The Racers Line! Northern California's FT86 Parts Sales and Installation Specialist

[The Racers Line]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Here's my experience with Neal. He's a chill guy, and at the time when I wanted my brake fluid changed (I think this was 2015 or 2016 when he had his Torque special going on in his first shop???), was the closest shop to me at the time that people were going to. Figured it would be cake for Neal for this job and nothing would go wrong. Well, he dropped his impact gun socket onto the lip of my WedsSport wheel and did not even mention it to me. Of course I heard this and went to the corner he was working on, and what do I see, a slight indentation on the lip where the socket fell onto (he later wrapped his socket with some kind of felt material as he probably saw me looking at the damage). Keep in mind, none of my wheels had any prior damage to it whatsoever. I'm partially at fault for not saying anything to him then, but oh well.

Thought all was good, but as time went by, my brake pedal became softer and softer, and the brake fluid getting darker and darker. To the point of not really slowing down until half the pedal was down. Not even 12 months later, fearing another chance of damaging my wheels, I decided to change the brake fluid myself, and what do I find? Air. I found air in the line. After changing them, and to this day (probably same amount of time, if not more, from when Neal changed the fluid to where the pedal required half the travel to start stopping), the car starts stopping at the top of the brake pedal travel.

I'm not sure if it was his pump that caused the air, or maybe he was rushing the job since that was all I was having done.

I also ruled out the Torque being the factor since I used it on my Yaris when I flushed the brake fluid in it, and it didn't get dark that quickly (still hasn't actually, and it's been quite some time and miles with it).


Now, like I said, Neal is a chill guy to hang out with, but sad to say I don't think I would bring my car(s) back to him for work.

I actually don't remember this at all but okay. I do pretty vividly remember however, that when I took your wheels off, you decided to hand thread ALL of your lug nuts back on for no reason. You don't touch a car when its being worked on. Simple as that. If you had mentioned the wheel issue, I would have paid to repair or replace the wheel, as with Josh.

The brake fluid issue was the pump actually, I had to replace it and have used a different one for a long time now. Again, you would have gotten a free bleed, but instead you bring it up online 2+ years later. Where is the logic?

[The Racers Line]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Installing the lines on a oil catch can backwards and needing to drive back to the shop to have it corrected. Observing a blow torch being used to clear spider webs from behind the front bumper, which put an intense open flame next to delicate wiring instead of wiping them away with a simple rag like most shops would. Not torquing bolts to the manufacturer provided specifications. Using an incorrect exhaust gasket that leaked and leaving it to the customer who paid for the installation to source the correct gasket and fix it on their own. Not correctly torquing down the center bolt on an oil cooler which resulted in a small oil leak when it loosened up after switching out the oil filter. Having to reroute the wiring on a FF kit because it was done sloppily and hastily as opposed to how it was described in the manufacturer's instructions. Taking my car out for street tuning but instead driving it directly to a taco truck for lunch, and then after starting it back up unplugging my dash cam so I'd have no record of what was done or said. Why unplug a customer's dash cam unless you are hiding something or not being honest and respectful? Of course I'm not suggesting anything malicious, but it does make you wonder.

.

Look, you're a really nice guy, but you know very little technically about cars. You spend hours and hours scaring yourself, reading opinions on the forum and not trusting experienced people. Thats why you went through so many exhaust setups, why you switched your suspension, etc and in the end trading in the car. You are a very particular person, and apparently my skillset and knowledge, work, wasn't a good fit for you. I'm sure you've already found a much better shop, so I'm sorry I couldn't be that for you.

Lets now talk about your weird list.

-Installing the lines on a oil catch can backwards and needing to drive back to the shop to have it corrected. That was all me, apologized and made it right. I used old instructions and put it "backwards". Luckily, it had no ill effects.
-Observing a blow torch being used to clear spider webs from behind the front bumper Common practice in many shops. Sometimes its literally the only way to rid them, never had an issue. It also wasn't on your car, but a buddy of mine that had been sitting in a field for months and had a black widow infestation.
-Not correctly torquing down the center bolt on an oil cooler which resulted in a small oil leak when it loosened up after switching out the oil filter That can happen to literally any plate. The gasket softens and they often need to be retorqued after a couple filter swaps. I see it regularly on ones I have not even installed
-Taking my car out for street tuning but instead driving it directly to a taco truck for lunch, and then after starting it back up unplugging my dash cam so I'd have no record of what was done or said. Why unplug a customer's dash cam unless you are hiding something or not being honest and respectful? Of course I'm not suggesting anything malicious, but it does make you wonder. Sorry for eating in between revisions, how dare I. The taco truck was across the street, but maybe its more dramatic if it was far away? I unplug every dash cam at the begging when we street tuned cars. I also unplugged radar detectors, etc. Thats an extra draw on the car while flashing, and its very important not to have extra power being taken. I do the same thing now even when on the dyno. If I forgot to plug it in, that is my fault and I apologize.

[The Racers Line]

Originally Posted by spike021

Disclaimer:

RANT/

BTW, your flex fuel kit, that you also purchased used, was built incorrectly. The ground wire was too short, so I had to route it differently. I've seen this multiple times on the new kit. The new guy building them had a lot on his plate when he started, I believe they have fixed it since the. It functioned completely the same.

[Decep]

Neal's done great work for me, pretty much the only mechanic to touch my car for 40k miles. Most recently a supercharger install. Previously he's done multiple suspension setups for me and always gives great advice and obviously since he has seen pretty much all the aftermarket parts for the car, he knows what parts are good and what parts are shit. He also doesn't try to oversell me on shit i dont need.

Yeah shit can happen but that can happen any place. (did i say the word "shit" enough times in a row there?)

Two things here, people choose to mod their only car and its their daily driver, well shit (there i go again)can happen fast and be prepared to either borrow or rent a car until you can get an appointment. Or you can DIY and fix it yourself.

Secondly, yeah, Neal is very busy. That's the price of being one of the most popular shops in what, a 250 mile radius? His prices are * very * competitive too.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by The Racers Line

I actually don't remember this at all but okay. I do pretty vividly remember however, that when I took your wheels off, you decided to hand thread ALL of your lug nuts back on for no reason. You don't touch a car when its being worked on. Simple as that. If you had mentioned the wheel issue, I would have paid to repair or replace the wheel, as with Josh.

The brake fluid issue was the pump actually, I had to replace it and have used a different one for a long time now. Again, you would have gotten a free bleed, but instead you bring it up online 2+ years later. Where is the logic?

So you're going to put the blame on me and not even take any responsibility? I don't see how me hand starting all the lug nuts would have affected you dropping your socket. Also, I only managed to do one side, maybe even one wheel since I was just hand starting them.

What's worse is you know you dropped your socket, yet decided to not mention it to me, or even say sorry. Look, I know accidents happen, I would have acknowledged that fact. At the time, I wanted to see how you, as a professional, would handle that situation. Which I saw was to play dumb and act like nothing happened.

And as for the brake fluid...you realized you had a faulty tool, and didn't bother asking the customers who you had done brake fluid jobs on to see if they were having braking issues? What if a dealership or a manufacturer realized this and chose not to disclose anything? How many people would get completely upset if that were the case? You are an establishment, so you should think like one, especially in cases where you find out a bad tool was used. You could have told me this when you realized your pump was not in proper condition and offered to do a free bleed (which I would have respectfully declined).


As for the "logic," I thought little of these things (yeah I find it annoying that my wheel lip got a dent in it), so I didn't bother bringing anything up, and I knew people would think I was "overreacting." Now that a negative experience has been brought up, I figured it would be the best time.


But hey, thanks for really showing your true colors to me, for which I'll retract my statement about you being a chill guy to hang out with (not that I have really ever did).

[The Racers Line]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

So you're going to put the blame on me and not even take any responsibility? I don't see how me hand starting all the lug nuts would have affected you dropping your socket. Also, I only managed to do one side, maybe even one wheel since I was just hand starting them.

What's worse is you know you dropped your socket, yet decided to not mention it to me, or even say sorry. Look, I know accidents happen, I would have acknowledged that fact. At the time, I wanted to see how you, as a professional, would handle that situation. Which I saw was to play dumb and act like nothing happened.

And as for the brake fluid...you realized you had a faulty tool, and didn't bother asking the customers who you had done brake fluid jobs on to see if they were having braking issues? What if a dealership or a manufacturer realized this and chose not to disclose anything? How many people would get completely upset if that were the case? You are an establishment, so you should think like one, especially in cases where you find out a bad tool was used. You could have told me this when you realized your pump was not in proper condition and offered to do a free bleed (which I would have respectfully declined).


As for the "logic," I thought little of these things (yeah I find it annoying that my wheel lip got a dent in it), so I didn't bother bringing anything up, and I knew people would think I was "overreacting." Now that a negative experience has been brought up, I figured it would be the best time.


But hey, thanks for really showing your true colors to me, for which I'll retract my statement about you being a chill guy to hang out with (not that I have really ever did).

I didn't drop a socket on your wheel! That is what I'm saying. I'd remember if I damaged something like that. But you believe whatever you'd like.

I obviously didn't know the pump was the issue at the time. But keep fanning the flame dude.

Its not that I'm not chill Laz, I just have zero patience for this. It's incredibly tiring and useless. Your car didn't leave the shop with bad feeling brakes, and I'm not a magician. I'm just a regular ass person that works on cars. Next time you have someone do work on your car, if you notice things, bring it up. It'll help so much more than this.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by The Racers Line

Wow this is an amazing thing to come back to. There is so much to respond to, you guys are sad. You have an issue, come talk to me. Don't blast me online to suite your ego.

To suit my ego? I documented a negative experience at your shop and I want to share how unreasonable you can be so others will know what they _may_ face by paying for your services.

I never even write reviews about places unless they do a superb job. I hate writing reviews in particular because it’s hard to quantify an experience and it can be very subjective.

The only reason I wrote this was because after a long ordeal process, I thought it would be worth sharing.

I never took potshots at you, Neal. I wrote a factual account of my experience. I don’t really appreciate being assigned some imaginary blame that I’m doing this to suit my ego.

Customers are allowed to report on their experience.

First of all Josh. You are the most impatient person I have ever dealt with. You messaged Zach, Mike and I all on our personal instagrams and facebooks well after hours. You chose to modify your car. Problems occur, and of course they don't go by your schedule. Also, I am generally booked 2-3 weeks out year round. this isn't something new, and as I explained in email, its not easy to just get people in. You aren't the only person on the planet that needs help, and we are very busy. We tried our best to Internet Diagnose a MECHANICAL problem, that was caused by your supplied USED part. I don't know what you expect man, but this was pretty textbook diag on our part.

Impatient?

So I noticed an issue mid-August or so, didn’t message you at all about it until September 9th, over a week after the first serious issue that I had.

After the first discussion about it where you said to fill with 91, I messaged with Mike for advice since he knows so much about the platform. It turned into me implying it might be the tune causing the issue because from my perspective nothing had been touched on the car since you worked on it.

Then I waited three days to further ask you about the issue.

Then didn’t correspond with you for another 5 days.

You responded the next day, the 18th.

I didn’t message you again for a full week, the 24th.

You specifically said:







Ah, right. I didn’t share your last response before switching to email in my original review.

The first time I’ll admit to being “impatient” with you, I waited almost 24 hours from your last message to message you for clarification because you had said you’d be available the following week, but didn’t say when. And I wanted to make sure that if you could fit me in, I’d be able to schedule the time off from work. Just like you’re always very booked, I work full time. I also deal with things like being on-call for PagerDuty at work and my team being flooded with issues lately where the person on-call needs to be available day or night, even after midnight. Yes, there are nights when I actually get paged repeatedly in the middle of the night and don’t get any sleep.

“Problems occur, and of course they don't go by your schedule.”

This is why I asked you about fitting me in. I never gave you a specific day or time to force me into your schedule. I can keep posting screenshots of everything.

I will emphasize: I never attempted to force an appointment, until nearly the very end when I simply asked a month later if I could come in first thing for an uninstall of everything. This would’ve taken my issues off your plate too, because I specifically said I would then bring the car into the dealer for a more thorough check.

So yes, I messaged again quite quickly and impatiently that time (if 23 hours is impatient). However, it wasn’t because I couldn’t stand waiting for you, it was simply because I’m a working professional and expected that you would understand that schedules sometimes need to be adjusted and set in advance (isn’t this one of your main arguments right now?) And yes, you got quite pissed off that I’d messaged you about it on FB.

Of course, it was on FB that we scheduled the original tuning and installing session, right? So I had the impression that, while not optimal, you were okay with me messaging you on FB. Now I get having some issues about that, that’s fine. You responded in an incredibly hostile tone, and this is a few weeks after me initially contacting you and giving fairly adequate time between conversations.

Why not simply say something like:

“Hey man, sorry but it’s super difficult to respond on FB all the time. I have a work email that I’m trying to be more responsive to. I can be a bit slow to respond, I hope you’ll understand but please work with me there.”

When a car is having issues, you don't just chuck parts at it. Also, left out the fact that you paid for NONE OF IT. 3 hours I spent on your car. I apologized, I was flustered, and I have NEVER done something like that. I had a car on that lift for 3 weeks waiting on parts, and I misjudged the lift arm now that it was gone. You call that mishandling, I call that a mistake. You then demanded a full set of wheels, because you wouldn't even try a wheel repair guy, and I offered you COST on a set of tires. Nothing will make you happy apparently and I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

3 hours? I guess you forgot that one hour of that time was us waiting for your download of the stock tunes from Ecutek because you didn’t have the right file, and you wasting time riding your motorcycle back and forth outside the shop and speeding back in.

Which is interesting because one of the last emails I sent was specifically asking to remove and retune everything to stock. If you had read that and understood, you would’ve likely wanted to have that tune on-hand as a plan B.

What parts did I chuck at the car? What issues was it having?

Are you implying this happened before the install and you didn’t tell me? To my knowledge, I had no issues before the install and tune day.

Are you saying after? I never once bought or chucked anything at it, save for the 300 dollar Ecutek Connect so I could datalog sooner than later and also help you out by saving you a TWENTY MINUTE logging session that you were too busy to schedule me for and only gave me a random day out of tiredness of dealing with me.

You told me the week before that pay wasn’t an issue with looking at my car to help me diagnose the issues.

You also never said anything about charging me. I motioned toward the office and said I’d need to grab my backpack, and you left the car running. How was I supposed to know that I should pay at that point? I offered in this exact email to pay for the work:



I also didn’t straight up demand a full set of wheels. I asked you to make the situation right. You originally said if I wasn’t happy with a repair, to let you know and you’d take care of it. Unless, of course you’re denying that? If so, here you go:



[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqfD3j4ik2g[/ame]



I didn’t just demand a set of wheels. I wasn’t happy with the wheel repair, and, like you said, I let you know so you could “take care of it.”

Before I left, I asked you to email me your repair person’s info so I could check and get a quote. You never sent me anything.

So yes, I did research on how to replace the wheel that was previously undamaged. If it had been damaged already before this situation, I would’ve been happy with a repair. My wheel is a limited release/finish wheel from Rays, they don’t sell it individually.

I’m not trying to take advantage of you or anything. I was purely trying to get my wheel back into the condition it was prior to this incident. In this case, that meant a replacement made more sense.

What if it was a super expensive Volks/Works/HRE wheel that cost $1500-2000? If you did the same thing to another customer with one of those wheels but they did have the ability to order a single wheel, would you go through and order it for them or insist that it get repaired by some shop you never gave the info for? Because 1500-2000 is a far higher cost than a set of my wheels.

So, when I gave the idea of getting a new set of wheels it was so you could either exchange one of the new wheels for my damaged one or exchange the entire set. Then you’d have the option of having it repaired by your shop. At this point it’s more about what I’ll have to go through to get it fixed or repaired from your mistake. Usually it’s on the person who made the mistake to make things right. If that means you need to repair a wheel and then spend two months or something to sell a mostly new set of wheels, then that’s your burden, not mine.

But let’s get one thing right: I was not trying to take advantage of you or the situation. I just wanted my wheel that I had kept in pristine condition till this point restored to how it was. If that meant replacement, so be it.

For the rest of you guys coming out of the woodwork! Bring this shit up at the time! What is the point of complaining about it now. Have you never made a single mistake working on a car? How many shops let you see what they are doing, and let you be in the shop while its being done. It's not a right, its a privilege. Its a trust I've built between my customers and me. You see the work I do, you get to watch me do it, and if I mess up, guess what, you're right there breathing down my neck. Have a little fucking compassion.

Why aren’t customers allowed to voice a negative experience without you giving them a guilt trip or swearing at them?

Is this where we’re at now? That a reputable local shop is going to guilt trip customers because they didn’t admit to seeing you do something you knew you did? Why should that matter? You should be the one admitting to it. Don’t make others take that burden. If you want a trust between yourself and your customers, that’s not how to do it at all.

You want to know whats really up. My mother in law died 3 weeks ago she's been sick for months, and I have spent nearly every weekend driving 2 hours north to see her. We were extremely close. My fiancé is completely destroyed, our life is extremely hectic. My entire family is under evacuation from the fires and this is the kind of shit I have to deal with.

I’m sincerely and truly sorry that you’re dealing with all of this. I am.

But it’s also irresponsible to be taking that out on your customer.

You want to know whats really up?

The reason that Saturday appointment wouldn’t have worked out for me is because I had family flying/driving in for a set of birthdays. Want to know which birthday was the one we were celebrating that weekend? My grandmother’s 89th birthday. My grandfather has dementia from fighting in WW2 at 16 years old and nearly drowning on D-day. And this is after he and his family (all Jewish) escaped from Germany during the Holocaust.

I’m lucky if my grandfather even smiles or says anything when I visit. He nearly choked just on a piece of cake that day.

And my grandmother is constantly falling and injuring herself, like breaking her jaw or getting other injuries.

Oh, and they live in the east bay near the hills where fires are likely too.

I never made this personal, I never swore at you, nothing. This was entirely to document my experience with your business side.

We don’t know how long my grandparents will last at this point, and I only have two left now.

You think you’re the only one dealing with stuff like this?

Again, it’s completely irresponsible to place that kind of personal burden on a customer.

Again, I’m sincerely sorry. But this really has no place in a business relationship situation.

Most people would be grateful for the service I have performed in the community for the last 4 years. I was literally just another guy going to meets, and enjoying these cars and saw a need. I have sacrificed a lot to build my business and try, and I can with 100% certainty tell you, shops like mine are going extinct, and the kind of reaction and witch hunt shit, forums like this, and facebook promote are no help.

This isn’t a witch hunt at all. I was documenting my experience with many facts and almost no opinion other than how this experience worked for me. I even said multiple times that everybody has their own experiences and not all are equal.

Nobody’s hating on the service you have performed. I’m not sure where you’re getting that idea?

I guess this is part of the problem now. I know you have a great community of friends from this community. That’s awesome.

But, if you want to have a mainstream shop like this with such huge growth, there needs to be some accountability. Paying customers aren’t always friends. And that’s okay too. Why not just do a solid service for everyone and accept that nobody’s perfect, and sometimes we need to use some experiences as a learning lesson?

An honest business owner will own up to stuff like that without getting hostile, which is exactly what’s happened here.

Now if anybody does want to say that they noticed you screw up a wheel or something, they’ll be too fearful to post about it because you jump down their throats about it.

That’s a terrible way to run a business.

Look dude, I want to help you. Yeah, my experience and review left me not wanting to come back. But I put this on here to help you.

You don’t have to agree with that.

You can attack my morals, my credibility, whatever.

You don’t have to trust me when I say this.

But this review was meant to share with everyone. You, your current customers, your potential future customers.

I might never return to your shop, and it is how it is.

But don’t you want to at least consider ANY of this as a useful learning experience? Something to help you improve the way you handle business?

Originally Posted by The Racers Line

BTW, your flex fuel kit, that you also purchased used, was built incorrectly. The ground wire was too short, so I had to route it differently. I've seen this multiple times on the new kit. The new guy building them had a lot on his plate when he started, I believe they have fixed it since the. It functioned completely the same.

And as far as this. If you noticed the ground wire was too short, why didn’t you mention this from the beginning?

BTW, want to know where I bought it from? I bought it new from CSG Mike. He had to send an open box kit for 2013-2016 MY back to Delicious for a new 2017 kit. I guess we should wonder if CSG Mike is selling stuff he trusts then.







Not sure where you got your information from. That kit was all new when I got it.

--

I won't be responding to any further replies.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by The Racers Line

I didn't drop a socket on your wheel! That is what I'm saying. I'd remember if I damaged something like that. But you believe whatever you'd like.

I obviously didn't know the pump was the issue at the time. But keep fanning the flame dude.

Its not that I'm not chill Laz, I just have zero patience for this. It's incredibly tiring and useless. Your car didn't leave the shop with bad feeling brakes, and I'm not a magician. I'm just a regular ass person that works on cars. Next time you have someone do work on your car, if you notice things, bring it up. It'll help so much more than this.

Yeah, so that's why you decided to put that felt tape around your socket after the fact. Let's say it was the lug nut that fell, or hell, let's say something coincidentally fell from your shelf and onto the wheel. You could have at the very least said something to me instead of brushing it off in hope I didn't hear that loud ass bang (which I really don't think a lug nut would cause that loud of a sound). That's what I'm trying to get at.

And of course I know you didn't know your pump was having issues then, so I'm not fanning shit. But also remember I brought up how the brake fluid quickly turned brown at that SKO meet. You could have brought up the fact that you found out that your pump had issues then.

And I have zero patience for a professional who hides mistakes from customers.

This is the last of my replies to this thread. Just to be clear, my post was not trying to bash you, but rather just show potentially customers on things they may have to look out for when getting services done at your place.

[Troll_86]

Huge thank you to TRL and Neal for helping me out of a dealer transmission warranty fiasco this month. Dealer failed me, TRL arranged a replacement transmission in my 17 BRZ and had me back up and running in a week including new clutch, TOB and an upgraded Verus fork. All in time for a scheduled test day on track. Neal’s the only one I trust to prep my track BRZ and maintain my daily BRZ. Super excited to work with Neal on our 2020 track build which will include a Harrop supercharger among other mods. Two years now as a frequent customer.

[DandoX]

This is getting toxic, and should really be handled talking in person like adults. We on this forum are not fit to be jury to this "he said she said what not". It is one thing to note your experience but another to go blasting and then look to the forum to provide some sort of validation. I learned that when you got a problem with a person you talk it out man to man which is what I advise.

[treedodger]

The Racers Line is the only shop I trust to work on my track/daily BRZ. As former mechanic and current mechanical engineer, I'm very particular about who works on my vehicles. Good luck finding a mechanic more experienced with an 86. There's a reason why Neal is so busy.

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Yeah, so that's why you decided to put that felt tape around your socket after the fact. Let's say it was the lug nut that fell, or hell, let's say something coincidentally fell from your shelf and onto the wheel. You could have at the very least said something to me instead of brushing it off in hope I didn't hear that loud ass bang (which I really don't think a lug nut would cause that loud of a sound). That's what I'm trying to get at.

And of course I know you didn't know your pump was having issues then, so I'm not fanning shit. But also remember I brought up how the brake fluid quickly turned brown at that SKO meet. You could have brought up the fact that you found out that your pump had issues then.

And I have zero patience for a professional who hides mistakes from customers.

This is the last of my replies to this thread. Just to be clear, my post was not trying to bash you, but rather just show potentially customers on things they may have to look out for when getting services done at your place.

Okay, I gotta ask. I know I souldn't...How does a "dropped socket" bend a lip on the rim? Are they made of butter?

The maximum size socket I can think of being used is a 19mm.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by new2subaru

Okay, I gotta ask. I know I souldn't...How does a "dropped socket" bend a lip on the rim? Are they made of butter?

The maximum size socket I can think of being used is a 19mm.

I never said bent. I said it made a slight indentation. You can try dropping an impact gun rated socket onto your wheel, and see what I mean.

[The Racers Line]

30+ pages of happy customers, I suppose I was overdue for an unhappy few. One that decided, even after privately settling things with me, that he needed to go public. Hopefully anyone reading this can realize what kind of customer he was ,with all the misinformation, pandering, and slander and walls of text. It shouldn't have to be said, but if you guys ever have an issue, just come to me. I thought this had been handled last week, but someone needed more attention, and obviously wanted to hurt my business, because there really is no other reason to post this stuff in here.

This thread with over 100k views, has brought so much business to my shop. I used to have time to post updates and work I was doing in it, and then people were awesome enough to put their honest reviews in it, even though its not what it was meant for. I do really appreciate the kind words and support from everyone.