Brenspeed vs Bamachips vs American Muscle

Hoofprint · 10-06-2009, 09:19 PM

So what is the difference between the tunes you get for a stock 2010 GT from Brenspeed, Bamachips and American Muscle?

If I buy a tuner from American Muscle am I getting the same tunes as I would from Bamachips or Brenspeed?

I want to buy a tuner and I like what I read on the Bamachips site regarding the tunes they provide, but I could save a few bucks getting it from American Muscle...

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WeinerDog · 10-07-2009, 09:27 AM

I don't know who makes the "custom" tunes if you buy an SCT from AM. I don't know of anyone who has done this, everyone seems to buy from Bama/Brenspeed/Tillman which are supposedly all great. I can vouch that the Bama 93 race tune absolutely transforms the car.

VRFlip · 10-07-2009, 09:31 AM

WeinerDog,

Did you have any problems with your tune? I'm considering one for my 2010.

Do these custom tunes do anything to the Advance Track? I have the track pack on my car, which has "special calibration" for the Advance Track traction control stuff. I don't want to screw that up.

Hoofprint · 10-07-2009, 10:15 AM

WeinerDog...so the Race Tune is one of the three that you received from Bama...is the Race tune fine for a daily driver? Or do you switch to a torque or performance tune for the majority of the time?

WeinerDog · 10-07-2009, 11:27 AM

Bear with me guys this gets lengthy.

First off, Hoof, the performance and torque tunes are very little, if any, better than stock at least on a manual tranny. They may clean up some of the slop on an auto, IDK. The race tune is fine for everyday, that's how I use it. The immediate throttle response and torque is just fantastic, most notably in 1st and 2nd gear.

Flip, I don't have Track Pack. I would suggest you pose that question to the tuners but my guess is the tunes do nothing to affect AdvanceTrac.

Now comes the strange part. I have been running the Bama race tune for probably 3 months, no problems. Recently, I started noticing a rough idle and it actually stalled on me once. I hoped maybe a bad tank of gas...not. So I switched back to the stock tune and it stopped, or so I thought (the problem was intermittent).

Meanwhile, I emailed Bama to ask if the tune could cause this. Several days of no response. After all I've read on these forums about no response from Bama, I called Brenspeed and talked with them, decided to buy an email race tune (should get it this week).

I have now noticed that even with the stock tune, I can get it to idle poorly/stall by turning on the AC so I've got an appointment with the dealer today. I don't see how it can be the tune since it ran so well for months (and now the problem occurs even with the stock tune) but coincidentally today Doug (of Bamachips) emailed me and said he was going to send me new tunes that might fix it.

So take from that what you want. I personally think there is something wrong with my car (hardware-wise, maybe the TPS?) and there is nothing wrong with the Bama tune. But perhaps Doug has found something in his tune that needs tweaking.

I'll post when I know more. Sorry for the novel!

GrayGhost01GT · 10-07-2009, 11:29 AM

I got mine for my 10 GT with Brenspeed and got the 87, 89, 93 Octane tunes and love them all! But I really feel the 93 is a beast! But im thinking about contacting doug over at bamachips and seeing if he can write me one for 91 OCT since there is no 89 here!

VRFlip · 10-07-2009, 11:36 AM

Bummer on the stalling! Let us know how it works out.

antonio1988 · 10-07-2009, 12:19 PM

The tune from AM is nothing special, just a canned tune. The tune from Bama is by far one of the best tunes out there for the money as it wakes up the car in every aspect and makes you want to drive the car all the time lol. I like Brenspeed for everything except for their email tunes, just too sloppy compared to Bama, and then the one tune I suggest to be the best out there period is that from Blow By Racing, I've seen and met Chris as he is my tuner and he will literally make an email tune for you SPECIFIC to every mod you may or may not have and is comparable to the Bama tune in terms of aggressiveness.

BL00DSH0T · 10-07-2009, 06:36 PM

I just ordered the Bama tune and C&L intake and will give a full review and should have some dyno numbers too.

Nuke · 10-07-2009, 06:48 PM

The AM tunes are canned and not specific for your PCM and mods. They're mild compared to those from Brenspeed, Bama, Tillman, VMP... a.k.a. custom tunes written with what you have in mind. They'll tweak your tunes in the event you have issues. IMO, AM doesn't have that kind of tech support and know-how.