Hello everyone. I got my 05' Vette tuned by Chuck at Corvettes of Westchester in Sleepy Hollow, NY. The car is an automatic and at this point is completely bone stock. The car only has 800 miles on it so for now Chuck did a mild tune. The difference is amazing. The car feels a hell of a lot faster. The tranny now shifts the way it is supposed to, and the car pulls much harder in every gear. Chuck is using the HP tuner which he got over the summer. Chuck has been tuning cars for a long time and realy knows his S--t!. I had a few friends that had work done there and they were all very pleased with the work Chuck does (especially the tuning!!). Anyone that needs a good tune should give him a call, don't take a chance with someone who does not know what they are doing. Next mods will probably be an intake, exhaust, headers and of course another tune by Chuck!

 

Which type of tune did he do to your car? LS2 edit or the other one around whose name I can't recall at the moment? what about the warranty issue regarding your tune-how did you deal with that issue?

 

Hey pal....We were fortunate enough to get a hold of one of only 40 Beta test cables that HP Tuners made. Right now, this is the ONLY LS2 editor software that can not only tune the engine, but the automatic transmission as well....LS2 EDIT can only do the engine and if you have an automatic trans, tuning the engine is useless....

This software is just like their other product...AMAZING!....Other software just dosen't measure up to what HP TUNERS can do.

With HP Tuners 2.0 I can also program the LS2 GTO and the LS2 SSR truck. This summer was great....We got the product early and tuned LS2's all summer...They really respond to tuning...even better than LS1's.....If you own an LS2 vehicle, give us a call.....

As for the warranty...The dealer can not tell that the vehicle has been tuned...nobody can....unless you tell them.....and If you're concerned, just bring it to me and I'll re-flash it back to stock before you go to the dealer for service.....Once you've paid for a tune at my shop....I never charge you ever again for modifications....never! Re-flashing LS2 pcm's takes only 15 seconds or less.....

Hope this helps...

Chuck CoW

 

Does anyone know of any shops in North Carolina using the HP tuner? Am interested in having my C6 prorammed after reading all the positive comments regarding performance.
Jimmy K

 

Where are the numbers my friend? My C6 feels fast without a tune. No numbers as of yet. I had a 02 Z06 prior. It was dynoed and I know my C6 won't come close to the numbers of the Z06 with the exact same mods. The C6 would be at least 15hp less. So, keep us posted on the numbers if you're planning on to do the dyno also. You might have something here. Thanks

 

Just to let you know as of the 1st of December the automatic tables came out for LS2, and quite a few shops have it, but some don't cause it cost more money.

They made my A4 shift 10% faster and firmer on wot, downshift with 20% less throttle effort, and hold the gear 20% longer when heavy throttle application is detected. Plus with the air fuel ratio set just right, and the torque management set up so high that it does not ever engage. Also tuned the 160 thermostate to have the fans come on at 190degrees now. The car is freakin amazing now!

I was told that he has only tuned two auto cars so far, so we are his test mules, and that we can return at any time to make adjustments for free since we are his learning curve at Naverez Racing Products.

He was the one that told me to wait when I first wanted to tune the car, since he did not have the program until the beginning of December.

 

We need to see data to substantiate the claims of this tune up.
Placebos work nearly as well as the real thing in medicine, and spending money on my car always seems to speed it up.
But without pre/post dynos or track times, this is all just spitting in the wind at this time.
Please note that I an NOT saying that the tune isn't helpful.

 

if the placebo works at making you feel better thats all that matters, if you paid 400 for a tune and your head says its faster than it is.

regardless if they were even going to prove how many tenths of a second you took off your time its not something magical that the car is going to fly, take things for what they are and dont hassle vendors about things your not looking to buy yourself.

By the way track times and dynos dont mean much sometimes considering how many variables there are between 2 cars and locations, plus getting questioned by a ton of people like you doubting the results they get.

 

You talking to/at me?
Sounds like you're the one hasseling me!
If dyno numbers and track times are the same or worse, then what?
I paid $300 to do the Suburban, and yes it feels/runs good, so why are you being so defensive right out of the blue?
You have no idea what I'd like to do with my money!

 

Hey pal...right now, I'm almost finished with my LS2 bench top programmer....which will enable me to program your engine and trans computers through the mail...you can fed-ex them up to me for a quick tune and have them back in the car in a day or so.....

i'll keep you posted......

Chuck CoW

 

Jimmy,

You are in luck. Give Jeff a call at Carolina Auto Masters. He is one of the best tunners on the east coast and has been using HP Tunners and is really good with the LS2.

http://www.carolinaautomasters.com/

Good Luck

 

Hey guys. I hear alot of talk about dyno numbers and horsepower increases. This info. I do not have, at some point I will take the car to the track and run it but believe me, I have been driving Corvettes for a while (including 3 C-5's and my current C-6 which is by far the best one I have ever owned) and I can assure you there has to be a significant jump in HP and torque from the tune just by the way the car pulls in each gear. Prior to the tune the car would barely break the tires loose, now if I flat punch it they will go up in smoke not to mention chirp second gear big time. Also the warranty was never an issue (see Chucks post above) because the dealer will not know the car was programmed unless you tell them. I never had any check engine lights come on or anything like that. Also if for any reason I want to change my car back to stock I can because the first thing that Chuck does is store the stock program on a disk. I also know of cars that came to Chuck from other so called high end tuners (no names mentioned) which were messed up (running very rich with engine lights galore!!, etc.) which Chuck fixed with his programming. This is another reason why I was at ease with having him do my car.

 

That's odd, my untuned car breaks the tires loose easily.
Maybe your stock tune was messed up.
Or maybe your torque management kept you from spinning the wheels, and that's been turned off in the tune. If that's the case, that may indeed affect your warranty status, and would probably be detectable.

p.s. I don't remember you from the C5 forum.

 

Kinda odd or suspicious 1st post.....

 

Hate to rain on the parade here, but let me tell you a story concerning computer flashing...

I had a Volvo S60R. Getting a "custom tune" is common practice for turbo Volvos, but here's what happened to mine.

I had a custom tune installed to go along with a 3" downpipe. The dealership that put my downpipe on removed the turbo. Somehow, somewhere, things went haywire with the turbo, and the car produced no boost. I figured maybe the tune was too aggressive and the car was going into "protection" mode, so I stopped at a dealership on the way home and had them check it out.

I had the tune REFLASHED TO STOCK.

The dealership couldn't figure anything out, car leaves still with the same problem. Sixty miles later, the temp spikes, coolant spilling everywhere, looks like I just blew a head gasket!

Now my engine block is warped...

Well, even though I have a stock ECU (electronic control unit), the dealership can determine that at one point it was reflashed with aftermarket code. This is because of a flash/reflash record that was in the computer, and I performed a reflash w/out a dealership (computer records). Also, any computer engineer can trace that with ease and also perform data recoveries so they can see the actual code and flash/reflash record.

It was enough to prove that some aftermarket messing with the ECU took place, which is enough to create a warranty debate. An ECU is connected to EVERYTHING in a modern engine. Sensors galore, and the ECU makes changes based on those sensors. Messing with the ECU can make all those things now questionable in a debate.

The only resolution would be court. I had no time or money to do this. It was no big deal for the manufacturer, they had time and money and could wait me out. They didn't want to pay the 14000 for full engine and turbo replacement (labor included).

In the end I lost, but a friend helped me out by purchasing the car at market value minus cost of repairs. He sold it for a very mild profit and a lot of rebuilding effort, basically a sacrifice to help me out.

In the end I lost big $ and a car.

Chuck, I'm right over the river from you and would love to get more hp, but messing with the computer is one thing I'm wary of since I enjoy my warranty. Especially considering my VIN range is in the crank-pulley problem zone... The one thing I learned is that exhaust mods and intake mods are really the only "warranty-safe" engine mods you can get away with, and even then you may have a small fight on your hands.

I'm not trying to kill your customer base, just trying to inform them of one person's experience with modified car computers... an informed decision is typically the best type.

Now when the warranty runs out and I have a little more money and another car...

 

Forgot to add: my tuning was a standard tuning done to many cars, including a friend's. The rate of failure due to an engine tune is like .00001% with Volvos... mine was unrelated, but proving it in court is quite the mountain to climb.

 

My tune netted me 4 mph (3.96 to be exact) and .2 in the 1/8th. Similar weather conditions, same track and ran with the same 3 cars both times. Their ET and mph did not change significantly. Well worth the money IMO. I bet the difference is night and day with your car. Enjoy

 

Excellent post and advice

 

Well, to date....I don't believe anyone on this forum or anybody I've ever heard of was denyed warranty coverage for tuning. However, to put everyone at ease, I will check with a friend of mine (one of the engineers that helped develop the LS1 platform for Delphi) and confirm that the LS1 pcm has no re-flash record.....But, for sure....to date there is no way for a dealer using their TECH II to confirm that a vehicle's pcm has been modified.....This is what I'm told. Anyway...a properly tuned pcm can't hurt anything....However, an IDIOT driver can ruin any engine quickly wether it was tuned or not...We've all seen this before.....

Chuck CoW

 

You callin' me an idiot?

My reflash was the same one installed on many cars, I never even got to drive with it. The fallout seems to point to the dealership that installed my downpipe, apparently they may have messed things up when they installed it. It bolts directly to the turbo, which they removed for the install.

This is very abbreviated, the whole story is about 8 pages of word document text that I posted on another forum (Volvo).

The chip may not have a flash/reflash history. I know in Volvos, if you have aftermarket tuning their dealership technology will say so, and the records still exist.

And regardless, bring it to a data recovery specialist for several hundred dollars and he will most likely be able to prove the flash/reflash, if not recover the aftermarket tune altogether! This may cost several hundred, but that's less than a new engine.

Like Chuck said, custom tunes don't destroy engines when done correctly, and I'm sure CoW is on top of the game and knows what they're doing.

I just say this because if something goes wrong, you have to prove it wasn't the aftermarket parts. Moss-Magnusson is there, but proof can get sticky with computers and court is expensive for you, but not for the automaker.