mail order tune
 

Anyone have a mail order tune done? I've been thinking about it, my truck is just a 5.3 with boltons . If so who did you go with.

Re: mail order tune
 

If you have a local tuner with a dyno and a decent reputation, its WAY preferable to a mail order.

Re: mail order tune
 

X2...A custom tune is the way to go.
But sometimes you have no choice?...John Spears at Speartech is really good with this.

Re: mail order tune
 

I used Speartech as well and have driven over 11,000 miles without any issues or problems with the tune. I have a 5.3 and it runs great.

Re: mail order tune
 

I used Nelson Performance from San Antonio. I have also heard real good stuff about John at Speartech.

Re: mail order tune
 

All of the above. Local if you can. I prefer Justin Gadberry (Blackbear Performance) and he can do a scan cable tune, which is the next best thing to live.

Re: mail order tune
 

+1 for Justin @ Blackbear. He makes tuning trips sometimes- I had him tune my 8.1 in person in Atlanta awhile back. previously I had done the scan cable tune with him on a 99 5.3 that I had. He is top notch- just stays really busy, so give him a day or two to respond if he doesn't get right back to ya.

Re: mail order tune
 

Nelson did mine also if you have bolt ons or even a cam he will do a great job. You can send them back to tweek on it if necessary.
I will probably buy the HP tuners soon so I can work on mine as I go. I seem to have a bad habit of changing it too much.

Re: mail order tune
 

My advise.. Buy HP tuners for the $500 or so dollars and learn how to do it yourself. Another tool you would really want is a wideband and those can be had for under $200.

If it is basically stock or even a mid level performance build, it is pretty easy to learn and dial in quickly. It is pretty hard to really screw things up big. And if you do mess something up, go back to the previous tune :)

Think about it this way, besides your time, If you drop $300 on a mail order tune, you already spent almost half of what HP tuners/wideband would cost you. From then on, any changes you make, you can adjust the tune yourself. Not only do you get the tuning function, but it is an awesome scanner!!


If you had HPtuners, guys like myself that are always willing to help, could even look over your data logs and suggest adjustments/changes.


Sounds like I work for them :)




Option number 2 if that is not something you want to dive in to, find a local tuner to do it for you.

I have done too many "similar combos" and each one wanted something different. Mail orders are fine for basic stuff, even part throttle because your O2's correct soooo much, but nt so much at WOT.

my favorite example is these two cousins. Both had F-bodies (01 and 02). Same cam, same heads, same headers, same throttle body, only difference is one used and aftermarket lid and the other used a K&N FIPK type filter. One made 416rwhp, the other made 419rwhp, same dyno an hour or two apart. Looks good right... Well, would you guess that one motor liked 28* of timing while the other on made max power at 22* timing. Both required a slightly different fuel curve too. Had I flip flopped the tunes, one would have been lean and too far advanced causing problems later down the road while the other would have been overly rich and slow due to the lack of advance it wanted.

Re: mail order tune
 

If you were to have your truck tuned locally with HP, you've already paid for the unlock credits....you could get an off market copy of tuner suite and practice in that, to get used to the feel and how the system works. Because you can't usually flash the pcm with a non-legit copy of the program, it is really only good for practice.....what you do is then buy the software with no additional credits (the cheapest). This lets you get familiar with it all, and still have a good driveable truck in the meantime.


The caveats to this: pirating software is "bad" and with something like HPT it physically limits functionality...beyond that, the community is good and they support their customers, so its actually worth paying for.
The other thing is that if you have your car tuned and then get HPT yourself, MANY tuners will get pissed if you try to modify their tune, or use their tune as a base to tune others vehicles. In some since its intellectual property, but thats more or less a moral rule.

Re: mail order tune
 

Being I have tuned a lot for others, here is my take:

Most tuners have unlocked versions of HPtuners. I paid for unlimited 99, 00, 01, 02 F-body licensing. Any wise tuner realizes that having unlimited only puts more profit dollars in their pocket long term. If in the event I am tuning something outside of that (hobby for me, I have a day job) I am up front with the customer and let them know I need to buy the license and charge for it. But I also charge much less for my services. If I was doing it for a living, I would charge more, and pay for the unlimited version of that make/model with my first tune of that make/model. Only profit from there.

If I tune someones car, they are buying my services and skills, not the tune. The tune is just a byproduct and they are at will to do as they please with it, keep it, modify it, let some other tuner make changes. No hurt feelings. I could be a jerk and lock the PCM, but again, I don't make my living doing this. There is enough info on the net about this stuff to not be worried about intellectual property :)


Just my take.