Afraid I’m going to have to respectively disagree regarding Stillens “extensive” R+D and testing program. Basically dropped out of this list and in fact tried to trade my Z for a new 5.0 Mustang. The fly in the ointment was the Ford dealership wanted my Z for nothing.

Almost every single thing I’ve purchased (especially from Stillen) either didn’t fit properly or didn’t work properly. And, especially did not produce the advertised results. Stillen headers, intake, oil cooler, CBE, Cobb tuner, etc. etc. etc. None of it is on the car currently. The only thing I can give five stars to were the Berk cats and the Stillen underdrive pulley. (which I’m sure Sillen doesn’t make)

Stillen’s support was virtually null and had the balls to try and blame me for the headers and exhaust not fitting right due to the install. (ya, me and dozens of others boogered up the install)

The bottom line is after six months of not being on this list I’ve read this entire string in disbelief and frustration. Very sorry to hear how incompetent some of the aftermarket manufacturers are and that more people do not avoid them.

Signed: a future old fart driving a Vette obviously because I don’t get it.

Denny, I commend you for being respectful and its too bad that you've been in that situation with all your parts. My experience with Stillen so far has been better than with any other vendor. They have been a phone call away ever since I first talked to them back in early '09. My Stillen products have also been top notch. The bolt-on's I had made great power and now my Supercharger, I think its the highest HP SC 370z out there.

Its crazy that the two of us can install the same parts and talk to the same people and have such different results. Maybe we just have different expectations, but mine have been met.

I gotta comment, I mean I think Stillen may have dropped the ball a bit, but not like people are saying. I have been in RCZ's car, and I gotta tell you that car is SOLID and VERY quick. His car feels and drives better then the stock cars I have been/drove in. I mean he has that bigger oil cooler, but besides that his car I swear feels smoother up top then any stock Z I have been in. The biggest thing with aftermarket s/c's and Turbo kits, is the tune and I truly think that NO ONE should be running a boxed tune. Every car is different and for optimal performance, and longevity, a custom tune per car is just the smart thing to do.

Maybe the smarter thing to do was not to sell it as turn key and to stress the need for a custom tune.

I must agree on the tune per vehicle theory for 99% of purchasers.

I would not run a canned tune from any one, but I am lucky enough to know what I am doing in terms of tuning so do not have the 'extra' expense of a third party getting it right for me.

Chris,

Got to disagrree with you about the "box"tune. As long as each car using the same tune has exactly the same upgrades/peformance mods, then the car should run and operate exactly the same. Afterall Ford, Nissan, GM, Toyata, and all other manufactures are using the same tune in every ECU that comes out of the factory. If all cars are different how come the manufactures get away with the same tune?

Logically, you are 100% right. Theoretically, 100% right. In practice, not so much. All cars are a little bit different and unfortunately that means they respond differently to the same input. They obviously are the same car as you say so you can get away with a tame tune-up that will work on most of them, however if you really want to squeeze the most from a tune, you have to tune specifically for that car. Keep in mind that doesn't only mean squeeze out the most hp, it also has to do with driveability and reliability.

This is not Stillen's problem though, obviously it the issue was much more punctual. Its not that Stillen can't make a single tune that will work on everyone's car, it's that there's one glitch that is keeping some cars from working properly.

That being said, I don't know why anyone who has access to a tuner would not get custom tuned. Unless you need to be CARB compliant or you want to have the engine warranty, I would recommend getting a custom tune. If you can do a dyno tune, followed by a road tune...thats the best case scenario.

Exactly, just like all these stock turbo and SC cars, they have canned tunes and work fine. Like you said as long as all is the same a canned tune will work fine. I had canned tunes on my turbo Audi's and even got them canned chips and they worked great with full bolt ons. You may not get 100% of the juice out of them but they are about 90% as good as a custom tune. I just think this particular situation is hosed and maybe they should look at a different tuner or something.

I am on your page, and def understand your logic. I just think that common sense would come into factor here, that adding FI to a car that is N/A from factory deserves more respect then a canned tune. You are pushing the limits on the vehicle severely, and running a random tune just to me doesnt sound like a great idea no matter how good it is. I had alot of hope for this kit and still do, I just want to see Stillen come back here and talk to everyone like they used to.

If a product has problems fine, or it takes a while to get, fine, or even if the entire order process isnt SUPER smooth. I think the biggest part is communication, and since its not an isolated problem, help everyone understand it. I still think they are good guys, just need to be here and give us some info.

So...back to my blower puking its guts on me this weekend. Stillen is shipping out a new one today. I'm paying for it up front but will be credited once they recieve the failed unit.

:tup: for Stillen on this one.

Thats not good, whats the reason? I assume vortech needs to step up for this since its their unit?

I've been reading up on these kits on this string of threads for a little while, thought I might post my past experience regarding my 350Z supercharger kit with Stillen...

First off allow me to say that I think Stillen always has the best intentions and truthfully some good products. some not so good. But that's with anyone.

When I supercharged my 350Z years ago, I was working for Performance Nissan and I was getting a lot of support on my kit since I was selling quite a few kits through the dealership for a few years. as time went on and I moved on from that dealership, my customer support started to drop off with my issues that came up regarding the blower. In the end when I was working for Riverside Infiniti, although we were stillen retailers, we were not big movers of the blowers and it seemed that my support had fallen off alot.

Now stillen's service dept has always been good to me when I had the car in, they always did very good quality work and didn't rush anything which is commendable.

But the problem that I have overall with the blower kit and how stillen markets it is this:
They release a kit that they say is turn key ready to go. But then issues such as belt squeal or tunes end up popping up with a bunch of end consumers. Stillen then re-designs certain things and updates them for sale in newer kits. But for those stuck with the original kits who have these issues, stillen CHARGES you for the upgrades and updates.

For me, I had constant belt squeal issues and went through belts a lot. Then Stillen released a new idler pulley design. I needed it to fix my issue and they charged me for it and the install. Then they came out with a 6-rib blower pulley and shaft upgrade to help with the upper belt wearing out prematurely, and that upgrade was a few hundred $$ for just the parts. I never did do that upgrade. Then they came out with a different fuel/timing controller instead of their old split second box, and when I was running into issues with my timing box, they charged me I think (I mayb e wrong )approx $900 installed.... All this just to keep their kit working correctly on my car. Albeit we did go to a custom stage 4 upgrade and the tune was custom, but anytime I needed to replace up update a faulty part on the kit, they never helped out.
IMO, if you make a faulty part, it's up to you to rectify the situation not charge more.
There's a difference between simply "upgrading" to a better design of something and needing to replace a bad part with an updated one. If I simply wanted to upgrade to a newer piece, I'll gladly pay for it, that's my choice. But if I'm constantly having issues etc I expect the company to fix it, not charge me...

This is the experience that I've heard from a LOT of consumers of the Stillen kits and products. Now, not speaking ill of the Stillen brand, that's not my intent, but just stating my experiences.

I don't mind paying for it upfront so long as they don't try and tell me that it was something I did to cause it to fail. I spoke with Vortech and they basically said that so long as I installed the vented screw then there should be no reason why it puked its guts. Conclusion is a defective unit.

This mirrors what some others have said that have some experience with Stillen too. Almost seems like they get the kit out first to get the sales before other kits are out and wait for customers to bring them their problems to get them fixed, but at the customers expense. Lots of big companies are doing this to get the "I have to have this first" crowd and then fix as needed.

My overall impression of this debacle isn't good. I myself will never trust Stillen.

Remember how often they were posting at the beginning of this thread? Where are they now? Are they waiting for all of this to blow over and hoping everyone just forgets about it and moves on?

Has anyone taken any legal action in some way? Class action? Maybe a product recall?

I'm just glad I didn't fork out the money to puchase this kit from Stillen and install it on my three month old 2010 Z.

Well, this debacle is still better than any other supercharger solution. My car had problems, but it's been fixed for months and runs perfect. Yeah, my car makes 16hp less than what they advertised in their press release, but the competition - only GTM at the moment - only has one running example of their kit on any of the forum member's cars, and it makes 62hp less than their press release advertised. Also they've had a problem with their intake pipe that's supposed to be resolved soon, but they're still months behind Stillen in having everything fixed.