Mazzabl

i have a 2010 mustang gt with steeda cai and a bama tune. i am currently running the 93 octane performance tune. i have been very curious lately as to whether or not i should run the 93 octane race tune instead. my question is, will the car run too lean on the race tune for daily driving? also, what kind of increase am i looking at in performance over the performance tune? thanks.

SpartaPerformance

The "race tune" as most tuner call it for 93 octane anyway is most likely an aggressive tune that turns of emissions control. I run a "race tune" myself and if its done right it has no ill effects at all. I've been running it for 2 years now and it has propelled my car to 13.0 @ 107 on 3.31 gears street tire. In fact I just put the car back to stock for inspection this week and man is it butt slow!!

Mazzabl

thanks for the input but im still unsure of how reliable the race tune would be for daily driving, specifically the bama tune. i understand its more agressive but how so? does it lean the car out more? if so, is it to the point that prolonged driving(daily driving) would be fatal? also, what do you mean by it turns off emission control? ive asked this question twice in the past and cant seem to get an answer...i know alot of people on here are running bama tunes, i just want basic info here :\

Mazzabl

this is from american muscles site "Race (91 - 93 octane) - The race tune will ensure the largest increase in vehicle performance. Using the highest grade of fuel available in your area is mandatory. This file is designed for "Race only Use" as the timing, fuel, and throttle response settings are very aggressive. in fact, the adjustments are so aggressive, that we do not recommend it for daily driving as it may cause your vehicle to try to jump out from a stop and easily spin the tires. Finally, with the automatics, we implement entirely new shift points and firmness settings to further enhance the all-out performance of the vehicle."

it seems very over-dramatic with the whole "we do not recommend it for daily driving as it may cause your vehicle to try to jump out from a stop and easily spin the tires" seems like they hired some good writers to hype it up...i know people are running the race tune on their daily drivers, im just hoping someone chimes in that is. if i can easily gain an extra 5whp or so simply flashing the race tune then why not? so long as it maintains reliability....

Nuke

Why not load it and see what YOU think? I know that for my style of driving, my 89 tune is superior to my 93 tune.

Mazzabl

because i would rather not risk running the car with a tune that could potentially cause long term damage, and me running the race tune isnt going to tell me anymore info than my butt dyno feels. the only way of knowing if the tune is unsafe is for me to either come on forums and ask questions(the whole point of a forum) or to get the car dyno'd myself and spend upwards of $100 just to answer my question...as long as the 3v 4.6 has been around, and with so many people running bama tunes, i find it very hard to believe no one can differentiate the difference between the 3 tunes that come on the tuner..my car has less than 3k miles on it and im new to mustangs..im just trying to mod as smart and safe as possible...

Mudflap

I ran a Bama Race tune on my 07 GT a few years ago exclusively, and that is the first one I loaded up on Saturday on this new GT. I've had zero issues, and the race tunes are great. I believe the non-race tunes leave the emissions control systems on and are simply less aggressive. The race tune is a "safe" tune IMO. That same little "warning" has been throwing people for a loop for a years, but do some searching and you'll find that the vast majority of Bama tune users, are running the race tunes, and have been for years. I have yet to hear of damage from an intake/tune combo in the nearly 4 years I've been creeping around this board.

For the record, I have always found 91 tunes to "feel" better than the 93's. This was the case on my 2007 GT, and my 2009 Supercharged GT. For this 2010, I just went straight to ordering the 91s.

Mazzabl

thanks for your input. in a previous response someone had mentioned the emissions control system...what exactly is this and what are the benefits in turning it off?

Mudflap

I believe they just shut off the sensors allowing for a more aggressive tune. If you needed to pass an OBDII emissions test, you'd just need to load the street tune I believe. With Brenspeed, I had them create an "emission friendly" tune for me to use for that purpose. If you try and get an OBDII emissions test with the sensors off, they will get that error code and probably fail you.

vic21234

I have been running the 91 octane race tune as a daily driver for approximately three weeks now, after previously using the 89 octane performance tune as my daily. I have an auto trans, and the biggest improvement I've noticed compared to the performance tune is that I no longer get that "flat spot" in power around 2k-2.5k rpms. The flat spot was extremely pronounced when I was stock. With the performance tune, it was still there, but not as noticeable. With the race tune, it is completely gone.

I would say it really depends on the type of driving you do. The performance tune is a blast on the highway because it pulls like a freight train at high rpms. I find myself doing more city driving, and therefore the race tune works well for me with the additional power down low.

In case you were wondering about the street tune, I don't have much input for you because I only used it for a few hours, as I was too anxious to give my higher octane tunes a try (I ordered the street in 87 octane.)