Darkside Developments Reviews 

Great costumer help with selecting the right parts for my car. The parts at always top notch and fit great. Shipping to the states is quick too.

Best place to shop for your diesel goodies

Awesome customer service and their products are top notch. I can’t say enough about these guys, they are the best source for all your diesel needs. Check ‘em out, you won’t be disappointed!

Great bunch of lads, always there to offer expert advice, worked on my current and previous car, my go to business.

Their CBAA EGR/DPF/CAT delete kit is very high quality, a great price, and fit perfectly without modification. Customer service went above and beyond answering my questions, including informing me that I do not require anything more than an M8 bolt to delete the swirl flaps from the intake. I wish there were more companies like this in the world!

Very good Company very helpful with any information you require and a quick response to any queries that may have.
Ordering is very good and delivery is excellent the next day.

This people are proffesionals at what they do! Contacting you immidiately after your order to double check if everything you order is compatible and offering the best possible assitance. I give it 5 stars and higly recomend!

What an amazing company Darkside Developments is!

To explain why this is I need to give a bit of a back story...

I purchased my van in May 23, which had been converted from a 5 speed to a 6 speed, and was remapped to 140bhp by the seller, who also owned a garage. It was his vehicle so I had confidence that it had been done correctly. I WAS WRONG. What ever he'd done it kept breaking the clutch.

I took it into 2 different garages for this to be fixed, neither could find the root cause of the clutch and release bearing failing. 2 new clutches and a new gearbox to no avail!

I was just about to give up when my son mentioned Darkside Developments, whom he watches on YouTube.

After a few emails back and forth they agreed to take a look and replace/alter anything that needed changing to make it work. I paid a small deposit and booked it in 10 weeks later.

I had the van towed there and they looked at the vehicle as promised. Within 3 hours they'd diagnosed that the original seller/garage had failed to remove the T6 spacer from the gearbox, and not adjusted the starter motor with washers to correctly offset it. Only a new release bearing and a gearbox clean was needed, after these changes were made, not a whole new clutch!

Their knowledge and expertise is second to none... Their customer service is faultless, and I would not hesitate to recommend this company for any modifications you're looking to do. Honest and reliable.

Thank you so much for your help and knowledge.

10/10 !

After a email sent Ben replied within the hour offering advice on additional bits that I needed but forgot to put on order popped up today and within 5 min of being there a box of parts was in front of me can’t remember the last time buying parts was this easy

These guys did a great job of remapping my 3.0 TDI VW Touareg. Much more responsive and plenty of torque.

Great experience all round!

I was happy with the advise by DarksideDevelopments but did not use their service.
Thank you Josh

Audi A4 Avant 3.0 TDI Quattro Upgrades Review

I enquired with Darkside about making my vehicle a little different from the norm, I have played with tuning petrol engines in the past but never with diesel, so was curious to see what they could do.

From the first moment I contacted the guys at DSD they were fantastic, super friendly, super knowledgeable and talked me through all of the available possibilities. There were no pressure tactics, no trying to talk me up to things, just open and honest information laid out in plain text for me to make my mind up.

The work was completed on time and for the price quoted, which often does not happen these days. As always when you start pushing things to their limits you can get a few niggles, this situation was no exception and certainly no reflection on DSD's work. It’s just a fact when you start fiddling, you fix one thing only for it have a knock-on effect. Everyone at DSD went out of their way to get things resolved as quickly as possible, maintaining daily communication lines with what was being tried, the outcomes and what they were planning next.

As things progressed, I added more to my wish list and at no point did this ever seem a problem to the guys, everything was just taken in their stride. When they were happy everything was just right, I was able to collect the car, I think it is important to understand this, when they were happy. A lot of places would just say, it’s done take it away, knowing certain things might not be spot on but equally knowing the customer would know no different, not a chance with DSD, your car is treated like their car.

The end result is mind blowing. I have had some fast cars which have put a lot of smiles on my face, but this is at a whole new level, its savage. I always used to like noisy cars, loud exhausts, dump vales etc, I am older now and have no wish to draw attention to what I am doing. DSD's work has transformed the car into the ultimate sleeper. When the car accelerates it simply does not stop, there is no delay or hesitation all the way through the rev range and gears, and its smooth, real smooth. Gear changes feel, well like nothing, because you do not know they are happening! All of this fun still returns 40mpg on a run.

Everything in your head tells you a diesel should not be this much fun, but it is. If you have the slightest desire about tuning your car, speak to DSD, you will not be disappointed. An awful lot of people were involved in getting my car done but I would like to say a special thanks to Harry, Danny, Rob, Tony and Luke who I had direct contact with on many occasions.

Great work from a great team. Not much more I can say, other than if it sounds too good to be true, go check them out for yourself.

After a a 400 mile trip down to Darkside Developments and leaving them with my car for the day i was informed that my could not be mapped due to a protocol issue which darkside did not have the software to access the ecu, very frustrating outcome after such a long drive, and a long drive back home, in all fairness to Darkiside they did explain that this is uncommon and as way of an apology they offered me a discount on my future remap once they are able to access my ECU, I was rather disappointed at the time but after a follow up call from Danny the issues were cleared and would happily discuss future requirements with them when possible.
Given thier reputation and feedback from friends who have used them previously I would like to give them the opportunity to rectify the issues we had this week.

Booked my Mk7 Golf TDI in for a service and remap, and travelled 200 miles north to Barnsley so it could be done at their workshop.

They informed me that they'd need the car for the whole day, so I dropped the car off at 8am. They made sure to put down a plastic sheet on the seats as to not make the interior dirty, which I appreciated.

Customer service at reception was great - very friendly and helpful which was nice. Upon collecting the car later that afternoon, they let me know about some small advisory items noticed during the service - I feel like a lot of other garages would have tried to spin them into larger issues but not here, which I think reflects well on Darkside's knowledge of these cars and also their professionalism.

A short while later I was told my car was just finishing its road test after tuning and I got a Dyno printout of the before and after horsepower/torque curves.

I can't be any happier with the result - the difference in performance is very noticeable and also fuel economy (when driving non-spiritedly) hasn't really decreased either, which is fantastic. I'm also happy that they didn't push the car too far for the sake of claiming "the highest" HP or torque figures like some other tuning companies. Darkside states several times that they don't push the car to its absolute limit (safe exhaust gas temperatures, etc) to preserve longevity, which is reassuring to me.

Of course, Darkside are more than happy to perform other tuning jobs than just a remap on stock hardware and who knows, I may be back 😉

Would definitely recommend if you have a VW Group/BMW diesel, Darkside know what they're doing. Thanks for everything guys!

Completely disappointed with Darkside developments. Ordered a cam sensor for my A2 tdi, all it said on the website for brand was OEM quality, they sent what I’d describe as a low quality part out. I fitted it anyway trusting that it would be good enough given their reputation for quality, or so I thought. It was really difficult to fit due to the way the wiring was routed, It was absolute garbage and made my car worse and the car wouldn’t start at all. I sourced one from a local motor factors and fitted that with no issues and the car fired up straight away and has been fine since. Put in for a return and refund but they’re saying the part I’ve shown them isn’t what they stock and not what was sent to me. They only stock one brand even though when I questioned the OEM quality brand that they state on the web site the guy said it was in case they have supply issues, but remember they only stick one brand??? I have no way of proving what they sent me so a total waste of money and not to mention the time spent back and forth on email. Save your time and money and buy from somewhere else.

I have known Darkside Developments for many years. I live in the South but always visit their Grimethorpe site for work on my Golf Mk5 TDI. It's worth the effort to make the trip. The new facilities are great. Most recently I had a new GTB2260 VKLR turbo core installed (CHRA) in January 2023. Previously there had been issues with excessive smoke. The EDC16 (BKD engine) has been completely remapped with a significant reduction in smoke and tailpipe soot whilst maintaining good power, torque and smoothness for road use. I am delighted with the results. As usual I highly commend Team Darkside for all their excellent work. Many thanks chaps👍👍

Absolutly beautiful downpipe, fitment was great and made with amazing attention to detail and craftmanship! Shipping was very fast from UK to the Netherlands.

10/10 would recommend

I Bought a selector fork uprated kit order number (190632) on the 5/72022 for a seat Leon mk1 cupra. I took it to a transmission specialist to find out one of the forks has been machined wrong as it was too large. I tried to call and email them to see if they sent the wrong one in the packaging to get an exchange or if I can return them, but to know surprise they are not taking calls as they have cut the phone lines off & emailing them doesn’t work as they don’t reply. so I’m stuck with something I don’t need that I paid £309.60 for. The funny thing is when you’re ordering parts they email you very quickly. Be aware that they might take your money and run and if your buying parts triple check that you really want them or pay with some form of credit that you can freeze your money or get it back some way. Very bad customer service. I Now have the gearbox already repaired with photographs and an empty pocket. When I did get hold of them I followed their returns procedure in which I sent it off signed and recorded and took photos before I sent off the package. They received the package and then the staff lied and said thing was missing out of the package when it’s a specialist part it’s no good to anyone if you don’t have the same car so I emailed them proof of postage, in which the staff was very rude and was going back and forth with emails going on for 2 weeks, so when the did decide to refund me it’s was in two half’s ? When I paid in full, I’ve never heard of this before in my lifetime for such a big company I was very disappointed and now you asking me to change my review? I would of if you look at the email log between me and you, you would see how poorly I was handled I would of still purchased goods off of yourselves if you handled the situation better. My order number is on my review so if you find it on your system bring up the emails conversation history then you will understand why I was disappointed.