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Bluewater Performance - Denver - be advised
- Thread starter Superfreak
- Start date
Superfreak
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Denver
- Car(s)
- ‘19 M2C, ‘05 Taco
That’s exactly what I was just thinking. So stupid, no one wants to deal with bs like this. I don’t want to write a review to get someone to do the right thing. I think they’ll try to make it right. We’ll see.
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Yeah man hopefully they make it right but shitty way have to go about it but atleast it looks like they are going to and not have to make you take legal action.
Coolrunning39
Go Kart Newbie
- Location
- Denver
Mistakes happen when working on cars for sure, we all know that. I have had minor mistakes at BW over the years and they have always immediately taken care of the issue. I hope the same happens for you my friend.
I am taking in my GSW TDI for a new clutch and other fun parts on Friday so hopefully everything goes well too. Personally, I know Alex is a nice person but he isn't their TDI tech so can't comment on his work for this upcoming round.
I am taking in my GSW TDI for a new clutch and other fun parts on Friday so hopefully everything goes well too. Personally, I know Alex is a nice person but he isn't their TDI tech so can't comment on his work for this upcoming round.
Superfreak
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Denver
- Car(s)
- ‘19 M2C, ‘05 Taco
Agree 100% that mistakes happen, but what was done after the fact is why I’m frustrated. Lots of damage that had nothing to do with the internals.
Whenever I make a mistake on a customer’s instrument I own it immediately. I expect that others would do the same. Anyway, I’ll hopefully get this resolved on Friday. I hope your visit goes awesome and maybe I’ll see you there.
Coolrunning39
Go Kart Newbie
- Location
- Denver
I fully agree with you. A person definitely has to own their mistakes when that happens. It’s just common decency. Your situation has a lot of scaring and I hope they take care of you 
I’m the guy with a white GSW TDI on coils and bronze Neuspeed rims. Say hi if you see me
I’m the guy with a white GSW TDI on coils and bronze Neuspeed rims. Say hi if you see me
Brutal man. I'm sorry you have to go through this. You must have some serious patience. I have to say in my past experience with Bluewater working with Ben(no longer there), Jaryd, and Alex I only have great things to say. They have always treated me right and I'm honestly shocked to see this.
With all that said, I no longer go to BW. Not sure if you are aware but there is a lot of bad blood between BW and EQT and being a relatively early adopter of EQT tuning on the stock IS38 to the Vortex I have now it's been perfect every step of the way. BW is a huge UM shop. Arguably one of the best UM dealers in the country and I was very close to going with them vs EQT 3 yrs ago, but the dealer led model and the lack of easy data logging was a show stopper for me.
Anyway, on some of the Facebook pages there has been some heated back and forth between Alex and Ed at EQT, as well as, Jeff at UM and Ed. Alex has mentioned that their Vortex turbos (and any other hybrid for that matter) fail to make boost at our elevation, under perform, and a lot of the Vortex turbos they installed have blown up. The interesting thing here is all those are Vortex turbos with UM doing the tuning. I beat the shit out of my Vortex and the old IS38 and they both had zero issues with meeting target boost and put down great power. Do I think these guys really sabotage anyone that is EQT tuned or has the Vortex turbo....no, but all this bad blood has made me nervous enough that I'm leery of going back. That and the fact that I have chimed in on some of those back and forths with Alex and Ed where I have respectfully noted that my Vortex has had zero issues with meeting boost at our elevation, made great power, etc. and I definitely don't baby this thing.
For what it's worth (i know too late now) but Salta Motorsports installed my Autotech HPFP back when I was on the stock IS38 prior to getting a custom E40 tune from Ed. My HPFP has been flawless for the past 3+ years no issues. Joseph, Steve and Martin at Salta are awesome, super reasonable price wise, and just super nice guys to boot. If they weren't the furthest of the good VAG shops from me I
would probably use them more often for the stuff I don't do myself.
Edit...Here's just a small sampling of the dialogue. There was a lot more on this thread/post.....
With all that said, I no longer go to BW. Not sure if you are aware but there is a lot of bad blood between BW and EQT and being a relatively early adopter of EQT tuning on the stock IS38 to the Vortex I have now it's been perfect every step of the way. BW is a huge UM shop. Arguably one of the best UM dealers in the country and I was very close to going with them vs EQT 3 yrs ago, but the dealer led model and the lack of easy data logging was a show stopper for me.
Anyway, on some of the Facebook pages there has been some heated back and forth between Alex and Ed at EQT, as well as, Jeff at UM and Ed. Alex has mentioned that their Vortex turbos (and any other hybrid for that matter) fail to make boost at our elevation, under perform, and a lot of the Vortex turbos they installed have blown up. The interesting thing here is all those are Vortex turbos with UM doing the tuning. I beat the shit out of my Vortex and the old IS38 and they both had zero issues with meeting target boost and put down great power. Do I think these guys really sabotage anyone that is EQT tuned or has the Vortex turbo....no, but all this bad blood has made me nervous enough that I'm leery of going back. That and the fact that I have chimed in on some of those back and forths with Alex and Ed where I have respectfully noted that my Vortex has had zero issues with meeting boost at our elevation, made great power, etc. and I definitely don't baby this thing.
For what it's worth (i know too late now) but Salta Motorsports installed my Autotech HPFP back when I was on the stock IS38 prior to getting a custom E40 tune from Ed. My HPFP has been flawless for the past 3+ years no issues. Joseph, Steve and Martin at Salta are awesome, super reasonable price wise, and just super nice guys to boot. If they weren't the furthest of the good VAG shops from me I
would probably use them more often for the stuff I don't do myself.
Edit...Here's just a small sampling of the dialogue. There was a lot more on this thread/post.....
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I'm not exactly a big fan of UM, they're a pain in the ass to deal with (though still much faster at delivering tunes than Ed in my experience), but I don't think they're bullshitting about the Vortex stuff. There's definitely been a couple periods of less reliable Vortexes out in the wild, possibly combined with the shitty knockoff wastegate actuators EQT has been selling for a while. Something was definitely going on when I went to sell mine, prices were in the basement with so many freshly warrantied units for sale.
And for what it's worth, UM/BW had no problems tuning my Vortex, at least as far as making boost at altitude.
I definitely know EQT has had issues like most have at one time or another.
It's just Alex in the posts I have seen made it seem like every single one they have tried to tune has sucked... not making boost or eventually blowing. It's good to hear that your car with the Vortex was successfully tuned here by BW & UM. Did you live in Denver at some point? I have followed some of your build thread and see you are in Michigan?
Again, with regards to BW I have only had positive experiences when they have worked on my car. I think my old 5 star Google review is still floating around out there for their shop. This whole debacle with Superfreak's car is pretty concerning though.
Superfreak
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Denver
- Car(s)
- ‘19 M2C, ‘05 Taco
Thanks @MSH, I appreciate the concern. Without going into too much detail here, as I have an unconfirmed meeting with BW owner Gabe tomorrow. They definitely were pointing to the EQT tune or issue with something, anything, other than the work that had just been performed. Had I not had so much experience with the hpfp install fails prior to bringing it to BW, I would have believed them. Pretty sure I pissed Alex off when I was adamant and asked him to prove it. I wasn’t trying to be disagreeable, but I knew the feeling of failed internals all too well, and was correct.
I mentioned the issue to my tuner, who’s been absolutely awesome, and he had mentioned that EQT used to work with them but they no longer had a relationship. I left it at that, but it is interesting context.
btw, I repaired my seized internals and am currently making >31 psi @ 5700’. Something like >29 psi @ 8000’. Runs like a top, on my 5th revision. Looking forward to putting all this BW shit behind me soon.
Should be an interesting conversation...."I'm really sorry, but we have determined the EQT tune caused all those deep gouges in the HPFP, melted your headlight, and that dent...oh yeah that was due to the tune to" Best of luck. Hopefully you don't have to take it to the next level.
Great to hear you were able to get the car sorted. Sounds like it's running awesome.
EQT took about 6 months just to get me a base map. I was having issues while road-tripping out to Colorado and the fastest solution was to DIY some of my stuff at the rent-a-lift shop next to BW, then have UM re-tune it. Justified the cost with picking up flex fuel (this was 2 years ago and Cobb still doesn't provide that afaik). And BW did fix some of the work I did myself.
Given what I've seen elsewhere from Alex online as well as other friends' experiences with him, it's pretty easy to believe Superfreak's story.
Superfreak
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Denver
- Car(s)
- ‘19 M2C, ‘05 Taco
Yeah I was concerned about the wait times for a custom tune as well, but it seems to depend on who does the tune. Matt @ EQT has been really responsive and great to work with. TBH, I didn’t expect this much time or this many revisions, for the cost of a custom tune (relatively cheap, IMO).
I met with Gabe @ BW today and he was really receptive to the issues that I had and will be making it right, as I see it. Alex will never touch my car again; the risk just isn’t worth it. I’m glad for those that have had a good experience with him and hope that the experience that I had at BW never happens to anyone in the future. Glad that the damage isn’t going to take too much time/ money. I really just want to enjoy my R and will look forward to getting the tune completed and making small improvements with some aspects of the car.
Glad they getting it worked out right for you just sucks having to be without your car.
Superfreak
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Denver
- Car(s)
- ‘19 M2C, ‘05 Taco
Thanks Man. Yeah I hate leaving my car with anyone. It‘s not as bad as when I had my ats-v but still sucks. I‘ll just be doing everything myself, except the PDR, so I don’t think I’ll have to leave it with anyone until I get the paint corrected and ceramic coating.
Tony sent me that vid of your car in the rain the other day, Man that was hard to watch. I wanted to run out and throw a blanket on it! Water ran off nicely and I’m pretty sure no damage. Still, hard to watch!