1meantransam

iTrader: (8)

hey guys i'm getting a tune in a few weeks here and i have FULL BOLT ONS, no internals, Built tranny, gears. all the dyno guys are telling me 350 and up for a tune but shouldn't it only cost 200 at most? please give me some insight here because it seems for bolt ons it shouldn't be much at all.

SIC LSX

iTrader: (10)

I think $450 is way to much for a bolton car! Its only $350 here with W/B for a H/C car and there is lot more to tune on a H/C over a bolton car. Im sure all they are going to do is copy a tune for another car with same mods and load it to you car and done

foff667

iTrader: (2)

You need to understand what your paying for.

a. dyno time
b. wear & tear on the dyno, laptop, laptop battery, & wideband 02 sensor all of which has to be accounted for.
c. the price of the software for your vehicle(yes in most cases this would be long since paid for but considering tuning solutions start at around $500, that $450 you were quoted is still far cheaper)
d. the tuners experience
e. the tuners time
f. the shops time
g. insurance so if something happens the shop can partially/fully cover anything that breaks that is their fault.

If you feel they're overpriced you have a few options...obviously you could ask around for better pricing & possibly worse quality of a tune(or better in some cases) or purchase a software package/laptop/wideband and pay for some dyno time or track time to tune on your own.

I've been in your shoe's though and went the dynotune route only to end up purchasing the software & tuning on my own down the road.

SIC LSX

iTrader: (10)

i have seen to many people get ripped off on tuning bolt on cars! They pay for 2 dyno pulls. One b4 tune to see where its at, then they load a tune off of another car with same mods and do a pull again and done! You just paid $450 for 2 dyno pulls and 1 min of tuning

1meantransam

iTrader: (8)

exactly

Frost

iTrader: (45)

I would not call this normal by any stretch...

slow

iTrader: (7)

I was just talking to a tuner friend of mine yesterday about this exact situation. First, you have to factor where you live, expect to pay more in southern california, than in the middle of a cornfield in the middle of the midwest.

There are 2 types of tuners (and areas inbetween)

You have a guy who has purchased a $550 software package, and rents dynotime from a local dyno. This is like an internet reseller, with no real overhead.

You have a tuning shop, who can have $100,000 or more invested in tuning tools, professional widebands (AFM1000 or horibra's, costing thousands of dollars) Loadbearing dynos, shop rent/overhead, advertising, shop vehicles ect.

While I do not condone the 2 pull method, I would be willing to bet I could do a few pulls, and be on par with many tuners who do dozens of pulls on a customers car. On a basic NA car like yours, there is no reason for more than about 8-10 pulls.

Ryan

edcmat-l1

iTrader: (10)

Yep, yep, yep, to all that.
Dont know whos gonna tune anything for 200 bucks.
350 is going rate for bolt on cars.

enganeer

iTrader: (18)

Ask them what they do for the tune?

If they just copy a file from another vehicle with similar bolt ons and call it good, then they are not actually tuning your car. That's what I would call a 'canned tune'.

If they just copy a file from another vehicle with similar bolt ons and use it as a base to start with and tune specifically to how your car operates, then they are 'tuning it'.

More than two dyno pulls should be done. 1st pull would be a base pull as received, second pull would be with the generic tune installed, 3rd and up should be what tweaks can be done to get the max of your vehicle. Usally this will involve a wideband O2 sensor. If this is done, then $450 is a decent price.

Here my old school example. I did a dyno break in and tune my 64' with a gen I sbc 400. We did the engine break-in cycle plus 9 dyno pulls. Each pull we tweaked something ie jetting on the carb, timing, carb spacers. The 7th pull was the best but you have to experiment to find that extra 5 hp or ft-lbs of torque.

RE AND CHERYL

iTrader: (31)

A dyno tune is a dyno tune. Youe not going to pay much less just because the car dosn't have much done to it. Most tuners will start off by loading a tune that is close to what your car needs and then fine tune from there. If I knew of someone reputable that would Dyno tune for $300 or less I'd jump on that in a minute.

At your level, I probably would not bother with the expense of a full dyno tune. You could get a mail order tune for less and the difference at your level of mods would be almost nill.

Re'

stngh8r

Even a handheld programmer will cost over $300 wouldn't it?

What about PCMforless? I had him do my bolton LT1 and I was quite happy with the tune. At that time he only did LT1s, but I think he is in the LS1 market now. Not sure, since I have never inquired.

ALLBOTTLE

iTrader: (13)

Look at it as $/HP

$400 on headers to get 20/hp untuned= $20/hp
$150 on lid to get 5hp untuned= $30/hp
$500 on Electric water pump 10hp= $50/hp....etc $33/hp average

If the Tuner can get you 15hp out of the tune for $400 then you are still only at $26/hp.... enjoy it while it last because after the boltons are done it gets to $100/hp real quick.

1meantransam

iTrader: (8)

i'm looking at it as the fact that i went to track BONE STOCK A4 and ran a 14.00 did some minor bolt ons and ran a 13.3.. installed headers,performance tranny with stall, DRs, and suspension and ran a 13.9 everytime. perfect reaction time also. car runs like crap, tune is needed here.

And for what i mean with full bolt ons i'm talking Filter to muffler nothing missing except a pulley.

Slowhawk

iTrader: (12)

We charge $450 NA, $500FI and $650 SD2bar.

Your car takes just as long as a H/C car for me.Files are writen from scratch and tuned in on the street before hitting the dyno. Yes,most of the time I can get it dead nut's on the street (from the years of experience). But it will hit the dyno for as many runs as I see fit.

If you don't want to pay the $$ just get a mail order tune from someone and hope it's right

Steel Chicken

iTrader: (3)

I charge around $400, which includes as much idle and part throttle tuning as needed, then anywhere from 3-5 dyno pulls to get the WOT tune and final timing tweaked.
Dyno time is extra, since I dont have one...yet! Of that $400, usually $100 goes for the software credits.

A *good* inclusive complete tune is well worth $500...but just slapping a car on a dyno, running it a few times and calling it a day is a ripoff.

brad8266

iTrader: (23)

If the tuner is competent and tunes for YOUR exact car then 450 may be well spent. Be aware though that there are many so called tuners that do half *** tunes.

shoemike

iTrader: (25)

or you can invest the money in a tuning tool and WB 02.

99camarosupersport

iTrader: (6)

No, most places it's 450 for a reputable shop for X amount of hours, and then say 50 / hr. after like 6 hrs.
Also, you could do a street tune by someone in your area which IS around 200~300 bucks.
Now they have to turn around and pay licensing fee's to EFI live just to hook up to your car, because most likely they don't have the 7k shop package.....

I don't find that price of 450 to be too out there at all, higher $ usually means their time is more valuable aka alot of people tune there which usually means they know what they are doing, and your car is going to be done right.
You get what you pay for.

SIC LSX

iTrader: (10)

here in Missouri its $350 for a dyno tune for a full H/C tune! My 99 z with ls6 intake, pacesetter lt, tsp off road y-pipe, magnaflow catback. l did 355whp and 366 torq on stock tune! no pulley or no ported TB. So to me a tune on a bolt on car isn't really worth it and i ran 12.7 in 1/4. To me 300$ at the most for a bolt on car! there is alot less tuning on a bolt on car over a full heads/cam car! so why the same price?

LOL how about this i will have my friend email me a tune from a car same year as yours with same mods and tell them all you need to do is put this tune on you car See how much they say? It will only take them a few mins

csteingraber

iTrader: (1)

well, i only have airlid, k+n, magnaflow and SLP LT headers w/ SLP hiflow cats and SLP Y. I live 5 min from Cartek in Garwood, NJ and i'm paying $550 for my tune. Truth is, i know they'll do it right and even though i will only get a little extra power. i now wont have to buy o2 sims that might not work and i wont have SES light from !air & !egr either. Future tune for a future mod is less expensive after first tune sometimes too (depends on mods). I did the header install myself and bought em used too so i saved enough overall to be able to do the tune without total price out of hand.

They're tuning it today! i'll post the results tomorrow.