^ so u was tuned by him but didnt like his tune but went back to him for ur turbo swap tune sounds like to me u used him again for a reason, if u dont trust someone u dont use them twice Im sorry but thats just ******* stupid.

 

maybe he felt like giving james a second chance? after all, the nutswingers like you praise him like hes a god. If i didnt know any better and i wanted a fast cobalt, id probably go to james too with all the results and cars hes tuned, but i dug deeper.

not saying hes a bad guy or doubting his skills, just putting my input out there from a different perspective.

 

Let me clarify,

I was tuned by Trifecta and wanted to go HPT. CCSS3 contacted me and tuned me. I didn't like my 30 logs and still not being done. My experience was poor. I kept getting knock and I was sick of logging. He said I can stop whenever but my car isn't right and if it breaks don't blame him. I couldn't understand why I had 30 logs and still not good.

I asked other people and they said it's not right.

Told this to James and he said I need to change my spark plug gaps. I didn't understand why Trifecta tune can work with stock gapping and he couldn't

We went back and forth then finally I said I'm going back to Trifecta.

Then when I upgraded to K04+ CCSS3 continued to help me help Vince with tuning. I told Vince what James suggested and Vince did just this. I kept getting surge with Vince. James stated a slower ramp due to smaller exhaust etc. K04+ etc. Told this to Vince he did that and it was fixed. So James earned my trust back and I thought I'd give him another shot and since I already paid him it was a easy move for me to make. I wanted to leave Trifecta when I started getting +10 LFTFs after a few days driving. Vince said this was normal due to my K&N SRI.

So he agreed to tune me but I had to do everything he asked.

Another 30 logs later I was finally done. We had a break through, but I didn't like my fluctuating AFRs at idle, I didn't like my cold start rumble, I didn't like my fans being on all the time and I didn't like second gear being extra torque'y

So I asked him, when we logged it he said my tune is all fucked up again. He said it's because I'm logging in a different place and the temps were different. He wanted me to log in the exact place with temps that were similar 60*F. So I had to do another set of logs. This is when I seeked out Term. I hate logging with a passion and CCSS3s tune is so focused on one area and temp that if you drive out of this range it screws the tune. Terms tune is geared for daily driving and where I live I can go from 5200 ft above sea level to 6000 in just a few miles. Not to mention our temp changes from 20*F to 70*F mid afternoon.

So my DA (density altitude) can switch from 5000ft to 8000ft in a matter of hours.

So when Term stated he tunes and averages out all variations and he needs me to log in higher altitude, lower, hotter, cooler and all variations I instantly felt like this guys is gonna give me a great tune.

Sure enough, my fans aren't on, no rumble, no this no that, that I had experienced with CCSS3. So I let him know I am now getting tuned by Term.

He wanted to know why, so I told him and he respectfully said his good byes and I moved on.

***edit***

There's a guy in Wyoming which is also high alt that is also tuned by CCSS3 and he's happy, but that said he wasn't happy with his 91 octane tune and he didn't like his e85 tune at first. Now he's extremely happy with how CCSS3 has his car for e85. I think he runs GMS1 during winter, but He beats his car up all the time. The way I drive is granny. I don't beat on my car regularly, and I have 27000 miles. It's an 09 and I got it used with 1000 miles. This speaks of my driving habits. I race rarely and I keep it to the track normally.

So my post is strictly my experience and not a bash towards the tuner. I think he's a good guy, but he and I don't work well together and I don't like his tunes.

 

Wow .... well i guess we know it's not ZZP or trifecta lol....... there would be people in here carrying torches and rope.

I have nothing against any one who tunes .... but its funny how people can bash certain tuners constantly....... but god forbid anyone even question theirs.

 

I agree with bolded.

I'm no tuner and I tried doing my own tune with the help of Term, Gremlin, CCSS3, Vince (Trifecta) and they all helped me develop my own tune, albeit it sucks anus and I wouldn't wish my tune on anyone that loves their car, but still I don't hate them.

What I'm getting at is even though CCSS3 and I didn't work out it doesn't mean I hate the guy. I like him and respect him and that is the same for all the tuners out there. They do something I can't. My understanding of tuning may be greater now, but I'm never gonna become a tuner. It's just something I won't dedicate too much more time into. I'm actually looking into off the shelf/canned tunes for cars in the future since I hate logging so much. GTI, MS3 have these options and I'm looking for these cars.

It's just I prefer the tuning style of one over another.

 

Since the title of this thread is "pick your tuner wisely" , but the gist of the post is "or THIS can happen, I'm gonna jump in here;

Other than reading on here, or getting a personal recommendation (ALL hearsay in one form or another) what can you do? Certainly, listening to any tuner brag about how badass they are, or trash other tuners, should be red flags

How tolerant are you guys who tune, in terms of a potential customer interviewing or interrogating you?

I'm making a bunch of changes to my car this winter, and by spring, I'm gonna need a tuner. I typically do my own work so it gets done to my standards, so I'm REALLY apprehensive to let someone I don't know do work to my car that could prove catastrophic. I would want someone to explain everything to me as they go, so I understand what's going on. If I smell bullshit, or if I don't understand you, I'll call you out.

How many of you guys who tune would put up with that ****? Having to put up with explaining yourself every step of the way to someone who has only a cursory understanding of tuning?

 

It sounds like u had some mix results and that can happen but as I highlighted above if ur not willing to even change ur gap on ur plugs to make a tune work better then its not really james fault, also note trifecta tune didnt work on stock gap otherwise why did u leave them to start with?

 

Wayfarer
IMHO u are paying the tuner to tune and not to teach.
I also have problems letting others work on my car so I understand your apprehension. Too many times bad things happen after someone says trust me. My solution has been spending time on the hptuners forum learning as much as I can about tuning. I don't expect to become an expert from just reading so while I plan to buy my own copy of hptuners I will likely try to find a local mentor or even pay someone to do the tune.
While this is more expensive than just paying someone to just do a tune it gives me the ability to understand what the tuner is doing as well as the option of detuning for winter or tuning for future mods.
If you don't want to spend the money to buy hptuners at least spend the time learning about tuning so you can understand what the tuner is doing and know whether they are blowin smoke up your ass.

 

I don't follow your logic. The first time I left Trifecta because I wanted to go HPT not because it was failing on me and it was more of a customer service thing. I wanted HPT for several other reasons and if those reasons are something you wanna know about I'll gladly share, but yes Trifecta did work with stock gap. And yes I didn't want to change my gaping and I told that to James and I told him to tune for stock gap so it is indeed his fault. He stated he can't give me as much power etc. I told him I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to be the fastest man on earth. Secondly during my second time around with James I did indeed modify my cars wastegate and gaps and this is did help our process together, but the end result remained the same. Also Term has been able to tune with any gap and wastegate setting I have. He doesn't require me to modify my car he tunes around it. He gave me the option to switch them if I wanted, but I wasn't required to do so.

I didn't like his tune compared to Terms. My AFR were erratic at idle, my fans were on all the time, cold start rumble, my second gear was too torque'y, over all my car didn't drive good.

Just incase you're confused here's my tuning cycle in order. The ">" doesn't mean greater than, but "to". So ZZP "to" blah blah.

Stock Tune > ZZP Canned Tune > Trifecta > CCSS3 > Trifecta > CCSS3 > Term

Trifecta the second time around was on stock gapping and worked just fine. Then I went KO4+ and the problem wasn't knock like I had with James, but the problem was surge. So I left Trifecta a second time because James helped me out with Trifecta and re-valued his worth to me.

 

LOL so u not running the correct gap for ur setup is the tuners fault no wonder james couldnt make u happy.

 

Its not just the gap..he didnt like other settings on the car lik fans being on,2nd gr being to torquey, afr bouncing to much at idle...he liked term better and thats it its personal prefrence

 

Changing the gap in the spark plug does not fix everything. You honestly should not be messing with the gap more then once or twice. You will weaken the grounding strap which could make it break in the cylinder. I'm speaking from experience. Honestly if the guy didn't like his tunes or the way he does things that's his choice because it's his car. He found someone who worked for him so it is what it is.

 

I disagree, if a tuner like Vince can tune for stock gap then so should James. Or is your suggestion that James can't do so without creating knock. You're making James sound worse than you're making me sound.

Not to mention as mentioned above, I did all the things that James suggested the second time we worked together. Still didn't help over all, still didn't help my 30 log sessions. Still didn't help my tune.

Like I said, James is a good guy no disputing that, but I didn't like his tune. Like the guy quoted below, personal preference. Also like I stated in another post in this thread. My tune could have been fine, I don't know I'm no tuner, but I didn't like it.

 

The "correct" gap for a setup is a range of opinion. Mosy tuners including myself say You ideally want to run the largest gap you can (up to stock range) without having spark blowout.
If he wasn't having blowout then stock gap is fine.

 

Im not saying he shouldnt be happy with term, im saying if ur not running the correct spark plugs or gap for ur set up it can cause problems ans i think u both know that very well.

 

This is my outlook on it, i could run a little more boost and midrange timing, but id like my car to last a while. Also dont run it rich as **** either.

 

Thank you for clarifying

 

No James wanted me to shorten my gap, not increase it

***edit***

I misunderstood your post, yes makes sense.

Vince tuned me without blowout with stock gapping. First time around I didn't wanna change the gapping I wanted him to tune me without it. Second go round, I lowered to .032 gap and tightened my wastegate 100%. It still didn't change my overall experience.

 

Its not just the gap tho, he was tuned previously on that gap and didnt see y he had to change it..along with that he didnt like the way james made the car feel, he just decided to try a different person n was happy and he didnt disrespect james at all or anything, its just he liked the way his car felt with term better overall

 

Exactly, if James himself can make peace with it why are you guys all butt hurt?

 

I know its not just the gap i read his other problems i was discussion his issue with the gap. Honestly im done discussing it, i never said he shouldnt be happy or anything like that my point is when it comes to modding cars changing spark plug gap is something u may have to do.

 

Nobody is butt hurt i found it funny u modded ur car but refused to change ur gap to help with the tune it just seemed silly and backwards to me.

 

And I did, but the things (we won't call them problems) I experienced even after I regapped my plugs were still distasteful to me.

 

Most pointless discussion..hes tuned now so fu** it

 

It seems any discussion in this forum is pointless, it always ends up with finger pointing and name calling.