I just wanted everyone to be aware that Brian at VT is not going to help you if you have our intake(or anyone else's for that matter). He is blaming it for causing fuel trims being out of whack. I've now had 2 customers notify me of this. I recently received this forwarded email from one on my customers. Brian's comments are in bold.
"Then the fueling issue is due to the MPFab intake. I had another Sonic customer
last year that installed it and his fueling kept going more positive, up o +21%
and the performance suffered greatly. He removed it and went back to the stock
air box and saw a big improvement in performance. I do not recommend that you
continue using that intake - it is causeing error in the MAF readings due to
turbulence and there is no way I can accurately correct for it - turbulence effects
can cause dramatically different amounts of MAF error at different engine loads/speeds.
Claiming that it was developed with 3D modeling is another way of saying "we never
tested this in an actual Sonic before releasing it"
- stay clear of companies that do this. Injen did a similar thing, as did ZZP.
To be fair, Injen learned their lesson on the Cruze - the intake they have for the Sonic is good and
it is only the short ram for the Cruze that is really bad. I only recommend K&N since they take the
time to develop their intakes with actual testing and seem to
understand flow/turbulence where other companies just write hollow words to try and sound impressive.
The ported intake and catless DP calibration will target a little over 180 hp - I have seen some cars run close to 190hp on 93 octane if the weather is cool enough.
You should record another log after installing the oem airbox. I would be careful if you plan to continue using the intake you have in there now as you could end up running very lean at wide open throttle."
Luckily, the customer saw through this and asked me about other tuning options. Unfortunately, he has handed over 400+ dollars to Brian to "tune" his car, but instead, Brian is pushing a tune that only plays well with the stock airbox.
I tried to open a dialogue by emailing him and this is how that went.
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 9:05 AM
To: brian@vtunerperformance.com
I'm trying to understand why you would speak so badly about my product. I spent months with this part on my car, with numerous dyno session developing it, and you tell him that I'm using buzz words and have never tested it. This is completely unprofessional. If you were having issues, why wouldn't you just contact me? I have lots of customers using this intake with the stock tune, Trifecta, and HPTuners without issue. One of them is engine calibrator for GM. He has tuned his car with HPT and has had nothing but praise for this intake system.
Instead of bashing me, we could have gotten together to figure out what's going on. You could have designed a tune that works well with this intake and sold even more tunes. I honestly don't understand what you gained from this.
Walker Morgan
----------
From: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 9:53 AM
To: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Sorry Morgan, I just call it like I see it from data we get when a customer installs an intake and the fueling is way off and as soon as we install the oem intake it is fine. I have seen so many problems with intakes for the Cruze and Sonic I just have no patience for it nor the time to call every maufacturer to say their product does not perform well. Everyone seems to have rushed to the market to try and grab some dollars, but it justs wastes my time when customers install them and the fueling is all wrong. I have seen this with several sonic owners using your intake - did you make any changes to fix this now or do you have an explanation for why it is off for the customers with this problem? Do you advise them of this when you sell them the intake?
Cheers,
Brian Blair
Vermont Tuning LLC
Vermont Tuning LLC - Performance Tuning for Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet
1806 Sweet Hollow Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
ph: 802-393-7305
----------
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:27 AM
To: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Brian,
Your reply speaks volumes about your willingness to support your customers. It sounds like you have developed a tune that only works with the stock airbox, and instead of developing one that works with aftermarket intake systems, which people want BTW, you turn your back on your customers. You simply tell them to disregard the hard earned money they spent on an intake, tell them it's garbage(this goes over really well too...) and putting the stock part back on is the answer.
I only know of two customers who have had problems with the intake. Both after getting your tune. From your previous email, it sounds like anyone who bought an aftermarket intake, was advised by you to remove it because it was problematic. I'm staring to see a trend here with the common denominator being your tuning strategy...
Walker
----------
From: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:53 AM
To: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
With thousands of happy customers over the last eight years I think I will stay with my "Strategy" and trying to tell me how to run my already very successful business won't get you anywhere.
Brian Blair
Vermont Tuning LLC
Vermont Tuning LLC - Performance Tuning for Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet
1806 Sweet Hollow Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
ph: 802-393-7305
----------
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:54 AM
To: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Best of luck!
"Then the fueling issue is due to the MPFab intake. I had another Sonic customer
last year that installed it and his fueling kept going more positive, up o +21%
and the performance suffered greatly. He removed it and went back to the stock
air box and saw a big improvement in performance. I do not recommend that you
continue using that intake - it is causeing error in the MAF readings due to
turbulence and there is no way I can accurately correct for it - turbulence effects
can cause dramatically different amounts of MAF error at different engine loads/speeds.
Claiming that it was developed with 3D modeling is another way of saying "we never
tested this in an actual Sonic before releasing it"
- stay clear of companies that do this. Injen did a similar thing, as did ZZP.
To be fair, Injen learned their lesson on the Cruze - the intake they have for the Sonic is good and
it is only the short ram for the Cruze that is really bad. I only recommend K&N since they take the
time to develop their intakes with actual testing and seem to
understand flow/turbulence where other companies just write hollow words to try and sound impressive.
The ported intake and catless DP calibration will target a little over 180 hp - I have seen some cars run close to 190hp on 93 octane if the weather is cool enough.
You should record another log after installing the oem airbox. I would be careful if you plan to continue using the intake you have in there now as you could end up running very lean at wide open throttle."
Luckily, the customer saw through this and asked me about other tuning options. Unfortunately, he has handed over 400+ dollars to Brian to "tune" his car, but instead, Brian is pushing a tune that only plays well with the stock airbox.
I tried to open a dialogue by emailing him and this is how that went.
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 9:05 AM
To: brian@vtunerperformance.com
I'm trying to understand why you would speak so badly about my product. I spent months with this part on my car, with numerous dyno session developing it, and you tell him that I'm using buzz words and have never tested it. This is completely unprofessional. If you were having issues, why wouldn't you just contact me? I have lots of customers using this intake with the stock tune, Trifecta, and HPTuners without issue. One of them is engine calibrator for GM. He has tuned his car with HPT and has had nothing but praise for this intake system.
Instead of bashing me, we could have gotten together to figure out what's going on. You could have designed a tune that works well with this intake and sold even more tunes. I honestly don't understand what you gained from this.
Walker Morgan
----------
From: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 9:53 AM
To: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Sorry Morgan, I just call it like I see it from data we get when a customer installs an intake and the fueling is way off and as soon as we install the oem intake it is fine. I have seen so many problems with intakes for the Cruze and Sonic I just have no patience for it nor the time to call every maufacturer to say their product does not perform well. Everyone seems to have rushed to the market to try and grab some dollars, but it justs wastes my time when customers install them and the fueling is all wrong. I have seen this with several sonic owners using your intake - did you make any changes to fix this now or do you have an explanation for why it is off for the customers with this problem? Do you advise them of this when you sell them the intake?
Cheers,
Brian Blair
Vermont Tuning LLC
Vermont Tuning LLC - Performance Tuning for Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet
1806 Sweet Hollow Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
ph: 802-393-7305
----------
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:27 AM
To: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Brian,
Your reply speaks volumes about your willingness to support your customers. It sounds like you have developed a tune that only works with the stock airbox, and instead of developing one that works with aftermarket intake systems, which people want BTW, you turn your back on your customers. You simply tell them to disregard the hard earned money they spent on an intake, tell them it's garbage(this goes over really well too...) and putting the stock part back on is the answer.
I only know of two customers who have had problems with the intake. Both after getting your tune. From your previous email, it sounds like anyone who bought an aftermarket intake, was advised by you to remove it because it was problematic. I'm staring to see a trend here with the common denominator being your tuning strategy...
Walker
----------
From: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:53 AM
To: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
With thousands of happy customers over the last eight years I think I will stay with my "Strategy" and trying to tell me how to run my already very successful business won't get you anywhere.
Brian Blair
Vermont Tuning LLC
Vermont Tuning LLC - Performance Tuning for Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet
1806 Sweet Hollow Road
Sheldon, VT 05483
ph: 802-393-7305
----------
From: Walker Morgan <sales@mpfab.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 10:54 AM
To: VTuner <vermonttuner@yahoo.com>
Best of luck!
opcorn:
