For the past 2 weeks, I've been ordering parts to put my GT2530's back on my car as well as fix a few annoying problems. I ordered parts through four vendors, expecting great service from all of them (after all, I've heard good reviews of three and I've only had good experiences with the other), but only two of them have delivered. Out of respect, one (the one I've used in the past) will remain nameless.

So let this be a public thanks to SPL Parts and Suspension.com.

I ordered rear subframe bushings through suspension.com on Monday, July 31, after being referred to them by spyhunterTT(nj) on TT.net. The bushings arrived Thursday, August 3. Coming from California via ground shipping, that's pretty impressive.

I ordered a 300degree Brake Master Cylinder Brace and Technafit Braided Brake Lines through SPL Parts on Wednesday, August 2. They arrived the next Tuesday. Considering these were ordered two days after the next two orders and arrived a couple weeks earlier, that's also pretty impressive.

Now onto the most irritating company... Advanced Tuning Products (ATPTurbo.com). They have BY FAR the best price on CHRA's, which is why I decided to go through them.

I called them Monday, July 31, and placed an order with a woman (whom I figured was not mechanically inclined, simply a receptionist or something along those lines) for a GT2860RS CHRA with a 63T compressor wheel (after e-mailing their techs back and forth, I was told they could get me the CHRA with that wheel for no extra cost, already balanced directly from Garrett). She tells me that she has to confirm that she can get the part, and she'll call me back in a couple hours.

Several hours pass, so I call again (I should NOT have to call them when I'm told they will call me). I speak with Parker, who apparently didn't understand my situation and thought I needed a regular GT2860RS CHRA and I simply told them that I had a .64 A/R housing (which has no effect on the CHRA), not understanding that I need a 63T wheel. So I tell him that my turbo is NOT a GT2860RS, but an HKS GT2530, which uses a GT2860RS CHRA with a 63T wheel. He says he's going to call Garrett and get the actual GT2530 CHRA, so we get off the phone. Of course, I was irritated that he didn't just take the order that I gave them, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer.

He calls me back saying he checked the specs on HKS's website and it looks more like a GT2860R CHRA. I point out that their own website compares the GT2860RS to the GT2530, and send him a link to Ash saying the GT2860R CHRA won't work with my housings.

He convinces me to send him the blown GT2530 so his techs can inspect the turbocharger and determine exactly what I need (what part of "send me a GT2860RS CHRA with a 63T wheel" doesn't he understand???). So I spend $65 to ship it to him to get it there in 2 days. He tells me he's going to call me when he gets it to let me know what I need. I call Friday at about 4:00 their time, only to find out he left early for the day (remember, he was supposed to call when he got it, which, according to UPS.com, was Thursday).

Monday comes, and I finally get a call from him. Turns out, because HKS scratched off the part number on the CHRA, they don't know what it is either (I COULD'VE TOLD THEM THAT! IF THE PART NUMBER WAS ON THERE, I WOULD'VE GIVEN THEM A PART NUMBER TO ORDER!!!). They tell me they were going to measure the compressor wheel, but it's too damaged to get an accurate reading (duh! a blown CHRA allows the wheel to wobble into the housing, thus damaging the blades). They proceed to send the turbo to Garrett so their engineers can figure out what I need.

Now let me break here real quick to express my dissatisfaction. I ordered the CHRA initially that Monday because I honestly wanted to work on the car that weekend. Here we are, one week later, and they still haven't figured out what I even need, even though I told them what it is.

Tuesday or Wednesday I get a call with "good news and bad news." The good news is they figured out what I need. The bad news is they can't get it until the next Tuesday (meaning today). So finally, after 15 days, they should be sending me the turbo tomorrow.

If they had simply ordered me a GT2860RS CHRA with a 63T wheel, I could've had it last week (apparently, it takes a week for them to get stuff from Garrett and they only get shipments on Tuesday). I'll have to pay for express shipping to get it here for this weekend because this is the last weekend I'll have time to do all this stuff for a while.

However, I can look in this in a good way - perhaps I can prevent this from ever happening to anyone else ever again. Considering they supposedly got me the exact GT2530 CHRA, I will now have a part number for GT2530 owners who need to replace a blown GT2530. For $695 with no charge to install the CHRA into my housings (compared to $800 for just the CHRA through other companies), I guess I shouldn't complain all that much. And really, Parker just wanted to make sure I was getting what I needed... instead of trusting that I know what I was talking about, he wanted to make sure I was right. If I was an idiot and was wrong about what I needed, I'd be thanking my lucky stars that he took the extra step to find out for me, so it is good customer service to an extent... but I would've preferred, due to time constraints, that he just took my word for what I needed.

Now for the final one. Like I said, they're remaining nameless because I've only had good experiences with them in the past. The only problem I have with this company is a lack of communication - I've had to call them to address every issue when they should've called me first.

Just like with everything else (except the stuff from SPL), I ordered parts from them on Monday, July 31 (again, I wanted everything there for the weekend to install). I'm told they don't have the largest thing I ordered, but that's OK, because it's not an engine part and I could wait on it. They agree to ship the rest of my package so I can get started, and they'll ship the other thing when it gets there (backordered).

Friday rolls around and I haven't heard/received anything (normally it should be here by then), so I call for a tracking number. Turns out, they didn't have another part of my order, so they didn't send anything. Why didn't they call me and tell me? So they tell me that my package will ship on Monday.

Monday I call to see if it's shipped, only to find out that they don't have ANOTHER part that I ordered. Again, why did I have to call them to get this news? I'm told the part will be there Wednesday or Thursday and they'll ship it out then. I haven't heard from them since... hopefully I'll see a package soon, since if it shipped Wednesday or Thursday, it should be here any day now.

Honestly, the two parts that they didn't have in stock are the two MOST IMPORTANT parts of that order... if my turbo was going to be here on time and I didn't have those two parts, I couldn't do ANYTHING. Had I known Monday, July 31, that these parts were not in stock, I would've went elsewhere for them. But the vendor told me that the only thing they didn't have in stock was the larger thing that's backordered, which was no big deal to me, so I didn't care.

So here I am... this weekend being the last chance I'll have to work on the Z for a long time, with only rear subframe bushings to install at the moment (I already installed the brake stuff, because it calmed me down from the frustration to do some work to the Z).

I also ordered new sidemarkers from Claude (Oppaman Z on tt.net) last week. It will not surprise me if these arrive from Canada before either of the other two orders arrive (and they were ordered a week and a half later). It will amuse me greatly when it does.

So anyway, thank you for reading... and if you need parts, I highly recommend SPL Parts and Suspension.com if they carry what you're looking for.

 

sounds like a car parts store located somewhere around Dallas to me.

 

... further west... nearly everything (except the stuff from SPL and the sidemarkers from the canuck) came from on or near the west coast. I don't want to give them a bad rep... it was more just a rant. Like I said, I generally have good experiences with them... it's just now that I need stuff here fast, they're being slow.