The best (and most expensive ) tuner for a 996 Turbo is Manthey. They are near the nürburgring.

 

For a GT3 yes I agree but for a Turbo I wouldn't pick them, don't take me wrong their on the top 3 tuners for a turbo but there are one or two even better and very focused on Turbos.

 

Manthey stretches the definition of the term "tuner", albeit in different ways than Ruf does. As we know, Ruf have technically been a manufacturer in their own right for many years. But the atmosphere at both outfits is very different.

At Ruf, you get very much of a "family" atmosphere. Alois and Estonia Ruf, and the rest of the staff there are really very warm. The culture reminds me of an old school artists workshop, where knowledge is passed down from the masters to the apprentices. The facility is clean, but not what you would call ultra modern (though i'm sure the Bahrain plant will be something else entirely!). Again, think along the lines of an artist's workshop.

Manthey, is striking in comparison because they look like-- for lack of a better term-- big business. the facility is gleaming, the grounds are huge, and the Corvette C6's and GM employees doing development on the car with Gallade (I believe sister company of Manthey) right next door suggest a big outfit with huge engineering expertise that is made available to other companies. The persons i've casually dealt with there are courteous, but again, in a big business sort of way, as opposed to the old small town charm of Ruf.

at face value, i.e., if you didn't know Ruf's heritage and track record stretching back to the record breaking yellowbird, you'd have to say that Manthey look far more impressive. if you're ever visiting the 'Ring, take the time to look them up. you will be impressed.

We are Ruf customers, and couldn't be happier. one day, if and when we ever get around to speccing out a hardcore track oriented Porsche (for now, I'm very far off maximizing the GT3,) it would be nice to have a Manthey car to park beside the Ruf. one for the street, the other for the track.

again, when Porsche chose to first race the recently introduced 997 GT3RSR, they had Manthey run the racing effort for them. if that doesn't make Manthey a blue chip tuner, i don't know what does!

 

I don´t know any tuner in germany that does such a solid work. Ruf is in my opinon a very good tuner for old air cooled porsches, they had their time.

Manthey is not only for GT3s, they also do good work on turbos, think of the Manthey M700. Focus at Manthey is racing, because of that they mostly do GT3s.

http://www.autobild.de/test/neuwagen...rtikel_id=8319
(german website, sorry)

This car is a complete package, not only a few more hp. This is Manthey.

 

I am not very surprised to hear that. But what is surprising is that it is coming from you ECB. Aren't you having 9ff build a 4.0L stroker for your personal car?

 

Your statement reminded me of Frank Mountain's remarks on McLaren & Ferrari. See the following vid.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...9&q=fifth+gear

 

not anymore.

pm for details.

 

ECB, surprising comments from you after your contract was over with them. The 2 posts below were very recent. I would just keep silent about your relationships with them out of courtesy for them, now that you are not a dealer anymore. I am sure I can post more bad experiences than you can ever imagine, but I didn't back then.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...4&postcount=19

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...8&postcount=20

As far as tuners, Manthey is certainly very good, Olaf is a world class Porsche guru...but when it comes to chassis dynamics more than other things. I have had my car there before, they are outstanding.

For ECU/Motronic, engine tuning, no one gets even close to RS Tuning.
I was just reading actually that a newly prepared GT3 from SWS has beaten the Cargraphic RSC (also RS Tuning engine) records in acceleration. The 996TT Alzen 'Ring monster too, the EDO GT2 Street 'Ring record holder too, etc..and one of the heaviest racing palmares in Porsche out there. There is no one who gets close. Customer service is not their motto though.

RUF will sell you nice complete packages, very expensive, and not the fastest out there, but perfect.

 

9FF are not rated in Europe, if you ever seen the quality of their work ie inside of their engine bay on the 240mph car (I have), the work is back-street mechanic quality, though they may be improving.

Techart are not sold via the Porsche network in Germany as was mentioned, no-one is. Porsche are very clear they do not endorse or approve ANY tuner. In addition in Europe, any modifications invalidate the entire warranty so tuning is much rarer.

As Hesperus said, the two to go for are Ruf (for roadcars) or Manthey (for track-cars), both are very professional and very good. RS Tuning build great race-cars (as Jean said), but are very very hard to deal with (and a friend of mine has a great RS Tuning tuned car). If you go to Switzerland Sportec also have a good reputation.

You will never get the same power from a Euro tuner as from a US Tuner for the same money, there are various reasons for this (including differences in power measurement), but mainly because they need their packages to be able to last prolonged high-speed autobahn runs (at 150-200mph), so the cars get used a lot harder (with tremendous heat buildup) than in the US where there are shorter bursts of speeds.

Guy

 

Probably not anymore but in back in 1999 when I picked my brothers Boxster in a Porsche Zentrum (the nearest to Bielefeld - I don't remember which) they not only had Techart catalogues on the table but I also bought a Techart exhaust from them and they fitted it to us. Porsche has been changing some policies like track use, warranty claims, etc. What I know for sure is that Porsche AG do all they can to make RUF's life as difficult as possible but in the end of the day they come to tuners like RS Tuning, Farbachner (not correctly spelt) and Manthey (if I'm not mistaken) for free lance work.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience ECB.

 

I thought Ruf and Porsche AG had a good relationship? Seeing as they (Porsche) sell "white bodies" to no one else.

Another thing.....how the heck was 9ff certified as a vehicle manufacturer by the German government? I thought I read some article a while back about them becoming a manufacturer a la Ruf.

Guy,

Will you be going 650 anytime soon or are you staying 590 for the time being?

 

Jean you are right, however i only recently discovered exactly how large the iceberg really was. Run. Far away.

 

Staying 590. I spoke to Ruf a while back about the 650 out of interest and it's a complete rebuild to 3.8 and tons of bits that were fitted for the 590 get junked and ugraded, so it's very expensive to do given what I already have. They recommended against it, as the gains would be marginal in comparison to the expense.

Guy

 

That makes perfect sense.

Thanks.