My experience with DBR was disappointing. I took my Charger Scat Pack to DBR to have a supercharger installed and upgrade my exhaust system. This was supposed to take 2 and 1/2 to 3 weeks to complete and cost about $20K. They ordered all the components 9 weeks before I dropped the car off. After dropping off the car, I was informed that Whipple was switching from their Gen 5 superchargers to Gen 6 and there was a nationwide backorder. There was a 2-month delay with my project due to their supply chain problems. Not DBR's fault. After 3 and 1/2 months, DBR finally received the supercharger and installed it. Once it was tested on their dyno and calibrated, the end cost was more than their original estimate. I picked up my car 2 weeks later and was told there would be some additional tuning needed through their RTD/TDN device. After sending three performance downloads and receiving three updated tuning downloads, my car was still surging during acceleration and backfiring during slowdown. I said they needed to put hands on the car again to find out why the car was performing so poorly. Once they received the car and ran some diagnostics, it was determined there were multiple bad sparks plugs, and a small component broke off and cracked one of the Pistons. I was also told that they have seen these same problems a hundred times before. If they had mentioned that there are potential problems that have happened with the same upgrades on other cars that I have done to my car, I may have gone ahead with additional upgrades the first time around instead of dealing with all this additional hassle. In addition, when I asked how many of these problems were covered under their warranty for their workmanship, I was told they do NOT offer a warranty on performance upgrades so I would be paying for all the cost of their faulty work. At this point, their suggestion was to tear apart the motor to see what other damage was there. After inspection, their suggestion was to send the motor to a machine shop to do a complete motor rebuild. The initial estimate for all this work was another $15K which ended up being $21K. So, it would come to almost double what I originally wanted to spend. I agreed to the rebuild and I agreed to the additional cost of the upgraded, stronger components. This process was to take 1 to 2 months because all the components were in stock from suppliers. At this point, my car's been gone for over 3 months, and my engine is still at the machine shop. The reason is that the in-stock components from the suppliers are now back-ordered for 4-6 weeks. In all they had my car for 6 months before I got it back. After driving the car for 2 months, I have multiple oil leaks, and their suggestion is to bring it back to them for more investigation of what is going on. I chose to take it to a local shop that has done clean up wok on other cars that DBR has worked on.
My problem with DBR is they don't live up to the promises they make. I have a "6P" rule that they are guilty of violating: "Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance." Also, I believe they are guilty of bait-and-switch tactics. The last estimate to complete the tear down and rebuild with the additional upgrades that I agreed to is thousands more than what the original estimate was to be. If you take your car to DBR for upgrades or modifications and they give you a timeline for completion, don't believe it. And if you do take your car to them, consider that you may be making car payments and insurance payments for months while they have your car. I don't have car payments so I lucked out there, but I have suspended my auto insurance for the time they will have my car. My advice is a HARD "Buyer beware" when going to DBR. read more