So a friend of mine who was a customer of Renntech a few years back decides to call them and inquire about modding his W216 CL65. He gets on the phone with a guy by the name of Bob Brady. Bob quickly answers all his questions about performance and pricing.
Spiro (my buddy) asks him if they have any more potent power packages for that platform. He had just dyno'd his car and saw what my car had put down. He wants to upgrade the turbochargers. Bob tells him that they didn't have any notable success with Hartmut's car after upgrading the turbos and that 600 to the wheels on 100 octane is pretty much it. And that it is "more than enough" Here comes the good part. Spiro's next comment was "There's a guy up here who dynos where I do that put down almost 700 RWHP" Bob went off.

Bob apparently made consecutive negative remarks about my car. Spiro didn't tell him we're a little closer than just acquaintances. Here are some of the things he said

"That's what they SAY, you don't know what it REALLY dyno'd....nobody does"
"That car has the Brabus kit on it and they're not telling anyone"
"That car is going to fail, it is exceeding factory limits"
"We would never put something on a customer's car knowing that it will fail"
"They've had failures and haven't disclosed to anyone"
"Why would you take catalytic converters off of a car, it was designed to run with them"
"They don't know what they're doing"

From what I understand this "Bob Brady" was a bit worked up and continued to bash my car and belittle its performance and durability. His tone, as I understand it, was EXTREMELY derogatory. There was more said but these were the things my buddy mentioned most frequently. He couldn't believe that this guy could go on for over 5 minutes about another car and bash it so extensively. Very very unprofessional. I know times are tough, but to bash me and my car that many people have sunk hard work and time into is just wrong. Why must you bash my car to sell your products?


Keep in mind a few facts.
1. My car has never "failed" to date or needed anything but an oil change
2. Increased torque will not cause failure because: The 912 lb ft comes in at around 2800 rpm. By 3500 rpm we're under 800lb ft (boost drops). Whenever you are in full throttle the car is over 3500 rpm for the entire pass except the launch if your're at the drag strip. On the street you just blaze the tires and the engine doesn't even spend a tenth of a second at that higher torque value. The high torque number is only applicable for a millisecond. On the street the tires spin instantly (causing no torque load in the transmission). At the track the car hooks up and only sees a split second of power application under 3500 rpm and only in first gear where torque multiplication is in favor of the transmission. Based on his comments he doesn't know how to read a torque curve or has never even produced one with any of their cars. To understand if components will "fail" you must produce and then analyze data, Bob.
3. There is no "Brabus kit" on my car or anything other than the VRP 825 kit as it is described.
4. Last I checked catalytic converters hinder performance on a turbo car. We are installing high flow converters within the next few weeks. This was a testing phase.

 

Bobs a bit arrogant, met him about 5 years ago at their shop in FL, and on top of that he knows very little about the technical aspects of the parts he sells. What will he say when a lil 600 makes 600 to the wheels on 93

 

I have tentative plans to upgrade to Kleemann K1 or RENNtech Stage 1. I had been leaning toward RENNtech, but now I am unsure if I want to do business with them. I do know Corey's history and it is all positive. Bob's products have had a good reputation, but his attitude/customer service apparently has been lacking at times. Decisions, decisions. Thanks for posting.

 

Nothing new to me...I called Renntech myself before buying the VRP package and got the same conversation from him as well. I got on the phone with Victor and gave him a piece of the pie. Bob said that your car was worked up and that sooner or later it will brake and motor is a fortune to fix...little did he know...

it's all just white smoke for me bro...Take it with a grain of salt. Let's move now to the VRP950 package...

 

youre gonna need it, im coming after your 10.72

 

 

Hahah...don't worry I got something for you. Bring it chulo.

 

Renntech just recently laid off 30% of its staff and cut off benefits to the remaining staff. If they were smart, Bob Brady would be the next to go. He knows nothing from a technical aspect. People frequently see through the "used car sales techniques"

 

I spoked to Bob Brady about 2 years ago and I asked him about how their ELM compares to Brabus and Carlsson and he told me that the other brands were "worthless" and "useless" and you "might as well use washers" as they are not adjustable and have no ability to connect his golden remote control to.

 

You need to talk with Ken Rudy, that guy knows his stuff. you can email him kenr@renntechmercedes.com. He can find out any info you want and knows who to go to for the answers at Renntech.

I talk to Ken just about every day. I plan on having lunch with him today so I can get you some answers fast.

 

I deal with Ken ...

 

I've talked to Bob as well a long time ago before i got my Kleemann stuff and all i heard was the same derogatory and demeaning statements from him on how Kleemann stuff is a piece of junk blah, blah, blah and as what some here has alread mentioned arrogant. Needless that wasn't the company to do business with.

 

Very interesting considering Bob Brady and I had a "discussion" yesterday. He emailed me asking about where I got my 82mm TB and that Renntech has an adapter and airbox for it. After I told him "I get my TB from the same place you guys get yours from How much does Renntech sell the adapter?" His respnose was "Thought maybe you got it from one of our dealers so that I could help you. Hartmut will not sell that adapter seperatey, cost too much for us to R & D". I got a laugh about how much it costs to R&D an adapter . So I told him to keep his super secrets and that I already had a 82mm TB on my car so no worries. I don't need to spend $3k on something I can do for under half the price! Since he irked me in the wrong way (I've dealt with him before and same attitude, he actually knows very little technical info about these cars) I took a little shot and said "Keep your super secrets, I don't need them. Have yet to see one of your cars really perform in the 1/4 anyway". To which he responded "Considering we don't use NOS and keep stock cats 11.1 for a E55 seems pretty good" So I told him that NOS is a brand and that I wasn't runing nitrous, on pump gas, stock block and was running nearly half a second quicker The guy is a salesman, an arrogant salesman at that and doesn't know enough about his product. I'm sure the others there are very knowledgeable, the products just don't come out of thin air! But this guy is a joke. He also tried telling me the TB was not OEM

 

What answers do I need? I didn't post any questions.

 

If there is anymore potent power packs and ungraded turbo info. Seeing as the conversation with Bob didnt go that well, It might be worth speaking to someone else.

Blackbenzz is right these products dont come out of nowhere, so there is some smart people over there. Its just a matter of getting to talk with them.

 

A friend of mine called them and relayed the conversation to me. He said he wouldn't deal with them now if they paid him. He thought it was very unprofessional. Besides, they can't make the kind of power he's looking for. VRP 825 does.

 

Thats kind of what you expect to hear from large companies about small companies... They think they know everything and no one else can touch the performance on their products..

Dont get me wrong, Renntech makes great parts, I had a few on my CLK 55 I had before my e55, but they get jealous of other peoples products... i.e. VRP825 package...

 

I have spoken to Bob Brady and George Leca in the past. If you mentioned you were looking at another vendor..they both had the attitude like "You are F'ing crazy...why would you EVEN THINK about going with anyone else but RENNtech...you GOD DAMN MORON!!!" Yes, I am paraphrasing...but it was no less in your face. Maybe that type of sales tactic works for the uinitiated and uneducated consumer....but it turned me off completely.

Tom

 

I know that I have not done NEAR the mods on my car that many of you have. I have some decent shade-tree expreience from wrenching on my old Pontiac Firebird as a teenager. (It had a 398 form a '64 GTO with 670 heads and put out around 400 flywheel hp) My older borther had gone through auto mechanics school and rebuilt his car himself and I served a 'scrub nurse' for many a mechanical procedure. So, I know enough to genuinely understand most principles, but I no longer have the courage or tools to do a whole lotta DIY repairs on my E55. Point is, I'm at least not mechanically naive.

I do not discount or contest any of the conversations any one of you have summarized above. But I can tell you that I have called Bob on many occasions and he has always been extremely friendly, helpful and generous with his time. I do not have RennTech upgrades on my car. I am not a Renntech customer. One time I was considering buying a Rentech SL 7.4 (older body style). I called with the vin number to inquire about the car, the owner, the service history, etc. and Bob chatted with me for well over 15 minutes and even faxed over all the paperwork he had documenting the upgrades to the car. Someone else out bid me for that one.

Another time I called about my CLK55 and inquired about compatibatibility of Renntech's ECU for the naturally aspirated 5.5 with a Supersprint/Eisenmann exhaust. Again, Bob was very accessible and helpful and in no way discouraged my use of competitor's exhaust components. I ended upgrading the exhaust and buying a used RennTech CF airbox form a board member and never did pull the trigger on ECU tuning for that car.

I know that and about $2.99 will get you a cup of Starbuck's coffee, but I thought I'd at least indicate that Bob Brady has been more than pleasant with me when I wasn't even really a paying customer.

I do think Renntech tends to try to walk the line between providing as much real, reproducable performance increase as possible while ensuring the longevity of the original components that their products are intended to modify. And I say that while giving HUGE props to folks like Victor and Vadim and Marko who in no way sacrifice product longevity, but really do put everything they have into pushing the envelope of what's already out there and the performance limits that presently exist. It takes all kinds.

 

Nicely worded. Your experience of their customer service is what most people expect out of a company like Renntech. Or any tuner for that matter.

What we shouldn't expect is arrogant bashing of others' products and/or performance. Especially when they are performing better than any of your offerings.

 

It doesn't surprise me. I had issues with my SL600 back in the day and Bob was "nice" about it, but in the end his "support" was meaningless, especially with what I know now. We recently were discussing RENNTech and their ego has CONSTANTLY been a problem, and it will be their downfall if they don't start learning about how the world is. RENNTech used to be one of the only big players in the US pre-kompressor/biturbo days. With the advent of forced-induction Benzes, came the rush of people looking to modify them, much moreso than before. Now, with the Internet, the scene has changed and RENNtech just has not done anything to keep up. Their prices are double and triple that of their competition and this idea that everyone else makes garbage even though there are HORDES of cars out there than are running FAST and RELIABLY with parts from other tuners goes to show that their old-school mentality just doesn't hold water anymore.

The truth is though, it doesn't seem like these guys are much interested in changing and will still try to hold onto the rapidly diminishing crowd of customers who value RENNTech's reputation enough to spend the big coin on their products, however the more time passes, the better reputation other tuners will gain, and the less RENNTech's reputation will mean to the Benz community.

Just my $.02

-m

 

I think you might be shocked if you actually knew who was doing how much business. Do you see some tuners around here getting quiet or doing much less work and having problems? Do you have any idea other than a hunch as to the work level seen over at RENNtech? I honestly have said from day one that everyone hates them because of the price. They have a great product but when you feel its out of your price range you suddenly talk bs and trash. They might be more money but they likely wont blow your car up and they will be there for years to come. Some of these new start up groups cant say the same thing.

I am not saying you cant afford their parts either. Instead I am saying that people dont like having to pay a premium for things. Its easy to dismiss them as just over priced but when you step back and look at history you see a trend of quality honest work on a level not seen anyplace else.

New turners have shown up but do they do anything other than bolt on items? Not really. Now thats a great market but its just a piece. RENNtech can build motors and design things that no one else has or can. Look at BenzGals car for example. They built that motor to a level of quality and performance unlike any other around. It was done on time, with top quality parts with no stories or excuses. I know that some others around here have tried this and well those projects all died out. After a year or more of oh next week or next month you get sick of the games. RENNtech does not play with people that way. So in the end I have to say you get what you pay for some time.

Not trying to poke at you but I just thought I should say business over in Florida is not falling off as you say. Quite honestly if anyone is selling parts right now its a good thing and they are doing quite well.

I personally would be scared to buy from anyone other than the big names. With this economy filing for BK is a big risk for everyone.

All I can say is look at the current offerings. The C63 packages and the 65 packages are pretty close in price to the competition and they are right there at the top in performance. They have the quickest C63 around or .1 off at worst and their 65's are .2 off with a claimed 100+ less horsepower? Oh and there is no ice cooling system for their 65 kit either. It is a straight shooting kit with intake, cooling pump, ecu and tcu tune. Exhaust is a option as well. So we have 1 car here claimign a 130mph trap and renntech has 129 with all cats and with the standard intercooler piping installed. I think thats enough for me.

 

Marko,
as you might know, I worked at RENNtech for almost 3 years, and have to confirm a bit of what is said here.

Bob is a good guy, he's been there forever, and has lots of satisfied customers - but if you offer a dissenting opinion, or show him that you might know something he doesn't, he loses his s***. He once threatened to take me outside and "punch my teeth in" when I answered a question one of "his" customers asked.

The guys at RENNtech (Steve Jones, Jeff Katz, etc.) who are in the back and doing the work are Grade-A engine-builders, techs, software developers, etc. who know their stuff and know how to keep a level head. If you have tech-y questions for RENN, probably best to ask for Jeff and skip the front office entirely.

 

Please provide factual proof for this. You may feel violated as your car was insulted but these claims are not true. You lack of respect for someone does not mean they will be terminated. I think anger is leading to information being dispensed that has zero credibility.

No one can argue with your cars performance but RENNtech is right there with you.

 

Very true ... but probably not in the sense you mean.