pharmd2010

Thanks. Now I definitely have some mixed emotions on which way to go! But I do tend to agree that a dyno tune is going to get things more custom to your car, therefore your car SHOULD run a little better and put down a little more power. We all know that even two identical cars coming off the same assembly line back to back aren't going to be 100% the same. So, to anybody that has ever had their cars dynoed, what is a good price to get a dyno tune?

1morepart

depends on your mods...if you have FI or other mods that may not be tuneable via Doug or steve, go with a dyno tune

acascianelli

IMO anything short of a big short of nitrous or FI does not necessarily require a dyno tune.

pharmd2010

Guess this will just always be an "opinion" issue... I'm not going to go FI for a while, probably a few years if ever. It's kind of hard to call and ask a tuner or a mail-order tuner because obviously they are going to be biased to their method. Is there anybody that I could get in touch with that could give me a TRULY HONEST opinion on this subject? It even seems like most answers I get from customers or other owners are biased to the product that they purchased and the route they went (with the exception of a couple). Thanks.

imnotmy77stang

from hearing what everyone has to say about their mail order tunes im confident that they will be fine for me as far as HP gains. what i DO worry about is a proper air/fuel mixture as it seems some people still have issues with that.

StowesStang

The downloaded tunes are sufficient, however, there are so many other things that are factored into the "tune" (climate, altitude, etc.). I had a downloaded tune (not Brenspeed or the others) on my SCT X-Cal and used it for almost a year and my car ran ok, nothing to complain about.When I put my car on the dyno and had it custom tuned, I learn that my car was running too lean and I gained another 5HP.

I think the dowload tunes are ok but to get the optimum performance out of your, dyno is the only way to go, but they are costly to have done.

Just my .02 cents!!

GT Bob

A more untrue statement about tunes I have never heard on this board.

Mail order tunes (or "custom tunes" as some of the mail order tunres like to call them) are a best guess. They look at the mods you list, look at a couple other cars they did, figure in some fat for a safety factor and then write your tune from that.

A Dyno tune is exactly that.. Your car, in its exact current state is placed on a load bearing dyno (or with the right tools can even be done at the track and driving on normal roads), the data parameters are monitored and adjusted until the optimum setup is reached.

Mail order tunes are usually pretty good... I'd say 8 times out of 10 they are gonna be pretty close. But, as an example, I had a customer who had two identically modded LS1 GTO's and wanted them both tuned. One made best power at 12.7 AFR with 26 degrees of timing. I loaded that exact tune on the second one, and was down 19 horsepower. Ended up fattening that car up to a 12.4 AFR with 22 degrees of timing, and ended up at the exact same power levels as the first. If I had left the second car alone, that motor could have been toasted in the space of 6 months because of all the extra timing.

While I will agree mailorder tunes make more power than stock, they will never be as safe as, or make as much power as a dyno tune. Also, to those who quote 2 or 3 HP peak change between a dyno and a mailorder... your only seeing a tiny portion of the equation.. how was off peak power? did the afr's stabilize any? Was there any Knock retard that ended up in timing getting pulled? Theres a dozen other factors than just the "internet-dyno-queen-peak-power-is-all-that-matters" mentality that effects a car, both in power production and longevity.

acascianelli

Technically, any tuner other than the stock tune is a "custom" tune.

Canned tunes are meant to work on all cars; such as ones from Hypertech, Diablosport.
Mail order tunes are meant to work for the specific engine calibration ID; such as Brenspeed, Bamachips, VMP, etc.
Dyno tunes are meant for that exact car they are written on.

The difference between the stock tune and a mail-order or even a canned tune will be huge. The difference between a good mail-order tune and a dyno tune will be no where near as significant.

2k6silvergt

That is usually why it is recommended and a wise idea to take your car to the dyno after loading a tune to check where the A/F is at.

zkiller

MyBrenspeed tune was done on a dyno. Not everybody does mail order tune from them.