GTR vs. ST Motorsports vs. RET

[dirtychamba]

They are all great shops....
this thread is not to bash one or the other but to see which is better fits me for the price and quality work of labor..

I've spoken to GTR and STM and both seem great...RET is always busy when I call.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Well the OP hasn't been back yet to check on his thread, but, I never had the chance to have Adam from ST work on my car. I spent a lot of money at RET and have had dealings with GTR. Both places are stand-up and I have had no issues with either.

Greg @ RET is very proactive in responding to emails even after normal operating hours, but, that MAY be only after you have established a good repour with him.

DO NOT take your car to get worked on by a guy with the name Shaun Ellis, under any circumstances. Not sure where that D-Bag is now adays.



oke: Only issue I have had with GTR is they don't judge cars properly when they host a car show and dyno day.oke:

Its wasn't our deal Pete, every year we give the judging to a special guest so we are selves aren't picking cars since we don't have time since we are running the show. Last year was the guys from white line suspension doing the judging, and they are suspension guys so of course when they picked miggs cobra they were checking out the suspension as well the blowers and colors. Miggs cobra is clean and setup up very well so I wouldn't sweat it, had it been a bcmc show you would have came in 5th or something with how crappy their judging is lol. The year before Steve Turner from 5.0 mag was the judge. This year we will see who is the special guest judge. We all know how clean your cobra is:rockon:

 

[fastback brian]

crazy mods? there is a 2010 gt500 at ST right now that has crazy mods, it use to be GTR customer, not sure why the switch. May be worth it to check it out to get an idea what crazy mods can be done..ST is also pretty well known for Kenne Bell blower setups..
Greg at RET seems to know a thing or two about fast mustangs too.
customer service at RET or STM may not be the best or easy to get since the guy answering the phone is probably the guy wrenching or tuning the car..not sure either of them have a receptionist or tech line......

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

crazy mods? there is a 2010 gt500 at ST right now that has crazy mods, it use to be GTR customer, not sure why the switch. May be worth it to check it out to get an idea what crazy mods can be done..ST is also pretty well known for Kenne Bell blower setups..
Greg at RET seems to know a thing or two about fast mustangs too.
customer service at RET or STM may not be the best or easy to get since the guy answering the phone is probably the guy wrenching or tuning the car..not sure either of them have a receptionist or tech line......

That Shelby sounds like Alex's Shelby, he was the type that would show up and expect us to drop everybody else's car for his when ever he came in, we helped him out a lot but he didn't like having to wait but we are fair to all our customers and can't just drop one customers project just because the other is spending more money. We take them in on a first come first serve basis.

 

[kingcobra323]

Swanson Torrance

 

[1Kona_Venom]

Its wasn't our deal Pete, every year we give the judging to a special guest so we are selves aren't picking cars since we don't have time since we are running the show. Last year was the guys from white line suspension doing the judging, and they are suspension guys so of course when they picked miggs cobra they were checking out the suspension as well the blowers and colors. Miggs cobra is clean and setup up very well so I wouldn't sweat it, had it been a bcmc show you would have came in 5th or something with how crappy their judging is lol. The year before Steve Turner from 5.0 mag was the judge. This year we will see who is the special guest judge. We all know how clean your cobra is:rockon:

Its all good. I just had to get my weekend sarcasm in. And back to the topic.

GTR is closer for me and the wife to get our cars worked on also. This also is a factor

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Its all good. I just had to get my weekend sarcasm in. And back to the topic.

GTR is closer for me and the wife to get our cars worked on also. This also is a factor

Your car had my vote lol! Is it still loud?

 

[rattlesnake3:16]

That Shelby sounds like Alex's Shelby, he was the type that would show up and expect us to drop everybody else's car for his when ever he came in, we helped him out a lot but he didn't like having to wait but we are fair to all our customers and can't just drop one customers project just because the other is spending more money. We take them in on a first come first serve basis.

Did I meet him?? Name sounds familiar

 

[vrt03cobra]

But i will say this, whether you choose GTR, ST, or RET your car should be in good hands. If you want to do the leg work i suggest you call all 3 shops, feel everybody out, see who has the best reasonable prices, who has time, and who takes the time to talk with you on your build and what your trying to accomplish. Customer Service is important as well that is why im telling to to feel everybody out. See who you feel more comfortable with:thumbsup:

Good answer.



Drive down to RET and checkout the shop, Greg is a cool guy he'll take care of you :beer:

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Did I meet him?? Name sounds familiar

You might have, seen that he was always at our shop with his yellow paxton s197 roush before he got his shelby. Him and Eli were going on lunch dates alot lol jk:lol:

 

[rattlesnake3:16]

You might have, seen that he was always at our shop with his yellow paxton s197 roush before he got his shelby. Him and Eli were going on lunch dates alot lol jk:lol:

Oh yea I remember him he has a 2010 Shelby with a kb ryt? How much power he puttin down

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Oh yea I remember him he has a 2010 Shelby with a kb ryt? How much power he puttin down

Last when it was with us with a KB tune it was 640-650 ish on pump gas. His roush was putting down 510 whp on stock motor.

 

[dirtychamba]

crazy mods? there is a 2010 gt500 at ST right now that has crazy mods, it use to be GTR customer, not sure why the switch. May be worth it to check it out to get an idea what crazy mods can be done..ST is also pretty well known for Kenne Bell blower setups..
Greg at RET seems to know a thing or two about fast mustangs too.
customer service at RET or STM may not be the best or easy to get since the guy answering the phone is probably the guy wrenching or tuning the car..not sure either of them have a receptionist or tech line......

Yea I spoke to two people at ST and both of them have Kenne Bell GT500s.
I don't have that type of coin although I will be putting on a VMP TVS eventually...

I will be getting a mail order tune this week from VMP or Lund and pass up the dyno tune until I get the TVS.

The canned tunes from VMP/Lund are almost identical and sometimes better than dynotunes with the 2.5 pulley/iddler combo...
anyone know where I can get a set of LT headers with an H pipe for a good price?

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

Yea I spoke to two people at ST and both of them have Kenne Bell GT500s.
I don't have that type of coin although I will be putting on a VMP TVS eventually...

I will be getting a mail order tune this week from VMP or Lund and pass up the dyno tune until I get the TVS.

The canned tunes from VMP/Lund are almost identical and sometimes better than dynotunes with the 2.5 pulley/iddler combo...
anyone know where I can get a set of LT headers with an H pipe for a good price?

Email tunes are never better than a real dyno tune. Email tunes are close but never perfect. Ask anybody on here that knows and they will tell you.

Also if your considering LT's avoid JBA's right now, their jig they use to make them is off and their headers they have out dont clear the floor board right now. Just an FYI.

 

[Mad_Marc]

If you can go up north I would say Shaun, at AED.. I went there and wouldn't go any where else. RET is good too but they didn't want to give me 5 mins of there time over the phone. To each their own but I would suggest Shaun if north California is an option

 

[five.slow]

Its all good. I just had to get my weekend sarcasm in. And back to the topic.

GTR is closer for me and the wife to get our cars worked on also. This also is a factor

Sore loser lol. I won best in my class lol.

I just had gtr put rear gears in my 2011 5.0 and against their recommendations I reused my stock 3.31s and poor Chris I was told set up the gears over a dozen times and finally got them as good as they were gonna be. I have crazy ass decel noise but hey I was warned by them. They knew I drove 2 hrs from ft Irwin with just the car and wife so they offered to take us anywhere we wanted to go while they did the gears. So we spent the day at the mall and movie theatre. Got a few calls to update me and when I got back we say down with Gonzalo for about 2 hrs just talking about everything under the sun. Great people and great service. Oh and the first trophy iv ever won was at their open house day In your face Pete

 

[99cobra09]

Greg@ RET is probably one of the coolest folks around in this business. He is also a great tuner, he'll take care of you.

 

[4valved]

Ricardo tuned my car and he did a great job, its rather safe tune but I would rather be safe then get the extra 10 hp and blow it up!

Gtr gets my vote!

 

[toby1234]

I've never dealt with ST. I'm sure all three are good at tunning. Ive dealt with both GTR and RET. I vote GTR. Greg is obviously a good tuner. However, IMO, he's not very comfortable with trouble shooting. That is where GTR takes the lead.

I installed an intake system (trick flow manifold, accufab tb, jlt cold air) for one of my friends' sn95. It definitely needed a tune after that so we took it to RET because my friend had heard good things about them. Sure enough, Greg met our expectations. Real cool guy and knowledgeable in his field. So he got the car on the dyno and worked his magic. Well, the car put down some disappointing numbers. At first Greg said it was a timing issue having to do with the crank position sensor. Then, he said it was the torque converter. Then the maf sensor. Finally he said he wasn't sure what it could actually be. I completely understood that figuring it out was not an easy task so I appreciate that he didn't just lie about it. However, his next suggestion is what made me question him.

In addition to the low numbers, the car was also idling higher than normal. His solution was to disconnect the idle air control valve. It seemed odd that he would do that but since I'm used to carburetors, I didnt question him. I figured as a well known tuner, he MUST know what he's doing. We drove off and the car turned off two blocks away. I connected the iac valve and when we got home, I adjusted the idle set screw on the tb and solved the high idle issue.

A few weeks later he took the car to GTR and they concluded that the cams were not degreed properly. They said everything else was in proper working order. They also said that the tune had very aggressive timing. Which might have been greg's attempt at squeezing more power out of the engine.

All in all, the guys at GTR had a better understanding of things. To fine tune an engine, you need to know what all the components do and how they interact with each other. If you know that, it makes troubleshooting easier. If the car runs fine and just needs a tune, any reputable shop should be able to handle it. I'm sure Greg would've done a great job had the car been in perfect condition.

 

[rattlesnake3:16]

Tune prices
400 a hour at ret
125 a hour at gtr
I'm not sure with st motorsports