These were responses to my article on SBR/PSI. I am not alone when I say SBR has problems.

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hmm SBR, well where do I start?

I bought a PTE turbo from them. When I bought it, I asked for all the parts needed to install. I was given an oil feed line from the head (which we all know is not good for that turbo). Well at the time I did not know this, and apparently they didn't either. couple of months go by and I start to see all the posts about running the pte off the oil filter location. So I decide to check mine.(I was also having a boost leak problem which turned out to be something unrelated) with less than 5k miles it has some shaft play, oil in the inlet and the compressor fins are greyish in color. I call them up to get the problem resolved. I talk with Curt and he makes some calls and all and says it sounds like the turbo got hot from lack of oil. He then asks me the where the oil is fed from. I tell him the head, like you told me too run it. He then states that, oh that is not good and the turbo is probably bad now! So I ask for a new feed line in exchange for my old one, and also inquire about what to do with the turbo as this is a daily driver. He says talk to Mike. So I email Mike and state my problem. All I wanted was a new line and I would gladly send my other one back. I also wanted something to be done with the turbo. If it is showing this much wear now, it is not going to fix itself. The reply Email I get is from Mike saying he doesn't respond to emails with people demanding stuff from him. And that he would have given me another line at a discounted price. This really flamed me,( I already paid 50 bucks for one line, why pay for another one when I should have gotten the right one in the 1st place?) I never at any point in my email was demanding or rude. I did show my displeasure with the way it was handled on their half, but in what I thought was a professional way. So we go on and on thru a couple replys with him saying that I wrote all these rude emails, when all I ever wrote one the one mentioned above. In the end I asked that he forward the email to me where I was rude. Needless to say I have not heard from him since and that has been 3 weeks or better.

And Mike if you are reading, my friends and I that used to consider you a "local" shop have since gone elsewhere and will continue to do so.

3 dsmlinks, 2 FMIC kits, and 3 sets of cams and cam gears later with much more to come...........You do the math

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I've bought twice from SBR.. once prior to their growth explosion.. and once recently.

Let's just say from a CS-standpoint.. I liked them better before.

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After my first 2 orders about a year ago, I would have paid extra for the service that I received. Mike was polite and great with responding to emails. Both transactions went very smoothly. The 3d and last one I made recently was a disaster. My originally polite emails were at first ignored and then responded to by Curt with extreme rudeness.

They don't seem to care about the little customer anymore. I think this is so crazy because it was happy customers and good reviews that made them so popular. I can't believe that they would be so cheap when it comes to making up for a mistake made to these customers. Sometimes being too cheap can end up being very expensive in the long run. This is a great example of that, this thread has already had more than 700 views from potential customers.

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Here is my experience with SBR:

I have bought parts from their website and always received the items quickly in the past. Recently, I purchased a stage 1 shortblock with Wiseco pistons. I called them a week in advance, they said the shortblock was ready to go other than the front case/oilpump I also wanted. I drove 3+ hours and they looked clueless when I said I was here to pick up the shortblock. We drove over to the shop and the front case wasn't installed yet. No big deal, and they paid for my lunch while they installed it. Also I brought along a 6bolt core, 2G pistons on messed up 1G rods and a 6 bolt crank that they gave me a good price on. Once I installed the engine in my Talon, I fired it up only to find oil gushing out of the oil galley behind the transmission plate. Apparently they forgot to install the plug in the oil galley. I asked them to reimburse me for a clutch job, since I had to pull the tranmission again to fix the problem. Mike's response was that he would give me some of my "junk" I sold him back rather than give me any reimbursement and also he said he had no idea I was coming even though I called them a week in advance. I had no problem with this, but I suggested that I needed injectors anyway so instead of wasting the money to ship my parts back if they just gave me a discount on a set of injectors I would be happy. Mike stopped responding to my emails and I dropped it. I just decided never to do business with them again since they just stopped responding to my emails. I have had no other problems with the engine since, but I only have 1000miles on it so far.

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This sucks, SBR was easy to buy stuff and really good prices. The main problem I see with them, is that they take on too much bussiness than they can handle so they get backed up. Mike was always nice to me but he screwed my friend over on his stage 1 block. If he would have taken his time building that motor, He would have my bussiness again.

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Here is my SBR story:

I email Mike back and forth a few times and he gives me a package deal price on some things I need for my new 1G. I called to talked to Mike and I told him I was ready to order everything. He specifically told me that everything was in stock and they could have everything sent out in 2 days because the porting takes a day or so.

About 5 days later I get a box from SBR. My boost controller in a big box. LMAO. The next day I get another big box with a Walbro 255 in it. No turbo, no exhaust manifold, no 02 housing. Hmmm, I email them and ask how long before everything else is shipped. No response (which they seem to do when an order is not filled).

It has now been 2 weeks and I call. "We just got an order of turbos in today and yours is headed to porting". OK, no problem it should be out of porting in a few days. Yet again!!!

Another week goes by and I call again. Talk to Curt and he goes to check on my order. After being on hold for 15 minutes he comes back to say they are waiting on an oil line to come in before they ship everything. I told them to ship what they have ready because my head is going back on the car. A week later my package finally arrives. WOO HOOO. The exhaust manifold, 02 housing, and Evo 16g are in a beat up box all thrown in there with some peanuts. The peanuts are stuffed into the manifold, 02 housing and the turbo had a piece of plastic around it. The plastic was not even closed and I had to dig out peanuts on the exhaust side of the turbo. At least they covered the intake side with a loose piece of packing paper. In my inbox the day the turbo arrives I get a tracking number. What a joke the customer service was after they got their money.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fact the the turbo was scratched from being banged around with the 02 housing and manifold.

My experience with Extreme PSI was the complete opposite. When I ordered they CALLED my cellphone to let me know that it would be a day or two longer than they originally thought. Even though it wasn't a big order they took the time to call. That is what keeps customers coming back.

sorry for the rant!!!

Thankfully my problems are small in comparison to others on this board.

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I ordered kyb agx's and eibach sportlines for my fwd. I ordered them on a friday and they said it it should be in before next friday. Well it turned out after all that calling that it took a month later than i expected just for shocks and springs. Unfortunatly it messed me up a bit cause everyday I was waiting for them cause I was in a rush to put them on. The car looks good by the way, cant drive it because still have to do head work and fuel mods.

BM tranny lsd insert. I sent it off to slowboy, took a month longer than expected, kinda used to it now. my 90 tranny sat outside for a while and got rust on it. They said that one of the gears are rusted but it will be ok if i just change the tranny fluid really every 100 miles the first couple of times. thats cool. they said that my 90 tranny with 135,000 miles had good syncros and gears. so all it needed was the lsd insert and it would be on its way. They said they cleaned it for free. I get it back a month later and it is just as dirty as it was before. Maybe even dirtier. Had oil on it. So I took some cans of carb cleaner and went to work on it. It looks mostly ok now on the outside but i am hoping that the tranny is in good shape because I remember huml saying that 90's are a pain in the ass and they would like it if i shipped em a 91 to rebuild.well, I couldn't get a 91 so I shipped em my original tranny and they said they would look at it.

So I am still hoping that my tranny works when I drop everything in my tsi in a couple months. wish me luck. I hope that sbr slows down and starts taking care of the people that have allready handed them thier money instead of worrying bout bringing new victoms in. I really liked mike huml personally, he is a nice guy. maybe things just got out of hand with his staff. I worked in a couple shops and I know that it is hard to take care of your customers when you have some dicks working for you.

By the way, a friend of mine with a gvr4 ordered a stage 1 block. It took em almost 2 months before he got it. Mike huml told em that balance shafts would be eliminated and that the topline front cover that he paid 179 bux for would be put on. well my friend gets his block and there is no front cover on there. How convenient that they forgot to put the front cover on because that means that they wouldnt have to spend the money on the balance shaft eliminater kit. So for future refference, "balance shafts eliminated" means yanked out and you have to install the subby shaft, bearing and plug in your self along with the front cover they said they would install. He called them and they said to ship the block back to em and they would do it for free. I think shipping was like 150 bucks one way. Good luck with everyone else. I hope they get theier act straight because i would like to order from them in the future but I know that I could get screwed bad if its my unlucky day, so I will have to think about that.

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As for dealing with SBR, I've had a lot of great experiences and maybe one negative. They are all pretty helpful guys, and if I have a problem I know I can call them just to ask and bs. a bit with them. Basically I have only been sent one wrong part (that being the oil feed to the head). My brother and I have combined spent probably around $4,000 at their shop. I'm planning on spending a lot more there as well. The only thing I am pissed about is that I never got a Xmas card after spending all that money

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The one thing I will say about my dealings with SBR is that when I called they were always very nice and helpful on the phone. Mike and Curt were always willing to talk and help me decide what I might need.

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My SBR experiance:

I emailed Mike Huml many times, as he posted he was looking for 1g block+cranks for motors to build. I knew of a couple, we ended up not being able to work out a deal, but he was always prompt etc.

So I figure Mike has always replied quickly (within 2 hours) to email etc, they have good prices, I might as well order from them.

Ross pistons, Eagle rods, exhaust manifold stud kit, water pump, and the infamous "tuner lug nuts."

3 or 4 days go by, no tracking email, i've been charged, so I email them. No reply. Day 5, email Curt and Mike, no reply. Same goes on until day 9. At this point I've called the shop and left messages, and a ton of emails, no one has said a word. I get ahold of Curt on the phone, he says they are missing TWO of the "tuner lug nuts" so they didn't send out the rest of the parts. I went ballistic. Not only had they delayed my motor rebuild by 2 weeks, they did it over 2 bolts AND they didn't contact me to see what I wanted to do. I told them flat out that was VERY bad customer service, I wanted my package in 2 days, Curt apologized and said it would be there by Wednesday. That was on a Monday, it came in on Friday.

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I ordered a stage 3 head from them, got it about 2 1/2 months after i ordered it, and the ports looked like a kid did them, he installed the cams and gears for me so he did one thing good, but now i just gotta get my car running, heres hoping the head is good....

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