GST Motorsports

Hi Mike, Hi Zak. Thanks for all you do for everyone: D I’ll come by like always!
Onto the review. If you want some real HP TQ numbers… This is the place. Never seen so many heartbreaks on that mustang dyno but guess what it’s real power numbers! The crew here is very knowledgable and will help you out in ways that make it possible. A must stop by shop here in the Bay Area if you’re a Subaru enthusiast.

I recently took my 15 wrx here to get some parts installed and a protune. it took the whole day and it was expected. Mike is a man of few words thats all i can say… after the tune my car feels at its best, more power, smoother over all feels great. top notch customer service… this will be my goto shop… based on the treatment that i was given. thanks GST!!!

Great service and prices. Used their services twice in the last year and everything works perfectly. Mike knows a lot you could probably ask him anything Subaru related and he would have an answer.

I waited a year to write this review. My ’06 STi _​reliably_​makes over 500 AWHP and that’s largely because of GST. A bunch of the initial work was done by a guy down in LA, and then I moved up here. I blew a cylinder because the initial build by the guy in LA had a loose crimp on the injector for cylinder 3. GST did an engine rebuild for me and the result: 512 AWHP on a «conservative» E85 tune. I am happy beyond words. Never going anywhere else.

My Shop (Speed Element) took my WRX Hatch to GST Motorsports for my Stage II Tune, Cobb Down Pipe (Catted), Access Port v.2, Cold Air Intake with Box, and SPT catback. Mike gave me some honest tips in tapping into the maximum potential while maintaining reliability, I wanted to spend more, his suggestions will save me money and headaches in the future!!! I will follow his recommendations of a Grimmspeed Boost Solenoid, and TMIC. Invidia Q300 to keep 3″ all the way back and stop at that!!! Looking forward to my next mod while saving money!

Had the same problem as a few other users here. I’ve heard good things about Mike and gst motorsports. I emailed them to get a quote they emailed me back a day or so later asking for more information that i left out. I will admit that was my fault but I emailed them back the same day giving them the information they requested. I didn’t hear anything back after a few days I called the office got the answering machine during normal business hours. Well I left a message requesting a call back and now it’s been over a week and I have not received a call back. So at this point I gave up and I just found another shop that actually picked up the phone.

I had a similar negative experience as Leon Q. Was a prospective new customer until I called asking to speak with Mike about mods for my ’16 STI. Was told by lady on the phone that Mike doesn’t take calls. Put on hold for almost 10 mins. So I hung up.

Heard a lot of good and bad things about Gst. I decided to find out myself by calling them. Unfortunately, before I can find out whether they were actually good tuners, it was clear that they don’t have any customer service.
I called and asked the lady on the phone a question about tuning my 2015 wrx. She told me she had to ask Mike and she would call back. After 5 hours of waiting, I called back and she responded with an attitude saying that Mike has been VERY busy and she will let me know as soon as she has a chance to talk to him. I waited for 2 more days and she never called back. I will take my business to somewhere else.

Only one tuner has touched the tuning for my car and it’s been Mike.
I have a stage 2 setup for my STi and its been smooth sailing for my vehicle the entire time. I’m the original owner of my 2006 and with Mike’s tune, we’re still chugging along – just about to go in for my 90K service. In fact I usually bring my car here for maintenance – better than the dealership!
Proud to support Mike, Dionne and his shop – they are what I consider «good people», who provide great service and product for my Subaru.
For those who are in to counting, she makes ²⁸⁰⁄₃₂₀ on his heartbreaker dyno, on a stock turbo, 91 octane. Been this way for at least the last 5 years!
Cheers!

I wouldn’t bring my STI to any other shop. Mike is very knowledgeable and professional. I went here to get my cat back installed and a week late I returned to get my car tuned. After the tune. Mike told me to take for a spin to see how it felt. In my head I’m like wow they actually let me drive it first before asking for a payment?! Wow that just tells you that he is confident with his work. One stop shop for subaru!

It has been a while but Mike and his crew built my 2.5 engine for my bugeye. They did a great job, did not take a long time (maybe three weeks). The engine was built very well, as I subjected that engine to 300 lbs or maybe more of Nitrous, high boost with medium sized turbos, up to 3076, and forty or fifty gallons of Methanol injection at 28 to 29 PSI. I did everything to that engine and it just kept on, and made stupid power for a smallish turbo,
maximum was 439 HP and about 415 TQ. If I needed another one built it would probably be worth the trip. GST is 270 miles from where I live. They do very good work. I heard about Mike from Jei at Blacktrax in Milpitas.

Mike and Dionne are very nice and take good care of my car.
My STI is a lot smoother after the tuning by Mike, all aftermarket parts installed perfectly. I will definitely go back for other modification in the future.
Please give them more time to reply your call and email since they are extremely busy. I understand how difficult to handle massive email and phone call.
I am very satisfied with their service.

lightweight crank pulley install for 2014 subaru xv. Awesome job. Specially shaun and mike, who treat me well us a customer. Highly recommended. Thanks

I have a 2011 sti which I took to Mike for headers and up-​pipe as well as a protune. Mike was helpful and honest with his recommendations and the protune produced great results! My girlfriend even commented on the sizeable increase in power as well drivability/smoothness…and she hates fast cars :) I will defintely be bringing my sti here for all my further upgrade needs. Thanks GST!

Overall I had a great experience!
Dionne and Mike run this shop very well and make things very easy for people with tight schedules. What’s really funny is that I didn’t physically deal with a human at all for my dyno tune. I dropped the car off after hours, and picked up after hours. It was the weirdest thing, but was super convenient since I didn’t have to fight traffic.
The tune made the car run really smooth and they even found an extra 20 ft. lbs of torque. I definitely overestimated the amount of power I thought I would make, but that’s my bad.
I’m very satisfied and can’t wait to mod more so I can get a retune.
One thing to be aware of is that there’s kind of a lack of selection here in the south bay, but for the most part GST does everything well, so no need for a bunch of different places.

I took my sti to Mike at GST because I heard he was the best Subaru shop around. Unfortunately, that is COMPLETELY the opposite. I had a $ 17,000 forge job done at GSt, which only 2 months later had to be rebuilt… another 14,000. Here’s shat happened.
First off he decided to have my block cylinder walls at 100 mm which, if anyone knows about is the maximum you can go. (So in other words if something failed down the road, which it did, there was absolutely no room to bore out the walls again.) So the next build would have to be new! As I found out, that is rarely, if ever done. I would have sued him if i thought that it wouldn’t have been a lengthy drawn out process. The car never ran right with GST, and ended up wearing a grove in the cylinder wall because of the clearance Mike left between the cylinders and walls. Which later I decided to completely re-​do for fear of causing much worse damage.
I though he was more than competent to do this forge job but after spending hours online I found that for the standard «fully forged» engine the crank was usually almost always forged as well, not to mention when you do this kind of work to your car and upgrade horsepower IT IS STANDARD PRACTICE to replace the engine mounts. Something he «forgot» to add the the order. Watch out for the «CONVENIENCE FEES» they slap on, which they do every time you buy or add a part. Yes everytime!
Honesty I’m blown away by the good reviews on here, while he may be competent to add exhaust to your car YOU WOULD BE A COMPLETE FOOL TO TAKE YOUR CAR TO GST MOTORSPORTS!!!
Not only did he do a VERY POOR job on forging my engine, it took 10+ months. Mike puts his racing career WAY in front of his work. His attitude is horrible when confronted. Not too mention he told me, NOT TELL HIS WIFE he was selling me a clutch/​flywheel setup «off the books» because she would be upset he was selling it for 600 $ well guess what… come to find out he sold me something his sponsors just throw at him to try out.
And the quality is second rate, at best. After doing much research I found that no other shops would even suggest this 3 year old product.
Mike also put my block and all the extra bull $!# he sold me togwther with ACE hardware nuts and bolts. I’m not exaggerating! Even my new shop is blown away how Mike tuned, and put together my engine.
As for the receptionist, (his wife) she is completely incompetent! If you have even the slightest question about a part or the build she will tell you,” I’ll have Mike get back to you.” I’m not exaggerating here, but 90% of the time she would forget to tell him. without ripping into her too much I will also say when you call In you are transferred to her house where she will pick up the phone call. Like I said, this place is a complete joke!
Lastly, i not only spent that money with him I brought in my friend and his sti to have him order upper tie Rods and bar and he said he replaced it. When my friend brought his car to other shops (2 of them) they told him that THERE IS NO WAY THOSE PARTS HAVE BEEN REPLACED. when confronted Mike said that he did the job and just the thought of my friend suggesting that the world was never done was insulting.
After contacting
they confirmed with pictures that the parts on his car were in fact years old and not newly replaced. After show g Mike the email the company sent he said this, «bring the car in and I’ll have it done in a day.»
Yes this was perfect grounds for Mike to be sued my friend let it go, even afyer he saw how I got screwed, he didn’t want to make a big stink (what a friend?)
I am now deciding to write this review as my only means to justification for the wrong doing Mike at GST had done us.
If you want quality, HONEST, work done
DO NOT BRING YOUR CAR TO GST MOTORSPORTS!

The last time I was at this shop, I brought in my 2005 WRX. That was over a decade ago (I just felt old)!! Today, I brought in my 2015 WRX STI to this shop. I came in for front/​rear bushings and catback exhaust installation on my STI.
I met Mike for the very first time. He was very pleasant to talk to. He greeted me promptly as I enter the lobby. He took my key. And immediately started working on my car.
He was genuine about giving me suggestion to help improve and prolong the health of my car. It seem from 2008+ STI models have a certain common issue. I appreciate it and it is something that I will certainly look in to.
After the installation, he advice me the stock Y-​pipe exhaust may not fit in to my car to bring it back home. It was too long to try and fit it inside my car. He gladly offered to hold the exhaust at his shop for me for a few days until I can get a vehicle to haul it.
I’m happy to have come here for the service I needed. I was satisfied enough that I just had to book a dyno tuning session the next day with Mike. I’m looking forward to it. I will certainly come back to this shop for my future car service needs.

I’ve been very impressed with GST in general. Mike knows his stuff when it comes to Subaru’s. He makes honest recommendations in the customer’s best interest.
Mike had the opportunity to sell me several hundred dollars worth of equipment that I didn’t need, and didn’t take it.
I now trust him completely with my car.
GST isn’t flashy, you won’t see them bragging on internet forums or putting their stickers on cars… their work speaks for itself.

There are a few trustworthy mechanics and tuners around in the Bay Area. I’d have to say GST is at the top. They’re great at what they do. Mike is an awesome tuner– he brings Subies to life!
People always ask me why I drive all the way from Walnut Creek to Hayward to have my Subaru worked on, it’s because:
they’re honest, they don’t nickel and dime you, they won’t waste your money on powerless/​useless upgrades, and most of all, you won’t blow your motor on their tunes!
I wouldn’t go anywhere else. They’re the best!

So I used the off the shelf map provided by cobb. Unfortunately my car didn’t do well with it and the dreaded PO244 code popped up. I was referred to GST by a fellow member from
I managed to squeeze in an appointment on 11÷23÷13. Mike was there on time and he managed to tune my car pretty quick. After he tuned my car it ran so freaking smooth and managed to squeeze more power out of her. I highly recommend these guys and they are very fair in price. I’m very satisfied with the way my car runs now. Thank you Mike and everyone at GST. Keep up the awesome work!
I highly recommend getting your Subaru Tuned here, Mike’s the man to see.