Imported with Steven, info on Japanoid, and on CVI
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:56 pm
I imported my L300 through Steven (Rising Sun Autos). He didn't have his shop setup yet and my experience has been a mixed one.
He got me an excellent van with low mileage from the auction and brought it over. Many things weren't done until his shop got setup. I stayed on top of it and finally got my van into his shop, from my perspective this took threats and such. From his perspective it may have simply been that he was too busy and I slipped through the cracks.
When he and Nick did the extensive amount of work that they did it was done very well. I am happy with the quality of repair that they did and they performed more work than what was initially agreed upon when the van was imported. Butch at CVI has double checked that the work was done and all was well.
My only beef is that the lights were never changed. He wired the existing lights to be daytime running lights and the wire that was hacked in has already come off. So the lights are not DOT approved and somehow a safety was put on the van. I will likely pursue this with him when I have the gumption to do so. So my advice is that he can do a good job but I would stay on top of the situation and be sure that corners are not cut.
When I became soured on Steven's service I started using Japanoid. I've found that they are quite poor at diagnosing issues. I brought in my van with some sort of massive leak. Initially they said it was the turbo. The next visit they said it was the IP. Both were a problem but the majority of it was the IP. The turbo has a drip on it but it'll be okay for now. My second comment on Japanoid is that they are expensive. Very expensive. They seem to be of the mentality of taking a part out and sending it out rather than fixing only what needs fixing. In the end, the job will be done well, but others can do as good of a job for less.
Enter CVI. For the cost of having the IP done by Japanoid, I had the IP seals replaced, they checked the internals and gave them the all clear, setup the IP timing, cleaned my injectors (the Deli tune) and the total cost was about $300 less than just the IP would have at Japanoid. I've been back to CVI and the experience there is awesome. After leaving there I love my Deli more and more every time. They will take the time to go through your van with you and want to keep it running well by educating you. On top of that their prices are very reasonable and they are setup to do everything in house.
So to summarize, I like CVI the best. However I would use all three and be pretty confident that the job will get done. I'm sure that the import experience with Steven could go very well for many, he knows his stuff, but I'm not a fan of the short cuts. I imagine that my experience with him was not typical.
He got me an excellent van with low mileage from the auction and brought it over. Many things weren't done until his shop got setup. I stayed on top of it and finally got my van into his shop, from my perspective this took threats and such. From his perspective it may have simply been that he was too busy and I slipped through the cracks.
When he and Nick did the extensive amount of work that they did it was done very well. I am happy with the quality of repair that they did and they performed more work than what was initially agreed upon when the van was imported. Butch at CVI has double checked that the work was done and all was well.
My only beef is that the lights were never changed. He wired the existing lights to be daytime running lights and the wire that was hacked in has already come off. So the lights are not DOT approved and somehow a safety was put on the van. I will likely pursue this with him when I have the gumption to do so. So my advice is that he can do a good job but I would stay on top of the situation and be sure that corners are not cut.
When I became soured on Steven's service I started using Japanoid. I've found that they are quite poor at diagnosing issues. I brought in my van with some sort of massive leak. Initially they said it was the turbo. The next visit they said it was the IP. Both were a problem but the majority of it was the IP. The turbo has a drip on it but it'll be okay for now. My second comment on Japanoid is that they are expensive. Very expensive. They seem to be of the mentality of taking a part out and sending it out rather than fixing only what needs fixing. In the end, the job will be done well, but others can do as good of a job for less.
Enter CVI. For the cost of having the IP done by Japanoid, I had the IP seals replaced, they checked the internals and gave them the all clear, setup the IP timing, cleaned my injectors (the Deli tune) and the total cost was about $300 less than just the IP would have at Japanoid. I've been back to CVI and the experience there is awesome. After leaving there I love my Deli more and more every time. They will take the time to go through your van with you and want to keep it running well by educating you. On top of that their prices are very reasonable and they are setup to do everything in house.
So to summarize, I like CVI the best. However I would use all three and be pretty confident that the job will get done. I'm sure that the import experience with Steven could go very well for many, he knows his stuff, but I'm not a fan of the short cuts. I imagine that my experience with him was not typical.