My formal review of Chuck Cow and his Cow Booster
06-30-2015, 01:44 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
My formal review of Chuck Cow and his Cow Booster
The past couple weeks i’ve spent considerable time speaking with Chuck, searching around the internet and visiting other forums and since then I dived into his cow booster and having him start the first stage in tuning my 08 Automatic. (Yes I also visited DigitalCorvette and LS1Tech, Camaro Forums)
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again.
I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.
One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again.
I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
06-30-2015, 02:33 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
.......His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again.
I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.......Any car is going to feel juiced when the throttle progression is changed to a large fraction of the power being delivered in a small amount of pedal travel. GM could have easily designed the throttle to have increased power with very little pedal travel but opted to require the driver to press down further on the pedal. That way, more power is delivered when called for, not unexpectedly which will cause accidents.
Thanks for the extended review.
06-30-2015, 04:09 PM
#4
Team Owner
Member Since: Jan 2007
Location: cookeville tennessee
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My guess is that GM did not want to be blamed for drivers of their cars running into their garage drywall or touching the gas when the light turns green and slamming into the car in front of them.
Any car is going to feel juiced when the throttle progression is changed to a large fraction of the power being delivered in a small amount of pedal travel. GM could have easily designed the throttle to have increased power with very little pedal travel but opted to require the driver to press down further on the pedal. That way, more power is delivered when called for, not unexpectedly which will cause accidents.
Thanks for the extended review.
Any car is going to feel juiced when the throttle progression is changed to a large fraction of the power being delivered in a small amount of pedal travel. GM could have easily designed the throttle to have increased power with very little pedal travel but opted to require the driver to press down further on the pedal. That way, more power is delivered when called for, not unexpectedly which will cause accidents.
Thanks for the extended review.
100%
06-30-2015, 04:37 PM
#5
Safety Car
My thinking is that GM knows many buyers of new corvettes are older men.And it seems the majority of them baby their Corvettes.I don't see why GM can't tune them the way each individual
Driver would want it.Mild to WILD.
Driver would want it.Mild to WILD.
06-30-2015, 04:51 PM
#6
Safety Car
I'm guessing the vendor will have this removed and this thread will be locked soon but...
While posts like this are great, if anyone posts anything negative in a thread like this, it typically gets removed or the thread gets closed.
I have never dealt with the vendor mentioned but I do a ton of reading and some of what is being sold is not all it appears. Throttle mapping is nothing special, there is no secret formula here. What this tuner does, any good tuner could do if discssed and agreed to with the client. Some tuners may advise against doing this for various reasons as mentioned above.
While posts like this are great, if anyone posts anything negative in a thread like this, it typically gets removed or the thread gets closed.
I have never dealt with the vendor mentioned but I do a ton of reading and some of what is being sold is not all it appears. Throttle mapping is nothing special, there is no secret formula here. What this tuner does, any good tuner could do if discssed and agreed to with the client. Some tuners may advise against doing this for various reasons as mentioned above.
06-30-2015, 08:45 PM
#7
Former Vendor
Member Since: Nov 2005
Location: Ossining New York
Posts: 11,792
Received 243 Likes
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St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'12-'13-'14
Thank you for a FANTASTIC review!
The past couple weeks i’ve spent considerable time speaking with Chuck, searching around the internet and visiting other forums and since then I dived into his cow booster and having him start the first stage in tuning my 08 Automatic. (Yes I also visited DigitalCorvette and LS1Tech, Camaro Forums)
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again. I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.
One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again.
I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
Thank you for a FANTASTIC review!
You can't possibly understand how or what it is... UNTIL YOU TRY IT!
Now you know.
Chuck CoW
06-30-2015, 09:09 PM
#9
Administrator
Member Since: Jul 2000
Location: About 1100 miles from where I call home. Blue lives matter.
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-not sure why a vendor would want a positive review locked
-vendors do not have the ability to "have (anything) removed" or "threads locked." However, vendors, just like every other member can report a post that might be breaking Forum rules. If that is the case, a moderator will delete or lock according to the rules, regardless of whom it's written about.
-regarding negative posts in threads like this, what is actually happening is, if something negative is posted in a Sales Thread, it is removed per the Interference in a Sale rule. This is true whether the sales thread is owned by a Supporting Vendor or any other member, no difference.
-A thread like this should have been posted in Transactions Feedback. Threads there will have "negative posts" removed when they are not relevant to the transaction, not because of the status of the Supporting Vendor or member.
Love to see these commonly repeated myths extinguished at some point.
06-30-2015, 09:10 PM
#10
Administrator
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Location: About 1100 miles from where I call home. Blue lives matter.
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06-30-2015, 09:10 PM
#11
Cow Booster
To me the CoW Booster and trany tune kind of go hand and hand. Those two together made mine a LOT more fun to drive. I have made a lot of upgrades that made mine faster. Those two mods didn't make it faster, but have still been my favorite mods. If I were starting all over again I'd start with the CoW Booster and Chuck's trany tune right off the bat all over again.
06-30-2015, 09:32 PM
#12
Drifting
I'm guessing the vendor will have this removed and this thread will be locked soon but...
While posts like this are great, if anyone posts anything negative in a thread like this, it typically gets removed or the thread gets closed.
I have never dealt with the vendor mentioned but I do a ton of reading and some of what is being sold is not all it appears. Throttle mapping is nothing special, there is no secret formula here. What this tuner does, any good tuner could do if discssed and agreed to with the client. Some tuners may advise against doing this for various reasons as mentioned above.
While posts like this are great, if anyone posts anything negative in a thread like this, it typically gets removed or the thread gets closed.
I have never dealt with the vendor mentioned but I do a ton of reading and some of what is being sold is not all it appears. Throttle mapping is nothing special, there is no secret formula here. What this tuner does, any good tuner could do if discssed and agreed to with the client. Some tuners may advise against doing this for various reasons as mentioned above.
Full dis-closer, I have become friends with Chuck over the years and I have meet a lot of great people from many states coming to my house to get a Chuck tune.
06-30-2015, 09:56 PM
#13
Melting Slicks
To me the CoW Booster and trany tune kind of go hand and hand. Those two together made mine a LOT more fun to drive. I have made a lot of upgrades that made mine faster. Those two mods didn't make it faster, but have still been my favorite mods. If I were starting all over again I'd start with the CoW Booster and Chuck's trany tune right off the bat all over again.
I could care less why gm didn't map the throttle the way chuck does and I haven't read of any other vendors that can duplicate coW booster. I'm just happy that chuck does and I now have it.
chuck is editing my tune and i have driven my car without coW booster after having it for ~6 months and i cant stand it. it's like taking candy from a baby...i could NEVER go back to the stock throttle mapping. anyone and i mean anyone that tries coW booster will never regret it. i don't care if this mod costs $500. from what i have experienced...I'd pay that over $500 for a dyno tune.
06-30-2015, 09:59 PM
#14
Burning Brakes
Chuck Cow Tune
I speak from experience as well, wanton words with no validity, or having any first hand knowledge of ones work, is like pissing in the wind.....it will always end up all over YOU. These ignorant Internet professors are always throwing darts of alleged knowledge around, but they simply have no idea, like those of us that have witnessed Mr. Chuck's work. This is getting like stomping on **** roaches when they run out from under the rocks as they try to spread their foul diseased words into an otherwise nice thread of appreciation.
06-30-2015, 11:05 PM
#15
2nd Gear
Member Since: Jun 2015
Posts: 2
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Cow booster
I have a 2009 G8gt and have known Chuck for 10 years. He has tuned all my cars and I could never complain. I was talking to him one day and complained that my car didn't have the throttle response my 04GTO had. He explained thats because my 04 had a cable throttle where in 05 they went to computer throttle. That's when he said he came up with COW Booster which would give me the response I wanted. He installed it and adjusted it to my liking. With Traction control on its noticeable but not terribly...very well mannered , when I take traction off she becomes a beast...like you have a stall. I only trust Chuck with my car....and has only done right for me.
Last edited by Blushirt35; 06-30-2015 at 11:07 PM. Reason: Punctuation
06-30-2015, 11:44 PM
#16
Safety Car
Just a typical Chuck basher that never have used him yourself. As stated yourself never had it done but I researched it on the net. I have his tunes, have personal seen him fix many tunes done by other tuners and have witness close to a hundred tunes done in my garage that have all been extremely happy. I am not stating something " I read it on the internet so it has to be true. I am posting what I have actually witness myself. I like to think most people base their opinion on what they have actually witness or experienced, not I did a lot of research from other people who never have actually had it done.
Full dis-closer, I have become friends with Chuck over the years and I have meet a lot of great people from many states coming to my house to get a Chuck tune.
Full dis-closer, I have become friends with Chuck over the years and I have meet a lot of great people from many states coming to my house to get a Chuck tune.
You admit you are a personal friend of the vendor. I'm sure you're a very loyal friend.
As I have stated, I have no personal axe to grind with this vendor. All I'm saying is read for yourself true stories on other forums. CF, while great, is not the only source for information on tuners.
Yes, a vendor himself can't remove things themselves but I have seen neative post after negative post removed quickly when this vendor made any noise about a post and it was often. I was a Vendor here for 3-months and saw behind the curtains to some degree. Some vendors were known for being very diligent about getting any negative posts removed.
I have numerous friends in the LI area that know the tuner pretty well. Some very happy with the work. He seems to do auto tuning very well. Some not happy with the results and others left with huge repair bills because the motor was pushed too far on parts that the vendor suggested and with the vedors tune. There are always 2 sides to every story but complaints were met with excuse after excuse until communication ceased.
All I'm saying is just look at a few forums. Some are much more tollerent about voicing real concerns about tuners. There are a lot of good tuners in the NJ/NY/West Chester and LI area.
If you read other forums and still feel this is the right vendor, go for it. Just keep it conservative and you should be fine.
I wonder why the vendor needs to fly all over the country to tune. I would think plenty of vette owners would use his services locally in the West Chester NJ area. If that is the case, why fly all over the country to tune?
I think the booster is asking for trouble. Im sorry but that is my view and the OP proved that point by almost running into a wall. You want a booster? Strap a brick to your foot. Same effect and it's about 1.79.
07-01-2015, 12:05 AM
#17
The past couple weeks i’ve spent considerable time speaking with Chuck, searching around the internet and visiting other forums and since then I dived into his cow booster and having him start the first stage in tuning my 08 Automatic. (Yes I also visited DigitalCorvette and LS1Tech, Camaro Forums)
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again. I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.
One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
My first conversation with him was a shock because he knew everything I wanted to know about the car technically like the back of his hand, their wasn’t one thing I could stump him on in my limited knowledge of how the internals worked. The 2nd and third with him answered all my questions regarding off topic questions and he explained it in any elaboration I desired. I really enjoyed that he would spend ANY amount of time with you until you felt like all your questions were answered.
The process was simple, receive his spare computer with the booster which he charged for then refunded once you return after your ECM is programmed and returned to you and really see the difference in power.
The day I plugged it in was a rainy day so I sat in my garage and had my original with no tune hooked up laying on the ground revving in park then hooked up his spare I went back and forth switching between the 2 for about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed is how lazy the throttle response was with the original ECM. I’d have to press half a pedal and wait about .75 seconds for it to climb to where I wanted.
His tune however? Not even 1/4 pedal before 4k RPM with INSTANTANEOUS response. I put everything back together as my car was sitting catty cornered in my garage and pulled it out, I used the normal travel for the 45 degree incline in my garage and nearly ran the corvette into the back drywall. I gathered my composure and tried again.
I’ve spoken to Chuck about WHY GM does this to their cars and through research we have both still not come to the conclusion upon why they do this to their cars.One thing I like about “Maw and Paw shops” (Privately owned) Is the openness for trading services, he mentioned needing help with his android phone and its slowness and in return he provided me with a couple extra goodies primarily a conservative engine tune (Spark, Torque Management and Fuel) and a 160 Thermostat until I can get an autocal. I know android phones and modification like the back of my hand, it was fun teaching and learning from him.
That in of itself is a huge demonstration of customer service. The way businesses used to be.
After having about a tank and a half on the cow booster alone I took my dad for a test drive and warned him about the power difference and for him to be careful. It made him a little kid again, He said “Who the hell is this guy and what the hell did he do to your car? Can he do this for my Sonic LTZ?” He had that face, that Chuck calls the booster face, I wanted to make sure i’m not suffering from the placebo affect and he said “This car is an entirely different car” The biggest way you can tell is putting the car in 1st and making it buck above 2k RPMS, I couldn’t do that with my original ECM. It responds like my Carb’d 97 Dyna. It climbs to redline faster and feels much more safe pulling out in traffic and not feeling like I have to gun it to go anywhere.
I can’t imagine what this is going to be like Trans-Tuned… That’s the only thing holding the car back in paddle mode. I can’t wait for the Torque management to go away from the transmission module. I’m going to get myself in a WHOLE lot of trouble.
I’d like to make some comments about DigitalCorvettes and LS1Tech and their opinion of Chuck as i’ve spend a significant amount of time reading through all of the posts and comments with everything including the name “Chuck Cow” in the topic. There is a WHOLE lot of rivalry with chuck coming to any town and tuning multiple cars. He has truly made a product I have been unable to find anywhere else and i’ve gathered that makes other people who’ve tuned for a long time VERY unhappy, especially local tuners.
Don’t allow other forums who have a bad rap with chucks business steer you away. YOU WILL NOT regret getting this inexpensive modification done to your car. He’s about the closet thing you will get to the “Too good to be true, HOLY $HIT this is true” phrase…
Most of the bad stories you will hear regarding That 150mph pinging blow up during a race and Converter case split, NOS blow ups are not because of Chucks bad workmanship, they are because of personal abuse and then blaming Chuck. I came to that conclusion upon reading all the forum posts from cover to cover and having that concrete after talking to chuck personally.
As long as your persistent in calling and emailing he is relatively fast in replying or getting you on the phone. I’m just glad I haven’t had the car for a year and had to kick myself in the pants for not getting it sooner. Chuck is praised on the corvette forums not because he is a paid vendor, its because his product works.
The only place I differ from you, and pretty much every person ever, is the torque management thing. I absolutely freaking love it, when it's implemented like it is in the C7. You. cannot. feel. the. shifts. At 6500 RPM and WOT, you hit that paddle and you're...just...in the next gear. No drama, no tire spin, no jerking, just a .001 second backfire while the car pulls fuel and timing and it's just in gear and your head doesn't even leave the headrest. I'm really, really close to getting this.
It is quite fun to chirp the tires into 4th, but there's no doubt that it's slower than a shift with no traction loss or drivetrain jerk. The A6 in the C7 is about as good as Porsche's DCT in my experience, so I can't imagine how good the A8 is now. Maybe one day I'll get around to test driving one...
I've been doing some testing on my own into making my C6 perform like this, and I've already gained substantial improvement. It's hard, mostly because the C7 computer systems are literally a decade beyond the C6. Direct injection and having a "torque request pedal" instead of a "throttle pedal" like our cars do just gives so many unforeseen advantages.
After a bit more time, and some more refining on my end, I'd like to get with Chuck and see if he can test out what I've done to see if I'm an isolated case, or if we can make these cars do what GM never dreamed of.
Please, don't take any of this as criticism in any way; Chuck's tune is the bomb. I just have some mental issues that make me want to improve things, even if they're perfect (I think they call it engineering or something lol). Being in college and wanting to avoid actual homework helps, too. I'm not trying to step on any toes or pretend that I know more than anyone; just sharing what I'm working on.
I can tell you that his tune is VERY safe. The car has seen quite a few pulls to 185 and, had I more room, I have no doubt it would've gone a bit further without any issues. Once you can get the stupid A6 temperatures under control, you can beat on this car as long as you want and you will definitely not break anything. (and now I need a cam......and a blower......and maybe some nitrous.....)
Do remember to do quite a bit of datalogging. I think I did 3-4 sessions total, of around 1 hour each. After the first log (which was to make sure that my A/F ratio was safe and spark timings were good), all of my runs included a good bit of WOT pulls to speeds that are best relegated to tracks. Also remember to throw in some highway cruising at normal speeds, and also some stop and go driving. This gives Chuck the background he needs to make sure that everything consistently runs very well.
I warn you: your fuel economy will go to crap. The car, sure, will probably get 3-4 mpg better with a robot driving it, but I can assure you that if you're anything like me you will be stomping the life out of your gas pedal until you get 2 or 3 nice tickets. Then you'll just do it more discreetly.
Enjoy! Looking forward to your experiences with the autocal.
07-01-2015, 12:10 AM
#18
I think the booster is asking for trouble. Im sorry but that is my view and the OP proved that point by almost running into a wall. You want a booster? Strap a brick to your foot. Same effect and it's about 1.79.
It takes about 5 minutes to get used to the touchier response. From then on it is all smiles.
07-01-2015, 12:25 AM
#19
Chuck CoW has tuned three vehicles for me to date. Two Corvettes and a Sierra Denali with a 6.2L. I have been very impressed with all three. Had the CoW Booster done on my current 2010 Corvette and the now traded 2008 Denali. The Booster is a bit different than stock, but that is a good thing. It never seemed/seems dangerous or over the top and I would recommend it to anyone. Drive by wire is lazy, over protective and not at all like the old days with a direct link from pedal to carburetor. I would also like to add that I had the 2008 Sierra Denali tuned by a local guy that came highly recommended. It was OK and he put a lot of effort into the tune, but it wasn't a CoW tune. Finally after about six months, Chuck tuned the truck. Wow! What a difference. Again, I would recommend Chuck. He is very knowledgeable and highly skilled. Chuck knows his stuff. Chuck is in high demand and you will likely have to wait a while for your tune, but it is worth the wait. Thanks Chuck for your great work and making my cars (and trucks) way more fun to drive.
On another note, I am currently waiting for Chuck to tune my 2015 Sierra Denali 6.2L and can't wait to get rid of AFM and experience the new DI engine.
On another note, I am currently waiting for Chuck to tune my 2015 Sierra Denali 6.2L and can't wait to get rid of AFM and experience the new DI engine.
Last edited by 1Corvette; 07-01-2015 at 12:34 AM.
07-01-2015, 08:22 AM
#20
Safety Car
Member Since: Mar 2005
Location: Madison Wisconsin
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St. Jude Donor '08
Chuck has tuned a few of my Vettes and when I had my 08 A6 he did the tune, trans, and 342 rear gear for what I believe he called his Track Attack package. Wow, what a huge change, the car was so much more fun to drive. This was before the COW Booster came about. I've had several friends get Chucks tunes and they all walk away with huge grins on their faces.