VegasInvasion

Most people are aware that DNA Motoring sells cheap eBay items that aren't intended for quality builds, but as a professional tuner I come across their products frequently and I urge the Honda community to STOP purchasing from this company.

These product reviews are factual encounters that I've had with their customers and/or from purchasing from them in the past.

They have never tested any of their turbo kits. They've never installed one, tested one, or driven a car with any of their products on it.

Their Turbos are NOT balanced. They do not have internal oil restrictors. They don't know what size fitting goes in the oil inlet. They don't know what pressure the internal wastegate spring is. The Garrett knockoffs don't match up to actual Garrett flanges, they will leak.

Their oil fittings are casted, they will leak, break, and fail. Their feed lines are not rated for oil, and their braided lines are not stainless. I've had four of their feed lines burst on the dyno.

All of their exhaust manifolds (headers) are paper-thin steel, some of them aren't even stainless. I saw one recently right out of the package that was offset 5 inches from the cat flange where the stock one fit perfectly.

Boost manifolds crack within months, and literally get RED HOT using their own turbo kits! DANGER TO MANIFOLD!

Their turbo downpipes do not have a flex insert - any amount of engine torque will break off exhaust hangers, crack header welds, and causes an obnoxious rattling sound at the flange.

Their boost coupler clamps are for PLUMBING, you cannot get them tight enough to hold boost or they break apart. They're mild steel, and will rust off.

I've seen three intercoolers straight out of the box that leaked between the bars. Don't expect any of these to hold over 10psi.

99.9% of the boost controllers I've seen or installed don't work. The boost T-fittings they supply are NOT barbed, they pop off easily and can damage your turbo or cause overboosting.

Their customer service is insubordinate. Recently I asked for a fitting size on one of their turbos so I could have an oil feed line made. They said they didn't know, they've never tested it. They can't explain why their oil lines don't fit, and the manufacturer was overseas. They wouldn't give me contact information for the manufacturer, only management had that info. I asked for management contact information, they declined, and said they're no longer responding to my requests because the part was not in warranty.

Their parts are cheap, but believe me you're going to have to replace everything you buy. Don't waste your money.

Geasa

This really should (and I'm pretty sure is) common sense for anyone with the knowledge to turbo their car bruh.
I mean, as far as I know the only *sorta* better-than-the-rest ebay turbo companies are Godspeed, Emusa, and CXracing.

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

I wouldn't even put those companies as *sorta* better... Your standards must be real low. Even the Godspeeds aren't what they're saying they are with their off-set and mis-labeled wheels.

But no. not everyone knows this. Especially young, broke, and un-informed (which usually falls into the other 2 categories.)

TravisBiggie

QFT

Geasa

I can't speak from first hand experience, but from others they seem to be the 'upper quality' **** on ebay. Emusa apparently has warranties (not sure how legit though) people have been using cxracing intercoolers on plenty of high hp builds (some single turbo 370s latest examples I've seen) and the godspeed/the rest have been used for the WG's and BOV's with some success... seems to be a higher amount than the complete no name ebay ****. Obviously cast manifolds aren't that bad from any of them either. Hell, even wantboost was stating in the the thread about which to4e is this or w/e that some of these companies have upped their quality and even balance the wheels now (emusa claims to)

I'm not saying they're quality by any means...but if I or anyone else were to take this route we should probably be steered to those three.

Geasa

The universal piping kits, intercooelers (if you are cool with sacrificing some efficiency), and the cast manifolds all are OK choices to sub for ebay imo... yes the legit counterparts are better (well maybe not piping) but depending on a person's goals they can be substituted effectively.

2kdrift

I dont think anyone in their right mind would want to sacrifice reliability/longevity basically meaning its gonna brake sooner then later its not really gonna work well in the long run not even considering efficency

LightningTeg

Its crapshoot really until they start to actually back up their products

OneBadTurboCRV

I can vouch for what he is saying about their customer service. I unknowingly bought a few cheap T-bolt clamps from them for my N/A intake tube (they have tons of different usernames on eBay). The size was off and were highly magnetic. I e-mailed them about my issues, and after a slew of excuses and rude back and forth I just left them negative feedback. Come to find out, they blocked me LOL! Very immature.

The cheap turbos can have their place depending on the situation. For instance, I have a few friends who casual drift (SCCA club events or drag strip events) and blow more motors than turbos using whatever garbage they can piece together off eBay. There is no doubt that if anyone is expecting quality or reliability they are a fool.

VegasInvasion

You say this is obvious knowledge, but I get customers constantly with this garbage and they don't know better.

It doesn't pay off even on a budget engine. A red hot EGT will melt your valves, send shards of turbo into your engine, and obviously destroy your header and turbo.

P Then you buy a second one, and you're paying more than you would have for a Borg or hx35. It happens 100% of the time, there is no luck of the draw.
You're giving them money and wasting your time rebuilding engines when you could be racing or picking up some hot strange.

98vtec

Honda-Tech allows them to be a vendor here along with the rest of the garbage vendors that sells their garbage. that REALLY needs to be addressed. at some point this place needs to put their money aside and realize they are killing the community and literally wasting peoples money

Geasa

Lmao, a business sacrificing money for other people's sake? Yeah, that's never going to happen.

Well, it's all relative to wants and needs man. Intercoolers, piping and cast manifold will never break...The WG and bov however could....but what if it lasted for a while? It's a risk people may be willing to take, especially if they don't plan on it being a car they have for a long time. The turbos are a crapshoot sure; but once again even wantboost admitted that there are some companies that have upped the quality/copying of the designs, and even beforehand there are obviously cases of people having them last for years (Yes shodan we know at low boost levels)

You should probably always buy the quality stuff, but you shouldn't be criminalized for substituting some of the bad.

But anyways I'll make sure to stay away from DNA, dunno what I would really buy from them anyways. The only cheap ebay things I've bought for my build thus far are a vacuum manifold and a catch can..

98vtec

we were once like that or at least had morality.

look at all the crap vendors. what do you really expect of our upcoming generation when they are fed this crap and in turn are scrutinized in the forums for buying it when posting questions about why their engine blew up or why they have boost issues or why blah blah about something wrong happening.

Internet Brands has had a sour taste in my mouth ever since realizing that ALL they care about is money. and that is really sad when you are the owner of the driving force of Honda/Acura social media. Peddling their BS vendor parts out to naïve teenagers isn't something I would call morally secure or in any way, shape or form helping to better the community.

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

Intercoolers break all the time. Anywhere from the endtanks to the inefficient pressure drop that is had.

The very few companies that raised their bar, really had a low bar to begin with, so I wouldn't start celebrating quite yet

Geasa

Here's how I see it
A - Obviously they don't care, you should know this
B - In case you haven't realized it yet, just like the music industry has been dealing with ever since the internet, now internet brands are having a harder time making money as well, and it could get worse. For their sake, I won't delve into why, but I'm pretty sure any of my fellow tech savvies (Or not even really tech savvy at all) should know what I'm talking about
C - If I was a teenager (just turned 20 lol :^) ) and I were honestly stupid enough to dive straight in, buy a turbo kit without researching what's necessary to install it/how it works, try installing it myself to only figure out how I only have half the parts and what I bought was ****, I probably would not end up finishing the project. Not unless I got someone to install the entire kit for me. With the added price of labor, you could save money and have a way more quality kit if you were to buy a legitimate one and install it yourself (which is what I'm doing lol)

Honestly I think the only people who should use ebay stuff is people who want to be super cheap and have the experience already to know what they're getting into and how to make them work (what to do if something goes wrong, etc)

If the kids have to learn the hard way, let em.

0DNA-Motoring

iTrader: (2)

Hello,

Everybody has different budgets and different ideals for their builds. Seeing as how this is a free country, if people want to purchase a certain item for their convenience (or budget), then so be it.

Feel free to come by and test our own EMPLOYEE CARS, including mine, that use our turbo products on a daily basis. You are in fact wrong, we have done multiple tests and have dyno tested our own products.



If you have talked to somebody within our company that was unable to provide you a clear answer on an item, please feel free to call the front desk, AS WITH ALL COMPANIES (INCLUDING BIG BUDGET COMPANIES) not every employee knows every detail about the products. We can help simply call and ask for the front desk.

We cater to our own market in which the customers we cater to only pay a certain amount for items.

Our turbos are some of the most balanced turbos for the price range. Our turbos do actually include oil restrictors (they are the bag inside the turbo box which most people miss). The same people that miss the oil restrictors are the same people that end up not knowing how to install a turbo, and blame the manufacturer. IN hindisght, the person that would spend 1200 for a turbo as opposed to $130 for a turbo, would take better care and be more cautious about the install (or at least they are mosty likely to know what they are doing).

Our intercoolers have never cracked, if they have, please show me a scenario (and please dont include pictures of an accident where the car is totaled and the end tanks are broken due to the impact).

Our boost controllers, are not in fact ours, but we source them, so to label them ours is actually wrong. Also, please be sure to secure and fasten correctly any and all fittings related to boost control.

For our flanges, please feel free to call and ask for dimensions, most of our 4 bolt flanges, are different. They may be similar looking but different than other brands and are made to fit the turbos we sell.

BASICALLY, FOR ALL OF THESE CLAIMS, please show us an exact example of how this happened. there are so many rumors and false ideals that go back to the days of "dont turbo your car you will blow the welds on the intake manifold", so in today's world we should be able to rpovide proof when making a claim to be able to see the exact reason as to why items happened. For example, the fittings leaked.....well, what was the scenario...did the customer use gasket? did they overtighten the fitting to where the gasket ruptured underneath and therefore causing a leak? all this stuff becomes helpful and correct when bashing or trying to say "dont use this for x reason"


Boost manfiolds get red hot? pretty sure that happens with any manifold (please research google and youtube) .....have you ever used any other companies manifolds? or do you mostly use cast manifolds? The fact that our manifolds would get red hot with our turbo kits....is pretty irrelevant.


Our turbo downpipes are offered with flex pipes.....again, building on a budget. We do actually offer turbo downpipes with flex pipe...they cost $10 more. A small side note, please be sure the engine is not swinging back and forth on any build irrelevant of brand. Please have good motor mounts, its common sense.

Our T-Bolt turbo clamps....pretty sure the turbo clamps, should hold the coupler to the aluminum pipe. How exactly do they hold boost?

Agian, would like to see examples, I have yet to see an intercooler leak through the bars. Please send us a video of the boost leak test and we can gladly replace it.

---------------

Please feel free to call and we can gladly help you out correctly.

LightningTeg

Great. No one is saying they cant buy your products, but should they?


Its one thing to say that, and another to take your products as is, off the shelve, and prove to us that they are compatible without extensive work.

So its the "Front desk" tech support? Or sales? Please be more specific.

So you're in it to make a buck, not to sell a quality product. Got it


A turbo is either balanced or not. There isnt a "Mostly balanced".


This is LOL


I think we all know there is a difference between a product failing / not lining up or performing and doing what its supposed to do and the end user simply installing incorrectly.

98vtec

When the Chinese marketplace collapses, so will you.

I feel bad your employees if they run your products. But then again, are you saying you pay your employees so little that's all they can afford?

Surely anyone with half of a brain wouldn't buy this garbage. The problem is most of this generation is gullible and look at price alone because of the "replica" advertisement and basically lying to them.

You cater to a market of people with under developed brains. How does that make you feel?

Aradin

Not saying their stuff is the greatest but I have used many of their parts over the years. It's not the greatest or highest quality stuff but anyone with half a brain should be aware of that. The stuff does work but longevity is the real issue. I've used turbos, manifolds, intercoolers, blow off valves, wastegates, wastegate springs, etc.

Turbos usually lasted about 2 years before they leaked/smoked so bad they had to be replaced. I disassemble ALL of them after failure and they show clear marks of being balanced on the compressor wheel and the end of the shaft on the turbine side. I have 3 examples of this sitting on my workbench at my shop right now.

38mm wastegate worked perfect for 4 years. Developed a pinhole in the diaphragm at some point. Instead of simply replacing that I decided to go with a Precision unit.

Wastegate springs are a hit or miss. I've bought springs that were rated way higher than their advertised psi. I believe I bought a 10psi spring a few years ago and it was something like 15+. They seem to be made out of cheap metal so they crack really early and barely manage to make it to their advertised psi otherwise.

Blow off valves work fine. No issues or failures over the years and I've tried quite a few different styles to find out which one I liked best.

Cast manifolds are really hard to screw up. I've ran them on multiple setups and cars and never seen any issues at all with them. I used the same one for over 5 years on a daily driven car seeing 10-15k miles a year and never had an issue. It even got sold to a friend and is currently in use. Stainless manifolds are likely a lot less reliable and made out of cheap metal. I stay away from those on a budget.

Intercoolers were fine as well. I used them for many years before upgrading to a Mishimoto unit. Never had an issue with them leaking or boost dropping off.

The oil lines are cheap. I've been through 2-3 feed lines because all you have to do is bend them the wrong way and they'll snap internally and spray oil everywhere. The -10AN line they sell for drain lines are a clear step down in a quality compared to stuff you would find elsewhere. It's very flimsy, flexes easily and doesn't hold up to heat very well.



There's some actual experience and input to add to this thread. I'm not on anyone's particular side and I'm surely not condoning that you should all go buy the cheapest parts you find. I got tired of replacing stuff over the years so I stopped buying the bottom of the barrel stuff you find on eBay. The stuff does work but it doesn't hold a candle to real, quality parts.

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I didn't know they were a sponsor until I went into the forced induction classified section looking for a piston and rod combo.

Crazy!

I've always suggest buying top shelf items USED if you are on a budget.

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

If you want to settle this debate then send me your best selling most reliable turbocharger and I'll do a thorough teardown and inspection to compare it to the 23 name brand turbochargers I have in my personal collection. I have more than enough internal and external components from Garrett, IHI, MHI, BorgWarner, and Holset turbochargers that I've inspected every which way to do a valid comparison to the dimensions and quality of castings and machine work of your turbochargers.

I'll even send them to a place to do a metallurgical analysis vs genuine components just to prove our collective point.

Put up or shutup

m4xwellmurd3r

Id like to see that teardown and analysis too. I dont think anyone really does that sort of stuff with chinese turbos. Theyre usually a disposable part and when one goes, they go into the trash and the broke guy buys another china charger till it fails. 3 turbos later and they realize they couldve bought one good turbo for the cost of those 3 china chargers

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

I can attest to that. I had a couple as my door stop. Then one day, some cat wanted to buy them just to see if he could use them for some moronic project he was working on. I sold them for $40 each, and used the money to get real door stops

LightningTeg

HAHAHAHA!

My buddy has a shelf with 3 of them as well. They look totally fine, with the exception one pukes oil and the other had about an inch of thrust play from the get go

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

Let's see if they have the ***** lol