pine9280

The question basically is if it is better to get your car tuned at a professional tune shop or if it is just as good to tune a car with a hand held tuner

jeh4269

Def better having it done at a reputable shop.Find a shop you like and see what brand of software they use.Then get that brand of handheld tuner and have them tune it.What mods have you done to your car?

pine9280

it's supercharged and intercooled with full exhaust long tube headers no cats

cliffyk

No handheld tuner will let you access or alter the intimate details of a tune to the degree needed for full optimization. That is the main difference between a handheld "canned" or "mail order" tune and a so-called "dyno-tune"--the dynamometer itself has little to do with it other than being a convenient tool for gauging progress (or regress) between changes to the tune.

Pro tuning shops use pro tuning software like SCT Advantage, Delta Force Commando and the like--all of which allow every possible scalar value, table and function in the tune to be edited and set as needed to optimise a tune--no handheld or any other system in that price range can do that.

The remaining issue is do you wish to learn how to tune your engine yourself, or are you content to have others do it? There is not one bit of rocket science involved, and keep in mind that even the best tuners out there started out not knowing squat about it.

If you want to learn Greg Banish's book Engine Management: Advanced Tuning is a great place to start.

If you want to go nuts about it read John Heywood's Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals, or Charles Taylor's The Internal-Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice.

MCxQubed

if its supercharged i wouldnt even be asking this question. I wouldnt even be driving the car, get it to a dyno asap and have a shop make u a tune

uberstang1

I agreed, its its supercharged theres no doubt i would take it for a tune at a good shop.

BLKSTANGER

I have had a lot of dyno tuning done on my Harleys over the years. When you find someone that knows what they are doing it makes all the difference in the world. Not every shop out there has a tuner that really knows all aspects of getting a great tune. So be careful when deciding where you are going to take your car. I have seen shops that spend a little time on a tune and call it good. And then there are shops that go the extra mile and give you a great tune.

pine9280

Thanks guys.... it has been professionally tuned but not by me. I want to put less fat of a tune on it until i build my internals. Right now i am running 8lbs of boost which is reportedly safe for the 4.6 stock engine but i want to tone it down to 5 or 6 lbs of boost for now. When i want to amp up the tune again i will get it professionally done though.

uberstang1

Dude, defiantly don't lower the boost. 8 psi is way more than safe, your probably realistically putting down 345ish rwhp on 8psi.