Very frustrating trying to pick the right tuner for my 2012 gt,6mt,373,bone stock right now.I just ordered a barton 2 post shift bracket,plan on gt500 axle back,rear suspension mods and a tune.But with Bama,Steeda,Lund,FRPP Pro cal,etc.,etc., its impossible to pick the right one.I only use good 93 octane in the car, and its my keep nice car. I use my Jeep for the nasty roads and dirty work.I,m 55 , retired and drive it just for pleasure,but very spirited at times.From what i,ve read so far it seems most people are happiest with the FRPP Pro Cal tool.The only problem i,ve heard about it is the ocassioal pinging.But they say if you use good 93 (Shell) they dont ping and can be re learned through the flasher to eliminate the pinging.I,ve had quite a few nice performance cars in my day and this is my first Mustang and absolutely love the car.Its a 2012 GT Premium,race red,6mt,Brembos,401A interior,group 5 appearance pack,373,s.,just turned 7K,bought in Nov 2011.Anyway whats the opinion around here on tunes? Thanks,Danny.
What tune to get?
- Thread starter ponywars
- Start date
Never been a fan of canned tunes,good luck with what ever you decide
The 93 race tune from Bama/AM was noticeable. At the time I had headers, larger throttlebody, CAI, X-pipe and magnaflow exhaust. Without those upgrades I don't know how effective a tune would be.
I'm no expert on this subject, But I have been researching this same topic for a year & 1/2 trying to figure out what is best to do.
I Think the best tune you can get would be by a Dyno speed shop that has a good rep. Having said that, I guess it would be what are you trying to do ? As for myself , my 2010 GT is My daily driver with an auto. I'm Not looking to track the car and shave a 1/2 sec. of my 1/4 mile.
I Just want to wake it up a little. From My reserach and reviews I found that Bama/AM tunes work well for autos and the Brenspeed are good with sticks. Like you I only have a few bolt on's so a shop tune will cost more.
Like what was said in the post. You need to buy the tuner anyway. Get a couple of free tunes and try them out. If it's not enough then take your tuner to a speed shop and have them custom tune it. I'm just about ready to go with a bama /am tune cause I have an auto.
I hope my rambling helped. Good luck withyour choice.
I Think the best tune you can get would be by a Dyno speed shop that has a good rep. Having said that, I guess it would be what are you trying to do ? As for myself , my 2010 GT is My daily driver with an auto. I'm Not looking to track the car and shave a 1/2 sec. of my 1/4 mile.
I Just want to wake it up a little. From My reserach and reviews I found that Bama/AM tunes work well for autos and the Brenspeed are good with sticks. Like you I only have a few bolt on's so a shop tune will cost more.
Like what was said in the post. You need to buy the tuner anyway. Get a couple of free tunes and try them out. If it's not enough then take your tuner to a speed shop and have them custom tune it. I'm just about ready to go with a bama /am tune cause I have an auto.
I hope my rambling helped. Good luck withyour choice.
I also have a 2012 GT, And I have a BAMA race tune on mine and I love it, no issues at all. And a def improvement to stock. I also have Roush axlebacks , check them out, I get so many compliments on my sound and there is no drone at all with them..
QUOTE=ponywars;500976]Very frustrating trying to pick the right tuner for my 2012 gt,6mt,373,bone stock right now.I just ordered a barton 2 post shift bracket,plan on gt500 axle back,rear suspension mods and a tune.But with Bama,Steeda,Lund,FRPP Pro cal,etc.,etc., its impossible to pick the right one.I only use good 93 octane in the car, and its my keep nice car. I use my Jeep for the nasty roads and dirty work.I,m 55 , retired and drive it just for pleasure,but very spirited at times.From what i,ve read so far it seems most people are happiest with the FRPP Pro Cal tool.The only problem i,ve heard about it is the ocassioal pinging.But they say if you use good 93 (Shell) they dont ping and can be re learned through the flasher to eliminate the pinging.I,ve had quite a few nice performance cars in my day and this is my first Mustang and absolutely love the car.Its a 2012 GT Premium,race red,6mt,Brembos,401A interior,group 5 appearance pack,373,s.,just turned 7K,bought in Nov 2011.Anyway whats the opinion around here on tunes? Thanks,Danny.[/QUOTE]
QUOTE=ponywars;500976]Very frustrating trying to pick the right tuner for my 2012 gt,6mt,373,bone stock right now.I just ordered a barton 2 post shift bracket,plan on gt500 axle back,rear suspension mods and a tune.But with Bama,Steeda,Lund,FRPP Pro cal,etc.,etc., its impossible to pick the right one.I only use good 93 octane in the car, and its my keep nice car. I use my Jeep for the nasty roads and dirty work.I,m 55 , retired and drive it just for pleasure,but very spirited at times.From what i,ve read so far it seems most people are happiest with the FRPP Pro Cal tool.The only problem i,ve heard about it is the ocassioal pinging.But they say if you use good 93 (Shell) they dont ping and can be re learned through the flasher to eliminate the pinging.I,ve had quite a few nice performance cars in my day and this is my first Mustang and absolutely love the car.Its a 2012 GT Premium,race red,6mt,Brembos,401A interior,group 5 appearance pack,373,s.,just turned 7K,bought in Nov 2011.Anyway whats the opinion around here on tunes? Thanks,Danny.[/QUOTE]
read this before making your decision
http://stangsunited.com/content.php?165-Warning-!!-Before-you-change-that-tune-r ead-this!
try this. should work
http://stangsunited.com/content.php?165-Warning-!!-Before-you-change-that-tune-r ead-this!
try this. should work
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As far as tooning goes pretty much everyone you have listed does a very good job. In the early does of the introduction of the 5.0 tuners would apply what they knew about the 2V and 3V and apply it to the 5.0 which caused huge gains and a chance of #8 popping on you. The tuners quickly realized that the new Copperhead PCM is vastly improved over the older style PCMs that were being used and are now able to control alot more parameters of the engine.
Lund Racing is widely considered the best tuner there is and they have a HUGE following of loyal customers who swear by them. Their tunes are known to be very conservative but they also tune some of the fastest cars in the country. That being said, they are almost impossible to get in touch with and it may take weeks to get in touch with Ken or John.
Bama which is American Muscles Tuning division is also very popular among Mustang Enthusiasts because you can get everything you need all in one spot at a reasonable price with great customer service not to mention you do get Free tunes for the life of the vehicle which is pretty nice. They are one of the only tuners that will warranty their tune but you might want to read into that further as I have not cared to look at the fine print or what the warranty entails.
The FRPP ProCal tune is a good tune, people seem to be happy with it and the fact that Ford Racing will give you a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty on their tune IF you get it installed at a certified Ford/Lincoln dealer. If you are worried about the pinging issue I would just make sure that the service department that you bring it to for service would be ok with doing the warranty work on it just in case. IMO it isn't a bad tune at all but it is very limited in its potential to make more power.
Another option that I am hearing people are happy with in regards to the 5.0 is the AED tune. If you go on SVTP you will see a lot of "AED nutswingers" who will swear by his tune. Shaun is from what I have heard, extremely fast at getting tunes out and making revisions on them. His numbers though you may want to take with a grain of salt only because his personal dyno reads higher then a DynoJet and he does not use the corrected numbers. Outside of that alot of Auto people seem to be happy with his tunes, just not someone I would use for my own personal reasons. Not at all dogging his tunes though.
If you want a ghost cam tune for Shows or something like that you have 3 options currently. Lund, AED, and Steeda. They all seem to perform just about the same and they sound badass but they don't have the same driveability as a regular tune and they aren't all the great for your cats from what I hear although you may want to find out for yourself and correct me if I am wrong here.
Diablo Sport has a new tuner out called the DiabloSport Intune which they claim will not leave any counters or traces of a tune being installed onto the Copperhead PCM. The only issue with this is not many people have chosen this route or done this so it is unknown if the claim is true or not and not many people tune with Diablo anymore, many of them use SCT so your choices are limited as to which tuner to use.
In the end it is all up to you and which and whose tune you go with. When it comes to all the major tuners they know what they are doing and they should all be able to tune for a simple setup with no problems.
Lund Racing is widely considered the best tuner there is and they have a HUGE following of loyal customers who swear by them. Their tunes are known to be very conservative but they also tune some of the fastest cars in the country. That being said, they are almost impossible to get in touch with and it may take weeks to get in touch with Ken or John.
Bama which is American Muscles Tuning division is also very popular among Mustang Enthusiasts because you can get everything you need all in one spot at a reasonable price with great customer service not to mention you do get Free tunes for the life of the vehicle which is pretty nice. They are one of the only tuners that will warranty their tune but you might want to read into that further as I have not cared to look at the fine print or what the warranty entails.
The FRPP ProCal tune is a good tune, people seem to be happy with it and the fact that Ford Racing will give you a 3 year 36,000 mile warranty on their tune IF you get it installed at a certified Ford/Lincoln dealer. If you are worried about the pinging issue I would just make sure that the service department that you bring it to for service would be ok with doing the warranty work on it just in case. IMO it isn't a bad tune at all but it is very limited in its potential to make more power.
Another option that I am hearing people are happy with in regards to the 5.0 is the AED tune. If you go on SVTP you will see a lot of "AED nutswingers" who will swear by his tune. Shaun is from what I have heard, extremely fast at getting tunes out and making revisions on them. His numbers though you may want to take with a grain of salt only because his personal dyno reads higher then a DynoJet and he does not use the corrected numbers. Outside of that alot of Auto people seem to be happy with his tunes, just not someone I would use for my own personal reasons. Not at all dogging his tunes though.
If you want a ghost cam tune for Shows or something like that you have 3 options currently. Lund, AED, and Steeda. They all seem to perform just about the same and they sound badass but they don't have the same driveability as a regular tune and they aren't all the great for your cats from what I hear although you may want to find out for yourself and correct me if I am wrong here.
Diablo Sport has a new tuner out called the DiabloSport Intune which they claim will not leave any counters or traces of a tune being installed onto the Copperhead PCM. The only issue with this is not many people have chosen this route or done this so it is unknown if the claim is true or not and not many people tune with Diablo anymore, many of them use SCT so your choices are limited as to which tuner to use.
In the end it is all up to you and which and whose tune you go with. When it comes to all the major tuners they know what they are doing and they should all be able to tune for a simple setup with no problems.
So far I have had a Steeda Tune 91/93 octane and now I just got a tune from AED and I have to say the AED is far stronger and has more low end grunt .... the fact that Shaun will have you datalog a few times through his tuning process is probably the closest thing to a dyno tune you are going to get in my opinion of course. Which every tuner you choose do your homework call em up talk to them, look on the forums then make your decision your 8th cylinder with thank you for it!
I have been watching this thread and I have a high level, maybe dumb question;
I see a consensus that custom is better, but how much better is a custom tune vs. a canned tune? Is it 5% better or 90% better? I know this may be a hard metric to measure and quantify, but somebody must have done this comparison… As far as I have been able to tell, all the "canned tunes" out there are done on a dyno at some point, so the question is how much different is my mustang GT from the Mustang GT the canned vendor used? Doesn’t the canned tune vendor also take into account typical mod’s as well in the tune?
Would there really be a big difference between the dyno tunes of one tuner to the next if all you have is a CAI and an aftermarket exhaust as a simple example?
In addition, isn’t there a plus to a canned tune? I find some solace knowing that potentially there are 1000 or more other Mustangs out there with the same tune I am buying and the early adopters would have found the warts (blown engine maybe), hopefully before I bought my copy… Field testing I think is a good thing…
I see a consensus that custom is better, but how much better is a custom tune vs. a canned tune? Is it 5% better or 90% better? I know this may be a hard metric to measure and quantify, but somebody must have done this comparison… As far as I have been able to tell, all the "canned tunes" out there are done on a dyno at some point, so the question is how much different is my mustang GT from the Mustang GT the canned vendor used? Doesn’t the canned tune vendor also take into account typical mod’s as well in the tune?
Would there really be a big difference between the dyno tunes of one tuner to the next if all you have is a CAI and an aftermarket exhaust as a simple example?
In addition, isn’t there a plus to a canned tune? I find some solace knowing that potentially there are 1000 or more other Mustangs out there with the same tune I am buying and the early adopters would have found the warts (blown engine maybe), hopefully before I bought my copy… Field testing I think is a good thing…
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I don't think that there is a certain number you can put on how much better it is. The dyno tune is going to be better then a canned tune because it was revised and developed under all load conditions and was pin pointed to be right when it is done while a canned tune may have flat spots in the power bands or it might not be as good as it should be for that particular car. But by the same token any tuner worth their salt can get the car dialed in through some data logging and revisions.
There aren't many issues with #8 anymore because of the fact that most of the tuners learned what needs to be done differently with the 5.0 then what they learned with the 4.6 motors. With the revised engine in the 2013 you should have no problems with tuning your car or worry about blowing your engine. IF you were thinking about tuning your car I would say go for it.
There aren't many issues with #8 anymore because of the fact that most of the tuners learned what needs to be done differently with the 5.0 then what they learned with the 4.6 motors. With the revised engine in the 2013 you should have no problems with tuning your car or worry about blowing your engine. IF you were thinking about tuning your car I would say go for it.
Custom tunes compared to the canned tunes are day and night. I had a 03 with intake and exhaust and had a 91 tune on it the car wasn't any speed demon but when you take the tune off and go back to a regular 87 tune (not specific to your mods exactly) you will see a difference sense then i have sold the car and just bought a s197 with not a single mod on it. I drove around the new stang for a few days and had my tuner so i decided to just plug it in for shits and giggles. I put on the "canned" 91 tune and right away i can feel a difference in response and actually did see a difference in gas mileage. Now going threw the setting with the new 05 i see that there are specific tunes for certain CAI and other things like that i don't currently have these mods (yet) but personally if you dont have anything but a intake and maybe a axle back you dont need to spend the money, on the other hand for $150 from bama for lifetime tunes you will have it forever so it might be worth it instead or spending the money on a visual mod or something like that. All in all i think a tuner no matter what the mod you will see the differences and i like using American Muscle and BAMA but up to you GOOD LUCK
honestly, in my experiance, there are tuners out there who do and do not know what they are doing regardless of whether they put your car on a dyno for a "custom" tune or do it via mail
IMHO, going with a big name tuner like VMP or BAMA and one of their mail order tune will work out just fine for a lightly to even medium modified car
for the record, i had my 00 gt mail order tuned by VMP, and after a few datalogging sessions, it was perfect. the tuner i went to locally couldn't find any more hp or tq and the car drove great.
but this topic is like religion, everyone thinks they are right and their answer is the only answer
take these opinions with a grain of salt and do what works best for you and your piece of mind
IMHO, going with a big name tuner like VMP or BAMA and one of their mail order tune will work out just fine for a lightly to even medium modified car
for the record, i had my 00 gt mail order tuned by VMP, and after a few datalogging sessions, it was perfect. the tuner i went to locally couldn't find any more hp or tq and the car drove great.
but this topic is like religion, everyone thinks they are right and their answer is the only answer
take these opinions with a grain of salt and do what works best for you and your piece of mind
I have 3.73s, GT500 mufflers, and a CAI in my 12 GT and I use the Bama tune to get the car to run a best so far 12.24 at lebanon. I am positive that with a better launch, I could get this thing into the 11s as my 60 ft times suck. 1.9X most of the time. I have new MT bias ply ET drags, and new 17" bias front skinnies for the upcoming season. I hope they make the difference.
I like the Bama tune, and if you go with it, don't be afraid to as for specific features.
I wanted the automatic trans to be a lot more responsive to kick down. They gave it to me and it makes the car oh so much more fun to drive in the backroads.
I like the Bama tune, and if you go with it, don't be afraid to as for specific features.
I wanted the automatic trans to be a lot more responsive to kick down. They gave it to me and it makes the car oh so much more fun to drive in the backroads.