Vararam - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

SouthbayLSX · 07-22-2014, 09:12 PM

(Cliff notes) Vararam Super Street New unit Revised model STILL POOR BUILD QUALITY. 7/22/2014

I am a new comer here on the board, and i really felt the need to drop in my 2 cents today.

So after getting my 10' L99 2SS/RS i found out about this site and learned the fuse pull trick. i was really happy i found a descent looking community of people who love this car like i do.

The first mod that i wanted to do on my car was to modify the intake. I quickly learned about OTR "over the radiator" and regular Tube style intakes. I feel as though i know i want to eventually build a all motor car so i thought i should look for a OTR intake to fit my needs.

The two most common names came up. Vararam and New Era. After months of reading and lingering in the backgrounds i decided to pull the trigger on the Vararam intake the new revised Super street (TUNE model).
I chose this over the New Era intake sheerly because of price difference saving 180 dollars for basically a OTR ram style unit.

I read about quality issues that the earlier models of vararam units have and thought to myself a lot of these quality accounts were back in 2009 2010 2011 SURELY NOW..... in 2014...... with a "revised" model i should be in the clear! Vararam is known for great power!!!! i convinced myself of this...

I get to my shop and the truck guy is extra early today, i am super excited because i know he has goodies for me. I sign for the package look at the box and its in great shape. Thank god it survived transit. I open the box after lunch and inspect the product.

My heart sank... I have never purchased something i was so excited about to be let down in build quality the way i was today. I took it out of the plastic bag that it was in and the first thing that came to my mind was WOW this has the build quality of a elementary school science fair project... sloppy cutts, horrible plastic welds, it was put together horribly crooked.

The Vararam Unit is basically Three Plastic pieces and a filter.

The base where the plastic mold cones together like a funnel for your throttle body

A Center section that is basically a Double intake runner

And a flap of molded plastic that acts like a directional for the ram air aspect of the device.

MY BIGGEST PROBLEM is with the connection between the BASE and the Center two intake runners. These two pieces were horribly molded and were ALREADY warped, I run my own business and deal with products being created with a mold, Before they were put together by who ever makes these at Vararam. It did not fit together. The pieces were forced together and screwed together by two little allen wrench looking nut fixtures and there is basically empty spaces and a huge gapping all over the surrounding where the units combine. FOR SURE my particular unit will bleed air at all these gaps and will intake hot air from right next to my motor. I am super disappointed and am currently working with my vendor to either receive a flawless unit or my money back.

I really wrote this rant out and put a date at the top so that other people in the community realize the quality control with this brand in NOT there,
It has not got BETTER, and quite frankly i feel stupid for being a cheapo and choosing vararam because it was 180 dollars cheaper.

As a company they should be disgusted with themselves for allowing such poorly constructed products to leave their establishments and into the hands of a consumer, at the price that they charge!!

BubbaSS · 07-23-2014, 10:02 AM

Pics?

MarylandSpeed · 07-23-2014, 10:42 AM

Two things...

First, if you do any kind of research on Vararam you will find people complaining about the "quality". Vararam is a small company, and their intakes do have a "homebuilt" flavor. They do however almost always perform better than more traditional design intakes and plain work. It is a trade off. Something like a Rotofab or CAI are nice build quality, but likely don't make the same power. Some products are nicer than others.

Second, they have a money back guarantee. If you don't like how it is made, call them and send it back, and you get a full refund. No need to flame them or act all ripped off.

sales@vararam.com · 07-23-2014, 10:57 AM

Sure wish you had taken a little time to call us first and discuss this. Would be glad to address whatever issues you have. Common courtesy goes a long way
toward good relations. Instead you chose to spend time bashing us without bothering to inform us. Our customer service would have been glad to hear from you and help!!! We are happy to take the unit back if you desire.

sales@vararam.com · 07-23-2014, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarylandSpeed

Two things...

First, if you do any kind of research on Vararam you will find people complaining about the "quality". Vararam is a small company, and their intakes do have a "homebuilt" flavor. They do however almost always perform better than more traditional design intakes and plain work. It is a trade off. Something like a Rotofab or CAI are nice build quality, but likely don't make the same power. Some products are nicer than others.

Second, they have a money back guarantee. If you don't like how it is made, call them and send it back, and you get a full refund. No need to flame them or act all ripped off.

Thanks Maryland Speed!!!! Appreciate!!!

Mydivorcegift · 07-23-2014, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sales@vararam.com

Sure wish you had taken a little time to call us first and discuss this. Would be glad to address whatever issues you have. Common courtesy goes a long way
toward good relations. Instead you chose to spend time bashing us without bothering to inform us. Our customer service would have been glad to hear from you and help!!! We are happy to take the unit back if you desire.

What about customer service chiming in here to service all of the potential customers.....

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=359782

You know the thread you started 2 months ago.....

sales@vararam.com · 07-23-2014, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mydivorcegift

What about customer service chiming in here to service all of the potential customers.....

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=359782

You know the thread you started 2 months ago.....

The R&D people are still hard at work everyday to get a final prototype of the manifold - lots of variables to consider!!!Runner lengths -plenum volume -hood clearances -etc.

djpelosi · 07-23-2014, 11:17 AM

Nobody is perfect. Maybe you just got a "1 bad apple in the bunch" kind of unit. Instead of coming on here and saying what terrible work they do, you should have called Vararam first and let them help you with your dissatisfaction. If they refused to help or were very rude/unresponsive about your issue, then that is when you let everyone know of your experience. I bought a Hurst short throw shifter and it took me 30 minutes to get the linkage connected because it came with a steel bushing that was a little big and required some "finagling." Did I come on here and bash a very reputable company(Hurst) for giving me a shitty product because it didn't fit perfectly at first? No.

Mydivorcegift · 07-23-2014, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sales@vararam.com

The R&D people are still hard at work everyday to get a final prototype of the manifold - lots of variables to consider!!!Runner lengths -plenum volume -hood clearances -etc.

All I hear is blah blah blah....

In your post here...

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showpo...8&postcount=52

You stated it cleared the hood. You also stated...."There is a substantial amount of power to be gained from a stock car and even more from cars with a cam, heads/ cam or larger cubic inch combinations.
We will have numbers for you soon. We have been testing to dial in closer to each combination to generate the maximum power from each."

When is soon?

Sorry to hijack OP....and for the record I have your intake and have always promoted it and felt like it was the best intake....but I hate BS...read my sig.

SouthbayLSX · 07-23-2014, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sales@vararam.com

Sure wish you had taken a little time to call us first and discuss this. Would be glad to address whatever issues you have. Common courtesy goes a long way
toward good relations. Instead you chose to spend time bashing us without bothering to inform us. Our customer service would have been glad to hear from you and help!!! We are happy to take the unit back if you desire.

First, i contacted the vendor i purchased this unit from. They have my money im dealing with them. I did not buy from Vararam directly.

Secondly common courtesy? How about you send out products with some quality control so that customers dont feel the need to review a product poorly. When you go to an establishment and do not like the product and or service, do you take the time to review it with them before you leave a yelp review? yea probably not. I have read a bunch of horrible reviews and told myself that soo much time has gone by and revisions have been made surely the products are top notch by this point, i was wrong.

You guys design products for high performance vehicles and they get sent to people who love their cars. The products are poorly built they get poor reviews simple as that.

This matter is not about you guys not wanting to give me my money back or a return process, it is about the quality in the product you send out. This is a community website and i am reporting back with my experience and quality with stuff i purchased for my car.

sales@vararam.com · 07-23-2014, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthbayLSX

First, i contacted the vendor i purchased this unit from. They have my money im dealing with them. I did not buy from Vararam directly.

Secondly common courtesy? How about you send out products with some quality control so that customers dont feel the need to review a product poorly. When you go to an establishment and do not like the product and or service, do you take the time to review it with them before you leave a yelp review? yea probably not. I have read a bunch of horrible reviews and told myself that soo much time has gone by and revisions have been made surely the products are top notch by this point, i was wrong.

You guys design products for high performance vehicles and they get sent to people who love their cars. The products are poorly built they get poor reviews simple as that.

This matter is not about you guys not wanting to give me my money back or a return process, it is about the quality in the product you send out. This is a community website and i am reporting back with my experience and quality with stuff i purchased for my car.

Our phone number is 713-477-8100 -please call! We guarantee the product -not the vendor.

rontammy0 · 07-23-2014, 12:00 PM

K@N baby........

SouthbayLSX · 07-23-2014, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djpelosi

Nobody is perfect. Maybe you just got a "1 bad apple in the bunch" kind of unit. Instead of coming on here and saying what terrible work they do, you should have called Vararam first and let them help you with your dissatisfaction. If they refused to help or were very rude/unresponsive about your issue, then that is when you let everyone know of your experience. I bought a Hurst short throw shifter and it took me 30 minutes to get the linkage connected because it came with a steel bushing that was a little big and required some "finagling." Did I come on here and bash a very reputable company(Hurst) for giving me a shitty product because it didn't fit perfectly at first? No.

Its not just one bad apple, my review just adds to the shotty product reputation that they have. I wrote my review to save all the guys time who consider buying this stuff. People are busy when they buy stuff they should not have to go through a customer service process to try to "finagle" it to work. When you pay a certain price for a product you expect a certain quality.

sales@vararam.com · 07-23-2014, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mydivorcegift

All I hear is blah blah blah....

In your post here...

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showpo...8&postcount=52

You stated it cleared the hood. You also stated...."There is a substantial amount of power to be gained from a stock car and even more from cars with a cam, heads/ cam or larger cubic inch combinations.
We will have numbers for you soon. We have been testing to dial in closer to each combination to generate the maximum power from each."

When is soon?

Sorry to hijack OP....and for the record I have your intake and have always promoted it and felt like it was the best intake....but I hate BS...read my sig.

Here is an update from this morning.

VRX Intake manifold Update:
The VRX will now cover the LS-7 as well as the LS-3

Since we unveiled the VRX Cross ram Intake prototype a couple of months back, we have been hard at work testing different LS engine combinations.
Few realize that the VRX is 12 manifolds in ONE! Covering the LS-3 and LS-7 combinations. Each with its own runner length/volume and plenum combinations.
We are currently working with OEM’s and several renowned LS engine builders (to be disclosed very soon) Honing in on each combination to optimize performance For Torque, Horsepower and drivability. We are spending the time and money required in testing to ensure maximum power gains with smooth drivability, right out of the box. Power without drive-ability is useless for a street car.
Our loyal Vararam customers know, VR products are always worth the wait and guaranteed to perform or we will take them back.
That is why we were Chosen as the official induction system supplier for the COPO Camaro program.
Vararam products deliver record setting performance!
We will have a full update with pictures and video of the final production combinations very soon as we enter into our final phases of testing.
VR Tech.

07-22-2014, 09:12 PM	#1
SouthbayLSX Drives: 2 camaros and a vette Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: bay area ca Posts: 6	Vararam (Cliff notes) Vararam Super Street New unit Revised model STILL POOR BUILD QUALITY. 7/22/2014 I am a new comer here on the board, and i really felt the need to drop in my 2 cents today. So after getting my 10' L99 2SS/RS i found out about this site and learned the fuse pull trick. i was really happy i found a descent looking community of people who love this car like i do. The first mod that i wanted to do on my car was to modify the intake. I quickly learned about OTR "over the radiator" and regular Tube style intakes. I feel as though i know i want to eventually build a all motor car so i thought i should look for a OTR intake to fit my needs. The two most common names came up. Vararam and New Era. After months of reading and lingering in the backgrounds i decided to pull the trigger on the Vararam intake the new revised Super street (TUNE model). I chose this over the New Era intake sheerly because of price difference saving 180 dollars for basically a OTR ram style unit. I read about quality issues that the earlier models of vararam units have and thought to myself a lot of these quality accounts were back in 2009 2010 2011 SURELY NOW..... in 2014...... with a "revised" model i should be in the clear! Vararam is known for great power!!!! i convinced myself of this... I get to my shop and the truck guy is extra early today, i am super excited because i know he has goodies for me. I sign for the package look at the box and its in great shape. Thank god it survived transit. I open the box after lunch and inspect the product. My heart sank... I have never purchased something i was so excited about to be let down in build quality the way i was today. I took it out of the plastic bag that it was in and the first thing that came to my mind was WOW this has the build quality of a elementary school science fair project... sloppy cutts, horrible plastic welds, it was put together horribly crooked. The Vararam Unit is basically Three Plastic pieces and a filter. The base where the plastic mold cones together like a funnel for your throttle body A Center section that is basically a Double intake runner And a flap of molded plastic that acts like a directional for the ram air aspect of the device. MY BIGGEST PROBLEM is with the connection between the BASE and the Center two intake runners. These two pieces were horribly molded and were ALREADY warped, I run my own business and deal with products being created with a mold, Before they were put together by who ever makes these at Vararam. It did not fit together. The pieces were forced together and screwed together by two little allen wrench looking nut fixtures and there is basically empty spaces and a huge gapping all over the surrounding where the units combine. FOR SURE my particular unit will bleed air at all these gaps and will intake hot air from right next to my motor. I am super disappointed and am currently working with my vendor to either receive a flawless unit or my money back. I really wrote this rant out and put a date at the top so that other people in the community realize the quality control with this brand in NOT there, It has not got BETTER, and quite frankly i feel stupid for being a cheapo and choosing vararam because it was 180 dollars cheaper. As a company they should be disgusted with themselves for allowing such poorly constructed products to leave their establishments and into the hands of a consumer, at the price that they charge!!

07-23-2014, 10:02 AM	#2
BubbaSS WHAT RED LIGHT?! Drives: 2011 Black Camaro 2SS/RS M6 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 1,115	Pics? __________________ 2011 2SS/RS M6 BLACK - VARARAM NO TUNE INTAKE, MODDED AND PORTED TB, PORTED INTAKE MANIFOLD, VITESSE THROTTLE CONTROLLER, DOUG THORLEY LT'S, CATLESS, X-PIPE, 25" STAINLESS WORKS RETRO CHAMBERED MUFFLERS, CUSTOM 2.5" MANDREL BENT EXHAUST, RICHMOND 4.10 GEARS, CUSTOM CAM (231/242 @ 114LSA), MUSTANG DYNO TUNED BY TORQ, 20% CERAMIC TINTS, EIBACH PROKIT SPRINGS 1" DROP, HAWK PERFORMANCE CERAMIC BRAKES, NITTO INVO TIRES, HYDROCARBON TAIL LIGHT AND FOG LIGHT BEZELS BY EMBLEMPROS, METRA DASH KIT, JVC KW-AV71BT, PHOENIX GOLD iAMP GM1, PASSPORT QI45 - 450 RWHP 415 RWTQ

07-23-2014, 11:17 AM	#8
djpelosi Drives: 2010 Camaro 2SS/RS Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Cordova, TN Posts: 774	Nobody is perfect. Maybe you just got a "1 bad apple in the bunch" kind of unit. Instead of coming on here and saying what terrible work they do, you should have called Vararam first and let them help you with your dissatisfaction. If they refused to help or were very rude/unresponsive about your issue, then that is when you let everyone know of your experience. I bought a Hurst short throw shifter and it took me 30 minutes to get the linkage connected because it came with a steel bushing that was a little big and required some "finagling." Did I come on here and bash a very reputable company(Hurst) for giving me a shitty product because it didn't fit perfectly at first? No. __________________ 2010 Camaro 2SS M6 2" Stainless Power Longtube Headers 3" Full exhaust w/ Off-Road H-Pipe Bo White Ported Throttle Body Hurst Short Throw Shifter Best Time: 12.43 @ 114, 1.99 60' on stock wheels and stock tires Build Thread

07-23-2014, 10:42 AM	#3
MarylandSpeed Account Suspended Drives: 2012 ZL1 & 2010 2SS/RS Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Maryland Posts: 3,378	Two things... First, if you do any kind of research on Vararam you will find people complaining about the "quality". Vararam is a small company, and their intakes do have a "homebuilt" flavor. They do however almost always perform better than more traditional design intakes and plain work. It is a trade off. Something like a Rotofab or CAI are nice build quality, but likely don't make the same power. Some products are nicer than others. Second, they have a money back guarantee. If you don't like how it is made, call them and send it back, and you get a full refund. No need to flame them or act all ripped off.

07-23-2014, 10:57 AM	#4
sales@vararam.com Drives: 2010 camaro Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Houston Tx Posts: 562	Sure wish you had taken a little time to call us first and discuss this. Would be glad to address whatever issues you have. Common courtesy goes a long way toward good relations. Instead you chose to spend time bashing us without bothering to inform us. Our customer service would have been glad to hear from you and help!!! We are happy to take the unit back if you desire.

07-23-2014, 12:00 PM	#12
rontammy0 Account Suspended Drives: 2011 2SS/ RS INFERNO ORANGE L99 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Alliston Ontario Canada Posts: 9,057 View My Garage	K@N baby........