Best Vanagon Shops in Seattle, WA

mgoodwin · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 1:28 am Post subject: Best Vanagon Shops in Seattle, WA

I need to get my hot start resolved... anyone have any recommendations for a good shop that I can trust to resolve this as much as it can be resolved?

carterzest

OxygenDestroyer · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:36 am Post subject:

I have personal experience with three of them.

Wolfsburg Motorwerks in Ballard

Fine Tuning Performance - North Seattle on Hwy 99

Campbell-Nelson VW in Lynnwood

My experiences have been fine on all 3. For your particular problem I think all would be ok - none are cheap, but they all do work on Vanagons regularly.

Franklinstower · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:28 am Post subject:

I have used Buttera Motors (no end of Kirkland on 100th) for a simple radiator replacement when I did not have time to do it myself.

They have continuous vanagons rolling through their shop (and not the same ones! Wink

)

I am very satisfied with there service on that note. Also if you head south to Ovals, and ask for Don to work on your vehicle - he is excellant, owns vanagons and was at the dealership for years before making the switch.

Paul
_________________
'89 Westy - EJ25/22 Frank 4.44 5mt
'75 Miami Blue Sunroof FI Standard Bug

ScottN · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:23 am Post subject:

I can also highly recommend Jack at Wolfsberg in Ballard.

http://www.wolfsburgmotorwerksinc.com/button4.htm

-Scott
_________________
1987 Syncro Westy

CREGAN · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:25 pm Post subject:

Petersen's in Port Angeles has been great. I would go there but it is a bit of a trip.

offthewallace · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

Dragonfly Vans. www.dragonflyvans.com

We have been very happy with Scott's work.

ratfarmer_vw · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:13 am Post subject:

In my personal experiences I would skip Buttera and Chaplins VW.

I will recommend Carter VW, Fine Tuning, Small Car and Dragonfly Vans.
The above list is not in any particular order.

fairweather · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:03 am Post subject:

Avoid Fine Tuning, they did a TDI conversion for me and everything they touched has failed or is in the process of failing. I have had to or another shop has redone 95% of what they did, incompetent is the nicest word I can use to describe the work. I am working on a review but things keep falling apart, I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel so hopefully I can get it wrapped up soon.

rabbit 16v · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:51 am Post subject:

fairweather · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:19 am Post subject:

Haven't heard anything in almost 2 months which is actually fine since I have had an additional 2k worth of repairs since then. When I get the final total I will reinitiate communication and if he continues to do what he has done it will go in a whole new direction. Stay tuned, these things take time.

rabbit 16v · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:23 am Post subject:

Hmm, thats strange. Did you take the van back to them and ask them to take care of the issues?

fairweather · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:34 am Post subject:

The thought of having him touch my van again terrifies me, when I get the full review up you will understand.

There is a famous saying that really applies here "If you can't afford the time/money to do it right the first time how are you going to have the second time around"

In my case that would also include the skill set necessary to do it correctly.

I am also following the advice of people I am paying to help me with this and numerous PMs I've received concerning his work.

I am now out more than 24k...and counting.

Like I said, a full review will be forthcoming.

rabbit 16v · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:41 am Post subject:

I see. So you had a conversion done, there were some problems and you refused to take it back to the shop that performed the work under warranty?

fairweather · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:52 am Post subject:

newenglandnative

Dragonflyvans or The Wagon Shop in Kirkland.

If you really want a personal experience, go with Dragonfly Vans.

Crankey · Samba Member Joined: July 11, 2004 Posts: 2656

I'd avoid Wolfsburg like the plague. he left my car out in a massive rain storm, let my car cover blow down the street and never even offerd to replace it. I took it to him for a engine rebuild and was more than happy to spend money but he let it sit for over a month getting trashed in his customer parking area. just the facts.

now, Scott and his shop Dragonfly Vans is great. can't say enough good things about him. very small one man operation but he's been hugely helpfull to me. given a choice I'd go to him without a second thought.

jkjacob123 · Samba Member Joined: April 23, 2007 Posts: 7

I recently had 2 Tiico upgrade kits installed by Fine Tuning. They are very knowledgeable but I had several issues. If you would like additional info, just email me.

OxygenDestroyer · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:02 pm Post subject:

Jack at Wolfsburg installed my rebuilt wbx. They are a bit quirky over there but I have no complaints. My engine just now has about 500 miles. I just took it back to them yesterday and they did the first break-in oil change for free - she's running like a champ. I've now done maybe 10k worth of work with them in the last 3 years spanning 2 different vans and my overall experience has been a positive one.

fairweather · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 6:08 am Post subject:

Well this just keeps getting better. For those who didn't know rabbit 16v is the owner of Fine Tuning. He had me going for awhile there but some thing about his phrasing seems eerily familiar.

I find it at best immature that he would ignore me personally for over 2 months then get on here and pretend like he had no previous knowledge of the situation.

Over on the TDI vanagon group he acted hurt when another shop owner contacted him via the forum yet that's exactly what he did here though with the pretending part. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/TDI-conversion/message/13512

So now you have a first hand experience of what you can expect with "Fine Tuning".


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