My Journey with VF - The TRUTH

Originally Posted by AMG ETR

That is for sure true it does take months and when I was going to do a custom turbo with him before HPF he needed the car for 2 months just for the tuning aspect (IIRC). However, he is a mastermind when it comes to tuning and works very closely with the other mastermind (Jim C.) and I bet he could make Mike's car run great (if the tune turns out to be the issue in the end). Nick G is one of the only ones (if not the only one) capible of tuning a turbo S54 on the factory DME He's just waiting for someone to give him the car so he can put it to use! I would for sure trust him with my car if I were Mike and wanted to keep the VF hardware!
Evan

He tuned the m54 on the factory DME.

Originally Posted by HPFMTRE

Hey can you please post a video of a cold start? and be sure to show the gauges before the start so we can see the temp. thanks!

This is good stuff, no lie

in for video

Originally Posted by BMW_Matt

He tuned the m54 on the factory DME.

m54 does not = s54

Also a small turbo making small power is not exactly the same as a big turbo making bigger power. There's lots of different variables...

Originally Posted by HPFMTRE

Hey can you please post a video of a cold start? and be sure to show the gauges before the start so we can see the temp. thanks!

I have a video of my Stage 2 starting up on a cold start. If I turned my lights on it would have been more help, but I was troubleshooting my AEM guage when I took this video.

For the record I have the bouncing idle issue probably 1 every 20 starts? It's random too. Doesn't have anything to do with temps. I also have bogging/misfiring/running rich at WOT below 3000rpm.

Mike,
has Nik offered to refund you any money close to what you paid?

Originally Posted by coolmody

I have a video of my Stage 2 starting up on a cold start. If I turned my lights on it would have been more help, but I was troubleshooting my AEM guage when I took this video.

For the record I have the bouncing idle issue probably 1 every 20 starts? It's random too. Doesn't have anything to do with temps. I also have bogging/misfiring/running rich at WOT below 3000rpm.

That isnt a "cold" start. Yeah the motor isnt at full temp yet but that isnt a car thats been sitting over night and come in the morning to start it. Plus all the gauge lights are off not allowing to see temps either. But thanks again for the video im glad your enjoying your car! now post some kill vids haha

Originally Posted by Forcefed M3

Mike,
has Nik offered to refund you any money close to what you paid?

Through a mediator I have sent them a request, but they have failed to respond. Not surprising...

Originally Posted by MSpired

Through a mediator I have sent them a request, but they have failed to respond. Not surprising...

Hey Doc your best friends with Nik, ask him why he is hiding AGAIN!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Forcefed M3

lol...

Originally Posted by HPFMTRE

That isnt a "cold" start. Yeah the motor isnt at full temp yet but that isnt a car thats been sitting over night and come in the morning to start it. Plus all the gauge lights are off not allowing to see temps either. But thanks again for the video im glad your enjoying your car! now post some kill vids haha

That's a car that has been sitting for a week in a heated underground parkade I could drive it out into -40 weather, but I don't think I could get her back in

I have no kill vids. The car is too slow

Originally Posted by Forcefed M3

Originally Posted by coolmody

That's a car that has been sitting for a week in a heated underground parkade I could drive it out into -40 weather, but I don't think I could get her back in

I have no kill vids. The car is too slow

Coolmody, didn't you have your fair share of problems with VF?

Originally Posted by TaZaM3

m54 does not = s54

Also a small turbo making small power is not exactly the same as a big turbo making bigger power. There's lots of different variables...

Wut? I was saying Evan was wrong and NickG didn't tune the S54 DME, he develop a tuning for the m54.

Here is a synopsis of various posts within many forums/threads:

The following is all from this thread:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=729112

Originally Posted by Brian N

Oh man that sucks.

I remember seeing your car at Ronin for a while! I had made two trips and couldn't believe the car was still there, and that was months ago. I really can't believe your still having problems. Back then I even knew that VF was looking more shady at the moment. Talking to ronin's mechanics they said a couple of VF kits had come in to be "fixed" since they weren't running right either.

Best of luck man. I wouldn't let VF get anywhere near your car again. Time to make a change/do something different.

Originally Posted by ///M3_N_DaWerks

Sorry to hear about your situation Mike!

I too had problems with VF but this one is extreme! Best of luck to you.

Originally Posted by ///M*Hershey

damn, I almost went with VF. I have a good friend, who is not a forum member & has a VF stg.1 with the same issues that has been discussed over & over in these threads. EVEN he told me NOT To go VF. Glad I didn't also...OP- THANKS for the write up. GL in the future with your car.

Originally Posted by Flavourless

Bryce if you only knew that crap that Speedware had to deal with when ordering your kit from Vf. It was a joke sean and nik are horrible to have to deal with and from that point on, I vowed to never own a vf product ever!!

can the mods clean up this RMS bs. that has nothing to do with this thread and just clutters it up and causes Mike's thread to head off-topic. This thread needs to stay on topic as much as possible so that it does not get locked up. Come on guys lets keep it to what is happening with Mike and NOTHING else.

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

While I don't know engines and tuning like many of you, my interaction with VF Tuning and Nik Saran left little doubt in my mind just how disingenuous and duplicitous that outfit is . . . .

Indeed, when my Stage II E46 M3 was with them (which is a whole separated sorted story) I learned Nick had taken it out of town for a couple of days to attend a wedding so I flew in to California, had to track him down, and got the car back with over 1,000 additional miles on it . . . .

Despite the fact that VF Engineering has a number of customers who have positive views about the company and its products, several of whom I regard highly, I knew the true character of that outfit and and its head of "R&D" could not go undetected forever.

Originally Posted by finger123

if this is all true mike, then VF will be losing a lot more customers including me. Its about time to dump my VF kit and go HPF. screw it.

In response to above:

Originally Posted by azjimi

Was wondering how long you were gonna keep this in.
It's one of several reasons I never went stage II.

Originally Posted by switlikbob

I won't go into details, but I had issues with VF as well concerning honoring their warranty. Long story short, after a few months are arguing, filing complaints with multiple organizations & governmental business fair practice establishments, I got my money back. I did all that over a measly $360. It was the principal of the matter.

The below are all from the following thread:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=300057

Originally Posted by DTM Tom

i concur, a lot of mike's experiences were the same as mine.

Originally Posted by confused

I am having AFR issues on my e36 stage 1 as well. I am happy with the pre-sale support from Sean, they have always gotten back to me promptly when I call or email, but the tech support is horrible. When I ordered the kit the instructions were completely wrong, there were references to parts that were not in the kit, pictures referring to different cars, pieces were missing (which were promptly shipped). When I called with install questions it seemed the tech had never even seen or installed a kit on an e36. Best thing I did was throw the instructions away and just figure it out on my own.

I had the car dyno'd bc I was concerned about the AFRs and I want to go with water/meth and up the boost to 8-9 psi. I put down 315 whp on the final run, stock clutch with 105k on it slipping pretty bad, which is more than I had expected. The shop that dyno'd it was impressed with the hp #'s but said the tune is sh!t and to have VF reflash it. I emailed my charts to VF and they said not to worry, its normal.

Overall if I had to do it again I would probably buy a RMS stage 2 off ebay and have AA or someone do the tune. I do not like the VF belt setup, the small injectors, and the GIAC tune that come with the VF but I think Vortech blowers are the only way to go - I love my V3. My SC options at the time I bought it were AA or VF, even with the problems I would still choose VF over AA because of the Vortech SC.

Originally Posted by DRIPPABMW

Man this is a bad post, I feel bad seeing people trying to mod their cars and having nothing but problems. I am glad that they have kept this up for people to see the truth and vf engineering true colors. The reason why Nik probably wanted you to send it to VAC is because thats where I had my motor built and AA tuned it and I never had a problem after that.

For the people on this forum that dont know my story I had a vf stg 2 for about 300 miles and it blew my motor and Nik did nothing to help me out. Just wanted me to pay more money for additional parts. I would not reccomend anyone to buy their kit after what happened to me. I really think that people need to see the way you get treated by them, in the beginning they wanted to help me out all the time then nobody there wants to help you out, even after the motor blew Nik says you have cracked ringlands, But I will sell you pistons and rods at cost. I have a whole story but you guys see where this is going, there wasnt one or two bad motors there are a few. I think you guys a vf have a problem on your hands and might wanna think about fixing it!

Originally Posted by brakelate22

Mspiredm3 you are one patient man.

I bet there are alot more Unhappy VF customers then any of us thinks.

Im not going to get in detail but i know a BMW VF car/owner that has a similar story like yours. Maybe not as bad, But bad enough. Maybe i can get him to share his storys.

Dont get mad but i trully feel one of the main reasons you got in this situition is bandwagon jumping. Ive noticed alot of bandwagon/trends in the BMW world. lesson to be learned "dont get cought up in the Hype".

The following from this thread:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334198

Originally Posted by 05SCM3

Having dealt with VF Engineering and their head of "R&D" - Nick Saran, and had their stage I and II Supercharger on my E46 M3, I can state unequivocally that I would never again put anything from that company on my car . . . ever.

Originally Posted by bigpuna

This is what happens when you buy 3rd party software to run your FI kits. I have seen a few local VF kits over the years that did not run right and the owners always made excuses for it. If you can't develop software on your own and you have to buy it then you have no business building FI kits.

Originally Posted by Eugene-TAIWAN

I was really faithful to VF because of my late GTI and I bought their RSS kit for my GTI but, after a few action and post and some bad customer service here in Taiwan. I have gone another route! Sad to hear things like this as it really hurts to see a brothers motor being raped like that. Hey Marry Christmas Bro (Mspired).

Originally Posted by stylinexpat

To the best of my recollection if am not mistaken I remember that 1 or 2 people who had installed the VF Supercharger on their VW R32 blew their motors. I used to have a R32 and at the time was thinking about getting a Supercharger for my R32 but after I had heard of what happened I decided against installing a supercharger on my R32.

Originally Posted by Panda///Monic

Paper trail is fairly impressive and reinforces Mspireds side of the story very well.
I knew Tony's car wasn't running how Nik claimed either. I saw the car in person. The guy is a good friend. Tony was so excited when he sent it off but by the Time Tony got his car back, he seemed so disappointed and was one of the people who told me not to trust them on my E92.

Originally Posted by niterider

I think every company will one day face a problem, wether it be a blown engine, a leaky valve cover, a lose bolt etc. Whatever the problem be big or small this is when a company shines IMO. The way a company addresses the problem and satisfies the customer is when they show their true colors. Customer service is number 1 in my book.

This isnt the first Guy I know with a blown motor from VF, however I wont jump to the conclusion and say they dont know what they are doing (maybe they do, maybe they dont) I go by facts.

As of now the fact is they have blown s54 engines and have also made some fast s54s. It is also a fact this is not the first person they dont help after they couldnt resolve the problem and try to brush off.

This is exactly why I didnt wait for their SC kit. I know people with personal experiences from VF that ended up paying some other company to fix their car, that was enough for me to stay away from them, again Im going by facts.

If u want to talk about the S65, Vf has obviously not been able to tune their S65 kit, this is a FACT. So u make ur conclusions from their. I know Its not about who releases thier kit first but to me, it also shows a weakness in a company when u release ur kit a year or 2 after some other companies have released reliable and powerful SC kits.

Good luck with ur engine bro, hope they take care of it. Like I said in my eyes Customer support/service should b #1 for any performance company. This is why I respect G power, they blew engines but they also took responsibility and repaired them.

The following from this thread:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1368731

Originally Posted by bim533mer

i have a friend that personally met this nik dude and from the conversation he had with him he sad that he is full of sh*t and dose not know how this place makes money

Originally Posted by jayzx7

thats sucks to hear hope you get everything worked out. the best mod i did to my car was selling my vf kit. they will lie right to you and not even think twice about it.

The following from this thread:

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/b...-vf-truth.html

Originally Posted by BAD ASS TA WS6

Huh. Funny how it all works out.

I had to have AA tune my roommates M3 after building the motor...as the factory one had MASSIVE blow-by same as yours. Motor was built to handle 25+psi, best money could buy. Factory 40k mile car, cracked 4 ringlands after 300 miles of VF stg. 2. Burned about a quart of oil in 25 miles.

At that point I upgraded to a T-Trim, $$$ motor, still on factory fuel pump, and like I said 9/10psi making 496rwhp on a dynapack SAFE. Of course, we had to upgrade the injectors while getting tuned, as the ones supplied with VF stg.2 were BOGUS, and maxed out around 6500RPM.

Is the company still getting bought out, and changing names?

There isn't much credibility comming from their court. FWIW, I'm a BMW tech and have experience with various S/C setups on the E46 cars. The VF kit isn't bad installation wise, but the real battle comes once you turn the key.

Originally Posted by Forcefed M3

Every VF car has the cold and warm idle issues..period! no tune!

I don't get it. Mine doesn't have that issue. I live in Seattle with both cold and sometimes warm weather. Am I missing something here?

Originally Posted by brycerichert

I don't get it. Mine doesn't have that issue. I live in Seattle with both cold and sometimes warm weather. Am I missing something here?

I think what he was meaning was that particular problem which they are referring to on the E46 M3 S54 platforms is a common problem, and not a 3 series m52/54 platform as your own.

lol at thread! old news! Karmas a b$tch!

Originally Posted by parad0x

I think what he was meaning was that particular problem which they are referring to on the E46 M3 S54 platforms is a common problem, and not a 3 series m52/54 platform as your own.

I see, and it makes sense... everyone I've come into contact with on my platform with VF has no issues at all... we are all low boost though so we don't risk much, but understand we do risk something just for the fact of being boosted. I hope that Mike guy gets his car sorted out. Seems like he should spend a little less time plastering these forums with the same old same old though. Anyways.....

Peace be to all FI owners.... sure is fun!

Originally Posted by MSpired

Here is a synopsis of various posts within many forums/threads:

The following is all from this thread:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=729112













In response to above:



The below are all from the following thread:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=300057









The following from this thread:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334198













The following from this thread:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1368731





The following from this thread:

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/b...-vf-truth.html

umm WOW... This is unbelievable.

Originally Posted by brycerichert

..... Seems like he should spend a little less time plastering these forums with the same old same old though. Anyways.....

They wouldnt even talk to him if he didnt posted everything on the forums.Just look what happened to the other people that had issues with VF before

IMO MSpired should update and keep this up untill they decide to make it right,and even after that it should be left up in case somebody else decides to go with VF.