This question was reminded me to ask after responding to a post by people over at Diablo. I have a 2005 with a few mods nothing serious. Prior to getting the car tuned I had no problems with the car. I was looking at keeping things simple and tuning the car myself with one of those hand held deals. It was recommended that I could get better gains from professional tune. So I spent nearly $700 for a tune. Since that point I have brought the car back numerous times to get little problems that keep coming up. My shift points were messed up, torque management, car stalling when coming to stop sign and lights, lights coming on showing air bag problems, car being little sluggish under heavy acceleration. I can go on; still the car isn't running as well as it did prior to getting it tuned. I was looking at getting the diablo predator or the Superchip Flashpaq deal before the custom tune. I'm wondering would it be beneficial to just go back to one of these hand held tunes? Would I be able to just plug this thing in with the custom tune already in it and the machine still do what it needs to. It has gotten to the point that I have spent more time down at the dyno that I'm now just irritated about doing this to begin with. What would you do? I asked the Diablo people this also but maybe you can help. What difference is there between different hand held tuners? Thx

This question was reminded me to ask after responding to a post by people over at Diablo. I have a 2005 with a few mods nothing serious. Prior to getting the car tuned I had no problems with the car. I was looking at keeping things simple and tuning the car myself with one of those hand held deals. It was recommended that I could get better gains from professional tune. So I spent nearly $700 for a tune. Since that point I have brought the car back numerous times to get little problems that keep coming up. My shift points were messed up, torque management, car stalling when coming to stop sign and lights, lights coming on showing air bag problems, car being little sluggish under heavy acceleration. I can go on; still the car isn't running as well as it did prior to getting it tuned. I was looking at getting the diablo predator or the Superchip Flashpaq deal before the custom tune. I'm wondering would it be beneficial to just go back to one of these hand held tunes? Would I be able to just plug this thing in with the custom tune already in it and the machine still do what it needs to. It has gotten to the point that I have spent more time down at the dyno that I'm now just irritated about doing this to begin with. What would you do? I asked the Diablo people this also but maybe you can help. What difference is there between different hand held tuners? Thx

Sorry to hear about that bad luck, I had an issue with a tuner but they took care of me next time I was at their shop. If you are looking to tune your car your self Diablo is a good tuner, I have a friend I helped tune is Vette, the only thing we forgot to do was remove the navigation fuse as the directions said to. Fortunately the tune went through OK with no problems. Are there any other tuners around you?

You know what, I would go back to them and request full refund. Then go out and buy your hand held or find another tuner! :willy_nilly:

I have left me car stock, thats a sh*ty position your in. As someone else mentioned I would bring the car back and demand a full refund. I'm not a motor head, but that is clear as day wrong.

Here is a litte information that may help you understand what you're dealing with a little better.

Hand held programmers are basically a pre-canned tune for a vehicle that is the same model year, with the same engine options as yours. All cars are just a little different, even if they are the same years, and have the same options, etc. This is why some new cars right off the showroom floor run better than others. If you have one of the good cars from the factory, you won't see much gain at all from a had held programmer, but if your car is on the weaker side, then you could see big gains from the same programmer. These are usually in the 300-500.00 range.

Another option is to buy a single license of one of the popular tuning software, (EFILive, HPTuners)and an AFR gauge, and tune your own car. This is much more complicated than simply downloading a pre-canned tune, but it can give you the best results. This option would cost 600-700.00 but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are proficient with computers and engines, or are willing to spend the time to learn.

The last option is to take your car to someone that has a workshop license on one of the above software packages, and pay them to tune your car. This can cost anywhere from 300-700.00, but unfortunately, just because someone has the software does not mean they know how to properly tune your vehicle.

If you need to find someone local that you can trust, ask around and see who the local guys with modified cars use. They will know which shops are good and which ones aren't.

Hope this helps,
Ed

but unfortunately, just because someone has the software does not mean they know how to properly tune your vehicle.Well said Ed. This is an often overlooked issue when it comes to tuning.

To the OP, if you decide to go the Predator route, I would suggest having the car flashed back to stock first, or, you could let the Predator read the backup file, email it to me, and I will send you a 'good' tune for your car.

Lemme know.

Thanks
Mike

Well said Ed. This is an often overlooked issue when it comes to tuning.

To the OP, if you decide to go the Predator route, I would suggest having the car flashed back to stock first, or, you could let the Predator read the backup file, email it to me, and I will send you a 'good' tune for your car.

Lemme know.

Thanks
Mike

Does your car need to have all sorts of mods to benefit from your Predator? I'm looking at getting a Vararam for my 2007 depending on what I need to modify. Other wise my car is stock automatic, would I benefit from this?

Andy

"Another option is to buy a single license of one of the popular tuning software, (EFILive, HPTuners)and an AFR gauge, and tune your own car. This is much more complicated than simply downloading a pre-canned tune, but it can give you the best results. This option would cost 600-700.00 but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are proficient with computers and engines, or are willing to spend the time to learn."

:smack: Sorry Ed, I would be scared to touch my own car. Thats me, but you did say "proficient with computers and engines". I was just laughing that someone might pick this up and have no idea what they are doing and attempt to tune it that way and then have a super screwed up car! :smack:

Great post very detail!

David

I was just laughing that someone might pick this up and have no idea what they are doing and attempt to tune it that way and then have a super screwed up car! :smack:

Great post very detail!

David


Unfortunately, that happens everyday David! But, that does give you the ability to have an experienced tuner that's far away email files to you so you can download them, then you can record data to send back to him so he can fine tune your setup. Similar to what Mike can do if you have one of his Diablosport Predators.


Ed

:thumbsdown: Sorry to hear that, I would be P*SSED!

Does your car need to have all sorts of mods to benefit from your Predator? I'm looking at getting a Vararam for my 2007 depending on what I need to modify. Other wise my car is stock automatic, would I benefit from this?

AndyNo, in fact the Predator (U7194) for the 07 Vette has tunes based around a stock/bolt-on application and would wake your car up quite a bit. We see an average of 15 rwhp on the A6 cars withthe out of the box Predator tune, you may see a bit more if you spend some time dialing it in with the adjustable parameters.
Then, if you go crazy with Heads/cam or a stroker or FI, you can have a CMR dealer with our software make a custom tune on the dyno for that application,,and load it to your tool.

Thanks
Mike

No, in fact the Predator (U7194) for the 07 Vette has tunes based around a stock/bolt-on application and would wake your car up quite a bit. We see an average of 15 rwhp on the A6 cars withthe out of the box Predator tune, you may see a bit more if you spend some time dialing it in with the adjustable parameters.
Then, if you go crazy with Heads/cam or a stroker or FI, you can have a CMR dealer with our software make a custom tune on the dyno for that application,,and load it to your tool.

Thanks
Mike

15HP is more than I thought is that because of the torque management your program is adjusting?

This question was reminded me to ask after responding to a post by people over at Diablo. I have a 2005 with a few mods nothing serious. Prior to getting the car tuned I had no problems with the car. I was looking at keeping things simple and tuning the car myself with one of those hand held deals. It was recommended that I could get better gains from professional tune. So I spent nearly $700 for a tune. Since that point I have brought the car back numerous times to get little problems that keep coming up. My shift points were messed up, torque management, car stalling when coming to stop sign and lights, lights coming on showing air bag problems, car being little sluggish under heavy acceleration. I can go on; still the car isn't running as well as it did prior to getting it tuned. I was looking at getting the diablo predator or the Superchip Flashpaq deal before the custom tune. I'm wondering would it be beneficial to just go back to one of these hand held tunes? Would I be able to just plug this thing in with the custom tune already in it and the machine still do what it needs to. It has gotten to the point that I have spent more time down at the dyno that I'm now just irritated about doing this to begin with. What would you do? I asked the Diablo people this also but maybe you can help. What difference is there between different hand held tuners? Thx


Damn that sucks, I would be pressing them for a full refund.