The thread will be open as long as you don't speak negatively of vendors who advertise on the forums - at that point it will be a locked very quickly (in my experience) ... anyway here's my list of experiences with the local guys:


1) PINA
Screwed me over on a "sponsorhsip" deal for my car where I was supposed to get cheaper parts in exchange for letting them use my car for prototyping those parts. The workmanship was crappy too. I replaced all of the parts they put on except the mini-battery tray, and had to clean up every single install they did myself. And paid more than I would have for buying some nice JDM parts instead ... live and learn.


2) Cascade Autosport
Very professional & very expensive shop, with some serious attitude. They will not listen to you (the customer) if your opinion differs from what they think and believe they can never ever be wrong. I had my transmission rebuild by them, and a clutch replacement installed, excellent work in both scenarios; they were very negative about the non-OEM parts I brought them (WORKS CK2 and lightened flywheel) telling me it would make the car "undriveable on the street" until they saw it for themselves (it worked out great). They also kinked my shifter cable in the clutch install, causing it to rub internally when shifting; it was replaced under warranty by mitsu (good old mountain mitsu RIP), but Cascade wouldn't admit to the screwup even though they didn't have to pay a cent on it ("wasn't us you're full of it"). They also insisted that using Redline Heavy Shockproof in your TC will destroy your bearings in less than a year (Redline HS is recommended by Shep).


3) Speedware Motorsports
Never had any work done there, but they always were helpful when I came to the store to buy things. Great place to shop for stuff you need to try on (helmets, clothing, etc.) They also organize track days which are great fun .


4) West Werks
Francis & Kevin rock - they may not be as experienced with Evo's (yet) as other shops out there, but they are two of the nicest guys I know and always do what it takes to get the job done (and at very reasonable prices). West Werks is my current "home" shop, especially since they don't mind when I roll up my sleeves and work with them on the car, which I love to do - any mechanic who doesn't get nervous working with the customer on his/her car together is a mechanic that will not screw you over by cutting corners!


5) World One Performance
I've never had any work done at W1P, but they have been extremely helpful in sourcing hard to find parts with at times very short deadlines. Zero complaints.

 

:::::::: These are just my opinions, nothing else, please do not get butthurt:::::


Well here are my reviews, I hope that I showed enough self control to keep my self out of trouble this time. Before I get into my reviews I have a couple overall thoughts I would like to share. Every shop is going to make mistakes, **** happens, it is just part of like. What truly makes a good shop is how they handle these mistakes. This is what separates the good ones from the bad ones. Another thing I tend to look for in a shop is the quality of the shops tuner. Even if I am just buying parts from a shop, if there turner has proven himself to be of poor quality I will mist likely be buying my parts else ware. If you let bad quality walk out the door, what does that say for the parts that I just bought, and what does that say if I have a problem with the part?

My positive reviews are 100% truthful, my negative reviews I tried to dilute until they were at a rated g level. I have a lot more negative opinions about some local and national shops, but really they are not even worth my time writing about.

English Racing: I really can not say enough about the group of guys down there! Lucas is the most humble person on earth, and knows the 4g63 better then anyone on the west coast. He is really a great person to deal with. TJ and Jake are amazing techs and have turned out personal and customers cars that would make anyone’s jaw drop. With the addition of Aaron now this is really the best shop I have ever done business with. The prices are very good and the service and quality of work in nothing short of fantastic.

ETS: JR has been around forever and has been making fantastic products that whole time. I think every turbo car I have ever owned has had one of his intercoolers on it at one point or another. I have been dealing with Mike on a personal level for a long time, we have bought and sold a ton of parts and cars between the two of us. He has proved over and over again to be a stand up guy. Tom is one of the more knowledgeable and helpful people that the evo community could ever ask for. With these 3 guys working together with the addition of Ericka and the rest of the ETS staff something special was bound to happen. ETS has amazing prices, service and quality. Every time I go down there they never cease to amaze me.

RREV: Truly a wealth of information contained inside this shop. Rrev is one of the cornerstones of the Supra world. All of these guys are like an extended family. They are always there to lend a helping hand whether it be in the shop, on the phone, or at the track.

Pina: Andre is a great fabricator. Unfortunately I am out of compliments at this point. Pina has had some amazing employees throughout its like. Justin, Nick, Will, and Ryan were all great to deal with. But know that all of those guys are gone getting good service and leaving without feeling that you got screwed over can be a challenge. There are just way to many horror stories to list here. Prices are also on the high side, I don’t think that a reflash should ever cost any were in the neighborhood of $450, especially concidering he didn’t even tune his own cars a few years back.

Drift office: After a few dyno days spent there I can say that Bob is a great guy! The shop is clean and pretty well set up. Prices have also always been great. I have yet to hear a single horror story about these guys.

World 1: Back in the day I had a less then satisfying experience with them. Since this experience talking to Garret I have started to become very impressed with him. He went out of his way to try to make it right. I would not be apposed to buying from these guys. But at this point I am not sure I would have them do any work to my cars. Bust they have been restoring my faith as of late.

Axiom: I like Kyle and he has always quoted me good prices on parts, but his pricing seems of very quite a bit between different customers. After having a friend who had his exhaust fall off after an install and another friend having a motor blown up from faulty shop equipment I would rather take my business to another shop. There is just to many good shops in the Northwest to take a risk just because a shop is close by.

Speedware: I have never bought anything from them, but every time I have ever been in there shop they have been extremely nice. They have a very clean shop and show room. Plus they carry a lot of brands that the other local shops do not buy from.

Fastlane: They have sold me parts, but the part I received was for a different car. After refusing to honor the return of that product that was never installed and being told “Tough ****” I really don’t ever see myself returning there or recommend it to anyone. Use at own risk.

Midgetspec: I know he is now with English Racing but I figure I will give him his own review. Aaron( Johnbradley) is in my opinion the smartest stock ecu tuner around. He has done more for the community then anyone realizes. It is nice knowing that he is just a phone call away, and I can guarantee that I have abused that privilege. I would trust him not only with any car but also my life. If Aaron says he can do it, consider it done, and be ready to be amazed.

A few other shops around the world that I fully put my faith in and recommend to everyone inclued:

Ams: Martin a a great guy and the company makes a great product.

Magnus: Marco is a flat out genius.

Devo Tuning: After meeting Adam last year and knowing the cars that come out of there shop, I almost wish I lived over there.

Awd motorsports: Mike has always been a huge help to me, a great guy all around, if you ever need anything you can count on him to take care of you.

Gsc: If you have ever asked me what cams to get I guarantee I have told out to get a set of gsc’s. Greg is a great guy and develops an awesome set of cams.

 

To be honest i tottally agree with you inneedof . i know i dont have alot of personal experience with alot of our local vendors , as i do all my own work, minus tunning.... i cant argue with all the dsm/evo reviews i read daily talking about what shops there happy with. Im not gonna name any names of my bad or good experience,s with any shops, im just gonna leave it at you couldnt have worded it any better. thanks

 

Lets see...

Midgetspec (AKA JohnBradley) : I had a tune done by him shortly after I bought my car. Originally had a Vishnu tune that was alright. Aaron spent extra time working on the tune (until 10pm one night) In which case he had to drive 100miles to come to me. After running into a snag (because of a Vishnu part) he drove back 2 days later and fixed the problem no questions asked. The price he charged me and the wealth of knowledge he shared with me is bar none. I can honestly say he is one of the more intelligent tuners I have met with awesome prices. Now that he works with Lucas...well I see great things in the future for these guys.

Drift Office : I was down there once for a dyno day and he was very polite and thorough and has awesome prices. All the people down there are really friendly and seem to do great work. They even stayed down their late at night past closing to make sure a friends car got all done.

Lucas English : Haven't had any work done on my own car but I have watched him work on a friends car and can say he does good work. He will spend the extra time to get it done right. He stands behind his work and is a awesome person to talk too.

In my opinion you have Aaron that knows his way around IX's and Mivec and has pioneered alot of what has been unlocked in these ECU's. Then there is Lucas that specializes in VIII's and seeing what his personal car does says something. Now that these two work together I don't think there is anybody else in the NW that is worth going too (for stock ECU that is) Seeing how small English Racing is but being able to build Pauls car to the level of AMS or Buschur is quite amazing. They are holding their own against two of the biggest shops around and may even set the bar for them. Quite impressive I think .

If everybody keeps it clean and doesn't get full with BS this thread should stay around for awhile. With as many new people buying/selling evos and asking the same damn question every fricken day maybe they might take the time to read this first

 

SpeedElement

 

How about adding up the + and - for each vendor and updating the first post with a summary?

 

The only vendor I have any dealings with here in the NW is World One and they seem like a great group of guys. Wish I could say more.

 

Man I cant believe I forgot about you Russel. Always helping me find my stock parts with quick shipping and good deals (DHL was 3 days late last time though...stupid shipping companies)

for Russel at Mitsubishiparts.

 

I updated my OP and will as time goes on.

 

oh yeah i forget about russell! ill add ++ on Mitsubishiparts.net!! FTW

 

Thanks guys, it means a lot to all of us at ETS! From my experiences the northwest has to be the best place to live for the most diverse group of helpful and stand up shops and individuals anywhere. We obviously work closely with English Racing and couldn't be thankful enough for that relationship, and are very happy to have RRev in the area. We've also worked with World One, Giro Disc, Pina and others and have nothing but good things to say about everyone

Tom

 

Lucas English Racing : had a midsized job done on my then-stock IX SE, couldn't be happier. No sense in reposting all of their positive attributes, I would flatly trust these guys with anything that I needed done.

Speedware : Again this shop is super buttoned up, professional, and accomodating. This is my normal service shop (oil changes and the like) for that reason, and because they're close geographically. I don't think they have a TON of Evo-specific knowledge under their belts (service floor usually packed with GT2s and the like, and it's reflected in their shop rate), but I've had nothing but good experiences with these guys. Although I'd trust them to do any work, I drove from Seattle to hit Lucas English shop for my mid-sized job