Another $500 Dyno Tune....
I wasnt condeming ya, its just a shame that tuners are out there raping people for $500 a whack & more for a service theyre not able to do correctly & usually a retune is needed(another $500) or results in engine damage. Did you call the guy up & ask him about the oil you bought & why didnt it get changed? I can imagine it was some high end racing oil of some kind, why he kept it. Just seems like you werent that bothered about getting blatantly robbed by this guy.
No, I didn't call him about the oil...it was just normal Amsoil 5-30 and an EaO filter. Really...even if he offered to do my next oil change for free, I wouldn't let him touch my car again ever.
In other words, I made the choice that NOBODY will ever touch my GTO again. I now have a compressor, lots of tools, and installed my own heads, just installed a new cam after lifter failure, and do my own tuning.
Edit: At least I now have a mechanic I can trust, and he lives 15 minutes away from me. Chad of CBI Street Cars.
I was having some major drive ability issue's with my 416, to much cam for my style. A tuner was recommended that had a near copy of my build making huge power & near stock manners he said. A 1000 mile road trip for me, I was also having doubts that this cam could ever fit my driving style.
So I asked for a log demonstrating the near stock like driving manners, then I would bring him the car
To this day I've never heard back, not even a courteous decline.
I would have also asked for a power curve or a WOT log with enough parameters to verify his big power numbers, never got to that point.
So I asked for a log demonstrating the near stock like driving manners, then I would bring him the car
To this day I've never heard back, not even a courteous decline.I would have also asked for a power curve or a WOT log with enough parameters to verify his big power numbers, never got to that point.
Last edited by ctd; Nov 14, 2011 at 01:14 PM.
Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,756
Likes: 4
From: Maryland
I am in Laurel right now, waiting for the renters to get out of my house!
Glad you were happy with it. If you ever need anything in the future feel free to give us a call.
I was going to go to Frost after a cam change, but I wasn't able to get it done in time....stupid R&R's are soo damn short. Steve is an awesome, stand up guy and he has an excellent reputation for a reason, too bad I was not able to work with him the last time around.
I am in Laurel right now, waiting for the renters to get out of my house!
I am in Laurel right now, waiting for the renters to get out of my house!
Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,756
Likes: 4
From: Maryland
Glad you saved yourself, what was wrong with your V2? Where did you ultimately go? I met a guy that lives in Dayton/Woodbine Ho. county and he has the exact '09 V that was shipped to Germany for the official speed testing from Miller Brothers, which is pretty awesome. I have thought about upgrading, but to be honest, I am damn near invisible in my V1...I have blown by a cop at close to 100 and he pulled over a Camry. Hope my luck holds out (knock on wood, hehe).
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The 2 problems I hear about all the time are shitty tuners locking there PCM and or they are a sponsor for most forums. On 99.99% of the forums out there any bashing of a sponsor gets deleted so people dont hear about it.
Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,756
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From: Maryland
Appreciate the offer, I may take you up on that after I get the cam in there. Wideband tuning the stock cam was pretty easy and I just did my Silverado with a cam, heads, headers, etc and it runs awesome. The idle tuning with a cam is a little tricky for me, I can get it but it takes a while. Interested in any pointers you may have.
I have efi live, wideband setup and have street tuned a couple of my own vehicles but I don't trust myself with my latest build. Expecting 850rwhp range F1a Procharged 402 that I have a lot of money into. Who do you guys think is the best? Oh, and they better be able to explain every change they are making. I'm not willing to just hand it over and let someone tune it. I have a good idea about what needs to be done. I'm just not confident enough to do it myself with so much money and work I've put into this build. I'm around Shreveport LA and the closest shops that claim they can tune it are hours away. I haven't heard anything bad from them but they don't seem to be well reconized as far as tuning goes. They are sponsors here so I won't mention names.
I was not advertising - I was offering to help him tune his own car for free!!! I don't do much tuning these days, but don't mind helping out local guys who are trying to learn to do it themselves... if you look back at my first post, I asked him if he was tuning it himself and told him to let me know if he needed help...
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 25
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I wasnt condeming ya, its just a shame that tuners are out there raping people for $500 a whack & more for a service theyre not able to do correctly & usually a retune is needed(another $500) or results in engine damage. Did you call the guy up & ask him about the oil you bought & why didnt it get changed? I can imagine it was some high end racing oil of some kind, why he kept it. Just seems like you werent that bothered about getting blatantly robbed by this guy.
What do you expect for a $500 tune? Most shops that specialize in certain models are $100.00 plus an hour. How long do most of you "at home tuners" spend personally on your cars to make sure that they are close to perfect? I bet you spend hours on your tune. No customer is going to pay for the time it actually takes to do a near perfect tune, that would be upwards of $750.00 easily for a tune. It's funny you spend upwards of $4k on heads, cam, LT's, intake and so on and you bitch about spending $500 for a tune. You get what you pay for, heavily modded cars can often take more than 5 hours to tune properly. Problem is the market has been cheapened by these "at home tuners" that pump out copied 2 year old tunes and pass them off in emails that sets the market price.
What do you expect for a $500 tune? Most shops that specialize in certain models are $100.00 plus an hour. How long do most of you "at home tuners" spend personally on your cars to make sure that they are close to perfect? I bet you spend hours on your tune. No customer is going to pay for the time it actually takes to do a near perfect tune, that would be upwards of $750.00 easily for a tune. It's funny you spend upwards of $4k on heads, cam, LT's, intake and so on and you bitch about spending $500 for a tune. You get what you pay for, heavily modded cars can often take more than 5 hours to tune properly. Problem is the market has been cheapened by these "at home tuners" that pump out copied 2 year old tunes and pass them off in emails that sets the market price.
A basic WOT tune takes less than 2 hours to get right unless it's a crazy setup (SD, open loop, big turbos with meth/e85). If it takes more than that then the tuner has no idea what he's doing.
$750+ for a tune...seriously? 7+ hours on the dyno...seriously?
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 25
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Bro if these tunes included full street/part throttle/automatic trans tuning then yes I can see taking that many hours.
A basic WOT tune takes less than 2 hours to get right unless it's a crazy setup (SD, open loop, big turbos with meth/e85). If it takes more than that then the tuner has no idea what he's doing.
$750+ for a tune...seriously? 7+ hours on the dyno...seriously?
A basic WOT tune takes less than 2 hours to get right unless it's a crazy setup (SD, open loop, big turbos with meth/e85). If it takes more than that then the tuner has no idea what he's doing.
$750+ for a tune...seriously? 7+ hours on the dyno...seriously?
I even offered to shoot him some compensation for his time and was declined. Tech needs more members like him in this section who want to help people learn the ropes IMO.