Tuners For The 05 - 09 Gt's

This may mave already been beaten to dust or is already a sticky...if so, please blow this OP away, but......
I have been reading alot on the web about "tuners",(maybe too much) and quite frankly, it's sounding like a tuner should be the first step before any mods are made. I mean things like the ECU reading and managing drivshaft roations vs tire rotation, traction, Air / fuel mixtures, shift points, cam timing, cylinder spark etc. It sounds like the ECU is messing with alot more than I realized...and can the tuners actually over-ride the performance robbing things ? Fixing the speedo and clearing error codes is nifty, but what else can be controlled and modified by a $400 grade tuner ? I post this here because I have an 05 manual trans.

SpartaPerformance said:

Any mods changing performance require a tune. Basically in the tuner is a new set of fuel, spark and timing curves based on the performance enhancing components added to the vehicle. There are basic controls that can be made by the owner of the vehicles on such devices as the SCT SF-3 but if you want real performance an experienced tune shop is recommended.

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So....is an "over the counter" tuner intended more for improving a stock vehicle over the factory settings, and a modified car should probably be handled by a pro with a dyno (and tuner) ?

SpartaPerformance said:

No you can tune for performance enhanced parts too, the SF3 will allow you to compensate for cold air intake and CMRC deletes for example.

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Cool....Thanks !