Update: BIG thank you to Performance Factory for getting Vortech to admit there is a problem. They've stated that the issue has been fixed on all new kits and have extended the warranty for people with defective units (sold in summer-fall 07).
https://g35driver.com/forums/forced-induction/190323-official-vortech-statement-look-here.html

I really hate to talk badly about a company that until now had a stellar reputation, but I think we need a warning to potential buyers, they need to know what they may be getting into. For those of you who don't check my350z.com, one of the Vortech gurus over there (Sentry65), has basically posted a big warning NOT to buy a Vortech SC for the 350z/G35 anytime soon:

http://www.my350z.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270770
[he wrote the "Vortech bible"]

I bought my Vortech in July, and after putting about 2800 miles on it, it started making horrendous noises, I think I compared it to a dying cat. It was shipped back to them and they "fixed" it, apparently the gearing inside the supercharger had gone bad. The car was down for 3 weeks, which doesn't seem terrible, but I live in an area where you need a car to get around, so I had to rent one. Being the most unlucky person on the face of the earth, someone hit the rental car in a parking lot and destroyed the side view mirror. So at the end of part 1 of the saga, I lost my car for 3 weeks, and had to pay $1200 for the rental and repairs to it (and I secretly took it to a body shop to avoid paying $5000 for the mirror through the rental company).

Part 2 of the saga began after I got my Vortech back. I could immediately tell that something wasn't right, it was like the SC had been silenced, its whine was only about 50% as loud as it used to be. On top of that, it constantly rattles and makes a horrendous grinding noise between 2000-3000 RPM.

From what I can gather (from my own experience and looking over dozens of posts at my350z), there seem to be at least 3 problems that A LOT of us are having:

1. Bad pulley bearings.
2. Impeller contacting the supercharger housing.
3. Bad gearing inside the supercharger.

I had #3, and now I suspect I have #1 and #2. And sadly, I've spoken with a couple other members on here privately and they seem to be having problems after their SCs were fixed too.

Now here's the best part, some people have sent their SCs back to Vortech (say for problem #2), and when they got them back, the SAME exact thing happened again! One poor b@stard on my350z had his SC fixed four times!

Buyer beware.

 

 

This is EXACTLY what I saw when looking at the Vortech GB #2, no way was I dumping money into a shabby product. I had it all priced and ready to buy too, and I came across these guys and their problems so I put it on hold, checked it out a bit more, and decided I'm better off with a reliable TT kit..

It's a shame, it sounds like it became a problem with the recent line of SC's, I don't recall hearing about these problems when I first bought the G in 06.

 

It seems to be getting out of hand. Once I finally figure out what kit I want to go with my mind always gets changed.

 

^+1

 

I really feel bad for the individuals or shops that install them (i.e. Performance Factory or AAM). They're awesome, competent guys (i.e. Jeremy at PF, Frank at AAM), who spend all that time building a street machine, and then the SC eats itself 2 weeks later. It makes all of us look bad, the resellers, the installers, the buyers (like we made a really bad decision). I knew going in to this that there were inherent risks, but we're probably talking about a probability of failure that was something like 0.01. Now it's more like 0.90. It's so ironic too, because I mainly got an SC because of the legendary reliability. I was scared of turbos because my old buddy's 3000GT spent more time in a garage than on the street. But it sounds like companies like Greddy have made the systems so reliable now, it may actually be better to dish out the extra $1K-2K and go TT.

 

This is terrible news for us guys that want to stay CARB legal with a S/C is the only other option out there Stillen?

 

i am sure that vortech is getting to the bottom of all of this. i am sure they dont like having to replace any units just as bad as we dont like to send them in.


hopefully it will all be behind us soon because before this little hang up, it was one, if not the best all around option for everyone...

 

dammit, i just put mine on. sounds like eventually vortech gets it fixed. thank god its not my DD. But even still, more reason to get the blower registered with vortech.

like everyone says, i sure hope it doesnt happen to me.

 

You may want to consider the new HKS, don't know if it's available yet though.

http://hksusa.com/info/?id=3408

I hope so man. When I get back from a trip, we're gonna take off the filter, and I'm guessing there's a 99.9999% chance we're gonna see some lovely scratches inside the housing. If that turns out to be the case, I'm gonna send it back in to get fixed, then I'll seriously consider trading the car in for an 08 vette. Between the transmission shaking that could throw a midget out the window, and the amazing exploding supercharger, I'm almost ready to throw in the towel.

 

Never heard of an AT transmission "shaking". They are usually as smooth as silk. What's up with that?

 

This is honestly the only reason why I went with the Vortech SC over the JWT TT kit. My SC already went bad once. It seems to be fine and is running strong. But if another one of these issues comes up again anytime soon, I am really going to consider dumping the Vortech and just going with the JWT TT.

 

I have a defective valve body too, God hates me
https://g35driver.com/forums/tsb-technical-bulletins/185145-defective-transmission-valve-bodies-06-07-5ats.html

I hear you man, we can start a new club, the former defective vortech owners for twin turbo technologies.

 

man what a nightmare..

 

ah mann.. and right when there was a stillen complaint before also.. great..