Ramtough5

I have a 2009 GT and purchased a CAI from UPR Products. I thought I would/ get it to the house and have it installed and increase my HP 25+ in less than 15 minutes like they advertised. Once the UPS man dropped it off and I opened it with much excitement, looked at the polished finish and ran to my GT with the box, I then set down by the tires and read the instructions. It read DO NOT INSTALL WITHOUT TUNING!!!!!!!!! Did I screw up by buying this brand? Do I have to take it to have someone tune it, before or after? Do I buy a predator or SCT tuner? Can I do it myself or is this beyond my capability? I want to put on some axelbacks after this, do I have to retune?

Ome more to add. Does this void my warranty? Is there a way to tune without the dealer knowing?

winston44

nothing better than the first mod!

install it...ive yet to get a tune for mine and it has the check engine light on because it thinks its getting to much air...tune it when you have time!

Ramtough5

How long and how many miles since you put yours on?

Nuke

CAI's require a tune unless the manufacturer states otherwise (and even then a tune is sometimes needed to prevent throwing codes). You should have done your homework first. There's a lot of info in the forum about CAI & tunes.

A few of the best tune suppliers are Brenspeed, Bamachips, VMP and Tillman. They'll provide you typically 3 custom tunes specific for your car along with the handheld. Running a CAI that requires a tune will cause you to run lean and is not good for the engine.

Also, a stand-alone CAI will net you maybe 5-8 RWHP if you're lucky. A CAI & tune combo will net you 15-25 + RWHP.

Ramtough5

Can I use one of these suppliers tuner with the CAI I have or do I have to buy a package deal?

157dB

Wrong, running a tune required CAI will cause the engine to run lean.
No so good. The cross section where the MAF mounts is bigger than
the stock intake and does not read the mass air flow properly.
A 'tune' takes care of this.

Nuke

Most of the suppliers tunes will be "canned", i.e., a generic tune written to be used on most any car. These canned tunes are less aggressive and do not perform as well as a custom tune.

The vendors I listed above are excellent choices. They'll write custom tunes for your car specifically. They sell packages (CAI & tune combos) or just the handheld with the tunes preloaded. They'll also be able to e-mail you new tunes as needed to support tune-required mods.

foolio2k4

Wait WTF kind of CAI did you buy? brand? Go buy yourself a SCT tuner and your ok. Whether you use stock tunes or custom tunes. It'll allow you to use the CAI you have.

blackice05

please ignore this advice, he obviously has no clue what he is doing.

Like stated contact a tuner like Bama or brenspeed and have them send you a tuner and 3 tunes. You will love it.

stealth_GT

if the MAF housing is stock size, then it should be okay to run without a tune from what I hear, but with some of the other ones (85-90mm) you're gonna need a tune or you'll run lean and run like crap. The combo kicks ****.. I just returned mine to stock because i have to take it to the dealership for work and wow.. what a slug it is! fack!