How much should a tune cost ?
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 488
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From: Bay Area/ UCI-VDC norte
How much should a tune cost ? I dont quite get it one shop is quoting me 200 for a full street tune and another is asking 400 for a full dyno tune. My question is, is it worth spending the extra money and get it dyno tuned or save that 200 for something better ?
depends on the tuner really not what type of tune...some tuners will only do a street tune with a wide band which is usually more than enough, but some people want #'s to back up their pride & joy so they either get a combination street/dyno tune or just a strait dyno tune. Personally I think a street/dyno tune is the best type because some things you really cant set on a dyno and sometimes there are things that cant be felt on the dyno that you can feel on the street. Also the dyno doesnt apply the same load(dynojet) as you would feel on the street so your a/f on the dyno will be different on the street. Keep in mind to do a tune yourself youd need a wide band, laptop, tuning software...that could easily run over $2K to do it yourself...so what IS offered out there is usually a good price, thats not to say its for everyone though.
When I tune cars, I do both. Here's what I do:
- Download program
- Ask owner of car a bunch of questions
- Spend about 20-25 minutes modifing the file to "get it close"
- Upload program
- Drive car for 20 miles (city/highway)
- Do a couple hot starts with and without A/C on
- Adjust file more if needed
- If I do another upload, drive for another 20 miles (city/highway)
- After Part Throttle tuning is good, get car on dyno
- Do a base run on the dyno up to 6,000 RPMs to see whats going on
- Make a few more dyno pulls while tweaking your timing and A/F
Depending on the car, it could take a total of 4 hours for everything. Since I'm not a pro, I don't charge a "Pro Shop" price. I charge $225.00 for my time and the dyno guys charge $100.00 per hour. I'm usually on the dyno for about 1-1.5 hours (includes a few cool downs).
Hope this helps some, $400 from a "Pro Shop" doesn't sound too bad....
Bill
- Download program
- Ask owner of car a bunch of questions
- Spend about 20-25 minutes modifing the file to "get it close"
- Upload program
- Drive car for 20 miles (city/highway)
- Do a couple hot starts with and without A/C on
- Adjust file more if needed
- If I do another upload, drive for another 20 miles (city/highway)
- After Part Throttle tuning is good, get car on dyno
- Do a base run on the dyno up to 6,000 RPMs to see whats going on
- Make a few more dyno pulls while tweaking your timing and A/F
Depending on the car, it could take a total of 4 hours for everything. Since I'm not a pro, I don't charge a "Pro Shop" price. I charge $225.00 for my time and the dyno guys charge $100.00 per hour. I'm usually on the dyno for about 1-1.5 hours (includes a few cool downs).
Hope this helps some, $400 from a "Pro Shop" doesn't sound too bad....
Bill
Originally Posted by Billiumss
When I tune cars, I do both. Here's what I do:
- Download program
- Ask owner of car a bunch of questions
- Spend about 20-25 minutes modifing the file to "get it close"
- Upload program
- Drive car for 20 miles (city/highway)
- Do a couple hot starts with and without A/C on
- Adjust file more if needed
- If I do another upload, drive for another 20 miles (city/highway)
- After Part Throttle tuning is good, get car on dyno
- Do a base run on the dyno up to 6,000 RPMs to see whats going on
- Make a few more dyno pulls while tweaking your timing and A/F
Depending on the car, it could take a total of 4 hours for everything. Since I'm not a pro, I don't charge a "Pro Shop" price. I charge $225.00 for my time and the dyno guys charge $100.00 per hour. I'm usually on the dyno for about 1-1.5 hours (includes a few cool downs).
Hope this helps some, $400 from a "Pro Shop" doesn't sound too bad....
Bill
- Download program
- Ask owner of car a bunch of questions
- Spend about 20-25 minutes modifing the file to "get it close"
- Upload program
- Drive car for 20 miles (city/highway)
- Do a couple hot starts with and without A/C on
- Adjust file more if needed
- If I do another upload, drive for another 20 miles (city/highway)
- After Part Throttle tuning is good, get car on dyno
- Do a base run on the dyno up to 6,000 RPMs to see whats going on
- Make a few more dyno pulls while tweaking your timing and A/F
Depending on the car, it could take a total of 4 hours for everything. Since I'm not a pro, I don't charge a "Pro Shop" price. I charge $225.00 for my time and the dyno guys charge $100.00 per hour. I'm usually on the dyno for about 1-1.5 hours (includes a few cool downs).
Hope this helps some, $400 from a "Pro Shop" doesn't sound too bad....
Bill
