Is a tune worth it?
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 347
From: Tn.
ford techs can pull up and tell if the ecu has been redone and put back to factory. that ecu records dang near everything. it can tell you how high you rev the engine and for how long and everything. we think its ok cuz u can put it back to stock and be safe but the truth is..you're not safe at all. if ford is offering a tune that would be the best way cuz usually they will allow all their work to be covered under factory warranty
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 238
From: Ontario
once you retune that car with anyone other than ford, kiss your warranty goodbye!. the ecu picks up on when it was over-written even after it was sent back to factory settings. i've had plenty of service techs to tell me this. you just spent like 35k why ruin the warranty over $400?????
Cheers.
Thread Starter
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 131
From: Vegas
Well, I definitely don't want to risk losing my warranty for 20 hp. I have also heard that, like many of you said, that the dealer can tell if a tune was ever installed. When I had my Mazdaspeed3, this was the same info I heard about the tunes for that car. So maybe I'll just stay stock for now. The car is pretty ridiculous stock, I mean, it doesn't feel any slower than the last Corvette I rode in!
4th Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,185
From: over yonder
What do you mean nope? Anytime you increase an engines performance you inherently increase the wear as well. It may be ridiculously slight, but in "his" case, my point is only what would be the point of spending $300.00 or whatever when you're happy with it as is? The cost/risk far outweighs the reward of a few hp that isn't even needed. If he was like alot of people here and said he wants to push his car to it's max, then sure. But when he says it performs as well as he'd like it to, everything on top is just extra and a waste of cash. Save that money and take the wife/gf out for the weekend in the new Stang.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 238
From: Ontario
What do you mean nope? Anytime you increase an engines performance you inherently increase the wear as well. It may be ridiculously slight, but in "his" case, my point is only what would be the point of spending $300.00 or whatever when you're happy with it as is? The cost/risk far outweighs the reward of a few hp that isn't even needed. If he was like alot of people here and said he wants to push his car to it's max, then sure. But when he says it performs as well as he'd like it to, everything on top is just extra and a waste of cash. Save that money and take the wife/gf out for the weekend in the new Stang.
There is actually very little HP gain so I think little wear to fret about. The real advantages of the tune are improved throttle response and drivability. No more rev hang-ups when throttle off. No more missed blips because of flacid throttle. No more pulled power as you near the red-line. Instant throttle response instead of waiting for the computor to decide if you really need all that throttle right now. Also the extra few revs at the top can prevent you from having to make an upshift immediately followed by a downshift if you decide to go on a road course. That would reduce wear!
Really, just the canned SCT tune made a world of difference on the '06. Having said that, I am going to wait on the 2011 to see how the new tunes are accepted. The 2011 has a much better computor than previous cars, so the differences may not be as great. Wear is a negligble factor, but the warranty is important to me and I would like to see this angle resolved.
The cost is actually more like $700 to $800 than $300 if you go with a CAI and SCT tune. (say via Steeda).
I think we can all agree that waiting a little longer to see how things pan out is the prudent course right now.
Cheers.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,185
From: over yonder
Does this mean no suspension mods either?
There is actually very little HP gain so I think little wear to fret about. The real advantages of the tune are improved throttle response and drivability. No more rev hang-ups when throttle off. No more missed blips because of flacid throttle. No more pulled power as you near the red-line. Instant throttle response instead of waiting for the computor to decide if you really need all that throttle right now. Also the extra few revs at the top can prevent you from having to make an upshift immediately followed by a downshift if you decide to go on a road course. That would reduce wear!
Really, just the canned SCT tune made a world of difference on the '06. Having said that, I am going to wait on the 2011 to see how the new tunes are accepted. The 2011 has a much better computor than previous cars, so the differences may not be as great. Wear is a negligble factor, but the warranty is important to me and I would like to see this angle resolved.
The cost is actually more like $700 to $800 than $300 if you go with a CAI and SCT tune. (say via Steeda).
I think we can all agree that waiting a little longer to see how things pan out is the prudent course right now.
Cheers.
There is actually very little HP gain so I think little wear to fret about. The real advantages of the tune are improved throttle response and drivability. No more rev hang-ups when throttle off. No more missed blips because of flacid throttle. No more pulled power as you near the red-line. Instant throttle response instead of waiting for the computor to decide if you really need all that throttle right now. Also the extra few revs at the top can prevent you from having to make an upshift immediately followed by a downshift if you decide to go on a road course. That would reduce wear!
Really, just the canned SCT tune made a world of difference on the '06. Having said that, I am going to wait on the 2011 to see how the new tunes are accepted. The 2011 has a much better computor than previous cars, so the differences may not be as great. Wear is a negligble factor, but the warranty is important to me and I would like to see this angle resolved.
The cost is actually more like $700 to $800 than $300 if you go with a CAI and SCT tune. (say via Steeda).
I think we can all agree that waiting a little longer to see how things pan out is the prudent course right now.
Cheers.
Last edited by MOOK3456; Jul 1, 2010 at 08:30 AM.
The Paranoid One
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,320
From: Texas
ford techs can pull up and tell if the ecu has been redone and put back to factory. that ecu records dang near everything. it can tell you how high you rev the engine and for how long and everything. we think its ok cuz u can put it back to stock and be safe but the truth is..you're not safe at all. if ford is offering a tune that would be the best way cuz usually they will allow all their work to be covered under factory warranty
I believe I read all they can tell is that the computer was reset somehow.
All you have to do is say you thought you had a bad battery.
Not first hand knowledge but I have heard it many times.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 238
From: Ontario
You don't have to convince me, I know, I have a CAI/Tune myself. I know it does quite a bit to wake the car up, my only point is if he's happy with it why spend the money? I'm sure that unlike my pitiful v6 and the older GT's your and his 5.0 are probably tuned pretty well from the factory already. Not saying it can't be better, I'm sure it can... but I personally probably wouldn't if I was already playing with 400+hp and was happy with it. I'm not anti-tune by any means lol. In fact if he said he wanted more performance, I'd say 100% get it.
Drive safely guys.
Cheers.