[shademaker]

My fist votes :

1. Eric Hruza : Pettys Garage this week. Just over all no good to deal with. Sent pictures of a engine thats not even what was installed in my car. Also does A2 speed. See Posts : A2 Speed Warning

2. 5TH Gear automotive : Nashville : Bad Mantic Triple Install. Out of business as of this posting.

3. DBR : Tennessee : Images

4. Pettys Garage : Level Cross, NC : Post 426 Forged Whipple Pettys Garage

5. Overkill Performance Garage : Sacramento, CA. Over promise under deliver. See post number 2 in this thread for further details.

6, Premier Performance :SLC, Utah. Sloppy half ass work. See post number 7 in this thread for further details.

7, A2 Speed : Collinsville, VA See post #1 on this thread to start.


Feel free to post suggestions and I'll add them to the first post list.

Thanks

 

[ScLeCo]

Overkill Performance Garage in Sacramento.
Over promise under deliver.
Their shop should be a red flag to anyone, it's an absolute dive of an establishment, which can be forgiven if the quality of the work is good. However the quality and timeliness of their work matches the exterior of shop.
I personally know several customers that have had their vehicles stuck there for literally YEARS. For example the guy who tinted my windows. He had his car there for a YEAR for a simple cam swap. That's right it took these morons an entire year to do a simple cam swap.
An absolute S**t show.
Avoid like the plague.

 

[ArchGE]

Overkill Performance Garage in Sacramento.
Over promise under deliver.
Their shop should be a red flag to anyone, it's an absolute dive of an establishment, which can be forgiven if the quality of the work is good. However the quality and timeliness of their work matches the exterior of shop.
I personally know several customers that have had their vehicles stuck there for literally YEARS. For example the guy who tinted my windows. He had his car there for a YEAR for a simple cam swap. That's right it took these morons an entire year to do a simple cam swap.
An absolute S**t show.
Avoid like the plague.

A dirty cluttered shop is the biggest red flag for me. Clean floors and organized shop gets me interested every time.

 

[SickToo]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness and God is the Source of all Power

That being said if you walked thru Taylor’s or McFarland’s you better have something to put over yer pretty hc floor mats. Machine shops use oil for cooling/lube and it’s impossible to keep the floors **** n span. They are clean at night when you are asleep…never at noon tho. When people are sending you parts from all over the country (cuz yer one of the best : ) you end up with a lot of parts and can no longer start on the customer’s the day theirs arrive. It’s gonna wait in line just like everyone else. (Unless you have our name blasted down the side of your vehicle cuz you win a lot and we sponsor you)

 

[shademaker]

Well, share those bad reviews here. I dont mind updating the list above. I wish something like this was around when I was making my choice. With out a point of reference... its all just social media spin until enough folks show proof of the good and bad. With the cost of these cars and the parts for them, it can get costly taking a gamble on some of these shops. I mean, in my case, very real chance they sold my good parts off out the back door.

 

[GNBRETT]

U can usually find unhappy customers from EVERY shop...... What matters is how long they have been in business cause if scewing ppl was an every day thing they would no longer be in business.

Petty's Garage been in business since 2008 so they must be doing something right. Their customer service kinda blows but I did get my parts in like 2 days so that was a plus.

 

[2ndgen]

You can add Premier Performance in SLC Utah to the list. I know of one shop that has already had to fix at least five HC builds that they did badly. I don't know where the others went to get fixed--but they have done far more than just 5 bad HC builds.
On one build I know of specifically they did pulleys, gave it a bad tune, and worse didn't bother to pin the crank. Completely grenaded itself when it spun the crank. The owner of that build says they did everything half-assed and/or not even correct. They're mostly a Mustang shop, so maybe they sabotage all their mopar customers... who knows. Best to simply avoid.

 

[shademaker]

U can usually find unhappy customers from EVERY shop...... What matters is how long they have been in business cause if scewing ppl was an every day thing they would no longer be in business.

Petty's Garage been in business since 2008 so they must be doing something right. Their customer service kinda blows but I did get my parts in like 2 days so that was a plus.

My neighbor up the street is a car test driver. He knows Richard Petty personally. He told that Richard either pulled or wanted to pull his name from the deal 3 years in due to issues just like this. I think he said that he did not want to be associated with the negative look. If you look at how they operate on the reviews you'll see that most either get removed or settled out. Also, I know for a fact as a spent a weekend raking over the reviews that at 60% of the google reviews for the shop are marketing bots. The other reviews are mostly about the museum, not the shop; however, the reviews end up applied to pettys garage.

But, you could be correct. It is a hard stretch to think that something this bad would happen just once though. Also, how many people that have had this level of work done by that shop ever look as close as I have been? Some of that same kind of stuff might be in other cars but the owners just dont know about it.

 

[Speedy]

Anywhere that involved Eric Hruza is a place to avoid. How can anyone not know that? He's been a bad apple since the Arrington Performance days.

 

[shademaker]

Hey @Speedy This is John, they guy that gave you $50 bucks a few years ago out in mount juliet. Hruza got me when I sent the car to get the 426 whipple upgrade done. Nice to see your car is doing well. You still have that blue mustang? It was blue right?

 

[ArchGE]

As for good shops, the owner of the shop who built my N/A 426 stroker wasn’t happy with the performance when finished so said “bring it back and I’ll get this build up to snuff on my dime”. He later installed new Frankenstein heads plus cam and misc. parts and labor at no charge to me. I ponied up for a different intake which he donated the labor to install. He also donated tons of dyno./tune time at no charge. It took a while but completed build performs great now and a loyal customer for life.

 

[GNBRETT]

And what shop would that be? Sounds like a place id like send mine to!

As for good shops, the owner of the shop who built my N/A 426 stroker wasn’t happy with the performance when finished so said “bring it back and I’ll get this build up to snuff on my dime”. He later installed new Frankenstein heads plus misc. parts and labor at no charge to me. I ponied up for a different intake which he donated the labor to install. He also donated tons of dyno./tune time at no charge. It took a while but completed build performs great now and a loyal customer for life.

 

[shademaker]

Maybe a thread on good shops would be good. Be nice to try and use this as wall / thread for the bad actors though. Free internet though. Kinda nice to see support from the community though. I mean, Pettys stole my entire driveline for the most part, transmission, engine.

@Speedy I talked to once and you said you had or knew some people at Pettys Garage. You know a guy that goes by "Sparky"?

 

[ArchGE]

And what shop would that be? Sounds like a place id like send mine to!

Glenn Rains in Littleton, CO. Truly a Mopar whisperer. He works on many of our Challenger Cub cars.

RPM-Rains Precision Motorsports | Denver | Auto Repair and Performance

Denver's Best Full-Service Auto Shop. General Maintenance and Repair, AWD Tuning, Full Builds and All Work Guaranteed

www.rpmdenver.net

Here’s the finished product...

 

[SickToo]

I never understood those girdles. What are they bracing?

Ti retainers are nice. Mando for 10,000+ rpm applications : )

 

[ScLeCo]

I never understood those girdles. What are they bracing?

Waste of money as far as I can tell.

 

[shademaker]

THought I would share this to keep on the point of bad shops.

What Pettys Garage sent me stating it was my motor :

This one is not even a hellcat motor. Also not what they installed in my car.

This is what Eric Hruza sent to show my engine getting ready for install by "Sparky" at Pettys Garage. Hard to tell from the image but, from being under the car, its not even the motor that was installed in the car.

This is what Pettys Garage, installed by "Sparky" actually ended being put in my car. I talked to the police who are pretty sure they can take the fraud route. Still have to see what the North Carolina Attorney General will do though :

Pettys Garage and Eric Hruza are thieves. Its either flat out fraud or theft by conversion. Working on getting prints pulled from the car firewall, engine and trans. I am, not lying about what they did. I know for a fact based on comments from Pettys that some of them have been reading post I make. I dont care.

 

[SickToo]

Giving the people you plan on taking to court as much information as possible in advance is as dumb as not sending the car back when it hiccuped

 

[GNBRETT]

If ur gonna go the route of getting the Police involved and or a civil lawsuit u should have 3rd party perform an inspection to verify what u are saying. Kinda like a PPE but for a different purpose.

The Police are not car people usually. They will need something other than ur word. And the sooner u do that the better cause Petty may claim thats not the motor they installed or some BS if many months or even years go by.

The courts are so backed up bro they are just hearing criminal cases from 2020 in some jurisdictions! And those are just the violent felonies! 100's of cases have been nollied due to Covid.

The civil stuff will take YEARS literally! They to are backed up due to Covid. Sometimes its cheaper to cut ur loses and move on cause when u factor in the Attorney fees and ur time it may not be worth it for u.

THought I would share this to keep on the point of bad shops.

What Pettys Garage sent me stating it was my motor :

This one is not even a hellcat motor. Also not what they installed in my car.
View attachment 597517

This is what Eric Hruza sent to show my engine getting ready for install by "Sparky" at Pettys Garage. Hard to tell from the image but, from being under the car, its not even the motor that was installed in the car.
View attachment 597518

This is what Pettys Garage, installed by "Sparky" actually ended being put in my car. I talked to the police who are pretty sure they can take the fraud route. Still have to see what the North Carolina Attorney General will do though :
View attachment 597519

Pettys Garage and Eric Hruza are thieves. Its either flat out fraud or theft by conversion. Working on getting prints pulled from the car firewall, engine and trans. I am, not lying about what they did. I know for a fact based on comments from Pettys that some of them have been reading post I make. I dont care.

 

[shademaker]

Not cutting losses. This does not slide. This is my high road attempt. Thanks for your advice, its sound. Just not willing to let them get away with it and hide behind court dates until Richard Petty pulls his name and they file chapter 13 or something. Been looking into some of that. Seems like a real possibility with this shop.