Suspension Performance

I took my Audi RS4 to Eric to have my Ohlins motorsports suspension rebuilt, since his shop is one of the few Ohlins certified shops in the entire Bay Area. While rebuilding the suspension, they also found most of the bushings in my upper and lower control arms were cracked, and ended up replacing all of the suspension components. The price was very reasonable for the work they did, and the car now feels better than new. The shop is very clean, and Eric and his staff are a pleasure to deal with. They mostly work on Lotus’, but Eric has a breadth of knowledge about most performance cars, and I was very pleased with the outcome. I’ll definitely bring any car back there in the future that they’re willing to work on. :)

I brought my Elise to Suspension Performance to install a custom stereo recently. The team really went above and beyond with great attention to detail. Thanks Sergio and Sarah!

Awesome experience… car now dialed in. Eric is suspension specialist and knew issues with my car by just looking at it. Few people I know that really actually know their stuff and Eric really knows his stuff. What do expect from a suspension engineer. Anyway long story short… new coilover we installed in my c class… after numerous attempts to adjust the settings to improve the ride… i gave up and turned it over to Eric. Car is now perfect… excellent shop and service.

Great Service! Not only an honest mechanic, but he truly knows his stuff! Gained my trust at the first meeting, been servicing my cars/​motorcycles ever since!
The shop ins’t only cool looking, but is always tidy and clean. Hard to find a shop and mechanic like Suspension Performance. Highly recommended!

I recently took my 03′ M3 here for corner balancing, alignment, issues with my passenger side front brake, and for a basic check up.
First of all, it was a pretty extensive amount of work. My brake caliper needed to be reinstalled, brake lines rerouted, the suspension install needed to be tightened up, and on top of that I still needed the corner balancing and alignment. Amazingly, Eric was able to get all this work done in about one day and it was done perfectly.
The shop itself is very impressive. There’s an array of exotic cars there at any given time. It’s a very clean and professional environment. The shop’s owner, Eric, is very courteous, very knowledgeable, and always up for a friendly chat. If you do not know anything about suspensions, that’s OK. Eric was more than willing to explain the assorted set ups with their associated pros/​cons.
For the amount of work done, the pricing was just right. This shop sees cars from Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Lotus, etc. so if you’re looking for a bargain, this isn’t the place for you, but if you want someone you can trust 110% with your Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Lotus, etc. this is the only spot for you.
I will definitely continue bringing my track cars to Eric and I suggest you do the same.

Eric services my Lotus Esprit Turbo S4s and is very knowledgeable about the car. As others have pointed out, he was a suspension engineer for Lotus, working on the Elise, I believe. He also raced the Esprit S4s, so these qualifications can’t get any better for my situation!
To date, he has fixed brake issues, oil leaks, turbo oddities, clutch problems, headlamp pods, piping, and smells of mysterious origin. He’s mindful of the costs and will never try to sneak in extra unneeded service. In fact, he will even recommend what services are best to perform in groups in order to maximize the cost efficiency of his labor in taking the car apart. The shop is very clean and service is finished promptly.
Would definitely recommend for a Lotus owner or other exotics. Come by and have a chat with him if you’re unsure. Eric is very friendly and it should be clear by the end if he’s the mechanic for you. If nothing else, you can gawk at the awesome cars in his shop :)

I think a lot of the negative reviews are from folks who haven’t even used Suspension Performance. Doesn’t seem fair so I wanted to add my two cents.
Eric is an amazing resource for exotic car owners in Silicon Valley. He takes care of your average everyday Ferrari or Porsche (remember, this is the Bay Area), but how many guys have worked on, or should I say are certified to work on a McLaren F1? This is not your average shop! Gearheads will geek out here — guaranteed.
And of course being a uniquely (over)qualified technician of the highest order, Eric’s schedule is very busy and he can’t always take every call, email or curious customer who just wants to chat. He’s got cars to take care of! But if you manage to become one of his customers, the service and personal nature of a owner-​run business is without comparison.
Eric doesn’t talk about his background much but he’s a former Lotus Engineer and has also spent stints at Jaguar and Aston Martin. If (when!) I owned a Lotus Elise or Lotus Exige I know I’d rather take it to the guy who helped engineer it, rather than just another mechanic who treats every car the same. Maybe you don’t need such expertise for a simple oil change, but if you’re setting up your suspension for a day at the track or weekend corner carving, you should seek out the experts at doing it — Suspension Performance is top notch.

I took my Lotus Elise here for an inspection and to have some minor fixes done after I purchased the vehicle. When I first called Eric I understood his passion, expertise, and familiarity with Lotus’, but ultimately I worked with him because I saw that his approach would be one that involved me in the process, teach me more about the vehicle, and share advice. I later learned that he is a former suspension engineer at Lotus, which is pretty cool.
He has a very slick shop, always filled with awesome cars. He’s a very nice guy and happy to chat when I drop off and pick up my car. And he has followed through to give me lots of great advice as I think about using and upgrading my vehicle.
My only reservations are that his prices aren’t cheap, and it can be difficult to get in contact with him when he’s busy. If you’re looking for cheap labor or ‘need it fixed now’ I’m not sure if you’ll appreciate Suspension Performance. If on the other hand you want it fixed ‘the right way’, and value some experienced advice, then I suggest considering Eric.

weve taken several of our cars here and always had great work done even when others told us it could not be done. he is fair in his pricing and very honest. and of course he does great work!

After my bike’s fuel line sprung a leak I had it towed to Eric so he could repair the problem. I got the bike back and that weekend I took it out for a ride only to have the engine crap out on me a few miles down the road. I suspect gunk from the bogus fuel lines has clogged up the engine but have no way of finding out given my lack of tools, time, and experience.
This all happened back in December 2009. I’ve called many times, left messages, and emailed back and forth but never successfully arranged for him to take my Ninja. It’s now almost July and I still have a broken motorcycle. I’m very bummed that my experience with Eric and his shop has gone so poorly after a good start. I have a feeling he is very busy but would appreciate knowing if that is the situation. In any case, I’m downgrading from a 5 rating to a 4 star rating.

Came here for a last minute tech inspection for a NASA HPDE weekend. Spoke with Eric for a bit while he was checking out my car. Very nice guy, extremely knowledgeable, and runs a very clean shop.
I haven’t gotten any work done to my car yet, but if my normal suspension shop is busy and can’t pencil me in, I’d certainly consider Suspension Performance.

I know I’m behind on my reviews but I had to give a ALL HANDS DOWN review for this Automotive/​Motorcycle Repair shop. Okay so I’ve been looking high and low for an honest mechanic. There are some great ones out there but what I was looking for was someone that would take my baby like their own and really diagnose the problems without breaking my piggy bank!
The reason it was so difficult to find a good mechanic for my bike is because it is an extremely rare grey market import and no one wanted to touch my bike because of the complexity of a V4 engine and the difficulty in finding parts! I had one mechanic, a friend of a friend, which I will give a bad review for joy riding my bike, that worked on it and got it started but actually didn’t fix the real problems the bike had. I knew my bike had possibly a faulty thermostat sensor that was causing the fan to not kick in but I guess they didn’t want to go through the trouble of checking out the problem.
I found a place Redline Powersports in Fremont, ca that specializes in importing racing parts for rare bikes like mine. Spoke to Craig there and he referred me to Eric Gauthier, whom he said is a trust worthy mechanic. Turns out not only is he trustworthy, he is also has a formal degree in mechanical engineering, 5 years of automotive design experience at Lotus, plus 10 years of professional racing experience and was sponsored by Honda! He’s serviced Porsche and other sports & exotic cars for over 10 years in the Bay Area. Eric will work on your vehicle personally and will take the time to tell you all the details when you pick up your ride! He’s very personable and has great knowledge of motorcycles and cars.
When working on my bike he kept constant communication via email and returned every phone call I made to him regarding the status on my bike. He even found the capacitor for my bike on ebay and asked me first if I wanted it shipped faster to get the bike done. I just picked up my baby and all I can say is that he fixed all the problems on my bike from a simple thermostat issue to my rear brake squeeking and my front rotor wobbling.
I definitely will take my exotic rides here before anywhere else.
Suspension Performance specializes in:
— General service and maintenance, expert diagnosis of difficult problems.
— Brakes and tires. Suspension tuning, revalving & rebuilds.
— Race and track day preparation.