Brian has treated me very well throughout the years. All mail order tuners have the horror stories. Ion, Brian, Alvin, etc....Just dont expect a spot on tune like most people think will be accomplished without a dyno and wideband. Also to note, I believe Brian has a Father & Son operation that does all his mail orders now. I think their customer service is very terrible. Brian on the other hand, if you are able to touch base with him, he is very helpful and gets everything in line for me. So IMO its all in who you chat with from PCM4Less

 

I have used them several times fast turnaround time zero issues!

 

i have a PCM tune and Alvin was VERY helpful BEFORE i bought from them, so no issues here...email a few questions after tune and he responded very quick... +1 for PCM4less

 

What most people don't understand is that mail order tuners are greasy.

I would imagine most mail order guys have a handful of tunes for different types of setups, considering most are pretty damn close to the same. They get your order in, find a setup in their collection thats like yours, maybe adjust a few things and send it.

Ya'll really think a tuner is gonna get $65 for a mailorder 383 with fancy newfangled stuff and he is going to sit down, take any if much time and build a tune for it? No. He's gonna scroll past the pictures of his kids, his vacation in maui and find his "Tuning LT1" folder, find a tune close to yours and email it off.

Albiet there are some really focused mail order guys, like Frost. I'd let him tune my magic carpet, that guy knows his stuff.

Tony.

 

I got an email tune from pcm4less just last friday. Uploaded the tune and the car actually seemed to idle a little smoother and pulled a bit smoother than it had before. Noticably smoother after 4500 rpm. The email tunes are $100.

 

I just had Madtuner send me a mail order tune for my whole new setup. H/C with a whole new motor.. Put almost 400 miles since rebuild and have had no problem so far.

 

What most people don't understand is that it will almost always SEEM fine. Then when the unsafe tune has a problem in weird weather or circumstance months later, are you going to blame the tune then? No. Cause you have no idea how far off they are or can be. The ONLY way to tune is per application. You can't ballpark from across the country.

And when the tune IS safe, it's probably giving up a lot of potential power to be so.

So with basic mail tunes, 99% of the time, you are either unsafe or slower than you should be. But it runs right?

 

What you don't understand is you don't know me and maybe if your so good at tuning and know it all, why don't you start your own tuning business ??

I am not gona go out and get a dyno tune until i have reached 500 miles. This mail order tune is to get the car running and the car broken in.. As far as simple bolt ons, i'm sure one of the mail order tuners would suffice in most cases.

 

^ I read his stuff on another site and he knows a thing or two that can help average joe.

I have a pcmforless tune, it works, but I am a very curious person and i dont trust anyone. Im not perfect, but id rather blame myself then someone else so having someone else do something nowadays is hard, especially with the world we live in.

Bryan and Keith helped me out with my tune, I gave them ALOT of information, everything I could and was pretty clear as to what i wanted. 190$ later I had my tune and my car back together, once everything was good to go i turned the key and it fired like it was never dead. Idled great.

PCMforless has good customer service, this is something hard to come by anymore. Someone who responds to your emails, thats actually worth something now.

a few weeks now have gone by, a few miles on the motor. The initial "wow it runs" factor is gone, and the "why is it doing that" factor has come into play. The car runs rich (expect this from a mail order tune). It has cam surge everywhere, atleast i beleive it is cam surge.

Here is where people go wrong and get crazy. They expect a mail order tune to be 100% spot on, even people who go to a dyno expect this. when the first problem arises the two tuning methods differ alot. The dyno tune can be looked at with the car back on the rollers, the mail order tune cant. (duh). We are pretty lucky to have this available for so cheap, other people dont, take advantage of it!

I Have viewed my tune from PCMforless as a good starting point now that ive found tuning software and cables and everything you need to dial in your tune. If it wasnt for this i wouldnt be that happy anymore and id be wanting reflashes and retunes and the whole 9, but that includes down time and shipping.

Bottom line, Mail order tunes are a good starting point. PCMforless has a plethera of information and tunes on hand. They have tuned some big name cars out there. They have a quick turn around and what you get should work. How well it works is the other question.

 

got a dyno tune from brian at bigshot dyno and it was a great experience and the car runs great, he really knows his stuff. i have no complaints and will be taking the car back as i mod it more

 

I never said i know everything, i was trying to pass on information to help people make informed choices. Why get a dyno tune? Mail tune is perfectly fine right?

And yes it will suffice. A stock tune would too. I would tell you a dyno tune is a waste of money at your level unless you plan on not modding anymore, but I'm just a self proclaimed know it all right?

Good luck, try reading. Don't take everything as an attack, it's only the internet.