hey guys, my searches couldnt help me decide what to do. i REALLY want a tune soon, but im only 5 months and 5K miles into a 5yr 100,000 mile warranty. i definately am not trying to void it. i hear alot about a trifecta tune but cant seem to grasp what it is or the particulars. also i hear the GM stage kit is iffy and overpriced. would love the help of the guys who have been there and done that. i guess it would be best to tune after my bolt ons are complete...?

thanks
chris

 

gm stage kit is not overpriced, you gott 22psi, +50hp at 4700rpms (stock is usually 230hp at that rpm) and your power band gets fatter through out the rpm. you cant put a price on saving your warranty.

 

i hear it wont work well with an aftermarket intake and i can get messages and 'you cant trust dealers'. thats what my buddy told me. huge subaru guy. who knows. i want most bang for my buck with warranty, sounds like GM stage kit is the way to go. whens it out? what is trifecta tho?

 

The new trifecta can be a stealth tune, masked to GM dealers. Someone posted a dyno too, made nice peak numbers.

I was recently in the same boat, just over 5K miles and 10yr 200K from my dealer. I said **** it and bought the HPT. I have 0 regrets, I thought it was quick before....now it's just nuts!

 

Keep in mind though that it's 280 at the crank, so it's not +50hp. 280hp-260hp=20hp.

To the OP: It's really your preference on what's more important to you.

Trifecta offers better gains than the Stage Kit for less money, but the Stage Kit offers what still amounts to a nice gain and it costs more although you keep your warranty generally speaking.

That said, I'm personally leaning more towards aftermarket, since no matter what it won't affect anything unrelated, like cosmetic and body things, and a dealer can still deny a warranty claim even if you have the Stage Kit... or perhaps especially if you have the Stage Kit (since it may lead them to think that if you wanted the kit, you probably have a higher chance of ragging it). At the end of the day it's up to the dealer, and if they think that abuse caused the failure, no matter what form (Stage Kit or aftermarket), your warranty claim is equally voided.

 

I personally only have experience with the trifecta tune, but so far I think it's great.. I'm making 303whp and 332wtrq and that was on a hot/muggy day. In cooler weather you are pretty much assured to make more power than that.. Plus trifecta tune is totally selectable, meaning you can turn it on and off as you wish.. And as far as warranty work goes, guys with this tune have so far run into zero problems with warranty work (as far as I know) due to it's ability to not be detected.. Plus to top it off Vince is seriously great to work with, and he very much takes pride in his work/product so he does everything he possibly can to please his customers.. I'm sure HPTuner guys will probably disagree with me, but everyone is entitled to thier own oppinion..

 

I was in the GM stage 1 kit, you want all out power get Trifecta or HP tuners. You want your warranty? get GM, they can find these tunes IF they look into your car, most dealers dont. GM stage 1 is less of a "holey **** that just snapped my neck" (I like that kind of tune) power but a smooth powerband that pulls quite hard. like somebody else said in my thread, GM tunes will never be as powerful as a aftermarket tune because GM has to deal with CARB and they do EXTENSIVE testing on the kit before it is released to make sure it will last the life of your car. What ever you buy you will be happy with.
-Nate

 

lol, wrong, 280-230 = 50hp. AT 4700RPMs

280-260 = 20hp AT 5100RPMS

the power curve is shifted, peak power comes much earlier and the power band stays pretty fat starting around 2100rpms.

at 3000rpms theres about a 17hp gain, 3500 rpms theres 24hp gain, 4000 rpms = 35hp gain. 4700 rpms = 50 hp gain.

With a shifted curve, there's no need to go all the way to redline now, you can accelerate up to 5500rpms and shift there for the quickest acceleration under those specifications. its not garbage, you have to read all the numbers. gm tune shaved 0.3-0.4 seconds off 1/4 mile time.

 

I thought we were talking peak vs peak here. Ok.

 

This is true, but also keep in mind I'm making the same WHEEL HP at 4500rpm that I am at 6000rpm which is 275 and hold over 300whp from between 5000-5500.. again that is wheel horse, not crank.. so the powerband on the trifecta tune is pretty good but unfortunately the powerband with the stage 1 in very narrow.. I have no real issues with the stage 1 keep in mind, I'm just throwing out my 2 cents on the trifecta tune..

 

that is the peak? 4700rpm is the new peak. at that peak its a 50 hp increase. the old peak was at 5100rpms where it made 260 hp, it probably makes around 270hp there now.

 

i still have my warrenty with all the bolt ons and custom tune

 

yeah, I dont know about trifecta powerband, thats pretty crazy that it hold almost the same power throughout the shift point! still, I like my stock clutch, i dont wanna upgrade that just yet and yeah, compared to that, the gm tune is narrower for the shift point, but that gentle climb in power will let the wheels distribute that power at a manageable rate. Im just hoping that after bolt on I break 300whp with that same power slope.

that maybe true, but I dont wanna play the warranty game with the dealer when **** hits the fan

 

im pretty much sold. should i get my bolt ons finished before the trifecta tune? how much is it and where do i sign up?

 

yeah i would do your boltons first then get the tune, or at the very least your CAI if you're planning on getting one.. contact clear image auto and fill out the order sheet there.. either that or go to http://www.trifectaperformance.com/default.aspx and find a local dealer if you can.. they tend to be a little less expensive.. not that clear image is really that much more.. jesus, maybe i should become a freakin dealer, or get some throwbacks for vendor support.. lol

 

alright thanks man. got my CAI already. if i get the tune then later an exhaust and downpipe, will i need to retune?

 

No, but if you you want to get the most out of it then yes.

 

sounds good thanks all. think ill finish the physical mods then go for the tune.

 

I recommend doing at least the intake and downpipe before the tune. the exhaust is unnecessary. stock exhaust is 2.75" measured, after market exhaust is 3"

our exhaust is rated at 2.5" but its really slightly bigger, only thing you'll get with an aftermarket exhaust is the growl. I just have the CIA catted dp and with the stock exhaust it sounds pretty impressive on its own.

 

Someone mentioned my Dyno?



I'm at over 5k feet and it was over 95f outside. Vince from Trifecta is TOTALLY awesome to work with. He can set your tune up almost any way you want it. You just have to insure that you have a 2gig SD card for any updates you may want to do. The selectable tune is awesome. It's easier on your engine and turbo as the tune won't be running full time.

 

Just get the GM stage 1 kit.

 

I'm totally happy with my selectable Trifecta tune and you can't beat the price, Vince is great to work with. The tune is NOT detectable by a Tech-2 scanner and when it's in normal mode the car drives like stock so the dealer has nothing to be concerned about. That doesn't guarantee warranty work as evidenced by the huge headache Marin or whoever it was had with his STOCK car when his engine tanked but at least you don't have to worry about the dealer finding the tune.

I think it's kinda funny that many of the people who are justifying the stage kit say they are doing it to keep their warranty. GM has refused warranty work on 100% stock vehicles because of "abuse" or whatever crap reason they want to come up with. They could do the EXACT same thing on a vehicle with the stage kit installed...nothing is guaranteed.

If warranty is your only reason to get the stage kit...get the stealth Trifecta tune and you'd be in the same boat but you've spent about 400 bucks less.

 

Not to mention You'd get it installed a LOT faster.

 

so i can turn the tune off? do i need a tuner? i dont get how it works.

 

You can pick a button in the car that switches between the stock tune and a performance tune. For me its the traction control button.

Normal mode - stock tune
TCS off - stock tune
Competitive mode - performance tune
ECS off - performance tune

Others have used the cruise control button. You can switch tunes on the fly and it's seamless.

To install it you just order from CIA, they ship you a handheld unit or a data cable that hooks up to a laptop, you plug it into your OBD2 port, run a program and 10 mins later you're tuned. You take the car for a few datalogging runs and send the logs to Vince, he adjusts the tune and sends you a new tune to reflash if needed. Whole process is simple and only takes half an hour or so.