HP Tuner

[spc2125]

With big plans in mind performance wise would it be worth it to buy a hp tuner
http://www.hptuners.com/

Im thinking if its going to cost me around 400-500 for one tune up at a shop,
why not spend like 400 and i can tune my alero everytime i add something new.

What do you think?

[[ion] C2]

yup

[spc2125]

C2;581431']yup

do you have one or know somebody who has one?
what do you think of them?

[[ion] C2]

http://ion-productions.com/thumbs.gif

[jabartram]

400, i paid 650.00.

[Chris2000]

by the time u turbo your alero and all this stuff ur talking about i'll have my alero back. which is .. never

[XanderWiFi]

You will not be able to tune your vehicle at a shop unless you have a tuner already. Or such is the way here in El Paso. I thought I would just go pay the 80-100 for a tune, but they wanted me to have a tuner so I still ended up buying one.

[spc2125]

wait. im confused. i thought that if i go to a shop to tune my car so that i will be getting the correct hp after i put in my exhaust and ect. then it would be around 4-5 hundred bucks.

then i thought that if i bought this then i would be able to tune my hp wenever i needed to by just using the hp tuner i bought instead of buying the hp tuner and going to a shop....

anybody care to clarify?

[Ttop191]

wow you dont actually "tune" horsepower...its about a/f ratios, spark timing, injector pulse length, and various other things...you clearly have no idea what you are talking about...if by some rare chance in hell you actually go through with this, have someone build your set up, and then get it tuned by a shop, cause you will blow your motor the fuck up

[Shiwnath]

All Xander was saying is that most tuning places don't carry HP tuners and you have to buy it and bring it in for them to tune your car. You can always tune your car with HP tuners yourself. You don't buy hptuners just to have someone to do it for you, you buy it to tune it yourself and you always have the option to take it to a tuner and have it professionally tuned

[spc2125]

maybe a "tune up" isnt what im talking about.
im talking about say if i added a full exhaust and an air intake, then there would be more air flow than stock resulting in not enough gas. I would then have to take it to the shop to....?
(thats where i thought i could buy the hp tuner and i wouldnt need to go to the shop because i thought it all had to do with changing the computer in the car per se)

[Cliff8928]

Yeah, you could do it yourself if you have the know-how.

[XanderWiFi]

Take it easy there ttop...he's just learning.

There is a difference between a tune up and engine tuning. But here's the deal: I put on a CAI, high flow cat and a cat back exhaust and had no issues. It was only when I put the headers on that I started having enough air flow to throw lean codes. As a result I wanted to get an engine tune to correct the balance so I asked around for the best place and that place requires customers to have their own tuner. That is why I bought my hptuners-because I am not even going to pretend that I know how to datalog and I lack the mechanical know how to fix a blown engine on my daily driver.

Also, I have not heard of a tune costing 4-500 dollars before. A dynotuner shop usually charges 80-100 buck for a couple pulls and they will maximize the potential of all the items ttop listed. Someday, I will learn to datalog and then my hptuners with the wideband will be pretty handy indeed-but that day is not today.

My best suggestion for you would be to browse through the "how-to" sections. There is a lot of good information that users have already posted and you can see exactly what you can do and what you need to do it. Especially check the threads I make: they are good for beginners and I always try to use a practical title for easy searching.

[Shiwnath]

maybe a "tune up" isnt what im talking about.
im talking about say if i added a full exhaust and an air intake, then there would be more air flow than stock resulting in not enough gas. I would then have to take it to the shop to....?
(thats where i thought i could buy the hp tuner and i wouldnt need to go to the shop because i thought it all had to do with changing the computer in the car per se)

If you added an intake and exhaust, yes there would be more air flow, but not to the point where you run lean..well atleast if everything was installed properly. if your buying HP tuners just because you think you won't be getting enough gas because of an intake and an exhaust system I think you should be doing some more research. Intake and exhaust are two minor mods. When you get into heavy stuff like ported intakes, heads and cams, then tuning is neccessary, but thats just my opinion. You car should run fine without a tune.

[spc2125]

im going to get a air intake, pacesetter armor coated header, magnaflow high flow cat, pacesetter dual catback exhaust, both O2 sensors an all other hardware
thats why i suggested getting going to a shop so i can get the hp gain.
but so you saying to get that hp gain and the gas flowing amount all set i would just have to dyno?

[Ttop191]

no...a dyno-tune...they put your car on a dyno, get your readings for all the things i listed, then adjust them accordingly so you are at a better efficiency level

[spc2125]

no...a dyno-tune...they put your car on a dyno, get your readings for all the things i listed, then adjust them accordingly so you are at a better efficiency level

correct.
any this will cost around $500 right?

[sleepyalero]

correct.
any this will cost around $500 right?

if thats what the shop quoted you at... yes... or if you have to buy your own tuner and bring it in then you would be paying more.

[Redog]

You don't need it UNLESS your going to be doing MAJOR mods like a turbo, s/c, cam swap, head swap, etc

The first thing you need to do is calm down. Your posts are a lot like my 2 year old when he has WAYYYYY to much sugar.

I bought the HPTuners, but I also have a camshaft and a bottom end that will be going together soon. ;)

[[ion] C2]

Also, I have not heard of a tune costing 4-500 dollars before. A dynotuner shop usually charges 80-100 buck for a couple pulls and they will maximize the potential

I have not heard of a tune costing $80-100 before. It usually costs $80-100 for JUST the pulls, basically just going on the dyno to just see what you make. Professional dyno/street tuning costs $400-600. There's a lot of time and effort involved.

How long did it take your cheap tuning buddy to say your tune is complete? What did he change? Was the advance raised, air-fuel ratio maintained consistently, and knock eliminated? What were the power gains from baseline to the finale tune?

[XanderWiFi]

Well heck. I have the tuner now so hopefully I am only paying for the pulls. I will find out today in any case because this SES light is driving me nuts.

Seems I definitely need more research on my end as well.

[Vic28]

Save your money, if you want a tune go to SMG since they are in MA and they have HPT.

[XanderWiFi]

Place A: "we can dynotune you for $150." 1.5 hr later, me: "hey what is going on?" Them: "oh, our laptop is broke. Get at us later." Me: "Fuck you."

Place B: "A tune? $395 for that work." Me: "$395? Place A just told me $150." Them: "Oh yeah, Place A probably just does a flash-not an actual tune. You got time to hang out? We can get you in at 1600 (currently 1430)?" Me: "Yeah I'll hang." Them: (at 1600) "Yeah, we're not going to be able to do it today..."

Me: "Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Insert that one face here:

Hate El Paso.

[spc2125]

Save your money, if you want a tune go to SMG since they are in MA and they have HPT.

how much to dyno tune my a/f ratios, spark timing, injector pulse length, and various other things from SMG?

[AZFire316]

http://trifectaperformance.com/dynotuning.aspx

I know you cant use it having an Alero, but thats who I had to go to to tune my Cobalt after the S/C install, but it gives you an example of price.

[widbyj]

trifectaperformance sounds interesting and I will visit them the next time I'm in the Seattle area (2.5 hr drive west).

Note: What they are doing sounds very similar to what an HPTuner setup can/will do. An Alero CAN be tuned the same way, in fact I had to put an Alero ECM in my Malibu in order to support the S/C (GM dealership reprogramming so far). I have logged some data with my HPTuner already but had kinks to work out before doing any real tuning.

Unless a particular shop already has a tune in hand that matches your setup expect to pay for at least a half day of technical services. A dyno may not be required but should make it faster/easier to do. If you truly need a custom tune you already have spent enough cash that another 500 or so won't blow your mind. Do it right and you won't be blowing motors... been there.

[Caboose73]

Save your money, if you want a tune go to SMG since they are in MA and they have HPT.

X2 on SMG i was down there 2 weeks ago when my buddy had his cobalt tuned i know his tune cost him about $400 very nice guy and he knows his stuff.

[jhubbz]

I'm starting to think about investing in HP Tuners.

I'm running mostly stock right now. I have a WAI/CAI, MSD ignition coils with MSD superconductor wires. I'm eventually going to want to do full exhaust and possibly secret cam swap. Possibly, MAYBE down the road do a turbo set up.

As of what I have right now, would I benefit from HP? I'm just thinking I would like to see better shift timing and better use of the ignition.

[MMGT1]

imo having the ability to simply tune these transmissions makes it worth it. If you were close to stock and manual, I would say wait till you actually need it. With an auto it's really worth it even to a bone stock car

[a.graham52]

imo having the ability to simply tune these transmissions makes it worth it. If you were close to stock and manual, I would say wait till you actually need it. With an auto it's really worth it even to a bone stock car

explain.

im considering getting it too. but first id also like to know if you can check/clear codes with it. if you can then can you do it to any gm/ford/dodge vehicle without buying credits?

[Redog]

I bought mine and it came with 8 credits. However I only got GM credits with mine

[XanderWiFi]

Side question: is there a certain dyno setup that is particular to our cars or works best? Would hate to get the hptuners and money only to get it tuned on poor equipment. What are the things to look out for?

Haven't got my tune yet. Out of El Paso, but money and time are short.

[MMGT1]

explain.

im considering getting it too. but first id also like to know if you can check/clear codes with it. if you can then can you do it to any gm/ford/dodge vehicle without buying credits?

Huge delay programed in for shift time. Shift pressures are horrible in factory tune. Torque managament is burning out transmissions that are actually a strong unit when set up right man.

Yes, you can read and clear codes. You can scan any vehicle supported by the program, you only have to licence the ones you want to tune.

[Redog]

I hooked it up to my Mom's Cavalier and licensed the car as well.

the car only has 46,000 miles on it, and she drives like she's 70. (You should have seen her when I had her car on the NJ Turnpike screaming at 80 LOL)

I didn't do much in the way of tuning to her car, just removed the speed limiter (which was 109 in her car) and changed the fan temps a bit and let them run for 30 seconds after key off. The fan temps weren't too bad in the orginal program though 203 on 197 off. I changed it to 185 on and 170 off ;)