WRX / Ecutek Tuner

[Ronin Tactical]

I'm going to be very politically correct here - I need a tuner that won't bend me over like a new prison inmate - I laid down 295/307 last time out.

So, I checked with Phoenix Performance, but their whole team is out of town for 2 weeks at the Nationals in Kansas; Rallispec can't get me in until mid-November; Precision in Brick, NJ doesn't do Ecutek; can't get a call back from XX Tuning, don't know what's up there...

I can travel a bit, and can certainly go during the week, since I work from home and can take some time off...

So....I need to do this within the next few weeks - anyone know of other Ecutek people in the area that won't hit me between the eyes with a silly estimate? I'm a grown man, I know my car, and just don't want to get jerked around....

[D Money]

Well....

You gotta pay for what your getting. NO MATTER where you go now, it's $300. Any reflash on Ecutek is $300. I don't see why this is all so negative because I know who your talking about and I really don't see a need for it.

[hellafastwrx]

www.MSPT.net

They may be a little far from you, but Metric Subaru Performance Tuning is here on Long Island. Give Dave Brown a call there. He is an excellent tuner who is nice, and easy to talk to and work with.

[TROLL]

my objective response here is that i have never heard of an ecutek tune for under $300-400.
another place you didnt mention is agile auto in md. i think they're $400 or $500 for a tune though.

[Ronin Tactical]

Originally Posted by subwrxkid

Well....

You gotta pay for what your getting. NO MATTER where you go now, it's $300. Any reflash on Ecutek is $300. I don't see why this is all so negative because I know who your talking about and I really don't see a need for it.

No, I've already been quoted $150 at one place and $200 at another - both fairly local, I just have to wait 4-5 weeks, and I'd like to get it done sooner since I still have two autocrosses to do in the Northeast PA region.

You don't know the whole story, you'll notice I didn't tell the whole story, so whether you see a need for it, I'm being screwed, don't like it, and I want to find someone else.

[Ronin Tactical]

Originally Posted by TROLL

my objective response here is that i have never heard of an ecutek tune for under $300-400.
another place you didnt mention is agile auto in md. i think they're $400 or $500 for a tune though.

XX Tuning charges $250 for a tune from scratch, and $150 for a retune like I'm wanting - as much as I like Tony's work, I don't want to take two days off and go to Connecticut.

Rallispec quoted me $200.

[Ronin Tactical]

Originally Posted by hellafastwrx

www.MSPT.net

They may be a little far from you, but Metric Subaru Performance Tuning is here on Long Island. Give Dave Brown a call there. He is an excellent tuner who is nice, and easy to talk to and work with.

I'll do that - thanks, and it's not too far.

[D Money]

hahahahahaha.

Go to ralispec and I will laugh when you car comes out making way less power. Dave "street" tunes on i-295 and he sucks. These re-tunes your speaking of is if your former tuner want's to give you his map, other wise you have to start fresh for a regular tune. Ecutek software has a lock so other tuners cannot access different tuners maps, etc. Soo...now that you made this thread I doubt you will be recieving your map because you had to come on here and talk them down because he was going to charge you a normal price.

[Ronin Tactical]

Originally Posted by subwrxkid

hahahahahaha.

Go to ralispec and I will laugh when you car comes out making way less power. Dave "street" tunes on i-295 and he sucks. These re-tunes your speaking of is if your former tuner want's to give you his map, other wise you have to start fresh for a regular tune. Ecutek software has a lock so other tuners cannot access different tuners maps, etc. Soo...now that you made this thread I doubt you will be recieving your map because you had to come on here and talk them down because he was going to charge you a normal price.

Those prices were for tunes from scratch, not using the current map. Pretty funny that you want to dog me for not liking the way the other guy does business, but you'll flat out slam the guy at Rallispec without a conscience.

[SinistiR]

A non drive by wire flash is $750, a drive by wire flash is $850, a reflash is $350.

Jim was quoted $250 for a reflash, almost 30% less than a normal reflash, and after 30 min I would barely have the car strapped to the dyno and my sensors hooked up.

There are people on this site who get free retunes, the key is that when they send me clients I know because they say _______ sent me.

[D Money]

Rallispec tuned my previous setup and my tuned my old old old setup and it was garbage. He tunes on the highway with the laptop in his hands, how efficient is that? He then wouldn't give me my map to get tuned somewhere else so I had to pay again, yeah that same $300 that your complaining about. Oh well, I don't care. Do what you want but I am just saying that's the going rate for a tune so why would you not have your "former" tuner do it? It seems like your going to be paying the same price, so all this could have been avoided if you stuck with your old tuner.

[Ronin Tactical]

Originally Posted by SinistiR

A non drive by wire flash is $750, a drive by wire flash is $850, a reflash is $350.

Jim was quoted $250 for a reflash, almost 30% less than a normal reflash, and after 30 min I would barely have the car strapped to the dyno and my sensors hooked up.

There are people on this site who get free retunes, the key is that when they send me clients I know because they say _______ sent me.

Whatever....you and I know the real story, and I'm not on here talking trash, I just didn't like the way I was treated.

[SinistiR]

Originally Posted by Jim Lewis

I just didn't like the way I was treated.

yeah, there is alot of that going around.

[cody]

superrupair.com

Come on out to Colorado! I know a great tuner here.

[ej20wrx123]

Originally Posted by subwrxkid

. He tunes on the highway with the laptop in his hands, how efficient is that?

I know other tuners that have done "road" tunes just like that^ with great success so i wouldn't bash that way of tuning. Although i have raced a rallispec tuned sti and it was def tuned very conservative and i wouldn't go there for a tune.

Try Jr. at icsperformance.com.

[girlyspeed]

Originally Posted by hellafastwrx

www.MSPT.net

They may be a little far from you, but Metric Subaru Performance Tuning is here on Long Island. Give Dave Brown a call there. He is an excellent tuner who is nice, and easy to talk to and work with.

+1 Dave is a cool guy. Very easy to talk to. He was there for my tune with Clark last weekend. Clark couldn't take the time to talk to me, but Dave came over and told me (sorta) how they tuned me. I'll make a new post with some video of the dyno and some numbers

[silver05bullet]

i will say that road tunes are good and so are dyno tunes and each tuner has his own way of tuning, i have had nothing but good experiences wiht tuner xx even though i havent had him tune my car just yet waiting for some $$ and things to come my way before i will need a retune

[jkjersey]

Hmm.. this thread caught my interest. I am actually having my car conversion done at Rallispec as we speak. I am very curious what it is going to dyno at when all is said and done.

I do know that Autospeed is going to get a dyno installed soon and I am going to ask Dave if he would be willing to go to the dyno to tune if I was willing to pay for the dyno time. After all it is right down the street.

I will vouch that Dave's work he peformed on my friends cars is nothing short of 1st class. They don't rush jobs and my friends cars and tunes were "reliable". I know he does NOT tune to the ragged edge or close to the threshold. Yea some heads may make 10-20 whp more elsewhere but go see how many miles their engines last. I have seen many times on NASIOC and other forums where the owners of cars with these somewhat aggressive tunes have their engines blown within a half a year. There are however some exceptions to this scenario.

I will post the numbers and my results when I get the car back.

subwrxkid I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Rallispec. It sounded like an unfortunate rare situation. I just checked out your whip on your profile. Nice whip~!
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[D Money]

Originally Posted by jkjersey

Hmm.. this thread caught my interest. I am actually having my car conversion done at Rallispec as we speak. I am very curious what it is going to dyno at when all is said and done.

I do know that Autospeed is going to get a dyno installed soon and I am going to ask Dave if he would be willing to go to the dyno to tune if I was willing to pay for the dyno time. After all it is right down the street.

I will vouch that Dave's work he peformed on my friends cars is nothing short of 1st class. They don't rush jobs and my friends cars and tunes were "reliable". I know he does NOT tune to the ragged edge or close to the threshold. Yea some heads may make 10-20 whp more elsewhere but go see how many miles their engines last. I have seen many times on NASIOC and other forums where the owners of cars with these somewhat aggressive tunes have their engines blown within a half a year. There are however some exceptions to this scenario.

I will post the numbers and my results when I get the car back.

subwrxkid I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Rallispec. It sounded like an unfortunate rare situation. I just checked out your whip on your profile. Nice whip~!

Don't get me wrong, he does good work but I am not a fan of his tunes. Not a big deal, it was over 2 years ago. Anyways, thanks for the compliments. It doesn't look like that anymore, stay tuned for updates.

[alachua]

A good complete tune will include both road tuning, and dyno tuning. The dyno tuning would preferably be done on a load based dyno (ie: mustang/etc...) to more accurately reproduce the environment the car will be run. Dynojets are not load based, and will often times produce a tune that requires further modification to respond appropriately when driven on the street.

When it comes to tuning, you get what you pay for, most of the time. Discussing your goals with your tuner should have you both on the same page in regards to how close to the edge you want to be, and how close he is comfortable tuning. If the tuner is unable to provide you with what you desire, this would be established during your discussions. Going into this with only a horespower number in mind is a bad idea, as this is not a realistic goal for a tune. Also, if he is going to be tuning using an aftermarket electronic boost controller, make sure he is familiar with how to tune that device as well to limit the amount of time spent learning the device, or trying to compensate for a poorly/incorrectly set EBC. Going for simply the cheapest tuner will get you the cheapest tune for sure, anything else is a roll of the dice. Most tuners will charge based upon the amount of time spent tuning, and the more time spent, the closer you will be to an optimum tune that is line with your overall goals.

-Cliff