LS2duc

iTrader: (1)

Anyone done business with these folks? You send them your ECU (computer) with a list of the mods you've made to the motor. They claim to have "hundreds of similar mods" on file. The reflash your computer and send it back. Seems pretty simple, price is $265. Completley cuts out the whole dyno tune part of the build. You just have to trust what you have is the best.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

You have invested over 6k in your car at once, the last thing i would do is trust a canned tune. Pony up the extra 250 bucks and have it dynotuned. If you dont and the motor blows, please dont bother posting a thread about the incident. I know a bunch of guys on here have already told you dynotune by an lsx specialist and thats all this thread is gonna say.

Canned tunes are "ok" for bolt on only cars, and even those can be questionable.

tityrous

I would not waste money on a mail order tune from personal experience! Find a Dyno shop that you trust and bring the car to them!

SMG in Hopedale mass or Slowhawk performance in Bridgewater mass

I have personally used SMG with both of my cars Fred can tune great!
Slowhawk is a huge name in the LSX world they would know exactly what you need!

Keith

tityrous

Allen brings up a great point about bolt on tuning!

LS2duc

iTrader: (1)

Well, so much for that great idea! Problem is everyone wants 2 weeks lead time for dyno work. Forget the canned tune-this company came HIGHLY recommended by someone you all KNOW!

LS2duc

iTrader: (1)

Just an FYI: This company and it's owner (PCM for Less) got complete opposite reviews on the other Cadillac Owner's forum: Outstanding company, total thumbs up!

LAYGO

iTrader: (10)

PCM4Less has an outstanding relationship on ImpalaSSForum.Com in the BBody community. I think 90% of the people who do PCM updates go thru him. I've been a member there since 2001 & I have never heard a bad thing about them.

I was going to get my PCM done there, but never got the larger tires.

Also, so you have no downtime, they will send you a PCM with your tune with a core charge & will refund it once you send your stocker back in. It costs like $10 more than the other way. Also, I've heard of him giving existing tuned customer's a rebate on an update tune.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

If i recall PCM4less is one of the few that tunes that type of vehicle and lt1s etc.

Canned tunes have there times, but on a highly modified car it has no place.

tityrous

I had a canned tune on my cobalt. Cost me a new motor...

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

I've used PCM4Less with great success on my road race F-Car

scatillac

iTrader: (12)

When I first built my car, I got an "off site" tune from Nick Williams, mostly to allow the car to be broken in and then driven to his shop for a final tune.

It had pretty good performance, delivered a very decent driveability and even got reasonable fuel economy. I thought that it was pretty close and even contemplated settling for the tune as it was.

Then I went to Mooresville. What a difference! In the before and after tune comparison (on both dynos, chassis and ***), there was better throttle response (read: more torque), especially below 3k. More top end power, 36 rwhp to be exact. The torque peak also moved up by 28 lbs/ft and the whole curve below the peak was fatter.

Alvin (PCMforLess) is a competent tuner, but so is Nick and the results I experienced speak for themselves.

It's hard to beat the guy with the keyboard when he's looking at your stuff while it's alive.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

Well, it's your money. Go ahead and buy the canned tune and install the reflashed ECU. Then go to a dyno shop and spend $75-100 to get 3 "baseline" pulls done. Post up the dyno graphs with the AFR curves.

My personal experience reaffirmed my distrust of mail-order tunes. I had one done as a temporary measure, and it turned out to be worse than the stock tune. Mine was done by a different company, but much like the company you're thinking of using, the guy I went to gets nothing but rave reviews on the forums.

RADEoN

iTrader: (12)

when you guys are saying mail order tunes, does that refer to all non-dyno tunes?

I had a buddy of mine who works in a local shop tune my car for me (cost of HPTuners credits, ended up being 100 on the nose), he changed the air/fuel etc. and edited a file he found on hptuners website to my car. took the car around the block 6 or so times, shot down a straight line, paid attention to A/F etc...

Is my motor in danger here?

siggyfreud

iTrader: (1)

There is a difference between canned tunes and custom mail order tunes. Canned tunes are what come with your diablo sport tuners/handhelds from their factory.

Over on the mustang forums I've seen more blown motors as a result of poor custom tuning than I have from reputable companies who send mail order tunes. I'm running 12-13psi on a mail order tune. I took it to the dyno to check A/F and power levels and the tune was spot on. The shop said they could probably get another 20hp out of it if I wanted, but admitted the tune was really good for being a mail order tune.

If you go with a reputable tune shop who does a lot of tunes, you're going to be pretty safe. Always check via a $70 dyno run for insurance, but every tune a company like that carries with it their reputation.

You have to compare the companies, not the fact that they're mail order tunes. At a certain point, a company has seen certain combos so many times they can get a good tune with their eyes closed. You think Cadillac custom tunes every car on the line? Nope.

Radeon, you're only in trouble if that buddy of yours doesn't know what hes doing. In your case, it really comes down to what he knows and how good he is with HP Tuners.

andrewzpsu

The way I look at it, and this is the reason we don't do mail order tunes and never will, is that by doing it that way you tune blind. You only know the inputs, not the outputs.

I had a mail order tune that was virtually perfect tunewise... however it ran lean as all hell. This is what the guy was running for a heck of a long time on the street and beating it to death. We ended up gaining something like 60-70 rwhp. If the mail order tuner saw the crazy fueling, he would have been able to fix it. But you don't get that luxury with mail order tunes.



We charge $300 for most tunes. And $450 for SD tunes. OP, where are you located?

We tune nights and weekends and many times can fit people in next day.

Andrew

dre2013

iTrader: (7)

i would never consider a mail-order tune for anything other than naturally aspirated. if you just have minor boltons (headers,exhaust, cai, etc) then i'd say go for it. But if you're extensively modded (heads/cam/intake manifold/maggie/nitrous/etc) then you definitely need a dyno tune. A tune is the last thing you want to go cheap on.

andrewzpsu

^^^^
Even with naturally aspirated it doesn't take into consideration the other variables, like a bad MAF. Or a different intake that may skew the readings. These things can dramatically change the tune's output. While I think spark is pretty simple to keep conservative and mail order tune worthy, the air/fuel is not.

GhettoTy

iTrader: (2)

I'd also think about it in terms of power. Like someone said, his mail order tune was pretty damn and would be safe to drive. But he left about 20hp on the table. I'd rather pay the extra 200 bucks for 20hp, that's actually a very good hp/$ ratio

GTOSE

iTrader: (1)

This, especially with a car that has an easily tuneable PCM.

siggyfreud

iTrader: (1)

In my situation, it was a bit different, as the changes were so drastic the car wouldn't have run without a new tune. I built it all at home, and didn't want to tow it in to tune. So it would have been closer to 500-600 bucks for 20hp.

My primary concern is that its safe for the motor. The custom mail order tune was safe, had a great curve, and satisfied my power needs.

I'm not saying a mail order tune is superior than a dyno tune, but I'd hate to see people discounting them altogether, as they can be great.

At the end of the day, go with what satisfies YOU.