Good shops in the Bay Area

[DrAgNDriFteR23]

Ay wuts up people? Can anyone tell me of some good performance shops down in the bay area? I live about an hour an a half from there, near laguna seca raceway and was really sick of shops down here that have to order parts. Also, is there any decent paint shops that do a good job up there for not a lot of cash?

[mrmephistopheles]

[broken record]
Try a SEARCH, and you'll find many of the answers you need.
[/broken record]

[Dousan_PG]

they are on this board too. super cool people!

http://www.fullspeedperformance.com/

[aeontony]

I really recommend blacktrax. You can see their website at www.blacktrax.net

They do very nice work, but more importantly they are the most honest shop I've ever dealt with. They will not rip you off or leave you hanging. Very good people.

[FRpilot]

blaktrax? i only heard bad things about them. they do so so work and try to make as much money off of you as possible.. but they are one of the few shops that do swaps/fabricate things so your choices may be limited.

[kazuo]

I dunno.

I haven't personally been to Blacktrax, but a friend has and told me they are stand-up guys. I have also been told that they take their sweet time finishing stuff up, but I haven't otherwise heard anything negative about them.

Fullspeedperformance... I have heard some bad things about, but personally I don't know anything about them really, other than they are in Santa Cruz or something.

Japan Auto... stay away. Unless you are simply buying parts. I have seen their installs; they are terrible. :P

There's supposed to be some other shop in South San Jose but I don't know much about them. I think there's also another shop in Santa Rosa, but I can't remember their name off the top of my head.

No matter where you go, you take your chances (something can ALWAYS go wrong).

If you're super paranoid, go to MotoRex or Signal. And fork out the dough. :P

If you just want parts, who cares; go anywhere and everywhere. Pay with credit card. If they take too long, get a refund. If something goes wrong, dispute the charge. Most shops don't have much of anything in stock except for "Eurotails" and bootleg GT-R badges, so yeah.

No biggie.

Paint jobs... you can't get good and cheap unless you know someone. Just doesn't work. Expect to pay at LEAST $2000 for a full exterior paint job.

Good luck

[aeontony]

Blacktrax definetly took their time finishing my stuff. I was weary of them at the beginning. Installation of things like a camshaft, port/polish, 1.2mm head gasket..took them two months. At the end I was charged more than I expected because they didn't tell me I would have to pay for leakdown tests. There were also some miscellaneous parts priced in there that I wasn't told about.

But after my car wouldn't run when I swapped the engine in, I towed it in and they spent their time helping me debug for free. I guess I blew my compression rings..but during that time I got to know the owners very well. They are good people with integrity, and I've trust them 100%.

I think people who think they do so-so work a lot of the time don't follow procedures such as breaking in, maintenance..I"ve seen first hand people bringing their cars in "because the clutch you guys installed was bad" (guy didn't break in clutch) or "the car blew up not long after you guys worked on it" (guy took it to sacramento raceway immediately after parts installation and dragged the car in spite of boost spikes. After it started burning oil like crazy, guy STILL kept on running the car. Eventually he destroyed a piston.).

They are a startup so are _very_ tight and budget. They cannot afford to hire people, but still insist on quality work, thus have to take so long.

[phrozen]

lol you wouldnt happen to be the guy with the maroon 240 with the s14 black top and the silvia jdm steeringwheel? but yea black trax is a really good place i think the guys are really cool... they do pretty good work and yes they are very honest. if you need work you should talk to aki

[aeontony]

Heh that's me. What is your car? Maybe I've seen it or even you in person. I'm the real tall (6'2") Chinese guy. They ran out of space to keep my car after a while but it was nice of them to hold it for as long as they did.

[Drift Style S14]

well one shop is griffen motorworks in berkeley, i haven't used them but a few of my friends swear by them. Aeon its good to hear your cars now up and running.

[aeontony]

Hey..how did the car repair go? I assume the exterior's completely done?

Heh..my car doesn't run. And I don't have the money to fix it. The hood/fender guy's gone too so it just sits with a wooden board over the engine bay. One day it'll run..whenever that day may be.

[drift freaq]

well I have met the owners of Full Speed Performance and they are good people . They did have a problem with one of their employees. They let him go and he started talking crap. I have seen this happen with other shops . If people on the net believe what a fired ex employee of a company has to say they are being blinded . Ex employees nine times out of ten have axes to grind and are quite willing to dish out crap about their former employer if they can.
With that said Full Speed Performance is set to become a top notch place . The owners have the right idea and the are upstanding and thats half the battle.
As far as the North bay goes Spriso motorsports is Ralph Kenyons place and he is a long time 240 man. He knows his wiring and has been to Japan. So basically to me there are two places in the bay area .
Full Speed in Santa Cru (key is not working,time for new keyboard) :doh:

Spriso is in Vallejo

:bow:

[pinoydrifter]

hello,
I have done some work with asp (auto sport performance). They do good installs, but are a little on the pricey side. But you get what you pay for.... right.-cheers

[Drift Style S14]

well the repair went well, but its still not painted, but i did find a shop in sacramento thats going to do my entire car for 1400, so soon enought it will be painted. Aeon, I do stil have my hood from the accident if you want with a little hammering i think i can get it back to a good enough condition that u could just have it and use it instead of that plywood. Let me try to hammer it out and take a pic, send it to you, and then you decied if you want to use it instead of the plywood.