Okay, it's school the newb time here!

I picked up my GT used and it had some work done by the previous owner. This included a dyno tune. Luckily the guy was super cool and I got all the history from him and the SCT XCAL 2 with some tunes. What confuses me is who owns the tune? I don't like being locked out of anything especially when it's mine. Some recent drama over passing emission testing confirmed that. I needed an updated tune and the person who has the access was less than responsive to my requests for some help. I'm happy with the tuning and I did eventually get what I needed, but with summer here and limited days to enjoy this car I was getting pretty impatient being unable to drive it! So what's a control freak to do? I guess I need to cough up the cash for the tuning software huh? I know how dangerous that kind of control can be in the hands of the inexperienced, but that's me. If I do buy the software, will that allow me to unlock my tuner and edit the tunes that were bought and paid for or are they like software licenses where you really just pay for permission to use said programs?

 

You can have SCT unlock it for $150.00 or whatever it is. Sounds like he must have used it on another vehicle before giving it to you. As far as whether or not the previously purchased custom tunes will remain on the tuner...I have no idea, you'd have to ask the people at SCT. I believe you will have 3-4 canned tunes.

After you have it unlocked you can buy custom tunes from Americanmuscle/Bama chips or Brenspeed. That way you won't have to mess with the settings yourself or worry about messing up something.

 

You cannot read the tunes off the X-Cal with the Advantage III software. Unless the original tuner writes an emissions tune and sends it to you, you are going to have to find a new person to write a new tune.

There are no licensing issues with a custom tune file, but they are packaged in such a way that they can not be read by anything but the handheld so it can be installed in the car. Although it may not be the main reason, most tuners only send this packaged type tune file to their customers because it helps protect trade secrets and techniques they use.

Unless you have some professional training, I would strongly recommend you stay away from buying your own tuning software. in 99.9% of the cases I have seen non-automotive tech people buy there own tuning software, it has been a waste of money because they have no idea what they are looking at... or ... they mess the car up so bad that it ends up costing them some serious cash to get the car fixed.

There is one person I met that tuned his own car. While out on the test ride after he installed his first tune, when he let off the gas pedal, the car went into WOT, the trans was locked in gear, and he crashed before he could turn the key off. After a pro looked at the car for the insurance company (seening if it was fraud), they found that he made a tuning mistake. His car was totalled and the insurance company didn't pay him a dime.