Any benefits to doing a base tune?
08-07-2017, 07:56 AM
#1
Race Director
Thread Starter
Any benefits to doing a base tune?
Did a search and kept getting results involving either superchargers or C5's.
When I still owned my C5, the general consensus was that the benefits were not worth the expense on the C5 with M6 to do a base tune until at least a CAI and exhaust swap had been made. Does the same hold true for an 08 M6 with NPP? With the improved air flow, and the fact that I always keep my NPP exhaust open by having pulled the fuse, would I see enough benefit to justify the expense of having a base tune done on the car?
As a secondary question, I currently live in hot and very humid Texas, but am planning on moving to very hot and low humidity Arizona in the next few months. Would it make enough of a difference to wait until after I move? I only ask because I have a trusted shop here, 21st Century Muscle Cars, that has done most of the performance work on my cars.
TIA
When I still owned my C5, the general consensus was that the benefits were not worth the expense on the C5 with M6 to do a base tune until at least a CAI and exhaust swap had been made. Does the same hold true for an 08 M6 with NPP? With the improved air flow, and the fact that I always keep my NPP exhaust open by having pulled the fuse, would I see enough benefit to justify the expense of having a base tune done on the car?
As a secondary question, I currently live in hot and very humid Texas, but am planning on moving to very hot and low humidity Arizona in the next few months. Would it make enough of a difference to wait until after I move? I only ask because I have a trusted shop here, 21st Century Muscle Cars, that has done most of the performance work on my cars.
TIA
08-07-2017, 09:12 AM
#2
Safety Car
I personally would wait, because you will only see about a 10 rwhp gain with just a tune. You will need to retune after other mods too, as I'm sure you know.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
08-07-2017, 09:22 AM
#3
Race Director
I went from 376/383 to 400/400 with just a tune on a 2008 MN6 with 800 miles on the odometer. HP/TQ
This was from well respected LS platform tuner.
Later saw 422/422 with headers and Vararam CAI with another tune of course.
This was from well respected LS platform tuner.
Later saw 422/422 with headers and Vararam CAI with another tune of course.
08-07-2017, 09:38 AM
#4
Le Mans Master
I personally would wait, because you will only see about a 10 rwhp gain with just a tune. You will need to retune after other mods too, as I'm sure you know.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
Dave
08-07-2017, 09:48 AM
#5
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08-07-2017, 10:06 AM
#7
Drifting
Base tune w/o CAI or exhaust has more impact on the Auto, less on the manual. I would also recommend waiting until you have the CAI (I always liked the Vararam) and some exhaust (i.e. headers).
08-07-2017, 10:34 AM
#8
Le Mans Master
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I personally would wait, because you will only see about a 10 rwhp gain with just a tune. You will need to retune after other mods too, as I'm sure you know.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
I would also get a "baseline" dyno pull done before and after your mods, so that you have a real world comparison of gains, because it is always apples and oranges to compare to other vehicle dyno pulls.
The only real measurement is for a before/after comp on the same dyno, or at the track of course
NSF
08-07-2017, 10:37 AM
#9
Race Director
Thread Starter
08-07-2017, 12:43 PM
#10
Race Director
Thread Starter
Looks like we have mixed opinions here....
08-07-2017, 02:12 PM
#11
Le Mans Master
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Mines not, I am saying do it if you are going to do some mods so that you can see if your money was well spent 
To spend the money for a base tune and nothing else, well its your money but $700 is what it cost me to pull onto that dyno
NSF
To spend the money for a base tune and nothing else, well its your money but $700 is what it cost me to pull onto that dyno
NSF
08-07-2017, 04:47 PM
#13
Le Mans Master
My guess is the best seat of the pants improvement wouldn't be a tune but rather one of the devices (such as the one from CoW) which re-programs the throttle.
08-07-2017, 05:00 PM
#14
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I'm in for some real life Dyno numbers...
08-07-2017, 05:29 PM
#15
Melting Slicks
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Yep, me too. The next question should be, where to go in Phoenix to get a tune done. My own question is where to go to get some performance upgrades done, I'm planning a differential cooler and supplemental auto-trans cooler, beings new to the area I don't know where to go for help with the project.
08-07-2017, 05:44 PM
#16
Race Director
Thread Starter
08-07-2017, 05:48 PM
#17
Race Director
Thread Starter
Tunes here are a lot less than that nearly by half. Only reason I'm considering this is my engine mods that were originally planned for this winter (heads, cam, headers) are being placed on hold because of my planned move to Arizona. I'm selling my daily driver and just bringing my Vette with me so I don't have to make two trips, so it will be my only car until I get to Arizona and buy another daily driver.
08-07-2017, 05:50 PM
#18
Race Director
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08-07-2017, 05:55 PM
#19
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Yep, me too. The next question should be, where to go in Phoenix to get a tune done. My own question is where to go to get some performance upgrades done, I'm planning a differential cooler and supplemental auto-trans cooler, beings new to the area I don't know where to go for help with the project.
