I have a line open with a very reputable speed shop and they said since I "don't have the experience" using my HPTuner program, they will send me a tuned file to use on my Equipment for $225. BUT I must send them my file I pull down from my PC and they'll take it plus all the mods with their parts and send me one back to reload.

Seems like the plan to use. It's less expensive than a dyno, but more than a mail order, and they said if it doesn't suit me, send it back for more fine tuning.

It's easier to stomach $225 than what others are raping vette owners with. I saw a guy at a well known shop(unnamed) hook up a laptop and 15minutes he's done. Yea sure he hooked up the car and pulled a couple runs later(anhour or two).

I'm going to take a class or two myself later and PAY a tuner to give me the low down. Yes, I'll spend more than $600 for a tune, but I'm not ever happy being held captive to a antiquated system of "tuner lords".

 

Yea I've been thinking about doing it myself. I don't wanna go thru a shop again.

 

LOL - what's next? refusing to pay a plumber or the electrician because you can do it all yourself cheaper?

Including the cost of your own "labour" you spend doing the task? Eventually the opportunity costs of doing everything yourself beat out any money saved as you spend all your time doing a myraid DIY tasks and never get around to enjoy the end product.

I think people should be motivated by the desire to tune and learn the craft and enjoy it rather than just "I can do it cheaper" mantra.

Unless y'all are unemployed bums with oodles of free hours on hand to just blow on 100 DIY projects

Us working stiffs need to divvy up our time between work, family, hobbies and real DIY tasks

 

my car has a big cam and a set of heads and it stil dies, high idles, or dips when the clutch is pushed in. not all the time so im not sure whats wrong. i know big cams with heads and fast manis are hard to tune. where im unhappy is the company i bought the cam from has tuned countless cars with this set up and cam in it. now why is it that with 3 times the time frame i was told up front is the car not perfect?

and this doesnt count the customer service i encountered wasnt the best from one of the employees either. they are on the forum so i wont name names but they were so reputable that i couldnt find one bad thing on the forum about them. so i bought my parts from them and even brought it to them to tune.

long story short, even if a tuner is good... they dont always do a good job.

now im shopping for some other tuner in town to throw some money at and put some more faith in, i just hope it doesnt take putting in another 3 weeks of no ride.

 

I wouldn't pay that much unless you get it in writing they guarantee the car will be tuned with good drivability...

Only tune yourself if you want to learn how, because you won't save money doing it yourself unless you are constantly changing your combination.

I bought HP Tuners but I have a couple of LS1's to tune and I'll use the wideband on the LT1 I just installed in my Impala too, so the cost is spread out over a few projects. Besides, working on cars basically is my hobby.


Ya, any bad comments against vendors tend to quickly disappear on this forum.... I almost expect this comment about forum vendor feedback to also be gone by tomorrow.

Peter

 

When you decide to purchase your OWN tuning software, consider the other C5/C6 people/friends in your area and what they own/use.

Owning your own software is handy. You can learn to use it (In my case the curve is VERTICAL ) I have a great friend who is ONE with EFI Live so,,,, thats what I purchased.

I originally purchased EFI Live V1. Now that I have a C6, I upgraded to the V2 version and can tune my C6.

Any tuner worth his weight in salt, has a bank of tunes with a tune for your car and close to the MODs that you have. All that they need to do is up=load that tune and then do the FINE tuning necessary to get your PCM parameters spot on!

The DYNO is NOT necessary to get a fantastic tune. I have experience using EFI Live and it will allow you to do a Volumetric Efficiency (VE) Tune. You need to use a wide band O2 set up and adjust the VE table, them the MAF an get your Long Term Fuel Trims (LTFTs) close to zero/slightly negative.

Then check the max timing an Knock retard and them adjust the Power Enrichment table for the correct AFR in WOT.

My tuner Chuck at Corvettes of Westchester does all of this. He tuned my C6 06 coupe and I was extremely pleased with the results. Chuck spends a LOT of ON THE ROAD TIME getting the LTFTs correct for that SPOT ON TUNE that will allow you to get fantastic fuel economy!!!
He even offers something called EFI Live AUTOCAL. Check it out:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...-sale-now.html


Bill C

 

This.

They are getting paid for what they know.
Most times most guys who "tune" or repeat stuff dont really know.
Much to it, like learning another language completely.

Dont cheap out on it, its your motor youre risking you will only get so close by mail order.

Learning it properly can take ages and ages, not something you just pick up and do. A good "in person" tune can take many many hours to perfect.

 

Sorry but we do not offer our mail order tunes for internally modded or forced induction cars, to many variables, but thanks for the reference!!



As far as the rest of the thread, I have yet to see a properly done DIY tune, although I'm sure they are out there, but the dollar per HP gain is probably the highest on a properly completed tune over any part you will buy.
I'm not saying all tunes are worth it, but I feel spending at least a few hours on both the street and dyno, while utilizing over 100k worth of equipment is well worth $600 or more when the completed job is right.

 

Hey I resemble that comment...been unemployed for 11 years now and yes, I've built my own house, do all my own work, and learn new trades all the time. HOWEVER, I do occasionally spend a little more when I need help on things I'm not equiped or skilled enough to do.

 

Sounds about right for all of the shops I've been to down here(at least for a dyno+street tune). Mail order tunes are a lot cheaper.

 

as i posted in #1 i agree there is alot involved in a good tune and i understand a high cost due to the cost of the equipment, software and hourly rate, in all honesty if i knew how to tune as well as some of the best tunners i would be asking top dollar for my tunes as well.... all i am saying is that a few years ago i could get a good tune from a reputable tuner for around $400 now that number has climbing to $600... i guess its just like everything it keeps going up and up and up such is life i guess.

as far as a DIY tune i have alot of free time lately and would love to know how to tune LS motors, i know learning how to tune myself will cost me more than a pro tune (both hp and money) but whats the old saying "teach me how to fish and i can feed myself and my family forever". I aint gonna lie and say im headed out to buy a Laptop, EFI Live and all supporting components becasue i dont have the cash for that at the moment but its defidently something i will INVESTING in shortly. I might just start with a cheap mail order tune to start, so i can drive the car around without blowing up my sh*T. then pick up the tuning software and start from there.....

Thanks for all the replies, opinions and knowledge

 

do people share tunes on the forum or is it a major secret? I know the pros make a living at it and dont share secrets but how about the home tuning pros? Would be kool if the was a section for mods and tunes for them.

 

Yea I've wondered that too, but people also don't wanna be liable if their tune "could" ruin someone's car.

It sucks.

 

Good tuners who spend time on the dyno, lots of road testing and more time on the dyno to get it perfect charge between $500-$550. Charlie Williams at RPM Motors is one of the best, if not THE best. Its definitely worth the money.

 

On the lightning forum my brother visits they do that. Basically they say here is my tune and here are my mods, afr etc.... caveat emptor....we are all smarter than any one of us.

 

Hmmmm, I'm not afraid to name the tuner it was us! Let's see..

1.) Along time ago you brought your car to our shop when your co-worker dropped his off and complained it ran like crap and had a ticking noise.

2.) Your answer was to throw more parts at the car, you purchased a mail order cam kit from us.

3.) You self installed those parts.

4.) You did not pay us for a tune. You WON the free tune (that I gave to your coworker the day before) that we gave away for charity at your car show.

5.) Your dropped your car off and when we went to start it the next day the column lock failed and needed a column lock bypass. You said you had one. A few days later, you didn't. It took us a couple of days to get one since we were out. You didn't want to pay for it as I recall but you did later.

6.) Stephen spent 2 full days and other pieces here and there doing a FREE tune around whatever issues you have with your car. I would suggest you look for the problem before bringing it to another tuner. If you had ANY problem with ANY of our employees, we need to hear about that.

7.) Your co-worker's car has a smaller cam and makes more power. Coincidence?

Next time you ought to think about contacting the shop that works on your car, for now, good luck with it.


To the OP of this thread... That price is normal. For your car we would charge $550.00 and that includes street and dyno tuning. Most of the tuning for cammed cars is done on the street. Tuning a cammed car takes the better part of a day. Hope this helps.

 

Not really going to thread jack this with a debate on a car/tune that's completely different from the op's. Just my opinion, some of them I left out. Not that it would matter, your reputation on the forum far out ways mine. Making any attempt to defend myself or make a rebutle useless...

 

Wow - here I figured you dropped some serious dough on that tune, turns out it was a freebie. The proper thing for yo uto do would have been to allow the tuner a chance to get your car completed before you picked it up, and then when you where informed it was a hell of a job you then should have manned up and actually offered to compensate the tuner for the time spent and that woudl incent him to continue helping you.

You cant **** in someones outstretched hand and expect them to not to throw it back at you

 

Think what u want. You had nothing to do with the situation, there for you know nothing.

I don't have a problem with the EG guys, I just wish my experience was better in dealing with them. That is all.

 

Thats not really the impression your post leaves with the reader. Your experience is what you made it. It was a free gift tune afterall - but your seemed to have left that detail out of your very detailed explanation.

On a side note, if youdid not want any people who "did not have anything to do with the situation" to comment, you probably shouldnt have posted your comments on a public forum.

I believe that far too many people want to get access to expert tuning knowledge and skill without paying what the service is worth.

For example, say I ran a company that inspected equipment that was required to meet very specific criteria due to health and safety reasons. I know my service would not come free and I would expect people who wanted their equipment properly inspected to be ready to pay for it.

Further more, if I was the expert inspector I would expect the person whose equipment I was inspecting to heed my professional opinion and heed my advice and not second guess me or simply assume the inspection was done when it wasn't.

How come folks don't give the same respect to tuners? I see people willing to drop $5000 on some engine work, then freak at the ideaof paying $500 for the tune.



Anyway, good luck with your car and enjoy it.