hey guys... I emailed ZZP about a few questions and thought with thier kind of reputation they could help me out a bit... I guess not. Heres my message;

Hey,

My name is Mike Madson, I am not a current customer as of yet, but I have some quick questions to ask about my 2001 Monte Carlo LS with the 3400 LA1 engine. I have a few questions to ask you guys and see if you guys can help me with some problems Im running into for performance.

Im looking at getting a tune for my PCM, but, I don’t remember seeing an option for you guys to tune the 3400 series engine. I do see you guys can do the SS model with the 3800 series. would you be able to tune my LA1 if I could send one in? Im also wondering not only if this is recommended on my stock transmission (I know it adds LOTS of extra stress on it) and if you could tell me a few things that you guys do for your tune and what each thing briefly does. I have done some mods to my car (Wizair CAI, Jetchip Programmer

Speaking of tuning, I plan on eventually getting a Tuner to start doing it myself as I continue to get modifications so Im wondering if you have any recommendations for A tuner. Im also curious what you recommend for Modifications that you do (and don’t) carry for my engine and what you think (about) each mod will help HP to the flywheel would be and what you think the costs should range about!



Im sorry for the such vague questions, but any help would be helpful!










their response?

If you send your pcm in we could flash it.




thats it. wow.

 

hm... very odd that that is all they said. i've never heard anyone complain about ZZP's customer service.

 

Hmm. Well they acknowledged they could do it which was the key portion of the email.

It won't affect the transmission that much, you could get an HPTuners programmer to do the job but it costs alot and there is a huge learning curve.... best just to send it into zzp.

 

Listen, many times, Tim, Matt, Zoomer, and Eric are out in the shop working.

I witnessed this myself probably about 16 times in the course of one day:

There are two cute little things that work the computer, taking orders and printing them off for the rest of the staff to pack and ship, and the other one answers emails. Alot of time, they will go and talk to the pros, and relay the info

For instance:

Hey Tim, I got an email from a guy wondering if we could work on his 3400 PCM and if we could flash it for him.

Sure, we can do that, let him know we could flash his PCM for him.

Therefore, you get that response. Because SHE doesn't know JACK about these cars, just really good typist.

So, CALL THEM Mike =)

I guarantee you can ask questions and get a good answer on the phone.

 

besides asking them what is best for your car isnt a smart move... yes they are one of the best companies for our cars... but they are in the buisness to make money.

yoru best source of info is here... if you want to know what you should do tothe car ask here and we will point you where you need to go

 

I disagree. They saved me HUNDREDS of dollars by telling me NOT to buy some of their products, because they would not benefit me, and would not help the performance of the car. If they sell you something that will not help, or just to make them money, then they WOULDN'T have the reputation they do of being a great company. If they just sold products, and didn't care about the customer, we'd all be going to Intense Racing for help, rather than ZZP.

 

we wouldnt b going to inten$e. they are even worse when it comes to sucking money.... and too many people have had their cars destroyed runing thier products.

im not saying all ZZP's advice is bad. most of it is good. but not all their info is 100% for ex they say that Trany coolers are a bad idea! the main failure in these trany's be it 4t60 or 4t65 or 65HD is heat. yes in HIGH HP cars they can twist and shred hard parts... but to make that kind of power takes a lot of work and beefing up the trans is part of that work. (or should be)

in what i have bought from ZZP i have never been done wrong... but i never fully trust a company. esp with my car.

 

First, that was my insinuation, because we all know Intense sucks, and that is why I said we would be going there if ZZP sucked worse.

Second, tranny coolers are pointless below 400 WHP applications. It is proven. I can't find it right now, but I will find for you the link to a webpage describing where they actually begin to help. But believe me, in my car and yours, we don't need them, not unless you are going the same route I am and and getting a camshaft and intercooler, etc. But even then, most of the highest HP cars are running WITHOUT tranny coolers, because they are pointless.

I don't want this to turn into an argument when really the task at hand is helping Mike. So if you have a rebuttal, do so, and we can leave it at a friendly arrangement of "agree to disagree"

 

While I agree that ZZP is the best company out there, I have to support Dave as well. They are a company and they are there to make money.

On the flip back though, they have a well earned reputation for trust because they know if they start screwing people over it will get back to the forums and people will shop elsewhere.



They will also be really good to anyone just starting out to get you addicted to modding for repeat business. And once you havea full build and it blows... well they can default on the sayings - It's part of dragracing, or - Your gonna play, your gonna pay. And then just get more business on the rebuild

I won't slander them and say they do that by any means, butyou never know the lifespan you will get when you put that much power to the wheels on a complete build.

 

they are a company out to make a buck. they give advise and i have delt with them and gotten good advice and bad advice. but you have to understand that most of the time you deal with them on the phone or even in the emails, your getting a opinion from the person on the other end formed by either personal experience or from hearing the facts that it is based on. weather from testing etc.. NOT saying that it is a uneducated bias but still in the end it is just the opinion of one person over another.
company A says their product it number 1 and so dose company B so they both go out to prove this anyway possibel.
sometimes it works with out a doubt others it dont.


But in my experience with the racing and the towing etc. that i have done i will my opinion

Tranny coolers may not be "something we have to have" But for the 50.00 you spend on one and the extra quart or two of fluid. it is great insurance"
Our trannies tend to die from abuse and also high heat. so if i can cool the heat down and still keep the performance it is well worth it . IN MY OPINION

Also the best advice i can say on this or any other parts place BUYER BEWARE!!