Trifecta Budget Tune
05-22-2012, 10:09 AM
#26
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Wait for all the misfire codes to start popping up! I've never seen a trifecta tuned car not misfire like crazy. But don't worry according to Vince its normal for a car to misfire lol
05-22-2012, 11:05 AM
#28
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Although I will say this I have gotten HPTuners and will have James tune me then I will learn to tweak it myself just so I can more familiar myself with my own car. Tuning is the only thing I have never done myself as I have done all other work on the car and I would like to correct that.
But like I said I have personally talked to Vince and I have a more aggressive tune targeted to exactly how I wanted it so I am different than most.
I will say and always have that a good HPTune from a good tuner will get you more out of the car than your run of the meal Trifecta tune.
05-22-2012, 11:24 AM
#29
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Lucky for you guys! So far all the Trifecta tuned cars I've seen except for 1 had been misfiring. Im not saying Ive seen 50 trifecta tuned cars, but when almost all of the ones I have seen show misfires, somethings up, some cars worse than others too, not all of them were terrible.
But still no car should be misfiring, and when the owners of the car told me that Vince says not to worry its normal, sorry but how could I trust that guy?!? Especially when its enough to pop the code for it!!
But still no car should be misfiring, and when the owners of the car told me that Vince says not to worry its normal, sorry but how could I trust that guy?!? Especially when its enough to pop the code for it!!
05-23-2012, 11:42 AM
#30
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I've had a Trifecta tune for over 30k miles with no codes except for a evap solenoid that went bad. Don't listen to the bashers on this forum that only sell a couple tunes a year. I have personally sold over 400 Trifecta tunes in the last 2 years and have never had a single customer blow a motor or report any codes that were not caused by a faulty part.
Trifecta isn't the small time no-name company people here would have you believe. We sell a ton of tunes to the Camaro, Cruze, Sonic, and GM Truck crowd.
The budget tune is an ultra conservative tune that is meant for mostly stock vehicles that are not expected to be modified later on. If you expect to modify the vehicle later on, you should get the regular tune, not the budget tune.
We sell the budget tune and the regular tune on our site for less than Trifecta direct.
www.badnewsracing.net
Trifecta isn't the small time no-name company people here would have you believe. We sell a ton of tunes to the Camaro, Cruze, Sonic, and GM Truck crowd.
The budget tune is an ultra conservative tune that is meant for mostly stock vehicles that are not expected to be modified later on. If you expect to modify the vehicle later on, you should get the regular tune, not the budget tune.
We sell the budget tune and the regular tune on our site for less than Trifecta direct.
www.badnewsracing.net
05-23-2012, 09:08 PM
#33
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I have the budget tune, love it. I've only misfired like 3-5 times in the one year I've had the tune (Those were all NLS. Never misfired on DD). I've tracked my car a lot too and it works great.
05-23-2012, 10:18 PM
#35
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So short of GMS1, I'm a tune virgin - what's the procedure if I get the BT? Do I put a deposit on a cable? I like GMS1, but I could use a little more for those special moments, and I'd put down a couple bills for a switchable tune.
That - and is "mildly modified" include putting a catted DP on as well? I thought about that as my next mod.
That - and is "mildly modified" include putting a catted DP on as well? I thought about that as my next mod.
05-23-2012, 11:18 PM
#36
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So short of GMS1, I'm a tune virgin - what's the procedure if I get the BT? Do I put a deposit on a cable? I like GMS1, but I could use a little more for those special moments, and I'd put down a couple bills for a switchable tune.
That - and is "mildly modified" include putting a catted DP on as well? I thought about that as my next mod.
That - and is "mildly modified" include putting a catted DP on as well? I thought about that as my next mod.
I could work that in for you
05-23-2012, 11:31 PM
#37
With Trifecta you get a tune from a tuner who has tuned more Cobalts than anyone else. Vince used to work for Microsoft and tunes all kinds of Chevy cars. He does tend to be a little conservative.... probably because blowing engines is bad for business. If Vince blows an engine, he loses tens of thousands of dollars. With Trifecta, you may be leaving 10-20 hp on the table but you're getting piece of mind. I imagine the reason Vince doesn't allow everyone to see the logs is because it would create an endless number of questions. Plus everyone who thinks they know about tuning would critique the Trifecta logs and tell their buddy that this is wrong and that is wrong. The guy with the Trifecta tune would go to Vince and say, "My buddy, who is also a tuner, said this is a bad tune." If you get a Trifecta, you can get an Interceptor or other gauge that is right there where the boost gauge goes. With this you can monitor AFRs, Knock, IATs, Boost, and a TON of other things. With a Trifecta tune you get the selectable tune. If you already have GMS1 you can flip between that and the Trifecta tune. Mine is set up so it is running Trifecta all the time. If I want to run GMS1 I just push in the cruise control button.
With HPT you could be getting a **** tune or a good one. Everyone says to use a "reputable" tuner but what exactly does that mean? A guy that two of his buddies reccomend? If you go with HPT you're putting your car's engine in the hands of some guy who learned on a forum and through trial and error. An HPTuner has little to lose if they blow your engine. They lose forum cred and a maybe a few hundred bucks. The most popular HPTuner is always bashing ZZP and acting like he knows more than them and Vince. His grammar and spelling are on about a 4th grade level. How anyone could trust their engine to someone like this is beyond me.
Think of it like this. You are sick and need a surgery. You can go to a hospital and get a doctor who has performed this surgery a ton of times or you can go to some guy who will do the surgery in his garage and graduated from ITT Tech or the University of Phoenix.
With HPT you could be getting a **** tune or a good one. Everyone says to use a "reputable" tuner but what exactly does that mean? A guy that two of his buddies reccomend? If you go with HPT you're putting your car's engine in the hands of some guy who learned on a forum and through trial and error. An HPTuner has little to lose if they blow your engine. They lose forum cred and a maybe a few hundred bucks. The most popular HPTuner is always bashing ZZP and acting like he knows more than them and Vince. His grammar and spelling are on about a 4th grade level. How anyone could trust their engine to someone like this is beyond me.
Think of it like this. You are sick and need a surgery. You can go to a hospital and get a doctor who has performed this surgery a ton of times or you can go to some guy who will do the surgery in his garage and graduated from ITT Tech or the University of Phoenix.
Last edited by casionerd; 05-23-2012 at 11:40 PM.
05-24-2012, 01:39 AM
#39
Senior Member
With Trifecta you get a tune from a tuner who has tuned more Cobalts than anyone else. Vince used to work for Microsoft and tunes all kinds of Chevy cars. He does tend to be a little conservative.... probably because blowing engines is bad for business. If Vince blows an engine, he loses tens of thousands of dollars. With Trifecta, you may be leaving 10-20 hp on the table but you're getting piece of mind. I imagine the reason Vince doesn't allow everyone to see the logs is because it would create an endless number of questions. Plus everyone who thinks they know about tuning would critique the Trifecta logs and tell their buddy that this is wrong and that is wrong. The guy with the Trifecta tune would go to Vince and say, "My buddy, who is also a tuner, said this is a bad tune." If you get a Trifecta, you can get an Interceptor or other gauge that is right there where the boost gauge goes. With this you can monitor AFRs, Knock, IATs, Boost, and a TON of other things. With a Trifecta tune you get the selectable tune. If you already have GMS1 you can flip between that and the Trifecta tune. Mine is set up so it is running Trifecta all the time. If I want to run GMS1 I just push in the cruise control button.
With HPT you could be getting a **** tune or a good one. Everyone says to use a "reputable" tuner but what exactly does that mean? A guy that two of his buddies reccomend? If you go with HPT you're putting your car's engine in the hands of some guy who learned on a forum and through trial and error. An HPTuner has little to lose if they blow your engine. They lose forum cred and a maybe a few hundred bucks. The most popular HPTuner is always bashing ZZP and acting like he knows more than them and Vince. His grammar and spelling are on about a 4th grade level. How anyone could trust their engine to someone like this is beyond me.
Think of it like this. You are sick and need a surgery. You can go to a hospital and get a doctor who has performed this surgery a ton of times or you can go to some guy who will do the surgery in his garage and graduated from ITT Tech or the University of Phoenix.
With HPT you could be getting a **** tune or a good one. Everyone says to use a "reputable" tuner but what exactly does that mean? A guy that two of his buddies reccomend? If you go with HPT you're putting your car's engine in the hands of some guy who learned on a forum and through trial and error. An HPTuner has little to lose if they blow your engine. They lose forum cred and a maybe a few hundred bucks. The most popular HPTuner is always bashing ZZP and acting like he knows more than them and Vince. His grammar and spelling are on about a 4th grade level. How anyone could trust their engine to someone like this is beyond me.
Think of it like this. You are sick and need a surgery. You can go to a hospital and get a doctor who has performed this surgery a ton of times or you can go to some guy who will do the surgery in his garage and graduated from ITT Tech or the University of Phoenix.
05-24-2012, 01:59 AM
#40
Personally I'll be getting the full switchable tune (which I noticed is cheaper on BNR's site 
) shortly after I get intercooler piping and a intercooler that doesn't have plastic end caps 
There's a good chance I'll be dropping the 3 bar sensors in too just for good measure depending on Vince's recommendation, I'm local to him so there's a good chance I'll end up getting tuned by him on the spot.
) shortly after I get intercooler piping and a intercooler that doesn't have plastic end caps There's a good chance I'll be dropping the 3 bar sensors in too just for good measure depending on Vince's recommendation, I'm local to him so there's a good chance I'll end up getting tuned by him on the spot.
05-24-2012, 12:15 PM
#41
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Thread Starter
On a warm day (77* F), it peaked at 24.5 and held 23.3 psi. Vice 20.8 and 19.4 for GMS1 on the same day when I switched between Tunes.
Vince told me that it's capable of about 95% of his regular LNF Tune.
Catted D/P and K&N drop-in are my only other engine mods.
05-24-2012, 02:28 PM
#42
Senior Member
I had the Trifecta switchable with regular gas and with E85. With the gas tune, I never had issues. With the E85, I would run out of fuel, but that wasn't Vince's fault. There are a lot of tuners on here that hack on Vince, but I think his tunes work wonderfully. I only switched to HPT because I wanted to learn to do my own tuning. Unfortunately, I'm not very smart, and all that tuning talk makes my brain buzz. Maybe it's the ADD.
05-24-2012, 06:50 PM
#43
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I had the Trifecta switchable with regular gas and with E85. With the gas tune, I never had issues. With the E85, I would run out of fuel, but that wasn't Vince's fault. There are a lot of tuners on here that hack on Vince, but I think his tunes work wonderfully. I only switched to HPT because I wanted to learn to do my own tuning. Unfortunately, I'm not very smart, and all that tuning talk makes my brain buzz. Maybe it's the ADD.
But the real reason why I switched is somewhat embarrassing and because of my lack of car knowledge and the hear/say of others made me scared of Vince's tune.
Long story short, after I upgraded my turbo, Vince's tune was making my turbo make weird noises and surging when I went WOT below 3k RPMs in 3rd gear or higher. I like most autoly declined folk (trademarked) assumed it was the tune. I asked Vince countless times to fix it and he worked with me too. Nice guy, but he said it's normal.
I was frustrated, didn't believe that was right and said, everyone must be telling the truth, his tunes suck and will break my car etc.
Switched to HPTuner and realized it does it too. Called precision turbo and they said, "oh that noise is normal because we use ceramic bearings on a steel race" etc. Then ZZP said since the compressor is bigger but the exhaust on the turbo is stock it causes that extra pressure, that's why they don't like the K04+. They said don't floor it below 3k rpms and I'll be okay. Sure enough the surge doesn't happen with HPT and it didn't happen with Vinces tune either.
So in my haste and fear of the unknown I sold my TF cable, bought a HPT.
What I have noticed with HPT and TF is HPT is a lot easier to flash, 30s vs 5-10 minutes. So that's nice, but it seems like powerwise, I'm about the same. If not a little more powerful with HPT.
Do I regret it? Sometimes, but I am at least growing as a person and learning to tune myself with the help of multiple tuners. I'll never ever be as good as these guys, but now that I have my base files to work with, I don't think I need to hound them for revisions all the time. I can handle them myself lol.
I'm committed to my decision now, I"m not gonna spend any more money on my car other than things that fail.
Last edited by vahdyx; 05-24-2012 at 06:58 PM.
05-25-2012, 12:37 AM
#49
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The budget tune is for stock or mostly stock vehicles. If you get a premium tune we take into account your mods when Trifecta writes the base tune. Once we get a data log from you, Trifecta will fine tune it.