jangy

As miles add up and prices plummet, am I the only one that sees the 55K as being the next big rage in the Euro tuning arena? Sort of like th ecurrent M3.
Given that, we all have our plans for how to penetrate that market, but I wanted to get some feedback from the clients as to what they want.

Things like:
Quality at all costs? Perfect balance? More cost conscious?
Any new ways that you would like to be serviced? Having a relationship and flexibility to get your car worked on is obvious. Also, as I have found out, having a shop with the financial backing and commitment to customer service. Do you want generic staff (cheaper) or ones that are technically savvy?

Keep the subject open to whatever you all think tuners and vendors need to hear.

Please add vendors in Socal with positive and negative feedback. We are in the process of establishing friendly alliances and I don't want to waste time on the screw *****.

ROCKETW19

you already know what we want! customer service, not to get ripped off, and to get what we pay for. when i say not to get ripped off i dont mean i want it for free but a fair price. in return the vendor will get my returning cash flow for everything they sell. and all the publicity i can give them!

jangy

I think I know how NOT to do it, I just wanted feedback on here for how to do it. My assumption is that customers in San Diego will be looking for the same traits as those on this board, so I thought I'd ask here.

chiromikey

as much as i'd like to see our cars become the "next big thing" i just don't think the production numbers are out there to make this possible.

with that said, i'll second the idea that tuners need to offer prices that reflect the product instead of what us dumbass benz owners have been paying. there's a reason i go custom on nearly all my mods...i can do it better for less than half the price.

Jrocket

I dont see the 55 car's being "the next big thing" either.Cars like the Evo,Sti and Supra are way cheaper to mod.Even the Vette,Camaro and Mustang are cheaper and have more available for mods at half the price as we get pounded for.If the 55 wasnt so expensive to fix in general,it might have a chance.Other things hold the 55's back as well.Engine bay room,ability to upgrade the Sc's size,intercooler size and electronics.

When Mb starts putting twin turbo's on the 63 motors in the E class,then you'll see better mods and HP.

Shop wise...it would be nice to be able to drop your car off and not worry about who's hands its in.A shop that could do anything from oil change to ecu tune to install an LSD.

After talking to Vadim for a few hours,he's the only guy that comes to mind when I think of an all around shop service person.There might be more guys and shops out there,but I either do all my work myself or have the dealer do the warranty stuff,so I have no idea of what shops are available to compare too.

My biggest complaint is pricing on aftermarket MB stuff.

jangy

Pricing is noted for sure and I do agree. We do not want to lose quality, nor do we intend to step on any toes.

The power side of the envelope is being pushed, so we will simply find a tuner that meets our needs and push that product. Same goes for Wheels. It is all the "other" stuff that we are interested in. Things like suspension components, euro (MB) components, STAR SDS settings, custom projects, etc.
We aren't just focussed on AMGs. To us, cars are cars. We will target the higher end rides, since there is a clear market for them in San Diego.
What we are selling is the quality of work and the attention to customer needs. We want educated clients that know what they want. We aren't after the guy that walks in and slaps a check down, saying "here build it". We want to work with the client to bring the car along as they expect.
In the end, we are after a place where you can feel comfortable dropping off a $100K car and not thnking twice about it. Conversely, we also intend to make it a place where the client can chill and shoot the ****. Heck, we could even be a source of resources (lifts, STAR, etc) for the do it yourselfers.

As far as the 55K numbers, keep in mind that 80% of all AMGs are sold in SoCal. Also, not everyone wants to trick out a mustang.

baldmike73

price point and knowledge is the biggest part I think everyone is wanting.
not sure why the ecu for renntech to upgrade is so expensive compared to when I had my S4 and to have MTM tune it was olnly 1000. Is it because the tuners know we will pay for the high price of go fast parts? I hope the following for the 55K cars keeps strong as everytime I look in the garage and hop into my commuter (w202) I get a grin on my face looking at the E waiting for the weekend.

keep up the good wook jangy!

tama_mog

The reason the market is where it is now is pretty simple. Drivers of euro cars (in this case MB) have deeper pockets and most lack direct knowledge/understanding of what they're buying in terms of mods. I believe if all the benz owners actually knew the products they're buying in terms of cost and what it actually does.....then no one will be buying these overpriced parts/off the shelf tunes. That's why I personally don't see the market for e55 tuning going anywhere unless something drastically changes (but most likely won't) and you'll just see more people throw up BS flags when turboed 4bangers blow their car out of the water

jangy

Price point + knowledge can add up to some great customer sevrice. It is the service, competent technicians, and specialized tools that we have lacked in San Diego shops.


As for the cost of tuning, I have done quite a bit of research and the story is the same accross the board. It is all a matter of marketing. When the big tuners spend the effort and money to develop a program, they try to make it as generic as possible, to fit the needs of clients in all conditions. Once they have invested in that endeavor, then they need to re-coup their loses and that is where the money comes in.
Our goal has been to have the tuning done ON THE DYNO, with datalogger going. I have spoken with all the obvious tuners about this and it is simply not in the scope of the business that they do. They consider that custom, which it is. I will definitely continue to look into this as having on-site ecu tuing may be quite attractive. Also, keep in mind that paying for the ECU tune is like joining a club. You should be getting free updates or tweaks for life and again, that can only happen smoothly IF you have on-site capabilities.

jangy

We are counting on something drastic happenning. First, the people that will soon be able to afford E55s aren't the same ones that can shell out $100K all the time, so I assume they will also have a different attitude towards mods.
Proving the gains and justifying the cost is simply part of the equation. We will make that standard practice.
We also plan on a number of track events (instead of meet and greets) so that the turbo 4 banger can prove his point.

The last EVO I saw was in Roger's rearview by about 10 - 15 lengths (@ 160mph).

tama_mog

I work closely with a reputable shop @ road race engineering and have been there and back on evos.....a properly modded evo would give any e55 a good run (if you want to do these runs on the fwy....on the track it's not the same category) and there are plenty of monsters out there running at 500whp+ to all 4 wheels on alcohol/methanol injection with pump gas. So yeah bottom line we all know stock for stock there's not much to argue but if u want properly modded evos to race any e55 on the track or fwy runs (most won't because evos belong on the track....as should any racing)....I'd put my $$ on the evo, once again, it's only because I own both and know what they're capable of. But I hope you're right Jangy, I hope something drastically changes because it'd be great for us as consumers. But I for one know I won't shell out $5k for an off the shelf flash (not custom tuned catered to the individual cars) and installing a couple belts.

P.S. I think I saw your car at the socaleuro meet, you were leaving as I was driving in.

jangy

Oh, I didn't even notice you were from SD. I'm not arguing a modded EVO. I'm arguing a modded 55K. Just like you say that you have an EVO shop that you like, we want to have a shop that we like, too. I'm not talking $5K for the same tune you can get from powerchip. We are talking simple things, like the 80mm TB INSTALLED for $1500 or headers (shorties) for a similar price. That should be good for about 50hp and doesn't even include getting a pulley and ecu tune, which is easily good for anothe 50hp. Right now, to get 100 extra HP/TQ, how much money are you looking to spend and how complicated are the mods? Add cooling and the car is done from a power perspective. That is where the fun begins. The best for the buck on these cars is in handling. The car is already fast as crap. Improving 10% in power is harder than improving 10% in braking or handling. I've never claimed the E55 to be a sports car, I've just said that it can be a capable adversary in most arenas. To this day, most props I get for my car are for how well it handles rather than how fats it is.

tama_mog

Yeah it would be nice to improve the handling of the car, I see your pt now, I apologize if I misunderstood. We could only go so far though on the e55 and I don't know how many people that actually know what they're doing in terms of suspension would be willing to tune out coilovers for an e55....but that'd be a good setup for the street that'd be worth the $$ in my opinion (If I could I'd convince John Mueller to tune my suspension on the benz =P). I think paying about $1000-$1500 is already plenty for a header/exhaust manifold but how people justify paying $3-4k is beyond me....and I think changing some belts/pullies and a standard off the shelf flash shouldn't exceeed $1500-$2k either. With those figures, I'm already figuring in the appreciation just because it's a benz yadda yadda. It would be great to see a reliable speedshop step up to MB's in San Diego but it's gonna be tough for many reasons.....market saturation, expectation, demand, capital to start such a shop etc etc.

P.S. Yeah and I think we bought our car @ the same dealership, Hoehn.

jangy

Haha!! Hoehn is the best, still.

I'm not quite so ready to give up on Airmatic, yet. But, it would be nice if the car's arms were adjustable for easier tuning. As it is, crash bolts and the **** eyed bushings are the only thing out there. I'd like to see some more pieces under there. It's not much more than the RennTech toe link support, but I'd like to see it for many more and on the front as well. The entire car will likely cost a few thousand, as long as each piece is about $300.

I also want to follow up on an offer to look into modifying the airmatic components.