When have you ever heard it will fail long run...? lol. If there is an issue like the filing or drilling, he fixes it for the next batch after publically addressing it. Yes, it's essentially a copy of CPE's intercooler. That's a clear thing you can see...but at the same time, it's an intercooler...they all look basically the same anyway, so he has a little foothold to argue that point. That being said, ALL his stuff is incredible quality for an incredible price. That's entire true and most will agree. I haven't seen a single horror story about his stuff. If someone has an issue, reach out to him and he fixes it. If you get one of his pieces on a budget you'll be totally happy with it guaranteed.

The welds on the catless DP I got from him looked better than stock, were perfect and beautiful. Fitment was great and had no issues. Intercooler was going to be ordered but sold out so I went with a used CPE lightweight I found off a forum member.

The reviews that got edited out happened in the early stages (years ago) of him entering our platform and he edited them and admitted publically he did it because when you make an official thread on this forum to advertise your way of living and someone publically slanders you without contacting you first to have the issue fixed, it ruins your image unnecessarily. He's a good guy who makes good stuff.

 

Was me that made the review that got edited. I didn't take the time to write a fair review with lots of pictures for depo to go and cut and edit it for their benefit. That's sheety business practice that people need to be aware of.

 

I went with the Depo Racing 3.5" FMIC and catless DP on my ST build, the fitment and quality of both pieces were great for the money. I did have to file a weld on the FMIC and cut(1/2") the bottom hangers on the DP, each adjustment took about 1-2 min and were very minor. I had them installed for about 7k miles on a full bolt on e30 tune with no issues at all. When I removed the parts to trade the car in everything went back in just fine, you do have to drill out the collar in the MAP sensor(FMIC) but it still reinstalled just fine in the stock IC. I also sold the FMIC and DP together for $400 locally, I recouped most of my money and gave the next guy a good deal.

IMHO they were well made parts I would purchase again. Depo Racing 3.5" FMIC $350 + Depo Racing DP $200 + Cobb AP w/e30 tune $550 = Stage 3 e30 tuned for $1100! Best bang for the buck out there.

 

Not totally stage 3, but yes. Totally worth the money for what you get vs other brands available. Best bang for buck for sure.

 

I'd say somewhere in the middle. Every company has an acceptable rate of failure. I have a Depo Catless DP, and it looked awesome imo. I do have a friend whose welds on their DP separated and Depo said "eh, it's out of warranty, so it's on you." You can't expect to pay 1/3 the price and get the same product, there's always a compromise.

Pick 2:
Fast
Cheap
Reliable

 

Cp-e has lifetime warranty and is the original design of these intercoolers.

Sent from another garage.

 

The only problem I have found with mine is the mounts where it connects to the radiator are getting rusted. Other than that my intercooler has taken 52k miles of abuse and been more than adequate enough to handle my GTX2971 and I plan on keeping it for my 2.3L stroker setup unless I reach a point where it becomes inefficient.

 

Here are some pictures.

 

Here are some pictures.

View attachment 219993 View attachment 220001

Mine are way more rusted looking than that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I just put on a 3.5. I wouldn't say it fit like a glove and I did have to take 3 mins to source new bolts and nuts for the lower support but I paid like half of what big names are asking and it is working GREAT. No regrets at all. I'd recommend to anyone moding on a budget.

 

Here is a great video EdgeAutosport.com just put up for the cp-e intercoolers. Don't skimp on quality. Get the original.

Sent from another garage.

 

I have the Depo FMIC and I did have to file down two of the welds (maybe it was one), but It didn't bother me. It fit great, works great, and for the cost it was well worth it. I had the depr catless DP and the welds were superb and I have zero problems. I have since gone back to the stock DP, but I think their products are fantastic for the price.

 

I mean, with anything you buy, you get what you pay for. That being said, I bought a depo 3.5" used for my car. I sourced all new hardware for it (cost less than $5). I also had to drill out my map sensor, and those brackets are rusty on mine as well. Its not the prettiest, but it gets the job done, and cost me $250. If I had the money I would've got the cpe no doubt because its nicer, but now that I saved some money I was able to spend money on other parts.

 

I really dont care how premium manufactures justify the costs they are charging. If there is a demand for it, it will sell. That being said for the amount of money they are charging on new intercoolers or downpipes, I wouldnt be in the market for a new one of theirs anyway. For the money depo catless downpipe, intercooler, intake and charge pipe were the way to go for me. The fit and finish on the down pipe exceeded my expectations. Charge pipes are charge pipes but there were no quality issues there imo. The intake pipe was a little wavy between where there were straight pipes and elbows welded together but that is being a bit picky imo. Intercooler hardware had its issues, but it was no secret and easy to resolve. One of my mounting brackets interfered with a weld, yes i had to dremel it but $350 vs $700 plus im happy to deal with it. My bill for all that hardware was close to what a premium retailer charges for the intercooler alone. If competitors are butt hurt, well that's capitalism.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

People tend to forget about overhead. That includes payroll, lights, water, equipment, building (the structure everything takes place in), etc. So a company like cp-e that manufactures everything in house in the USA is going to cost more than those who outsource to places like China.

Sent from another garage.

 

 

View attachment 220129

Ok that was in bad taste lol. I had the CPE 5.5" and the brackets were rusted also. I have a couple buddies that have used the depo 3.5 and 5.5 intercoolers and for the money they work well. Had a issues with a intake tube once but got a replacement quickly from Depo. In the beginning the parts they put out were absolute crap. They have come a long way over the last couple years.

 

If your money is limited you have to do what you got to do. If better on the money front, suggest going better.... Especially on the intercooler. And yes I am wholesale biased to American made aftermarket parts if possible.

Btw if it's not patentable it's not novel and open for copy/generic. Sounds harsh but a big part of my job is busting and routing patents. If you have a design that offers something novel, better get IPP on that.....

Yes, this absolutely sucks for small businesses who can't afford these types of protections.

 

Was a little woried about stuff I was hearing and see you guys think the quality has improved helps ease that. Got my stuff earlier this year and am off next week to do a bunch of work including Depo 5.5" Beast IC, charge pipes, intake pipe w/o filter since already have a Cobb filter), and their 100 cell high-flow cat. paired to an FSWerks Stealth catback. Basically, was trying to save on shipping by grouping a lot of my desired upgrades from Depo all at once and figuring their charge pipes would be the best fit. Thinking of going Big Turbo[SUP]TM[/SUP] in the future and will go with CP-E's cold-side charge pipes when the time comes, after reading @psilynt's review comparison to JBR's.

 

You won't be disappointed. The only thing that MIGHT not be the best quality would be the charge pipes...I may be thinking of MBRP charge pipes but one of the cheaper options aren't very good. @Duece McCracken was it MBRP?

 

I'm not a fan of the Depo charge pipes after running them. The FMIC has held up though, I think i have like 60k miles on mine at this point. Brackets are super rusty, but still function.

 

:whs: there ya go, some insight from one of the great trial-and-error kings of this forum. I couldn't remember if it was Depo, but I definitely was thinking of the Depo's being iffy. Nothing at all against Tim, who makes amazing products for realistic prices (my downpipe...and would have been my IC but they sold out), but his charge pipes are pretty commonly problematic.

 

If he has the FMIC and DP in stock buy it, don't overthink it or he'll be sold out before you know it, use the money you saved for moar parts!

 

I know this has been dead for a bit, but wanted to post something on this. Not so much about the products but the customer service. Just be aware that for returns, even unopened items, they charge 20% restocking plus the cost of original shipping. Can't find that listed anywhere on the website. That said, I would rather spend the money on higher quality parts. I made the mistake of buying cheap (Depo catted DP) but luckily caught myself before putting it on the car. Never even opened the box.

Cheap, Fast, Reliable....you can only have two at a time.

 

how do you know installing it would have been a mistake if you've never installed one and ran it before? I hear plenty of stories of all of of this stuff being good quality add a really reasonable price.perhaps needs a hole drilled here and a bracket trimmed there but that's to be expected.imo you can't handle a few minor modifications like this you shouldn't be working on your car yourself. To me it's worth the savings to have to modify a part a tiny bit with a Dremel or what have you. I have all stage 3 bolt-ons coming from Depo right now. I don't suspect i'll be disappointed. Unless of course FedEx destroys my intercooler.?

 

I just installed a Depo intake tube. It fit perfect. It came with ordinary hose clamps which is fair enough for the price. The silicone couplers were nice too.

 

Both

 

Depo is affordable and quality. I have plenty of friends running his product with no issue, some being big turbo. He uses a Garrett core for his fmic and has solid welds. He's also a sponsor on this site. Maybe try a product and submit a review before talking it down. Or go overspend on Mountune...

 

Did I ever talk the product down by name? Not sure I did that anywhere. Just made my overall opinion known about some of the cheap parts out there is all. Just like its your opinion that buying Mountune is overspending.

Again, time will tell if welds and thinner metal on some of the super cheap parts out there will withstand the hundreds of heat cycles and such that a car goes through in it's lifetime. My opinion on this comes from a good amount of reading (research) and observation (my own cars and friend's vehicles) on a bunch of different platforms, and also getting burned in the past when trying to cheap out on certain things.

 

I just received his intake, FMIC and catless downpipe, everything fits really well and the intake even came with Cobb couplers. The fmic mounted up very easily, only modification was I had to open up the hole of the airflow sensor but that took literally a minute. Downpipe is put together really well and the welds are nice. For $700 for stage 3 that’s really affordable and their quality is just as good as higher end brands. I stay 10-15° above ambient max at all times with their fmic even after a few pulls, we’ll worth it for less then half the price of others.

 

My welds were beautiful on my catless from him! Can tell there was no grinder used or any touch-up of any sort. Just a perfect bead all around

 

Yeah to reiterate what I've said when this thread was new in 2017, if you want a FMIC or downpipe...and his stuff is in stock...it's a no brainer unless you have a very specific reason for another brand/style. His charge pipes are pretty hit or miss, and I have no experience with the intake but haven't heard anything overwhelming or negative. If you want quality pieces that are indistinguishable from those twice the price, Depo racing.

 

Love my Depo 3.5 FMIC....

 

I'm picking up the depot intake, front mount intercooler, charge pipes and intake tonight. AP coming next week.woohoo ?

 

intake: fitment was eh, I had to cut off the mounting bracket for mine and it rubbed/got close to fuel line on hpfp. I put a piece of rubber hose around the line so it's good now and pretty solid, but this was the worst of the bunch
charge pipes: A little challenging to get on, but once you figure it out, fit great for me on stock turbo or ATP gtx. I did trim the 90* coupler off the turbo, which helped everything fit better.
FMIC: fit perfect, works great

Overall, for the price I was happy with the results. Small install headache is worth it to me for something like this.... it's just a pipe after all. I think maybe I have seen a few failed Depo downpipes? Usually the welds tend to go on these cheaper parts, but I have no direct experience with their downpipe. If you're putting on a BT or going to track the car and really give the downpipe extreme heat, then maybe it's worth the piece of mind of buying a top shelf brand. my 2 cents.

 

I picked up all my Depo parts today and the quality looks fantastic.I did not expect the fmic to be so heavy. However a few things I'm concerned about I'm the back of the intake where the breather line hooks up and there's an inline sensor for air flow I don't know what I'm supposed to do with the fitting that came installed. I haven't looked at that vacuum line sense I ran it to my catch can but don't remember being that big.that's an easy fix though I likely get a barbed fitting to threaten right into the intake to no biggie my other question is.has anyone installed one of his downpipes to a two and a half inch catback flange on it looks huge then match it up to the flange on my stock exhaust and see what it looks like. But it just looks gigantic compared to what I remember on my cat back.