i'm sure this question has been discussed in full detail

but for lack of time i just wanted to throw this up and get everyone's thoughts.


it's about tunes.

what are the pros/cons of a brenspeed tune?

what are the pros/cons of a bama?

and the final question, why did you choose which one you chose?

thanks for the input.

 

This is tough because it depends on so many factors. What do you want from a tune?

 

Pros:
[ol][*]More power[*]Better fuel economy[*]Looks cool[*]Sounds cooler[*]Bigger woody[/ol]
Cons:
[ol][*]NONE[/ol]

I chose Brenspeed because of the ratings from the forum and from talking to their people. I had quite a few questions and they were very frank and gave me the time of day, considering I was a tune "nubie".

 

I have not tried Bama but have experience with Brenspeed and one other. The Brenspeed tunes are awesome and combine that with customer serivce they are top notch in my book. As compared to the other shop, the Brenspeed tune was much more smooth, pulled harder and shifted better.

 

Bama -Seemsto have the automatics best figured out (Has a bolt-on car running 11's).
However Bama takes a bit longer to respond to emails. Best just to call him at 10AM when he opens.

Brenspeed - The standard others are judged by.

VMP - Excellent Service and work overall, X-SCT employee.

I ended up going with Bama because they are 90 minutes away, seemed to agree more with the way I wanted to run the car, and offered free tune updates for the life of the car.

I and another tuner had a bit of disagreement over shiftpoints. He wanted me to shift at 280 rwhp dropping to 230 rwhp.
I see no reason to upshift until the horsepower in the next gear matches the gear your currently in (assuming the components are up to the task).

Overall I suggest contacting all the tuners you are interested in and see who has a philosophy that meshes with your own.

As far as power it my opinion its luck of the draw. It just depends how that tuners mail order tune happens to match up to your individual car.

 

I agree very much with what Gene just said. Talk to the tuner himself and see how his ideas mesh with your own. In the end, most tunes end up close to the same, but the small details are what really change howa car drives.

That being said, I would like to throw out Ken's name from Modular Depot. Ken was the guy who did the testing on all the CAI's for 5.0 mag a couple of years back and him and his shop has a list of credetials longer than my arm, and his crews list of racing accomplishments is nearly as long.

 

I have ran both in my stang. Got the Bama tune when I purchased my C&L Racer w/livewire. Car ran way better then stock but seemed to lose fuel economy even with just normal driving. One con for me was 4 weeks to get it and 5 e-mails with no answer. Was running a 93 Torque and Performance tunes. I just recently got a 93 tune from Brenspeed. As soon as I loaded it and started the car it had smoother sound at idle then Doug's. Took it out for a ride and all I can say is WOW! Car now snaps me in the seat on launch and pulls like never before. MPG seems to be a bit better as well. Had a few concerns on the tune, called Brenspeed and Seth was right there to answer my questions and address my concerns.

My opnion, try both. I thought my Bama tune was great on first install but Brenspeed's seems better to me now. If you want customer service and someone there to answer a question, go Brenspeed.

Just my .02

 

Its simple
Bama- autos
Brenspeed- manuals

 

Once again Gene great post and very good food for thought. I noticed with a previous mail order tune the car seemed to shift before full power. I will now dicuss my tune more in depth with the tuner I select.

 

Given the hp "curve" and the gear ratios available, please explain how this is possible. Thanks