Canned Tune vs. Bamachips for Daily Driver

[GreyDiesel]

I bought a used SCT X3 that was unlocked, but did not contain any custom tunes, just those from SCT. I am wondering if it is worth purchasing a 91 torque tune from Bamachips. I use the car as a daily driver, and I am looking for more throttle response.. more fun, more low end torque. How noticeable is a custom tune over a canned tune? Will this be something I would actually notice in daily driving situation? Would I be happy to depart with my 50 bucks? Or, is a custom tune really just something you notice when your adding mph to your trap speed? (i.e. only noticeable with radar guns)

The thing is, this seems like three engines in one. Below 2k rpm there is very little power. Not that surprising, but its nice to have a car that you can let off the clutch without any throttle and not stall. You can do this with the GT, but it takes some finesse. From 2k-4k the engine is nice, but not overwhelming. Then, as if there were a turbo, at 4k rpm the thing just screams. I have seen this pattern in all the dynos sheets as well, including those running custom tunes, so I am guessing a custom tune will not change the overall torque curve. But I dont think I have seen a dyno of a 93 torque tune, which may be what I am looking for. BTW, I have to get the 91 torque tune because I live in Denver and 91 is the "premium" grade up here.

 

[grngt50]

dude I just did this right now!!!! I loaded the race tune Doug sent me and holy S$#t!! Night and day difference between his tune and the base tune. It's hard NOT to spin the wheels from a dig, and the top end is ridiculous. I say do it!!!
Can you tell I'm excited lol

-James

 

[GreyDiesel]

okay well, good answer. Thanks for the info James!

 

[red05bullitgt]

dude I just did this right now!!!! I loaded the race tune Doug sent me and holy S$#t!! Night and day difference between his tune and the base tune. It's hard NOT to spin the wheels from a dig, and the top end is ridiculous. I say do it!!!
Can you tell I'm excited lol

-James

+1 James




-Rocky

 

[dro]

I will probably be crucified for saying this, but doug's 93 performance tune was spot on. But his torque tune was off. It was rich through the low RPM's but was way lean as it went through the powerband. I dont know if it was the one he did for my car or not, but when i get some extra cash im going to get it dyno'd out and hopefully get some extra horses out of the 93 tune. It did make 277/299 on the 93 performance w/ my mods. So i was impressed w/ that but i think if i get it on a dyno and get the numbers right ill make a good 10 more.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

I've heard nothing but good things about Doug at Bamachips, but the absolute best tune for an individual car is a custom tune done on a dyno, as there are slight variances between each car - especially after adding mods.

In my case, I had a Vortech supplied tuner with their tune for the V2 S-trim supercharger I had installed in my 07 GT automatic. Our local tuner was able to work his magic and found an extra 57 rwhp, while maintaining a very safe, conservative tune. On a naturally aspirated GT, a custom dyno tune won't net you a 57 rwhp improvement, but there could be 5-20 rwhp improvement vs a mail order tune.

 

[DarkFireGT]

Doug's tunes try to get the most out of your car. Occaisionally, that means you will receive a tune that may have the AFR a bit off. What I did for both cars is have the car dynoed and send the graphs to Doug. He tweaked the tunes and sent them right back to me. For what it's worth, the stock tune on my '07 was ridiculously rich. It just goes to show that unless it's a dyno tune, things can happen. But Doug is very good about fixing any issues.

And yes, the tunes from Doug are amazingly better than the stock and canned tunes. I recommend the 93 race tune. Use it in my DD with no issue.

 

[ski]

I recommend the 93 race tune. Use it in my DD with no issue.

+1