I’m writing this as Esstuning used to have good quality control with good customer support but unfortunately that is not the case anymore. Here are the parts I bought from Esstuning in the last couple of years. E46 M3 Vt2-525 supercharger kit, E93 M3 Ecu tune, E93 M3 underdrive pulley kit, E93 M3 test pipes, E93 M3 Vt2-625 Supercharger kit.
My main problem with Esstuning started with VT2-625 supercharger kit for my E93 M3 when I purchased it and chose the option of the 7 Rib belt upgrade kit.
1) The kit was shipped to me missing the 7 rib belt upgrade option although I emailed them to make sure they don’t forget it and advised that I purchased the upgrade option. The upgrade option was shipped after I emailed them that it was missing.
2) After disassembling the car and starting to install the kit , I found out that they sent the wrong set of bolts that hold the supercharger bracket to the engine and the wrong set of bolts that hold the supercharger to the bracket, although before starting installation I emailed them to ask them about something in the kit and Mr.Asbjorn assured me that the kit contains everything for installation and to install the kit. After emailing them and I was extremely frustrated as the car was disassembled and I couldn’t complete the installation, they didn’t even apologize for this mistake and just told me “can you source the bolts locally (will refund you the bolts price!!!) or you want us to send you the right bolts”, I requested them to send the right bolts.
3) After installing the kit and going for the break in period , I heard a sound in the engine bay and went to check the engine bay to find that one of the idler pulleys supplied by them flew in my engine bay and luckily it didn’t damage the engine or other parts in the car when it flew in the engine bay , the idler pulley is two parts one metal part and the other part is the bearing, when they have put them together , they forgot to put the locking ring on both idler pulleys, at that incident I called Norway office and Mr.Hans advised that they can either send me new pulleys or I can return the kit but I have to talk to USA office as I purchased the kit from them , at that day I called Mr.Asbjorn in USA and he advised that they have a new staff member called Mike and he is the one responsible for all the mistakes that happened starting from sending the kit missing parts, the wrong bolt kit and ending with the pulley flying in the engine bay as he forgot to put the lock rings on both pulleys!!!! and also he advised that it is because this is a Gen 2 kit and its a new model and better than the old Gen 1 kit.
4) I had performance issues after all was installed and emailed them a couple of times , and called Mr.Hans and he advised me to make a boost leak test and I did and found a leak and fixed it but unfortunately after that I still had performance issues specially in third gear from the 5000 to 6500 RPM , I bought Bmw logger and logged the car and emailed them logs showing that the ignition is fluctuating in this area and asked them if it can be the tune but most of what Mr.Asbjorn was saying is that they sold more than 1800 units and they all perform good so the problem is in my car, I told them please check the logs and advise if I can check anything , they told me to change spark plugs again although the spark plugs were almost new and try new ignition coils, so I bought 8 new spark plugs and installed it and I bought 4 new ignition coils that I tried on both banks but problem still persisted , after that they advised me to put racing fuel and I bought ignite 114 racing fuel and have put 10% racing fuel on 98ron fuel and that also didn’t help, I called Mr.Asbjorn and I was explaining to him the problem he said ” I’m talking so either you listen or I’ll hang up”!!!!!!. Please be advised that this was only my second phone call with him and the first one was regarding their mistake when they supplied pulleys without the lock rings which could have made massive damage to my engine. He told me your car is modified from DCT to manual so we give zero support to any modified car although my car ran perfectly in track before the kit installation without any errors or any problems and here is a link for the car in Yas Marina circuit competing in time attack challenge ((
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hLfZ2yq6fg
)), finally He then told me put 50% ignite 114 racing fuel on 50% 98 RON fuel to test and this made my car performed extremely bad and got even a vanos error at that time.
Anyway I have dealt with esstuning for several years and I really can’t imagine how they have reached this level of low quality control and uncaring for their customers, they just want to sell the kits and not help their customers specially Mr.Asbjorn in USA , all what Mr.Asbjorn was interested to say is that he sold more than 1800 units and the problem is in my car and since it is modified from DCT to Manual so they give zero support according to their terms and conditions, maybe the performance issue is caused from my car but at least I expected them to try and help me throughout the problem and check the logs that show the problem and at least respect me when they are talking to me.
The amount of mistakes and defected parts they sent at the beginning costed me a lot of money and time and maybe the performance issue is from my car but at least they should respect their customers and talk to them in a better way. Mr.Hans tried to help and was respectful but on the other side in the USA office Mr.Asbjorn was completely unprofessional.
I have attached the email I sent him when I found out the bolts are wrong and couldn't complete installation and his reply.
Also attached some photos for the old pulley disassembled and the new pulley with the lock ring.
