Im looking for respectable machine shops in the valley for a DSM. I also wanted know if there or where there is a place to get my EPROM tuned that's in the valley.

If you have the tuning device for your eprom then I know someone, but if your just looking for a chip, I know someone as well. Give a little more info on what you have and what you need done

I have an EPROM ecu for my talon know I needed to find someone that can to it for me. It already has the chip.

What tuning device are you using though? Link? Or something else? What chip is in it? Just stock?

UMS in mesa is the best place to go for a tune. they do all of the high end cars around the valley. they can work with any tuning software you have or need to tune your car weather it be ecm link, open source, ect. give them a call and see how you feel about them. I know a lot of people who has had them tune their cars and they have all made comments on how that's the only place they would go for a tune.

UMS Tuning :: Home

what ever you do DO NOT go to wings performance for a tune you will regret it!

DrunkMcThief said:

what ever you do DO NOT go to wings performance for a tune you will regret it!

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Twice you have said this with no backing. I have heard of maybe 4-6 people that were unhappy and easily 100's who were extremely happy. Care to explain?

I am extremely happy with my tune and my buddies tune from Wingz! He does great work and is a good guy! UMS is expensive as hell! For a dual tune on gas and e85 they wanted over 800, asked phuong at Wingz and he would do for around 400. Plus phuong tunes it on the road how you drive it and would race it instead of just on a dyno like at UMS.

boostedinaz said:

Twice you have said this with no backing. I have heard of maybe 4-6 people that were unhappy and easily 100's who were extremely happy. Care to explain?

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Sure.... One buddy of mine has a 98 GSX that was tuned by wingz and within 2 weeks his engine blew up from being tuned to lean, the 99 GST i had just got about a month ago the guy had it tuned at wingz and it was spitting and sputtering barely ran at all was dumping fuel right out of the exhaust and over heating the manifold, it would be glowing bright red after the car would just warm up. Luckily the guy that owned it before me stopped driving it the second he noticed an issue. I installed ECM Link and tuned it and now she runs like a beast. And last but not least my neighbor down the street has his is300 tuned and shortly after engine go boom! might just be case of bad luck but for me any time i have 3+ cars tuned by the same place and they all are f'ed up with severe issues then im pretty much going to say thats not the place you want. granted when you work on 100's cars your going to have a few fu** ups along the line but a tune that is blowing blocks or over heating parts tells me its time to relearn your tuning skills.

again im not trying to flame the place or get you all pissed off im just letting my experiences with them be known. 3 Bad calls compare to nothing bad i have heard from UMS or even Vivid(which i wouldn't go to them either just cause their customer service i have dealt with sucks) but hey every place has a complaint from some one right..... these are just mine.. if you have complaints from UMS or some place else list it let people know before they get tuned by an idiot. Maybe wingz is good maybe they just suck at tuning eclipse's hell i dont know but i do know that i wouldn't go to them after seeing the cars i know tuned by them.

to back this up i still have the ecu tuned by wings if you would like to see how my car runs with it come on by and ill be more then happy to hook it up and show you how shi**y the tune is

DrunkMcThief said:

Sure.... One buddy of mine has a 98 GSX that was tuned by wingz and within 2 weeks his engine blew up from being tuned to lean, the 99 GST i had just got about a month ago the guy had it tuned at wingz and it was spitting and sputtering barely ran at all was dumping fuel right out of the exhaust and over heating the manifold, it would be glowing bright red after the car would just warm up. Luckily the guy that owned it before me stopped driving it the second he noticed an issue. I installed ECM Link and tuned it and now she runs like a beast. And last but not least my neighbor down the street has his is300 tuned and shortly after engine go boom! might just be case of bad luck but for me any time i have 3+ cars tuned by the same place and they all are f'ed up with severe issues then im pretty much going to say thats not the place you want. granted when you work on 100's cars your going to have a few fu** ups along the line but a tune that is blowing blocks or over heating parts tells me its time to relearn your tuning skills.

again im not trying to flame the place or get you all pissed off im just letting my experiences with them be known. 3 Bad calls compare to nothing bad i have heard from UMS or even Vivid(which i wouldn't go to them either just cause their customer service i have dealt with sucks) but hey every place has a complaint from some one right..... these are just mine.. if you have complaints from UMS or some place else list it let people know before they get tuned by an idiot. Maybe wingz is good maybe they just suck at tuning eclipse's hell i dont know but i do know that i wouldn't go to them after seeing the cars i know tuned by them.

to back this up i still have the ecu tuned by wings if you would like to see how my car runs with it come on by and ill be more then happy to hook it up and show you how shi**y the tune is

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He started here in AZ tuning DSMs and his own personal 2G made over 750 AWHP and trapped 140+ on E85 so he must be doing something right. Are there going to be problems from time to time sure, but I highly doubt a motor blew up right after a tune and Phuong just said you are SOL. I have no doubt that if that scenario did happen he would be willing to work with the person to make it right. He may not just throw the person a whole new motor but would at least try and help.

If your buddies car was lean why didn't he call Phuong and have him look the tune over again? How do you know the tune in your car was actually done by Phuong and not changed by the previous owner? All you had to do was change the tune and the car just ran tits? I have a feeling there is more to it than just changing the tune. I can guarantee with my own personal reputation that Phuong did NOT let a car leave that would bairly run and glow the manifold at idle. It simply wouldn't happen, something was changed.

My point with all this is that most motors blow up DURING the tune if they do blow up. Once a tune is set and done it usually doesn't wait a month or two to shit the bed unless it has been messed with or the owner wasn't paying attention to issue that tuner needs to know about.

Did you have a bad experiance with Phuong maybe (technically no) but he is a very skilled tuner and has 100s of cars running VERY well and making big power. Not trying to bash you but a lot of what you are saying simply doesn't make sense. I know a few people that had cars that were big headaches and Phuong took ALL the time necessary to get the cars to run well and they run VERY well.

Just my .02

As for who I think are reputable shops I would say UMS and Wingz. The biggest part of what makes a good shop is not if they screw up, as mentioed above over enough time it WILL happen, but how the shop handles the screw up. Both shops from what I have seen do not just leave the customer hanging. They will work on the issue and try to come up with a solution.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you modify a car it will never be a set it and forget it thing. You will ALWAYS have to check things and make sure they are still the way they should be. If they aren't then it needs to be address immediately. This could be a new turbo, coilovers, a tune, even something simple like a catback should be checked from time to time.

Changing a car to the extent that most of us do requires more maintenance in all areas.

I'm going to agree with boostedinaz. I know him personally as well and if something wasn't right he woulda fixed it. And also, there is no way he woulda let anything go without it working right, I personally sat with him for a long while jus getting idle tuned meticulously by home, same when we didthe rest. He looks it over again and again. And I am hardly doubting that you threw a rune on the car that was better than a pro that has been doing this for years, especially when I asked you bout your tuning experiences with ecmlink and you said you hardly had any with it. I am sure in those cases something may have been messed with after the fact of the tune to mess it up. I know for a fact that he wound help for a little problem. When I just got my tune done I went to the track a week later and it ended up sputtering throuh lithe powerband (nothing to do with the tune, so to later it being a blown coupler) but I had phuong text messaging me back and forth and on the phone going over logs with me so we could figure it out. Once again, there is no way he woulda let stuff go like that and problems woulda arose during tuning rather than after.

And there is the possibility that it may not of even been touched by Wingz, but the guy may have just said that so he didn't have to admit defeat or something, I'm not saying it was or wasn't, but I have seen people more often than not say so and so did it and messed up but j don't have time for it, when really they did it themsleves and the "so and so" who did it never seen or worked on hat car before.

Ok, as far as "tuners" go, here is the problem:

A person who "tunes" your car probably has the worst job in the world. If you bring your car in to swap a transmission, or rebuild an engine, they have a pretty straightforward job. Either it's done right, or it's done wrong, and it's pretty obvious to figure out which way it went afterwards, if you shit throws a rod after you payed for a rebuild, you know something was done wrong, wasn't it?

On the other hand, a "tuner's" job is to extract the most amount of power from a car, all the while not putting it on the verge of detonation, and taking into consideration strength of the engine and what's safe for it to handle, temperature, ect.

I would NEVER want to be a tuner and this is why: any tuner can only do SO much with what he's given. Unless he's also a mechanic and he's been contracted to do the mechanical work as well, he often does not know things like, are there boost leaks, is the engine on it's last leg in terms of compression/leakdown/mechanical failure, ect. ect. And if the poor guy has to tune Evos and DSMs, he's most likely handed shitbox cars that run like garbage before he even sees them.

So I'm sure there are countless idiots in this whole scene who have shitbox cars that are junk and run like junk, and pay someone to "tune" it, expecting it to fix underlying issues plaguing the car's performance and reliability. Add to the fact most DSMers also try to fix things (before and after a tune) themselves, it's easy to see how many variables there are in the outcome of the performance of a vehicle. This being said, there are many of these so called tuners who shouldn't be near a motor vehicle.

I am a person who takes pride in doing my own work. I have worked on every part of my car, and I take pride in tuning my own car, as I trust NOBODY as well as I do myself.

However, as skeptical as I am, especially about people in this area, I can honestly say I would not be afraid to hand my car off to Phuong at Wingz Performance. He's extremely knowledgeable both in tuning and the mechanic side of things, and to top it off he's a nice guy. If I HAD to let somebody around here wrench on or tune my car, it would be him. His prices are very reasonable as well, if not downright cheap. I'm not the kind of guy to swing off any vendor/shop/person's nuts, I'm quite the opposite, so I say this with confidence and with nothing on my part being gained or lost.

ok and i agree with all said but again this is a thread of opinion i put in mine and every one else put in theirs so now its just comes down to where you feel most comfortable getting your car tuned. i would call each shop that we have all talked about and see which one tickles your fancy the most. none of us are right or wrong on who is the best for what your looking for thats why i would just recommend calling them and talking to them your self and seeing what they can do for you and what goal your trying to reach.

as for my posts im sorry if i offended you guys its just my opinion. i know i wouldnt take my car to someone that has messed up 3 cars that i know personally. if your offended by that then well all i got left to say is..... F U haha

DrunkMcThief said:

ok and i agree with all said but again this is a thread of opinion i put in mine and every one else put in theirs so now its just comes down to where you feel most comfortable getting your car tuned. i would call each shop that we have all talked about and see which one tickles your fancy the most. none of us are right or wrong on who is the best for what your looking for thats why i would just recommend calling them and talking to them your self and seeing what they can do for you and what goal your trying to reach.

as for my posts im sorry if i offended you guys its just my opinion. i know i wouldnt take my car to someone that has messed up 3 cars that i know personally. if your offended by that then well all i got left to say is..... F U haha

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Not offended in the least but you seem to be missing the point. You keep saying Phuong blew up 3 cars yet have little detail on why they blew up and in one case don't even have confirmation that he even tuned the car.

Yes you are giving your opinion, but based on assumptions and second hand accounts.


I will say you are correct, it is up to someone taking all this info in and making a decision.

Drunk,

There isn't anything wrong with opinions. Everybody has them, I have quite a few of them myself, hahaha.

I have said many times to many people, these cars (and sport compacts/tuners/imports in general) are NOT for everyone. It's an expensive hobby, and can be very expensive when you #### shit up. Which is why I do as much of the work I can do myself, do it carefully and as precisely as I can with the tools I have at that given time, including tuning. That way, when my car makes good power, or looks good, or even blows the #### up, the only person I have to blame is myself.

Part of the problem with expressing your opinion on a shop, without direct proof is financial.

I don't know what you did for a living. But, what if someone went out to your customer base, with an opinion that you suck at what you do, and should take their money elsewhere? Now, if this is based on a good snapshot of your work, it's a legitimate complaint. IE, if you took your car to wingz, and had new issues with your car that came about by work you paid them to do. I have found 3rd person testimony to be very unreliable in describing a problem. IE, my sisters cousins brother told me a hazy story, that ended with no fault of their own, and a badguy/scapegoat, for all of their problems.

boostedinaz said:

Not offended in the least but you seem to be missing the point. You keep saying Phuong blew up 3 cars yet have little detail on why they blew up and in one case don't even have confirmation that he even tuned the car.

Yes you are giving your opinion, but based on assumptions and second hand accounts.


I will say you are correct, it is up to someone taking all this info in and making a decision.

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not assumptions i have the receipt from the previous owner on my car from being tuned, and as far as my friends who have had problems i KNOW they were tuned by wingz. im not telling his customer base to go some where else with there money...granted i did say they would be sorry if they did take it to wingz, but again that was based on my opinion. where people take their cars to be tuned is none of my business and really i dont care. he asked for a reputable shop and i simply stated my opinion. now when i see ums all over import tuner mags and other mags in the same interest showing cars built by ums and when you go to their shop and they have cars such as skylines, porsche evo's, just to name a few being built/tuned there i tend to think where the people with those kind of cars spending their money at that shop then thats where im going to go. i understand alot of people dont have that kind of money to spend in which case i understand taking it to a shop where you can afford to go. but if im going to put the money into it then i want to get my money's worth out of the work.. luckily for me i do all the work my self so i dont have to spend much on someone else but when it comes to a detailed dyno tune lets face it, i cant afford a dyno for my garage .

any ways this is my last post in this thread its at the point of beating a dead horse.

DrunkMcThief said:

not assumptions i have the receipt from the previous owner on my car from being tuned, and as far as my friends who have had problems i KNOW they were tuned by wingz. im not telling his customer base to go some where else with there money...granted i did say they would be sorry if they did take it to wingz, but again that was based on my opinion. where people take their cars to be tuned is none of my business and really i dont care. he asked for a reputable shop and i simply stated my opinion. now when i see ums all over import tuner mags and other mags in the same interest showing cars built by ums and when you go to their shop and they have cars such as skylines, porsche evo's, just to name a few being built/tuned there i tend to think where the people with those kind of cars spending their money at that shop then thats where im going to go. i understand alot of people dont have that kind of money to spend in which case i understand taking it to a shop where you can afford to go. but if im going to put the money into it then i want to get my money's worth out of the work.. luckily for me i do all the work my self so i dont have to spend much on someone else but when it comes to a detailed dyno tune lets face it, i cant afford a dyno for my garage .

any ways this is my last post in this thread its at the point of beating a dead horse.

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Fair enough but I'll leave these questions just in case.

Do you KNOW that your tune was NEVER chaged? Was your car in great machanical shape when you got it? If the tune was that bad and you had a reciept why not call and ask Phuong what the deal was?

Do you KNOW why your friend didn't talk to Phuong about a lean condition? Did his car have other issues?


Only reason I am pressing this is because Phuong is a VERY stand up guy and knowing him I don't see any of this happening as it is being stated. If you don't want to respond no worries.

Wingz is going to be tuning my talon and from what I have gathered from the forums. I don't have a second thought about wingz tuning skills. I can't wait for the dyno. I will let ya know how it goes.

Hello,
I was pointed to this thread about Wingz and would like to clarify what happened or not happened for what it's worth.

1) your buddy's 98 GSX (red?) AGP 60trim turbo? engine built by some shop out of state? Motor dropped in by UMS
- The owner was in the car with me during both sessions of tuning. It took three sessions since he had so many issues that needed to be worked out. 1st time, I had to diagnosed his cam sensor wire causing the car to not even want to idle ( I charged 100 for coming out to Avondale). 2nd time, spent 2-3 hours helping him fix turbo oil drain leak (no charge). 3rd time, finally making progress and got some fuel trims tuning then moved to WOT. Got all his WOT AFR's all dialed in along with knock under control. We could not up the boost beyond wg pressure because he did not plug all the ports on the new Tial WG. That took awhile for me to figure out what he did. Finally, after 2-3 hours of trying to fix this boost controller issue and running to homedepot to buy hardware, we finally got to WOT tuning. He and I watched the AFR's like a hawk and he knew EXACTLY what they were. I showed him the datalog after each WOT pulls so he can see knock (zero knock), AFR's (10.9-11.4:1), timing curve, etc. I showed him what and why I was making the next tweaks. I charged him an extra 50 for spending so much time from sessions 2 and 3. Car ran like a champ when I sent him away! Then the mishap with a cylinder running lean from some weird incident where he was just cruizin behind a truck that had something falling out of and guessing something hit his car or whatever the scenario was. I'm still not clear what really happened but what's done is done. How much more do you think I could have done prior to sending the owner away with his tune? Why is it the tuned that sent the rod to side of the block when he's cruising? Also, you think any high end shops would have gone through what I went through to help him out on his GSX? Try that with the high end shops that work on high end cars.

Anything can go wrong after a tune that I have no control over. Aftermarket FPR, stuck injectors, failing Fuel pump, vacuum line popped off the FPR, etc.

As for this 99 GST you speak of. Can you give more details about the car? Setup? color of car? etc? Most recent 99 GST that I ECU tuned was a 99 GST black in color, tuned on pump gas with FIC750cc injectors, 16g turbo, sidemount IC, with nice stereo sytem. Shortly after the tune, the car crankwalked. I know the owner was not sure if he was going to sell or keep it. I have datalogs to show you the wideband AFR's along with other pertinent parameters.

As for the IS300, I've never tuned an IS300 since I've been out here in AZ. I've been contacted by a few IS300 to help them diagnosed their AEM EMS tuning issues or fuel delivery or whatever it may have been. No tuning involved.

Lastly, I have gone out of my way to help your buddy's GSX by offering parts at MY cost even though I sent the car away with a solid tuned.

Thanks to all that have stood behind my work ethics and morals.

Regards,
Phuong

Drunk,

I do not believe a word of what you are saying because I have known Phuong for a few years now, and have been tuned by him 3 separate times with great results. The guy does an amazing job every time and his prices are really low compared to other shops. He was the first tuner to push E85 heavily on the DSM/EVO/Suby scene in AZ and now everyone runs E85. I have not received better customer service at any other shop.

to the OP

for any mechanical work I would highly recommend Mike (boostedinaz) on the east side and Adam (95blackGsTurbo) if you are on the west side. Kristen or Phuong @ WingzPerformance would do a great job too. For a tune your best bets are Tony @ UMSTunning and Phuong @ WingzPerformance, the latter option will be a lot cheaper.

Hello All,
My name is TYGRR on here. However, my name is David Mace. I do live in Avondale, AZ! I do have a 98 red GSX eclipse that was tuned by Wingz Performance! Yes, my motor did blow up about 3 or 4 weeks after his tune due to detonation. However, I would go back to him any day and twice on Sunday because he is a stand up guy with an expert skill in tuning our vehicles. As far as you running your mouth with no supporting evidence or documentation, I would highly recommend that you cease to do so to avoid legal action by trying to disrupt his business. I know for a fact that my vehicle was tuned properly. Hell, I was in the car driving it the entire time it was being tuned. I loved the way the car ran after he was done with. It ran strong and like a f4kinn deamon after he was done with it. Just because a car detonates doesn't mean it was a bad tune!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It could be a number of issues and factors. Why you are a VIP here makes no sense to me. However, if you are refering to my car in your post I would love to know your name so I can personally take you to court for spreading lies. And yes, I will win in court! I have already retained a lawyer for this and he is well prepared to mop the floor with you in court. You did realize that you are responsible for your posts right?????!!!!! If not I will make sure you do realize that when you run your fingers off at the keyboard without supporting evidence(logs, names, pictures, recordings, ect....) you can be sued heavily by any party you involve in your post. ONCE AGAIN I do live in AVONDALE and I DO HAVE A 98 RED GSX ECLIPSE THAT WAS TUNED BY WINGZ. However, I DO NOT BELIEVE IT WAS HIS FAULT IT BLEW UP. Whoever you are you had better have some evidence to back up your shit. Because if you are refering to my vehicle then you are in alot of legal trouble. I can assure you of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know you and have no idea where you are, however you have caused a bad business relationship for me because of your MALICIOUS posts. Due to the fact that I live in avondale and have a gsx and your story is similar to mine Wingz believes it was me you are refering to due to your post. You had better get your ass on here and make this right. If we dont see a post within 48hrs I will personally make sure to find out who you are and sue you to the fullest extent of what the laws here in AZ will allow. Until then, I wholeheartedly stand by Wingz and their ability/talent to work on MY DSMs. So basically, I hope you have a good lawyer or explaination posted (for all of us to see) in 48hrs. Trust me when I say I am a man of my word. I can and will do everything I have said if you dont comply with my request! And trust this as well, I definitely have the resources along with the time to make it happen!

^^^^^^

Didn't see that shit coming.

boostedinaz said:

^^^^^^

Didn't see that shit coming.

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me neither but it is about damn time someone stood up and did something about this. I read enough of this bullshit on azawd.

TYGRR, you are the man