Man, you people are harsh.

Brainstorm is a company with a good reputation. Hell, the exhaust install and dyno on the front page of this site was done there.

It is not uncommon for shops to use customer cars to test out new products. Most companies could not afford to use multiple cars for development without using customer cars.

Rarely do any of these companies give a warranty. I am sure they will give the person the same guarantee they give with any work they give on aftermarket products.

It is amazing to me how people on this board treat companies. You would think that this guy had blown someone's car up. Instead he is offering someone free dyno time, tuning and hardware in exchange for use of the vehicle for a couple of weeks.

If I were in Portland, I would at least give the guy a call and discuss the offer.

D

 

You might be right....However, it is not just free dyno time, tuning and hardware...it is "TESTING". I am sure people would jump on it right away if it was proven tuning and hardware. But the fact is it is not. So there is a big risk. So unfortunately many sees more cons than pros. In other words, the "whats in it for me" does not outweighs the risk of damaging their 30k EVO.

 

Ummmm. NO. Even if I lived in portland, lending out my car for 2 weeks to a shop wanting to use me as a guinnea pig with no warrenty on the results is not an option. Hell, being without the car for 2 weeks would cost me around $500 in rental fee's so how is this a good deal? Like someone else said, if they were giving away a fully built turbo upgrade system, or something else EXPENSIVE perhaps it would be worth the risk.... but not for a piggyback ($300 to $600) fuel management system.

Keith

 

First of all, we are not beating the hell out of anyone's car! As an experienced tuner we know how to treat a car on the dyno. The reason for the long term testing is to sort out an intermittent problem that we are having with a CEL at warm-start. Hence the possibility of a couple of hundred miles - the car will have to be driven around (gently - not all out crazy driving) to get it warmed up, then turned off and on again. Then it has to cool down to cold and then the process started over again.

As far as borrowing a customer's car for this, I know lots of comapnies that manufacture products for the Evo that use this method. Look at Borla for instance - they developed their header on a customer's car and it's still on there for the "long-term" test.

As someone rightly pointed out, people have been guinee pigs for the dyno-flash, Excede and AEM EMS, which could all have catastrophic consequences if not tuned correctly. At least this piggy-back ecu is being tuned on a Dyno, where everything can be carefully monitored and logged.

[quote "Alias"]However, it is not just free dyno time, tuning and hardware...[/quote]

Actually, that's pretty much all it is - a free plug-and -play ecu, free tuning and a little driving around.

I hope this clears up some of your questions. As I mentioned before, if you are interested in helping us out please call our shop.

 

at least give the person a rental

 

Heres my question in a different way. What would you (Brainstorm) do if the motor did let go for some odd reason (running lean, rich,) for a few dyno pulls? Are you oging to replace my motor? Or will it be a "Oops sorry heres your car back, oh yeah it needs a motor" There has to be some type of guarantee that the car WILL come back just as it did, if not better. I am not trying to bash your company in any way just trying to fill in my own questions.

People on here have already invested 30k into just getting one these cars, and some have invested 5k-10k on top of that. Every car forum is pretty much the same we are all drivng for the same cause because we are enthusiasts for certain models. Now throw into the mix that there is a company out there that is willing to give a free piggyback, or stand-alone whatever it is and you are offering no guarantee what-so-ever on the condition of the car will be in when it is returned to the customer? If thats so I'm sure you will have a hell of a time to find someone willing to let go of their car for 1-2 weeks, unless that person found the tree that grows money.

Why not write up some sort of contract to appease the customer?

 

I understand that Brainstorm is a reputable tuner in LA. I guess I don't understand why they don't use their shop vehicle, or the owner's car (if different than the shop vehicle).