Chip or Tuner
06-24-2012, 09:48 AM
#2
I know little about these things. When I did the research a couple months back, I liked the chip with the remote switch as sold by AM.
What I liked about it was that you could "hide" the switch out of sight. And I could have a blank position to the switch, basically it will not allow the computer to load anything, the engine would not run.
I thought that this would be a great way to make the car theft-proof in most circumstances as long as the switch was hidden.
This was the one feature I loved about the chip, but I still have not done it yet.....
What I liked about it was that you could "hide" the switch out of sight. And I could have a blank position to the switch, basically it will not allow the computer to load anything, the engine would not run.
I thought that this would be a great way to make the car theft-proof in most circumstances as long as the switch was hidden.
This was the one feature I loved about the chip, but I still have not done it yet.....
06-25-2012, 06:42 AM
#4
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: South FL
Posts: 8,540
Most chips are worthless when it comes to performance gains mostly because no car is the same and they all should be tuned specifically for each situation.
A tuner offers so much more adjustability in the long run.
A tuner offers so much more adjustability in the long run.
06-25-2012, 09:23 AM
#5
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location:
Posts: 6,936
after a head/cam swap on my 94 gt I had no choice but to look at a chip or a dyno tune as it just was not running well at all. I got the 3 bank from Am muscle/bama hoping it would work and save me a few bucks but it only made it barely drivable enough to take it to my tuner 45 mins away. After it was on the dyno it ran much much much better but it ended up costing me more in the end getting them seperately. You cannot replace a machine showing real-time data to a tuner that has the exp to do what it takes and hope a drop-down menu and some previous data will work on your car.
That switch they include with the chip is has too small of a switch to be usefull. I am not sure if they just did it so that they could rip people off for another $50 to get one big enought to be usefull or if it was bad planning on thier part. The entire switch with the numbers written on it is about 1/4" x 1/4" and looks to have been designed so that you cannot mount it short of super glueing it to the bottom of the dash. At that point is is pretty much useless as you need to be about 8" away from it to see the writting to know what number/tune you selected...... Because of all of this I now have 3 bad tunes from bama on it and one good one from my tuner so its never been switched after the dyno.
That switch they include with the chip is has too small of a switch to be usefull. I am not sure if they just did it so that they could rip people off for another $50 to get one big enought to be usefull or if it was bad planning on thier part. The entire switch with the numbers written on it is about 1/4" x 1/4" and looks to have been designed so that you cannot mount it short of super glueing it to the bottom of the dash. At that point is is pretty much useless as you need to be about 8" away from it to see the writting to know what number/tune you selected...... Because of all of this I now have 3 bad tunes from bama on it and one good one from my tuner so its never been switched after the dyno.
06-25-2012, 12:03 PM
#6
[/QUOTE=Havixs;7977956]Im looking to get a tuner but was just wounding if a chip would be better or if there is a difference or not the up and downs of both.[/QUOTE]
Havixs,
I would recommend going with the SCT SF3 hand held device. You can do so much with that tuner such as Transfer tunes, Datalog, Check/Clear CELs ect.. When purchasing the tuner with us you are automatically enrolled in our free tunes for life, so whenever you add a new modification to your car all you have to do is hit us up & we can email you a revised tune(with the chips you have to uninstall the chip & mail it back so we can re burn the new file then send it back).
I hope this helps if you have any further questions hit me up or Our Bama Performance tuning specialists are here in the building Monday-Friday from 9AM-5:30PM EST and Saturday 10AM-3PM EST. You can hit them up directly at 888.226.9764 and they'll get you squared away!
- Dan
ttocs,
I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with us. This is not the type of feedback we are use to hearing, however negative feedback is just as important to us as positive so thank you! It sounds like you are happy with the tune from your dyno runs. I can see why, Dyno tunes really give you the option to dial your tune in perfectly. Our tunes are good 99% of the time. Occasionally there are errors because we hand write every tune.
My Bama team will fix your issue quickly, in most cases it is small human error when filing the information or by a Bama member. If you would like for us to open your file & get you some revised tunes sent out I would be happy to help you out. I will get you in direct contact with my head tuning specialist Mike Wilson who can defiantly get you squared away! If you would like me to do so PM me your order information & I will get this rolling for you!
As far as the switch goes, those come directly from SCT with each device. I agree that they are very small & difficult to view. They used to come with a mounting bracket for the change holder that would make it a bit easier, then SCT discontinued that product, great right? I appreciate the feedback on this, I am going to bring this up to our product development department to see if we can fab something up!
I hope this does not ruin our relationship, we value every single customer. So please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you! I will be looking forward to your PM.
- Dan
Havixs,
I would recommend going with the SCT SF3 hand held device. You can do so much with that tuner such as Transfer tunes, Datalog, Check/Clear CELs ect.. When purchasing the tuner with us you are automatically enrolled in our free tunes for life, so whenever you add a new modification to your car all you have to do is hit us up & we can email you a revised tune(with the chips you have to uninstall the chip & mail it back so we can re burn the new file then send it back).
I hope this helps if you have any further questions hit me up or Our Bama Performance tuning specialists are here in the building Monday-Friday from 9AM-5:30PM EST and Saturday 10AM-3PM EST. You can hit them up directly at 888.226.9764 and they'll get you squared away!
- Dan
after a head/cam swap on my 94 gt I had no choice but to look at a chip or a dyno tune as it just was not running well at all. I got the 3 bank from Am muscle/bama hoping it would work and save me a few bucks but it only made it barely drivable enough to take it to my tuner 45 mins away. After it was on the dyno it ran much much much better but it ended up costing me more in the end getting them seperately. You cannot replace a machine showing real-time data to a tuner that has the exp to do what it takes and hope a drop-down menu and some previous data will work on your car.
That switch they include with the chip is has too small of a switch to be usefull. I am not sure if they just did it so that they could rip people off for another $50 to get one big enought to be usefull or if it was bad planning on thier part. The entire switch with the numbers written on it is about 1/4" x 1/4" and looks to have been designed so that you cannot mount it short of super glueing it to the bottom of the dash. At that point is is pretty much useless as you need to be about 8" away from it to see the writting to know what number/tune you selected...... Because of all of this I now have 3 bad tunes from bama on it and one good one from my tuner so its never been switched after the dyno.
That switch they include with the chip is has too small of a switch to be usefull. I am not sure if they just did it so that they could rip people off for another $50 to get one big enought to be usefull or if it was bad planning on thier part. The entire switch with the numbers written on it is about 1/4" x 1/4" and looks to have been designed so that you cannot mount it short of super glueing it to the bottom of the dash. At that point is is pretty much useless as you need to be about 8" away from it to see the writting to know what number/tune you selected...... Because of all of this I now have 3 bad tunes from bama on it and one good one from my tuner so its never been switched after the dyno.
I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with us. This is not the type of feedback we are use to hearing, however negative feedback is just as important to us as positive so thank you! It sounds like you are happy with the tune from your dyno runs. I can see why, Dyno tunes really give you the option to dial your tune in perfectly. Our tunes are good 99% of the time. Occasionally there are errors because we hand write every tune.
My Bama team will fix your issue quickly, in most cases it is small human error when filing the information or by a Bama member. If you would like for us to open your file & get you some revised tunes sent out I would be happy to help you out. I will get you in direct contact with my head tuning specialist Mike Wilson who can defiantly get you squared away! If you would like me to do so PM me your order information & I will get this rolling for you!
As far as the switch goes, those come directly from SCT with each device. I agree that they are very small & difficult to view. They used to come with a mounting bracket for the change holder that would make it a bit easier, then SCT discontinued that product, great right? I appreciate the feedback on this, I am going to bring this up to our product development department to see if we can fab something up!
I hope this does not ruin our relationship, we value every single customer. So please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you! I will be looking forward to your PM.
- Dan
06-25-2012, 10:08 PM
#7
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location:
Posts: 6,936
Dunno what the problem might have been as I confirmed on the sheet that everything on there was listed correctly. not sure what could be done either quickly or easily at this point as I didn't get a tuner with it, just a chip as I have a 94. I am not going to pull the computer back out and the chip to mail it back to see what is going on or what the differences would be and have the car down for a couple of weeks. I just chalked it up to my karma with things like this and took it as an expensive loss that I would learn from, not sure what could be done now.
That add-on switch while it actually made it useable was a complete rip-off for $40-50. I have worked in electronics for enough years to see that there was $3 worth of parts at cost. Either way to market the switch included as something that you can actually switch tunes on with out the use of a magnafying glass and some tweezers is funny. Again I am not even sure how you would go about mounting it Short of somehow cutting a square 1/4" whole. And that si even if the wire was long enough to reach past the passengers knee/radio area on the consol.......
It was a bit disappointing for me to say the least.
That add-on switch while it actually made it useable was a complete rip-off for $40-50. I have worked in electronics for enough years to see that there was $3 worth of parts at cost. Either way to market the switch included as something that you can actually switch tunes on with out the use of a magnafying glass and some tweezers is funny. Again I am not even sure how you would go about mounting it Short of somehow cutting a square 1/4" whole. And that si even if the wire was long enough to reach past the passengers knee/radio area on the consol.......
It was a bit disappointing for me to say the least.
06-25-2012, 11:30 PM
#8
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 347
A tuner is definitely the way to go. If you want a good chip for your car I'm pretty sure you're going to pay a hefty fine.
The cool thing with tuners is that some can save your stock tune. This means that if you have a car under finance and don't want to void the warranty, but still want some power gains, you can tune it, then when it needs to get serviced, re-load the stock tune. My sister's fiancee had one for this Ram and it gave him some serious improvements over stock power.
Tuner definitely the way to go.
The cool thing with tuners is that some can save your stock tune. This means that if you have a car under finance and don't want to void the warranty, but still want some power gains, you can tune it, then when it needs to get serviced, re-load the stock tune. My sister's fiancee had one for this Ram and it gave him some serious improvements over stock power.
Tuner definitely the way to go.
