds like Rhys's girls did this Sac Town boy good!

One question: Didn't your attorney advise you against flaming RMR on EvoMit?

No? I think you're gonna need a REAL lawyer, now.

BTW: I still can't believe you took your Evo to Shiv for a second opinion regarding RMR. Doh!

 

The cams definately caused the idle.........it takes alot of careful tuning to get 272 cams to idle perfectly smoothly..there will always be a bit of bubrle and oscillation with these cams. Since you are familar with the DSM world, go see what a 1G T/E/L idles like with 272's.....as Road Race puts it, it basically sounds like you need a new ISC..very lopey. Now, like I said with careful tuning, that can be remedied, but that is the trade off for such cams.

As for the EGT probe, there is no right or wrong here. After the turbo works fine too, but you need to know the temperature difference of moving it down there. The turbo is a huge heat sink in and of itself, so I would estimate around a 100C difference or so between installing it in the 02 housing/downpipe vs the manifold.

The logic behind mounting it in the downpipe is as posted above...if the probe breaks, it won't damage the turbo. That is very sound logic to use when installing an EGT probe with a long shaft to it, ala Autometer and Apex'i 9at lrast their older models, not sure on the new ones). For an HKS or GReddy probe (as well as Defi), they are so short, you would literally need to cut it to break...we have installed probably 200 plus EGT gauges in the last 2 years or so (90% Greddy, 5 % HKS, 5% Defi), and not one has ever broken)

The clutch is going to be hit or miss. When we spoke initially it did not make sense why they only chose to do a disk not a pressure plate. As long as the disk is made of a sound material (tock disk facing is quite good actually), it will be fine...but its the pressure plate that dictates its ability to hold torque. Be careful what upgraded pressure plate you use..I have not yet been able to confirm if we can just use an AP/Helix clutch for the VII and not change the flywheel...some have told me yes, some have said no.

 

Boy, that really sucks that you can shell out 15k and have a f$%ked up car. Hope things work out for you.

 

At this point, I dont care what RMR thinks or does, I've given them many opportunities to make things right and they haven't.

Funny thing about taking my car to Shiv, it was only by RMR's recommendation in the hopes Shiv could smooth out my idle probs with the Exede. Kinda hard to do though when you have 50 degrees of timing advance at 1700rpms.

Shawn

 

I know there are two sides to any story, but from what i see, those guys really cleaned you out.
Thanks for the heads up. I have a few friends with EVO's in the caribbean, my brother even has an EVO 2. A few of my friends have Evo 3, 5, 6 and 6.5 TME, and were thinking about getting parts from RMR (cheaper than ordering direct from japan... although it is sometimes easier dealing directly with companies in Japan, they tend to be more helpful). I will now think twice before purchasing anything from them and I will let my friends in the caribbean know about the issues with RMR.

Again, sorry to hear about you misfortune with them.

 

WOW dude. Keep us posted on how this goes for you.

 

yeah im selling my rmr air filter, it doesnt do s..t for my car.
my friend has rmr full exhaust, when we drag raced, he was always half a second slower then me....
air filter 50 bucks,