Poor StarkWeather Performance Installation/Turbonetics Buying Experience

[GetYouOne]

This review is entirely on my own personal experience that I had with the above companies. Been going back and forth since August about making one of these. Never have and I dont like to be in the midst of drama, but a few other members have contacted me knowing my situation to express their issues as well. After losing a few thousand dollars I feel that I need to voice my frustration that I had went through. May be a long review, but bare with me.

I'll start with Turbonetics. Great overall kit, all pieces were labeled, machined, and packaged well. Quick ship time. Now with the buying experience. I been on the fence for about 2 years on a turbo kit and had done a lot of research and the main factor was reliability. A lot of members here recommended the kit and talked very highly of Reggie who I guess is the main sales guy.

I contacted Reggie by email to ask some questions regarding the kit. He answered in a timely fashion. So, I decided to give him a call to ask him some more questions regarding the kit. As I'm talking to him on the phone I get the vibe that I'm just wasting his time as he's very short with me about my questions like he just wants to get off the phone. Few days go by I dwell on it and decide to go for it. Give him a call takes my order down were good to go. I asked him If he could give me a small discount on their turbo blanket that he sells for $350 or so he flat out says no cant do it. Im thinking like I just spent over 5k with you and u cant cut me a small discount on a turbo blanket. So, I start having issues with the kit after it was installed by Starkweather performance. I gave him a call to ask him some technical questions again he says cant help u we never have issues with our kit. No way not possible. Ok, so I'm thinking thanks for the support I got ur money now dont bother me. He says I can refer you to a shop thats 300 miles away from you to help you with the kit. Never got a follow up from him about the kit. To me for someone to at least follow up on a issue with a product is a big thing to me. Big shout out to Rodolfo at Turbonetics though dude went above and beyond for me to answer ALL questions when he didnt have to. Give the man a promotion! Also a member here on the site. Will not purchase anything from Reggie again nor recommend him based on my experience.


Now onto Starkweather Performance. This is a indepth detail experience. Where to Begin. Where to Begin. Let me be clear Josh may be great with ZL1 modding since a lot of guys go to him and hes a branch shop of "ADM". Great, but my turbo experience was absolutely ridiculous. Few members on the site recommended Josh to me since he is local and has been in the Camaro world for awhile, so I figured it would be a great fit. I meet him, check out his business, and talk to a few more people. Seems like a good dude. Tells me I dont need a catch can and my lifters will go if i get above 500whp BLAH BLAH BLAH. Probably wanting to upsell. Other people tell me differently. Told me he has done some AGP Turbo installs, has the fastest twin turbo ZL1 in the world, ok, mine is a turbonetics kit piece of cake right?

Well.....I drop off my brand new in the box turbonetics kit to be installed. He quotes me 2-3 days. Perfect. Said 3k to do install, ZL1 pump, ADM FPCM, bushings, catch can, FAST injectors(never buy these) and a few other things. Ok cool seems fair since I was buying parts from him as well. Drop the car off Mon. I head back 2 days later to drop off some freshly painted powdercoated parts for my turbo install and I see Nate hitting the piping with a t-shirt over a mallet. I ask him if everything is ok, he said, having a hard time lining the piping up. I asked him why was he doing it like that he says every car is different. Um ok? Starting to worry at this point....

So 3 days go by eager to pick up my car. Let me say Josh is almost impossible to get ahold of or anyone at the shop for that matter. Called all day took time off work since it was suppose to be ready then texts me saying it wont be done until Fri were having some issues. Def worried at this point.....Now wait a min all these dudes that bought a turbonetics kit installed it within a day or 2 in their driveway. Josh tells me absolutely no way possible. So Fri comes again never heard from him I take time off work I get a call/text late in the day saying Mon it will be ready by 12 ill call you. Ok I can wait. Mon and 12pm comes no response so I figure its not going to be ready im not taking off work again, so I told Josh I'll come Tues. He said ok by noon all ready to go. Tues comes I said u know what keep the car until closing just in case. He tells me sure np. By this time everyone that I had asked to take me previous times dont want to or is busy, so I asked my 65 year old mother who just had surgery to take me 20 mins to his shop. I get there the car is still not finished.

I had asked him to vent the BOV to atmosphere I wanted that BOV to be heard my first and numerous same request the reasoning for my turbo buy. Guess what wasnt done. I asked him if we could get it done he says I dont have anything to cap it off with if u want it done ur going to have to do it. WTF? Hands me a tool and says go find a cap that fits. That point I want to put this dude through a wall. I go on a wild goose chase trying to find a damn cap for this BOV. I get back hes finishing up Nate shuts my hood, *Bam* they didnt think to remove the ACS drip tray I had and hits my freshly painted intake pipe and scratches it. Nate says
"its not my car." Really? Now the drip tray has to be removed. I told Josh to go ahead and cut it thinking ok he'll just cut it properly save my hood scoop, no he says, I'm not responsible for this if u want it cut then its on you. Well I need to put it back on the car. So we take a heat gun and he prys it off with a pair of plyers shattering the drip tray and scratching up the underside of my hood scoop. I was sooo pissed, but damage has been done what can u do. Nate had his laptop on my painted auto shifter bezel scratched up the paint while the car is tuned. Car was dirty inside. List goes on. I asked him about the mighty mouse catch can I had brought to him he said their is no where to put it I need to make a custom bracket for it and have it powdercoated. Have it in a week. Wow, thats nice of you Josh you shouldnt have. Really, you shouldnt have. We'll get back to the bracket. Also to top this WHOLE thing off with a stage 2 turbo and supporting mods the car does 487whp. I had to actually ask him numerous times and finally says "you want the good news or the bad news." LOL! SMH! Says its too hot and again BLAH BLAH BLAH. I was just baffled. I mean I asked for a conservative tune, but damn I could of slapped a cam and got that. No dyno sheet either that was printed and offered to me.

The point I messed up and take full responsibility for is I paid in cash since that was his "preferred" payment. Under the table stuff you know. Probably doesnt pay taxes on that. I would of filed a charge back with my credit card company in a heart beat on the installation.

So, I come home and my girl finds this on my garys custom fenders since I just wanted to get the heck out of there I didnt look the car over much exterior wise. HMMM the bumper had to come off and back on. Wonder who did this? Josh says they had a hard time getting that side to fit.



Car starts shaking a few days after because my plug pops out, a clamp to the piping comes off, bolt is missing from the intercooler, fuse box is so loose its going to come out, wheels rubs against the piping when I turn, and the list goes on and on. Car runs like crap doesnt pull hard at all.









Oh, Josh says its not his fault its Turbonetics and Reggie says its a installation error. Instead of pointing fingers come to a solution. Never happened. I take the car back to Josh several times for him to fix it and install that ever elusive catch can. He "fixes" the fender issue says his top guy was going to do bend it backI call BS. Never got a copy of the receipt for my documentation. Didnt even look right. Comes back to me saying he needs to modify the piping for the kit to fit. Might have to bend or cut it. WTF ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?! I said forget it ill take the car back. Pick it up no catch can. I ask again whats going on he says the place that is doing it is taking forever on the paint. More excuses. He says come back next week (Wed) i'll put u on the schedule and ill have it done. Wed comes I take off work again guess what his worker Nate was like what r u doing here? I said Josh has me down for the catch can he says ur not on the schedule. Josh is in LA it will be a few hours, but you know what I dont see that bracket anywhere let me call him. Guess what? Couldnt get ahold of him. I said forget it and Ill get in touch with him myself. Week goes by I take a buddy down with me so he can see this unfold Josh is in his waiting room clearly sees me walking up to his shop and was like "Im sick man not feeling good right now been throwing up all AM" this point im just on edge my buddy is looking at me like just relax. I ask him why he didnt put me down like he told me and he said he forgot he'll make it up to me. This point the damn bracket doesnt even exist, not painted, or anything. Catch can is never getting installed by him. This bracket is a unicorn! I'm done at this point. I kept my cool, but trust me I was pissed! He texts me for 3-4 days straight which I'm shocked about asking if I wanted to pick up my piping wrap and then texts me a pic of this bracket which doesnt even look like one or powdercoated. LOL! Too late dude. I didnt even bother to respond back.

Took the car down to one of the most known shops in SoCal 300 miles away and let me tell you a night and day difference. Everything was corrected in 2 days. Car did 555rwhp on the same boost as the 487rwhp. Intercooler was mounted incorrectly by a few inches which domino effected the rest of the kit. Oh and that catch can was installed in a place that was said couldnt happen. In 2 days! So, I was out an additional $1700 for reinstallation, tuning, etc. Gas, lodging, numerous days I took off for work, Scratched intake piping, repainted my hood scoop, auto bezel, body work on my fender and paint. Over 2k. I filed a small claims court case, but the process is too long. I retracted that. I ate the money. Worst expierence ever. Will never touch that place with a 100 foot pole. Some of these guys can drool all over him and his work. Cool story bro, but not me. Never recommend his shop. Nate his main guy means well and does good work. He tried to fix the car ill give him that. Cant bash him too much. Few things I didnt like from him.

Oh yeah and I asked for a receipt for my work. Josh says my wife is out of town she handles the quickbooks. Another excuse. Never got a official receipt for the work I paid for. Toooooo Shady for my book. Turbo guys beware!

Josh, if ur reading this I will be more then happy to sit down with you regarding this whole issue and give you my receipts and documentation from the shop that fixed ur issues. I doubt u would reimburse me as I had mentioned it before and u thought i was crazy for even asking.

The end!

[GetYouOne]

Took my car in for a meth kit install. Luke at Blu808 Motorsports pointed out this concerning issue on the car. Thanks again Luke. Had Josh at JRG Motorsports in Hayward reroute my A/C line and Battery line that was resting on my hotpipes. Starkweather couldnt even route the lines properly. Potential fire hazard like no other.

My intake manifold vacuum line had a bolt in it for a plug and the check valve inside which should of been hooked up.


Also the Fast 85 injectors that i purchased through Starkweather they were pulled and Josh at JRG Motorsports said their wasnt nothing on the injector that indicated it was even a FAST Product. He said their just ZL1 injectors. More I dig into this car again the more shady this guy gets. I'll be pulling my fuel pump and FPCM in August since im upgrading pumps to see if what I paid for is even there. Who knows maybe he thought he can just pull a fast one and I wouldnt find out?

Abel Chevrolet the well respected friendly modified dealership in my area told me when my car was there that they are getting this guys work coming through. To the point they dont even wanna touch it. Buyer beware!

Matt at GP Tuning, Josh at JRG Motorsports, Rich at Abel Chevrolet, and Luke at Blu 808 Motorsports are guys I would look into if ur considering a major build.

[Jacoup]

Originally Posted by GetYouOne

This review is entirely on my own personal experience that I had with the above companies. Been going back and forth since August about making one of these. Never have and I dont like to be in the midst of drama, but a few other members have contacted me knowing my situation to express their issues as well. After losing a few thousand dollars I feel that I need to voice my frustration that I had went through. May be a long review, but bare with me.

I'll start with Turbonetics. Great overall kit, all pieces were labeled, machined, and packaged well. Quick ship time. Now with the buying experience. I been on the fence for about 2 years on a turbo kit and had done a lot of research and the main factor was reliability. A lot of members here recommended the kit and talked very highly of Reggie who I guess is the main sales guy.

I contacted Reggie by email to ask some questions regarding the kit. He answered in a timely fashion. So, I decided to give him a call to ask him some more questions regarding the kit. As I'm talking to him on the phone I get the vibe that I'm just wasting his time as he's very short with me about my questions like he just wants to get off the phone. Few days go by I dwell on it and decide to go for it. Give him a call takes my order down were good to go. I asked him If he could give me a small discount on their turbo blanket that he sells for $350 or so he flat out says no cant do it. Im thinking like I just spent over 5k with you and u cant cut me a small discount on a turbo blanket. So, I start having issues with the kit after it was installed by Starkweather performance. I gave him a call to ask him some technical questions again he says cant help u we never have issues with our kit. No way not possible. Ok, so I'm thinking thanks for the support I got ur money now dont bother me. He says I can refer you to a shop thats 300 miles away from you to help you with the kit. Never got a follow up from him about the kit. To me for someone to at least follow up on a issue with a product is a big thing to me. Big shout out to Rodolfo at Turbonetics though dude went above and beyond for me to answer ALL questions when he didnt have to. Give the man a promotion! Also a member here on the site. Will not purchase anything from Reggie again nor recommend him based on my experience.


Now onto Starkweather Performance. This is a indepth detail experience. Where to Begin. Where to Begin. Let me be clear Josh may be great with ZL1 modding since a lot of guys go to him and hes a branch shop of "ADM". Great, but my turbo experience was absolutely ridiculous. Few members on the site recommended Josh to me since he is local and has been in the Camaro world for awhile, so I figured it would be a great fit. I meet him, check out his business, and talk to a few more people. Seems like a good dude. Tells me I dont need a catch can and my lifters will go if i get above 500whp BLAH BLAH BLAH. Probably wanting to upsell. Other people tell me differently. Told me he has done some AGP Turbo installs, has the fastest twin turbo ZL1 in the world, ok, mine is a turbonetics kit piece of cake right?

Well.....I drop off my brand new in the box turbonetics kit to be installed. He quotes me 2-3 days. Perfect. Said 3k to do install, ZL1 pump, ADM FPCM, bushings, catch can, FAST injectors(never buy these) and a few other things. Ok cool seems fair since I was buying parts from him as well. Drop the car off Mon. I head back 2 days later to drop off some freshly painted powdercoated parts for my turbo install and I see Nate hitting the piping with a t-shirt over a mallet. I ask him if everything is ok, he said, having a hard time lining the piping up. I asked him why was he doing it like that he says every car is different. Um ok? Starting to worry at this point....

So 3 days go by eager to pick up my car. Let me say Josh is almost impossible to get ahold of or anyone at the shop for that matter. Called all day took time off work since it was suppose to be ready then texts me saying it wont be done until Fri were having some issues. Def worried at this point.....Now wait a min all these dudes that bought a turbonetics kit installed it within a day or 2 in their driveway. Josh tells me absolutely no way possible. So Fri comes again never heard from him I take time off work I get a call/text late in the day saying Mon it will be ready by 12 ill call you. Ok I can wait. Mon and 12pm comes no response so I figure its not going to be ready im not taking off work again, so I told Josh I'll come Tues. He said ok by noon all ready to go. Tues comes I said u know what keep the car until closing just in case. He tells me sure np. By this time everyone that I had asked to take me previous times dont want to or is busy, so I asked my 65 year old mother who just had surgery to take me 20 mins to his shop. I get there the car is still not finished.

I had asked him to vent the BOV to atmosphere I wanted that BOV to be heard my first and numerous same request the reasoning for my turbo buy. Guess what wasnt done. I asked him if we could get it done he says I dont have anything to cap it off with if u want it done ur going to have to do it. WTF? Hands me a tool and says go find a cap that fits. That point I want to put this dude through a wall. I go on a wild goose chase trying to find a damn cap for this BOV. I get back hes finishing up Nate shuts my hood, *Bam* they didnt think to remove the ACS drip tray I had and hits my freshly painted intake pipe and scratches it. Nate says
"its not my car." Really? Now the drip tray has to be removed. I told Josh to go ahead and cut it thinking ok he'll just cut it properly save my hood scoop, no he says, I'm not responsible for this if u want it cut then its on you. Well I need to put it back on the car. So we take a heat gun and he prys it off with a pair of plyers shattering the drip tray and scratching up the underside of my hood scoop. I was sooo pissed, but damage has been done what can u do. Nate had his laptop on my painted auto shifter bezel scratched up the paint while the car is tuned. Car was dirty inside. List goes on. I asked him about the mighty mouse catch can I had brought to him he said their is no where to put it I need to make a custom bracket for it and have it powdercoated. Have it in a week. Wow, thats nice of you Josh you shouldnt have. Really, you shouldnt have. We'll get back to the bracket. Also to top this WHOLE thing off with a stage 2 turbo and supporting mods the car does 487whp. I had to actually ask him numerous times and finally says "you want the good news or the bad news." LOL! SMH! Says its too hot and again BLAH BLAH BLAH. I was just baffled. I mean I asked for a conservative tune, but damn I could of slapped a cam and got that. No dyno sheet either that was printed and offered to me.

The point I messed up and take full responsibility for is I paid in cash since that was his "preferred" payment. Under the table stuff you know. Probably doesnt pay taxes on that. I would of filed a charge back with my credit card company in a heart beat on the installation.

So, I come home and my girl finds this on my garys custom fenders since I just wanted to get the heck out of there I didnt look the car over much exterior wise. HMMM the bumper had to come off and back on. Wonder who did this? Josh says they had a hard time getting that side to fit.



Car starts shaking a few days after because my plug pops out, a clamp to the piping comes off, bolt is missing from the intercooler, fuse box is so loose its going to come out, wheels rubs against the piping when I turn, and the list goes on and on. Car runs like crap doesnt pull hard at all.









Oh, Josh says its not his fault its Turbonetics and Reggie says its a installation error. Instead of pointing fingers come to a solution. Never happened. I take the car back to Josh several times for him to fix it and install that ever elusive catch can. He "fixes" the fender issue says his top guy was going to do bend it backI call BS. Never got a copy of the receipt for my documentation. Didnt even look right. Comes back to me saying he needs to modify the piping for the kit to fit. Might have to bend or cut it. WTF ARE YOU EVEN THINKING?! I said forget it ill take the car back. Pick it up no catch can. I ask again whats going on he says the place that is doing it is taking forever on the paint. More excuses. He says come back next week (Wed) i'll put u on the schedule and ill have it done. Wed comes I take off work again guess what his worker Nate was like what r u doing here? I said Josh has me down for the catch can he says ur not on the schedule. Josh is in LA it will be a few hours, but you know what I dont see that bracket anywhere let me call him. Guess what? Couldnt get ahold of him. I said forget it and Ill get in touch with him myself. Week goes by I take a buddy down with me so he can see this unfold Josh is in his waiting room clearly sees me walking up to his shop and was like "Im sick man not feeling good right now been throwing up all AM" this point im just on edge my buddy is looking at me like just relax. I ask him why he didnt put me down like he told me and he said he forgot he'll make it up to me. This point the damn bracket doesnt even exist, not painted, or anything. Catch can is never getting installed by him. This bracket is a unicorn! I'm done at this point. I kept my cool, but trust me I was pissed! He texts me for 3-4 days straight which I'm shocked about asking if I wanted to pick up my piping wrap and then texts me a pic of this bracket which doesnt even look like one or powdercoated. LOL! Too late dude. I didnt even bother to respond back.

Took the car down to one of the most known shops in SoCal 300 miles away and let me tell you a night and day difference. Everything was corrected in 2 days. Car did 555rwhp on the same boost as the 487rwhp. Intercooler was mounted incorrectly by a few inches which domino effected the rest of the kit. Oh and that catch can was installed in a place that was said couldnt happen. In 2 days! So, I was out an additional $1700 for reinstallation, tuning, etc. Gas, lodging, numerous days I took off for work, Scratched intake piping, repainted my hood scoop, auto bezel, body work on my fender and paint. Over 2k. I filed a small claims court case, but the process is too long. I retracted that. I ate the money. Worst expierence ever. Will never touch that place with a 100 foot pole. Some of these guys can drool all over him and his work. Cool story bro, but not me. Never recommend his shop. Nate his main guy means well and does good work. He tried to fix the car ill give him that. Cant bash him too much. Few things I didnt like from him.

Oh yeah and I asked for a receipt for my work. Josh says my wife is out of town she handles the quickbooks. Another excuse. Never got a official receipt for the work I paid for. Toooooo Shady for my book. Turbo guys beware!

Josh, if ur reading this I will be more then happy to sit down with you regarding this whole issue and give you my receipts and documentation from the shop that fixed ur issues. I doubt u would reimburse me as I had mentioned it before and u thought i was crazy for even asking.

The end!

Which so cal shop?

[GetYouOne]

Full Throttle Kustomz right by Magic Mountain can't say enough about Ray just an amazing tuner. Just came back from there for my Alky meth kit.

[GunnyH]

My personal experience was worse, but I feel your pain. I would never recommend Starkweather to anyone.

[GetYouOne]

I see that he has taken money from numerous people and closed up shop. I bought a new Z06 Vette and I cringe everytime I go by that place. Dude is pathetic.

Originally Posted by GunnyH

My personal experience was worse, but I feel your pain. I would never recommend Starkweather to anyone.

[YULH8ME]

Place went out of business but still owes me money. Paid cash and card. Credit card company returned money but the cash part I am out of. They emailed back then stopped responding.

[GetYouOne]

Its funny when i came on here to post my initial review and ridiculous experience their were mods, friends of Josh, Andy at ADM, and so forth defending this conjob. Even this thread was locked at one point and SSE kept it open, so I could let others know about this guy. Take a look at his yelp, blowing engines left and right, taking money from others, and lying through his teeth to his customers. Pretty sad. I paid straight cash and I had looked into small claims, but the process was lengthy and just wasnt worth it for me. I dont hate a lot of people, but this guy for sure.



I hope you get ur money back, but I doubt you will with cash. Best of luck.

Originally Posted by YULH8ME

Place went out of business but still owes me money. Paid cash and card. Credit card company returned money but the cash part I am out of. They emailed back then stopped responding.