Looking to poll the masses for the best "thorough" tuner in the mitten state. When I say thorough, I mean more than WOT dyno tune and idle quality. I.E. custom tune, not cookie cutter. So....who's the best?????

 

notasponsor.com

he hangs out around central michigan for the most part. Seen alot of his work and its all really decent... GREAT prices as well.

He tuned a really simple LS2 setup that almost beat my little fiero... I was getting a bit nervous that I gave him the leave till I got up around 110 or so. Was quite impressive compared to alot of the other LSx stuff I have raced with my car.

He also did some tuning on a turbo car I built a few years ago, and did a excellent job with that for the amount of time he had with it (very little).

 

Do you know which program he's using?

 

Check us out too, we do a lot of tuning over here on the west side of the state. I focus heavily on drive ability tuning too, no hacking tables.

 

I would NOT recommend Vector motorsports.

 

Ditto for TJ at Bakers. He tuned my car and it has amazing drive ability. No stumbling or bucking, just smooth from the get go, but boy is it a whole other car when I mash the gas ! He took many test drives between tune changes before he was satisfied with it for idle and part throttle and I'm really glad he did.

 

Thanks for weighing in on this! It's always good to hear when someone will take the extra time to double/triple check the job to be sure it is done RIGHT.

 

Thanks for the heads up. What kind of problems did you have with the driveability?

 

He only spent an hour to an hour and a half on my tune, and quickly pushed me out the door when a dude with a blown c6 z06 showed up.

I had horrible bucking and surging. Granted I didn't expect it to be butter smooth as I was running the ASA at that time. When I'd be cruising on the expressway in 6th gear at say 1700 rpms or so, and I'd push in the clutch or put it in neutral, the engine would rev up to 2300 rpm and would just hang there.

I ended up getting hp tuners, and posted my tune up their forum and was told it was "PE rape", meaning mainly just WOT tuning.

All and all, I just didn't have a very good experience with them

 

Any one have any luck with Livernois?

 

That sucks man, glad to hear you were able to get'er straightened out.

 

Definitely. They do all my stuff and have for years...both my LS1 and my Cobra.
They are basically 50% GM LSx stuff and 50% Ford.

 

Call 'em up and ask for Andy or Rick. They'll take good care of you.

 

Although I do my own tuning, I also would recommend Sean @ C.A.R.S. He knows a thing or two about getting an LS1 to run.

http://motownmuscle.com/pinks/Pinks_highres.wmv

 

not trying to steal the tread but i am looking for the same thing, i am installing a ms3 cam this winter and i am going to need a good tune. Also talked to a guy on here from ohio told me to check out this place. Says he does a good job. http://www.customls1tuning.com/

 

Anyone else out there have Michigan tuner recommendations/cautions????

 

I had some people tell me that, on here & a few at the track. A local guy here always takes his cars there & absolutely recommended them, so thats who I had tune mine.

Thats about how long they spent on mine as well. I didnt feel they pushed me out the door, not sure if they had anyone else to tune that day.
I have occaisional bucking & surging too, & stalling
This is what I feel like doing as well, gettin HP tuners & doing my own. It gets expensive when every time its $500 a whack to get a tune done, & some of the things I saw & what my trap speeds are (always 111mph after a 228 cam install) keep me wondering about my tune. Guys on here say I should be trappin at least 115. I trapped 110.9 before the cam install on 3 consecutive runs. I plan on doin some heads by next spring & I dont wanna be shellin out $500 every time I do a mod to it.
This is the problem I had with Vector. They did several dyno pulls, most of which my AF ratio would show erratic readings in the higher RPMs(they had the sniffer in the tailpipe) So the tuner asked me if he could install the wideband into one of the (2) o2 bung plugs available in the ORY, I said sure. Well, he says he couldnt get them loose & they were supertight. This ORY was less than a year old, not driven in the winter. So I took his word for it, but next week when I had the car on the hoist at work, I was able to get both bung plugs loose with not a whole lot of effort. So its very possible my AF is off & I could be runnin too rich & its slowing me down. Some of the way the car runs is more refined, of course they did add some timing & adjusted the fuel trims, but I drove it for a week after the cam install before I had it tuned & it seemed to really spin em easy from a stop & after a shift into 2nd. It doesnt do that now. I dont feel it runs like it should, I bought a degree kit & was gonna check the cam, but I really feel its in the tune. Also, The dyno printout they gave me wasnt right either, it showed my peak HP at 380 & 500 torque, thats a BS pull. Honestly for what I paid($445) I am not impressed & I do not recommend them either.

 

Just want update that Kirk from Vector has contacted me and he's offered to help get my issues resolved free of cost.

 

Lidio at alternative autoperformance, he is the truth takes his time tuning for power ,wot, idle quality, part throttle all of the above .

 

I've had Kirk at Vector tune my car for years. No tuning issues. I've always had transmission problems. I've been through 8 new/rebuilt trannies. He told me the trans and my power were my weak link. I never had transmission problems before he touched it. My first rebuild, I was at 424 rwhp.

Never the less, I took it to someone to take a second look at the trans tables and they were bone stock with a $3k performance tranny in there. No wonder why I kept burning out my clutches. This tuner adjusted the tables and showed me what he was doing and why. This is the first season that my transmission has made it through. I was rebuilding or buying a new one twice a year. Very costly for something that was never addressed. There is another member on this board in the same situation with his trans and Vector.

Thats my breif story. I've been going to Kirk since 1996 or 98.