PCM Tune anyone?
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 20
Likes: 10
From: Miami Fl
just have axle back with mines. Been reading a few companies charge about $150 and you must mail your PCM for tuning. They say 10/15whp. Not sure if it’s even worth it.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 4,308
Likes: 3,455
From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Wouldn't bother unless you had other mods. Unless your car is an auto - then they can make the shift points a little better and adjust fan temps... but if it ain't broke, don't go fixing it.
Advanced
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 53
Likes: 16
From: Washington Missouri
Did an ECS mail in tune a few years ago on my auto C5. Noticable improvement except does idle a little rough when cold. As someone else said it really improves the shift points on an auto car. Took maybe a week turn around, they have a form to fill out to list any mods to the car. I would certainly do again and will when I get rear end gears changed hopefully this winter. Car has never overheated . In my opinion it was a great mod for $150 bucks and an hour or so of labor.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
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Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 20
Likes: 10
From: Miami Fl
Yes.. and those are a few hundred dollars. Plus the tune for a few hundred dollars. For $150 you can get a PCM tune and there tuners that will provide one year of free tuning just pay shipping. For $150 on a near stock engine to get 10-15whp you cant beat it. Not even an intake for that price will provide this power.
Last edited by Y2KArcticWhite; Jul 11, 2020 at 01:49 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 2,502
Likes: 187
From: California
Then they should buy one instead of taking their car apart just access a computer . Mail order tunes lol Come in people why on earth would you do that .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
Last edited by Speedy007; Jul 11, 2020 at 01:58 PM.
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 20
Likes: 10
From: Miami Fl
Then they should buy one instead of taking their car apart just access a computer . Mail order tunes lol Come in people why on earth would you do that .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 2,502
Likes: 187
From: California
Yes.. and those are a few hundred dollars. Plus the tune for a few hundred dollars. For $150 you can get a PCM tune and there tuners that will provide one year of free tuning just pay shipping. For $150 on a near stock engine to get 10-15whp you cant beat it. Not even an intake for that price will provide this power.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 2,502
Likes: 187
From: California
well it’s not as simple as you are making it to be. There is a form you must fill out with all Of your modifications done to your car. And it does ask what type of fuel are you running it with 91, 93 etc. thousands of people have used them and I was just wondering here if anyone has done it.
If u are seeing the lesson then just consider you have learned something new today as some are just trying to help and I just have my own way expressing it hahah cheers mate . Don’t go down that road .
Last edited by Speedy007; Jul 11, 2020 at 02:12 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
They're perfectly fine for minimal mods. I still wouldn't recommend it, but the platform has been around for over two decades. There are tuners that know what works and what doesn't.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 2,804
Likes: 358
From: Northville, MI
For driving around and Boulevard cruising, a mail order tune will work, especially the auto trans cars, for those who are more into speed, mid level acceleration, autocrossing, HPDE, canyon runs etc, then the scan/log tune really makes a difference. While many people look to HP gains from a tune, the real value of a tune is in the mid-range RPM's, that is why those who are more interested in getting good tunes are using HPTuners/EFILive/etc. to get the best results. For driving around town with occasional romps on the throttle, $150 for a mail order tune is OK. They are not worried about the acceleration after changing gears, TB decay, etc about the the PCM. To each their own.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 1,043
Likes: 329
For those with few real performance mods and just basic bolt ones, spending $5-600 on dyno tuning doesn’t make much sense. My 99 auto was rather sluggish prior to getting the ECS tune. Just the adjustment of shift points made the car more responsive. Yes, it’s a basic tune and leaves a few horses on the table but it was worth $150 bucks. ECS explains what they will do and I had a good experience. I was happy with the results and since I’m into it for very little, I can always dyno tune later if the situation requires it. If it’s an auto, worth doing as a first step.
Last edited by Brunello; Jul 13, 2020 at 08:03 PM.
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Then they should buy one instead of taking their car apart just access a computer . Mail order tunes lol Come in people why on earth would you do that .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
Question being how can you a tune a car without live data ? How accurate would that really be ? With no knowledge of the fuel being put in whether the dudes running 85 or 103 ultra the no timing ,spark,fuel just some old meta data at most but seriously people get a device pay a person to eat hohos and tune behind the pc with correct data . It works out better and the car become a tune for that driver . Otherwise what happens when the person says I want to go fast so some mail tune exceeds that’s of if timing fuel capabilities and boom there’s goes your block. Good luck don’t say I didn’t warn ya . It’s life many people out there talk like they know cars but at then end the knowledge is that only of a beginner and not of expertise .
Im not knocking the mail order tune that could get your car going based on what u tel them but for them to get it perfect always needs live data. The car came tuned perfect from the factory and is capable of making more adjustments on its own then people know .
I going to assume that you are fairly new to tuning, GM does not tune each car individually and either do I. When you have performed thousands of mail order tunes, and have tuned around 30,000 cars since the late 90's, you have a library of tunes that cover every single operating system, with every single mod combination there is. I take my last dyno tune of your mods-your operating system (unless it needs to be updated then I do that first) and viola, you have my last dyno tune of your exact mod list. Same way GM does it.
That said, there is a reason why I will only do simple bolt on tune combo's this way, but for the customer, it is absolutely the best $149 you can spend on your car, especially if it's an auto.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 2,502
Likes: 187
From: California
Whether I am fairly new or not to tuning. Gm had made so each car tunes to each individual driver/style. The pcm has a memory and metadata also features correction to run stable even with modifications.
I have tuned 1 car not 30,000 however I’m not in a pissing contest with who tuned more pieces of scrap.
Street tuning with real live data is the only 1st and foremost way to go . It can be done remotely.
Gm probably tunes with a log box why is this ? Because real data works .
Its great to know your process of handling .
I have tuned 1 car not 30,000 however I’m not in a pissing contest with who tuned more pieces of scrap.
Street tuning with real live data is the only 1st and foremost way to go . It can be done remotely.
Gm probably tunes with a log box why is this ? Because real data works .
Its great to know your process of handling .
Last edited by Speedy007; Jul 14, 2020 at 08:42 PM.