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04-02-2013, 04:14 PM | #1 |
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
Tuned By BrenTuning? Check in here!
Ok so this thread is to tell us about yourself. Your mods. Your tune. What you do with the car (Auto-X, Drag, Road Course, Rally, Daily Driver, Hella Flush Hard Park)
And most importantly, your overall experience with BrenTuning. Any questions about your setup and further improvement, I will be glad to answer!
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
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04-02-2013, 06:55 PM | #2 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 256642
Join Date: Sep 2010
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Vermont
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Wouldn't this kind of fit into the Vendor Review section, seeing as you're asking about reviews...of a vendor?
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04-02-2013, 10:53 PM | #3 | |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 154093
Join Date: Jul 2007
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Leominster, MA
Vehicle:04 Forester XTi 90 Miata |
Quote:
Plus the service Bren provides is pretty specific to New England. This is a perfect spot for this thread. |
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04-03-2013, 07:43 AM | #4 | ||
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
Quote:
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Thank you. This is for our local customers who have been tuned in person, we do offer E-Tuning services as well for the not so local customers. We didn't think this would thread would be that big of an issue considering most other New England based tuners have a thread like this one. |
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04-03-2013, 08:32 AM | #5 |
This space for rent
Administrator Member#: 15382
Join Date: Feb 2002
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: MA
Vehicle:. 2005 OBXT LTD 2017 Chevy Bolt EV |
I'm ok with it. You big boys of NESIC can handle it.
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04-03-2013, 09:16 AM | #6 |
Add Lightness
Moderator Member#: 13699
Join Date: Dec 2001
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Hopkinton, MA
Vehicle:2021 Building It Better |
Yah, it's not like we're NWIC, where cruises and meets are banned because they're too immature to hold something without crashes, drag races or mass tickets. You know....like a Petco meet.
As a future Bren customer, I have a question. If I want to use a stage 2 setup, running just wastegate pressure and want to run 87 octane, can a tune be done to achieve this? I'll mention that I don't care about power and less than stock if fine. This is an 07 WRX with a stock turbo but catless and some kind of ricer intake that has been tuned for before knocking it down to wastegate. |
04-03-2013, 09:18 AM | #7 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 97072
Join Date: Sep 2005
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Ermergerd New Erngrend
Vehicle:2008 Mazda Miata GT 2003 GMC Sonoma Crew Cab |
4 posts... not a single one discusses BrenTuning...
I'm out of the Subaru game, in fact, I never had a turbo Subaru. I did, however, own a 2005 Saab 92x, which is basically the same thing as the WRX wagon, but - in my opinion - much nicer to look at. I ended up selling the car last year (to a NESIC member). Here's what she looked like in her final iteration: I actually bought the car from a member back in 2009. He had done mild mods to it: STI Up-Pipe A generic 3" TBE with a Magnaflow muffler Cobb AP For whatever reason, that exhaust always got a lot of compliments - On more than one occasion, members here that I'd meet up with (to buy stuff) would ask me to let them know if I ever considered selling the exhaust, but I digress. Shortly after I purchased, I was in contact with Bren. At that point, the operation he had going was much different from what he has going now. In fact, it's great to see how far BrenTuning has progressed. I knew that a custom tune would be greatly beneficial over a stock OTS Map any day, and BrenTuning helped me sort things out. I think that's what's important. My car was a DD, and I wasn't looking to reduce reliability [too much, since you always run that risk whenever you mod] or build a track machine. Bren's easy to talk to, and at the time (and probably still) I was much a 'noob.' It wasn't long before I was meeting with Bren and he helped sort my car out. Turned out, my stock EBCS was wonky and so we replaced it with a Forge MBC (that I purchased through BrenTuning). The car ran much better, and had excellent power for a DD. Through my years of ownership, I played around with an intake -- I was able to bring it back to Bren to have values tweaked and adjusted. I had zero issues with the vehicle (aside from routine maintenance stuff) and tune. Satisfied customer here. I would certainly suggest that anyone looking for a tune (not limited to Subarus), get in touch with BrenTuning. Besides, he's got great taste in cars and motorcycles... and has a badass (or is that fat ass?) rabbit named Yoshi. - HP PS: Since you asked, but I'm sure no one really cares, list of all specs: 2005 Saab 92x w/ Cold Weather Package Exterior Color: Black Interior Color: Black/Tan Leather Stock Features: Two-Tone Leather Seats Winter Package (Heated Seats, Mirrors and Windshield) HIDs Foglights Exterior: Debadged hood Headlight Armor (Light smoke headlight, Yellow fogs) Rho Plate 35% Tint All Around Trailer Hitch Kartboy extended hangers Ebay Hood Struts Interior: Dual Guage Pod with Prosport Clock and Autometer Boost gauge Kartboy Short shifter and Killer B Delrin Shift knob Plastidipped Console Weather Tech Mats ixizSclutch Audio/Visual/Electronics: OEM Subwoofer One-Touch Unlock Mod Wired for Escort (or Beltronics) Radar Detector Engine/Performance: Tuned by BrenTuning STI up-pipe, 3" SS Autochrome Turbo Back exhaust with Magnaflow muffler Forge Manual Boost Controller Grimmspeed Air-Oil Separator Silicone Y-pipe Wheels/Brakes/Suspension: Tokico D-Specs Crucial Racing Springs Paranoid Fabrication Saggy Butt Spacers 3-Way adjustable rear sway bar Kartboy endlinks Last edited by hqp921; 04-03-2013 at 09:31 AM. |
04-03-2013, 09:25 AM | #8 |
Former Vendor
Member#: 265606
Join Date: Nov 2010
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Manchester, NH
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I have not had any cars tuned by Bren (unless I get some euro thing one of these days ) but I just wanted to chime in and say that the interactions and professional relationship weve had over the years has been very pleasant and mutually helpful. Very rare to find in this industry.
Bren has also tuned a few of my euro friends' cars with excellent results and I dont hesitate to refer people to him for platforms I dont support. I've attempted to tune WRXs on 87 octane before with less than awesome results. The low timing made the power absolutely abysmal, and the mileage dropped a bit to to the point where Im not sure the cost savings were there at all. You could easily tune the car on 91 and maybe even possibly 89 with much better results. Interested to see if Bren has any experience with this too. Wicked M@ |
04-03-2013, 09:32 AM | #9 | |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 97072
Join Date: Sep 2005
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Ermergerd New Erngrend
Vehicle:2008 Mazda Miata GT 2003 GMC Sonoma Crew Cab |
Quote:
A fair amount of the mods listed under my 92x were done at Wicked! - HP |
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04-03-2013, 11:05 AM | #10 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 239162
Join Date: Feb 2010
Chapter/Region:
BAIC
Location: Sacramento, CA
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My next door neighbor got his 2012 STi tuned by Bren Tuning last summer. Cobb downpipe, Nameless catback, Cobb intake, AP
He was very impressed with the work performed by Bren. I am looking to have such services performed on my 03 wrx this summer. How do I go about doing so? Thanks, Alex |
04-03-2013, 03:41 PM | #11 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 179639
Join Date: May 2008
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Hoboken, NJ
Vehicle:'84 Carrera / '13 Golf R / '02 Corolla |
I don't have the time for a lengthy post like above, but Bren tuned my 2006 STi way back when. The current owner of the car hasn't changed a thing.
It was a Stage II tune, done when Bren was still doing road tunes (I feel like this is amateur hour). I was fine with an Intake, TBE, and BOV - Bren convinced me to go get a Forge Unos MBC and a Walbro prior to tuning, which would maximize the performance I'd get out of the tune. Car ran great!!! the Rev Limiter piece of the tune was a blast to play with when scaring Civics, and I honestly didn't try the flat foot shifting piece - just wasn't for me. The car definitely pulled hard, and I was |
04-03-2013, 04:15 PM | #12 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 42645
Join Date: Sep 2003
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: MA
Vehicle:2014 Audi S4 Brilliant Black |
I'm tuned by Bren.
353whp / 407wtq @ 20psi on a stock VF43 turbo. Too many mods to list, but the important ones are a built block (only pistons), ETS TMIC, APS TBE, Cobb SF Intake, and an Invidia EL Race header. The car is prepped to run in SCCA Street Prepared. It's my daily driver and has won multiple SCCA events at both the local and national level. I have run custom tunes from other shops with varied success. After having the car tuned by Bren, I noticed several improvements. While the newfound power was nice, the biggest improvement that I noticed was how smooth the car was. This includes both low speed bumper-to-bumper traffic, and high speed WOT pulls. The car runs MUCH smoother than any other tune I have ever run. One thing that I really like about Bren is that he will happily go out on the road with you after a dyno tune, and make any needed tweaks while you drive your own car how you normally would. This creates a real-world condition for him to help fine tune things. Overall the car feels MUCH better. It now pulls extremely hard, and 6th gear now feels like 5th, and 5th feels like 4th, etc. In addition, I'm able to modulate the throttle and boost in a much more controlled manner. For example, on my old tune my car was practically like an on/off switch. If I gave the car 40% throttle I wouldn't have much power/boost - but if I gave it 41% throttle, I'd instantly have 15psi of boost/power out of nowhere. There was no concept or feeling of partial boost (ie: below peak)- it was either there full bore or it wasn't. Now I'm able to hold that 40% throttle, and actually get the correct amount of boost for that target. On top of all this my peak boost is now 20psi, compared to 21psi on my previous tune. I made much more power overall, with 1psi less of boost. Last edited by Acejam2k; 04-03-2013 at 04:30 PM. |
04-03-2013, 05:27 PM | #13 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 187414
Join Date: Aug 2008
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Pembroke, NH
Vehicle:90 3 25i/10 STi SE/ 17 GK Sport 5mt |
I've also been tuned by Bren a few times. He tuned my 2008 WRX a couple times, then when I upgraded to my 2010 STi SE, tuned it at 900 miles.
My mods are too long to list, but power wise, currently I'm working with: -Catless Invidia Q300 TBE -Turbo XS CAI -Grimmspeed EBCS -Ceramic coated GT Spec UEL Header/UP -PTP Turbo blanket and SPT heatshield When Bren re-tuned me in fall of 2011 I had just installed the header and the numbers worked out to: I've run 2 and a half seasons of SCCNH Autocross and came in 1st place in SM for the year in 2012. It's been through plenty of hard launches (with 275 Hankook C71 slicks) and rev limiter bouncing, with no problems. Blackstone has analyzed my oil multiple times and I always check for consumption and have almost none over 3k miles. I have recommended countless people to Bren and will never hesitate to recommend anyone to him. He's a consummate professional and usually responds to my stupid questions within a couple hours via Email. I'll be going back to him when the time comes... He also has amazing taste in women, cars and music. -Gary |
04-03-2013, 06:02 PM | #14 | |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 268354
Join Date: Dec 2010
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Massachusetts
Vehicle:02 WRX 05 LGT Slow Automatics |
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04-03-2013, 07:24 PM | #15 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 341277
Join Date: Dec 2012
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Uxbridge, MA
Vehicle:13' WRX Premium Satin White Pearl |
I'll definitely throw up a post for Bren as well. When I bought my 2013 WRX I knew the mod bug was gonna bite instantly as I was coming from a heavily modded 350z. I read SO many threads and reviews on local tuners as I knew working with the best would be crucial to my cars longevity. After reading and calling to speak with ALL tuners within probably a 75 mile radius, it was very clear to me Bren was the only way to go! He helped me understand what works for Subarus, what doesn't, and what's been tune tested and mother approved lol! He gave me multiple mod routes to go with, stats to be expected of each, and described them all in great detail so I could decide which way was right for ME. I've been in the auto industry since my first job, the modding scene since I can remember, and can truly say people like Bren are a rare breed! His personality, knowledge, and true passion for what he does is not to be tested IMO and I can't wait for my second round of mods and visit to BrenTuning!
2013 WRX Premium Stage 1.5 OS Dyno Tune 305whp/355wtq Mods: Invidia Catted Divorced DP Forge Recic BPV Injen CAI |
04-03-2013, 09:02 PM | #16 | ||
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
Thanks for all the kind words guys.
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Alex, shot us a PM. We would be more than happy to help you out. |
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09-17-2013, 01:04 PM | #17 |
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
Have I ever mentioned how much we love the dom1.5xtr with the 10cm housing?
Let us know if we can help you! |
09-17-2013, 03:46 PM | #18 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 365624
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Central New England
Vehicle:2012 WRX White |
I have a 2012 WRX and have been tuned twice by Bren. Always happy with the results. My engine performance mods are:
Invida DP Invidia Q300 quad exhaust AEM CAI Forge BPV Process West TMIC GrimmSpeed EBCS TurboSmart internal wastegate actuator My first tune yielded 290hp/340tq numbers. Since I added a few new parts I have been retuned and am at 330hp/370tq now. I am running about 19PSI peak boost. Brendan is a very insightful and intelligent guy. He knows Subarus as well as anyone. He is very knowledgeable about aftermarket parts and you can feel confident in his recommendations. It was one of those lucky situations where I feel fortunate to have run into the very best at a point where I didn't know any better. Now I do and appreciate having him in my region. Pics to follow when time allows. Here's my latest dyno printout: |
09-19-2013, 12:31 PM | #19 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 224097
Join Date: Sep 2009
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Clinton, Ma.
Vehicle:2012 WRX Hatch - DGM Stage 1 - Tuned by Bren |
I'm stage 1 tuned. thats all I got. Love my tune, made a huge difference best money i have spent on my car so far. I am always dropping your name when people are looking for a tuner, especialy my BMW friends. Great guy to work with, very responsive and increadable knowledge of the trade. i would not have ANYONE else tune my car. 100% trust in Bren!
Last edited by Jmhm17; 09-19-2013 at 12:36 PM. |
09-23-2013, 08:20 AM | #20 |
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
Thanks for the review guys, glad you're enjoying the tune. Working on some big specials soon!
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09-23-2013, 09:55 AM | #21 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 190479
Join Date: Sep 2008
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Ashburnham, MA
Vehicle:2015 XV Crosstrek 2012 Impreza- Deep Cherry |
Show off that new dyno!
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09-25-2013, 02:09 PM | #22 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 106116
Join Date: Jan 2006
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Massachusetts
Vehicle:2016 VW Golf R Limestone Grey |
My '06 WRX wagon was tuned by Bren about a year ago. I had been going to EFI Logics in CT and was happy with their work. After Chris's unfortunate passing I went to Bren to tune my VF39. I can honestly say the car runs better than it ever did. We did a dyno tune and then took it on the road to make any adjustments.
As others have noted, it's not just the power, but the smoothness of the engine. Bren pays attention to all aspects of how the engine is running, and it shows. The car put down 290 WHP and 330 WTQ (corrected). I also appreciated Bren working with me when I had an over-boost condition in cold weather (I blame a sluggish wastegate that doesn't open quite fast enough). He took the time to work out a low wastegate map, with me data logging and refining the map over email. And he didn't even charge me extra! Relevant mods: VF39 STi TMIC, Grimmspeed HD coated Walbro 255 fuel pump Grimmspeed EBCS TurboXS downpipe Greddy Evo2 cat-back I would recommend Bren to anyone, due to his professionalism and quality work. Thanks Bren! |
09-25-2013, 04:37 PM | #23 | |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 267715
Join Date: Dec 2010
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: N. Attleboro, Ma
Vehicle:'05 FXT-Built-6spd 04 HD softail deuce |
Quote:
Nothing but positive things to say about BrenTuning. Bren went above and beyond to help me track down an idle issue. The problem ended up being DW injectors flowing like garbage at idle, but he invested time to help me diagnose the issue. And then a retune and it idles better than new! Btw, the car is for sale! I cant wait to start my next build and take a trip to BrenTuning to have it tuned. |
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09-26-2013, 10:35 AM | #24 |
Former Vendor
Member#: 287454
Join Date: Jul 2011
Chapter/Region:
NESIC
Location: Metrowest Boston
Vehicle:508 -762-1769 For parts/tuning bundles! |
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09-26-2013, 03:42 PM | #25 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 202526
Join Date: Feb 2009
Chapter/Region:
MWSOC
Location: Central WI
Vehicle:2006 STi Silvery |
BrenTuning FOR THE WIN!!!
I had a dyno tune done by reputable shop/tuner in Chicago (4hrs south of me) (I won't mention who it was here, until I have things figured out...) the experience at the shop was great! and the day of, the tuner was good too. I noticed a little stumble on the hwy, but nothing that really concerned me. after the first RoadCourse & AutoX event shortly after the tune, that little stumble between 2k-3k RPMs was HORRIBLE with anything more than 1/2 throttle. so bad I couldn't even autoX the car, as it bogged so bad under 3k RPMs, it completely lost the torque/feel of an STi. I emailed the shop to talk to their tuner the following monday. after a month (and 3-4 emails later) the tuner finally emailed me back saying I had sub-par injectors in the car... which I installed on recommendation of that shop! a few weeks later, I got time to log the car and send them the data logs to their tuner to review. I also emailed them to Brendan at BrenTuning, since he e-tuned my first STi. I asked him for a favor, just to check over the logs for any irregularities. he mentioned nothing major, but sent me a low boost test tune the very next day to see if that helped any. IT FIXED THE PROBLEM!! We have since worked out payment issues for the test map since I know it was definetly the tune, and not the injectors! it's been 3 weeks now since I emailed the data logs to the other shop, along with 3 emails and a phone call. I still have NOTHING back from their tuner. I have been patient up until now. but now i'm getting irritated. they have been paid months ago, and are no help at all. I feel they the tuner should be a little more concerned with keeping a customer happy!! Brendan was AWESOME to work with, very fast with replies and great information. BrenTuning all the way from now on!! Will most likely have BrenTuning do the final tune on this car too once the wideband is installed! Just wish I didn't live 1200 miles away, or i'd be there on his dyno already!! |
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