Please read this before you go any further. I am looking for an objective response from individuals that have tried out different tunes and not just a flame by fanboys. Anyway with that being said here is my question And so the wall of text begins.

2013 Mustang gt Premium
Airaid dry non-oiled CAI
magnaflow competition catback exhaust 15150
magnaflow tru-x x-pipe 16400

future mods:
boss 302 intake soon to come with either 3.73 or 4.10 gearing


I am so torn between what tune to do. There is a local shop in my area but im so hesitant to go down there for a dyno tune because i dont really know anything about them. I live in Bakersfield, CA so if anyone has any good suggestions for a speed shop im all ears. Also whats your opinion on email tune vs local random shop dyno tune.


AED:

I have heard alot of mixed things about AED both good and bad but most of the bad seems to come from haters that have no real rhyme or reason to their complaints. I am leaning towards AED only because they offer the idle cam tune for an auto which is just amazing sounding although i think the lund sounds better. I have heard the performance is rather similar. Now performance is what sells me in the end so please respond with that in mind.

this video is almost identical to my current setup

Lund:

I like the ghost cam tune by lund so much more than the AED one because it sounds like a larger cam. I learned however that this isnt available for automatics so im crying IRL.... no srsly im crying. Anyway i heard amazing things about this tune and the power it produces but in reality i want my car to perform while sounding sick.

i want to hump this car no homo.. props to this old guy


Bama:

I have heard alot of good things about bama but from what i heard the tunes tend to be very conservative. The warranty and support is absolutely top notch from what i heard so its still a viable option.

 

KC2086,

You're talking about the best tuners in the world when it comes to Mustangs, I'm confident you'll be in good hands with whoever you decide to go with! I can't speak for anyone else, but I can definitely give you some information on how we write our tunes.

For every Bama Tune we ask you 19 questions about your specific Mustang, including your unique mods and style of driving. This info helps us write custom tunes from the ground-up for your Mustang's mods that will give you the most horsepower that we can safely deliver. We're also constantly developing our tunes! Between our 14 different Project Mustangs and tons of street/track and dyno testing (on our in-house Dynojet 224xLC), we're looking for any minor tweaks to be made that can benefit you guys. We're also part of Fords Technology Transfer Program & Work very closely with Ford to insure that all of our tunes are perfect!

We do make our tunes conservative the first time we send them to you. From years of experience a lot of our customers are extremely happy with the added power, torque, throttle response, shift points, drive ability, acceleration, gas mileage and so much more! However, for our customers that are looking to pull more power out of their Mustangs, we do encourage you to send us over a few datalogs and we'll make some adjustments to your tune. We can also just adjust certain tables that you may want more or less aggressive, whatever we can do to make your tune perfect for your driving habits!

Last but not least, our free tunes for life program. Anybody who purchases a device through us is automatically enrolled in this program! Anytime you want a new tune, revision, add a new modification etc.. just hit us up and well get you a new tune sent out right away! I hope this helps, pleas let me know if you have any questions or need some assistance! Our Bama Performance tuning specialists are here in the building Monday-Friday from 9AM-5:30PM EST and Saturday 9AM-5:30PM EST. You can hit them up directly at 888.226.9764 and they'll get you squared away!

-Dan

 

I agree with what Dan said, as I love AM, However.. I don't know any shops where you live, but hand downs without question a dyno tune is always going to be the best. Email tunes are ok for simple bolt ons and they'll get it running good.. but there's plenty of room left to tweak.. as Dan said, you can get closer by communicating with them every so often to re-tune.. However, EVERY car no matter if they were right behind each other on an assembly line is going to be just a little different. Dyno tuning offers you the chance to actually tune YOUR car. Not a generic profile of your car's model, based off another car in another location. Also, there's environmental factors to consider. You live where it's warm and sunny most times. that's a different tune than say if you lived in Colorado where it gets cold at times. Air temperature, density, etc all come into play when tweaking out the very best of tunes.

 

RET is down in LA, although I'm not sure he is doing any lope tunes. I do know his tunes are spot-on, been running them for a few years. I've heard good things about Lund for mail order, and good things about AED for dyno tunes... I know there was some bad blood between Lund and AED in regards to lope tunes.

 

I've got some first hand knowledge of several tuners that I've used over the years.

~Bama~ These guys are great for your minor mods that you're doing. They will modify your tune file for life as well. I've used Bama for years and I've never received a bad tune from them. My 2006 Mustang GT was tuned by them over and over again. Good guys, EXCELLENT customer service. You can't go wrong with them.

~Lund~ He is regarded as the "God of Tuning" when it comes to modified Mustangs. I have his tune on my 2013 Gt with a Roush supercharger. He's the most pompous and arrogant human being I've ever dealt with. He know's everything that there is to know about these cars and he doesn't want to hear your questions. This was my experience with him anyway. That being said, his tunes are great. With the stock roush calibration, I was putting down 546 rear wheel horsepower. After his tune, I put down 588 rear wheel horsepower. His tune has some drivability issues when I really hit the throttle, and it's something he says I have to live with. His tunes are expensive, but good. I paid for the remote tune session and sent him data logs to get a dialed in tune for my car. He's overly cautious and won't send you the most aggressive tune to get the most power out of your ride.

~AED~ They've never been on my radar when it comes to tuning my car. I don't know enough about them to offer any real opinion.

~Local Tuners~ DO NOT USE A TUNER LOCALLY UNLESS YOU HAVE FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE OR HAS A REPUTATION FOR TUNING MUSTANGS, SPECIFICALLY OUR COYOTE MOTORS. Too many guys out there think that they can tune a Mustang because they can tune Honda Civics. Do your research beforehand when it comes to local tuners.

Another tuner I'd like to throw out there is Justin Starkey with VMP Tuning. This guy is THE MAN. He has tuned hundreds of these cars and he is top-shelf if you ask me. He will email/talk with you about what you want and answer your questions. He's great. He took my car and put me at a blinding 644 rear wheel horsepower and says I have more to spare. I believe him when he says that can safely run this for years to come. Zero drivability issues and I have peace of mind in that my car is in safe hands.

All in all Bama would be great for your minor mods. I don't have experience with them with highly modified cars. If you want MY personal opinion, I'd say call up VMP tuning. Look these guys up...it's worth looking into them.

 

ty for info everyone

 

You have a lot of tuners to choose from. I wouldn't limit yourself to the three u mentioned. There r tuners that aren't on your list and should be bc they have great customer service and tunes. Keep in mind that every tuner has had a customer that was unhappy.

When r u deciding and who r u going with

 

i think im gonna go with AED just to check out how the lope tune is. I dont know how long ill be running it because im guessing it might get annoying after a while but i like the stuff i hear about his performance tunes. Might try bama too down the line only because of the fantastic support and free tunes for life.... Id like to have a few options on my tuner.... Before i do that tho im concerned about a few things...

Not sure if i should move this next part to a different thread.....

I am concerned at the moment because my car has had a bit of rough idle lately. I thought i maybe installed my Airaid CAI wrong or something. There is a small rubber insert for the MAF that goes in to prevent a CEL or so the instructions say... I can take it out once i get a tune but supposedly it will pop a code if i take it out and run with the car's stock tune. Im guessing maybe having that in there was messing with the MAF? So before i panicked and took it down to ford i decided to return it back to stock with the stock air box and see what happened. Surprisingly the car seems to accelerate allot smoother so im guessing that intake really needs a tune to work properly. I noticed it didnt pull as hard though without the airaid.

Unfortunately the rough idle is still there and feels almost like a misfire but no CEL. Im not really that familiar with how the 5.0 coyote motor is supposed to run. Also during the break in period (3500 current miles) i noticed that my dipstick was a little low(about halfway between min-max completely cold). Not sure if that is normal either ...granted i do "drive and enjoy the car". I have heard of the coyote motor burning a little oil during the break in but not sure what the exact amount is. The only other thing that comes to mind is piece of **** California gas which would make alot of sense... i don't want to make any false assumptions though. I have normally only filled up at chevron or shell so i guess i can try something new next week. One of my friends says the Arco gas (the cheap ****... go figure...)runs better for his car (2007 gt500... too many mods to list).

Any suggestions on if the rough idle is normal?? Its a constant light vibration followed by some heavy ones that mildly shake the car. Kinda happy i noticed this before i got the tune and Ford would have some excuse about why they didn't wanna fix it if it is a problem. Over the past few months ive kind of noticed a decrease in power and took it over to the dealership once before. My ABS lights flickered on and off and traction control came on then the car was kinda running like **** since then. Ford said it was fine... i insisted it was driving sluggish. I also noticed that sync is really slow activating after i press the button. And the commands seem severely delayed. I pulled the battery negative and reset it. Still was sluggish. I install the old stock intake and all the sudden SYNC wants to work perfectly WTF???(is my car ****ing with me? lol) I have an SCT tuner on the way and it should be here Wednesday 3/27/13 . From what i understand i can pull codes with it so im kind of curious to see if i find anything.

So anyone have any idea wtf is going on lol... never had issues like this with a new car. I seem to have the worst luck with everything so i wouldnt be suprised if i got the defective one off the lot lol.

Decided to wait to throw on the magnaflow catback exhaust and magnaflow tru-x xpipe until i get this figured out. Im also going to leave the Airaid CAI off for now. My main concern is figuring out what to do with these issues before i get impacient and tune the car to test out my new toys

 

Can I mention Steeda as well?

We have been doing tunes for many years and we have had 0 issues with the #8 cylinder and we have not had a warranty claim against us when our tune has been installed on a consumers car.

Here is a quote regarding our tune from another member ... there are many of them out there if you do a search:

[QUOTEAll I can say is wow. For those of you who already have the new steeda tune this will be old news. I have had three tunes total for my car with the mods below. I recently got the new Steeda tune and it is an amazing difference. AMAZING. The throttle response is ridiculous, but where it shines is the mid range torque and top end. I really can't express how pleased I am with this new tune compared to other companies. Gus good job because I really did not believe there could be this much of a difference from what I already had!!][/QUOTE]

We also work with Ford Motor Company in regards to the SEMA Technolgoy Transfer Program ... The Ford/SEMA Technology Initiative Sharing Program ensures a robust exchange of key technical and testing information related to Ford vehicles.

Let me know if I can help provide any additional information that may help in your purchase?

Best Regards,

TJ

 

I have ran Steeda tunes for a couple years on my 2011 GT with great success. I am running a Bama tune now & also have no issues. I have never used AED or Lund, but have heard great things. I dont think you can go wrong with any of them, honestly.