Who's got the best ECU tune?

[RedRocket]

I think the tunes will all be effective. Best tune after the dust clears will be the guy who prices it right. EcuTek has its fees so that's a given. 300-400 for the maps is too much as far as I'm concerned. $99-199 seems reasonable.

I'm sure they make something off the cable/licenses. Maybe not much.

[JoeBoxer]

Just flashed FA20Club Stage 2, will report back shortly...

ok i don't have John's flash yet to compare to, got tired of waiting and FA20Club sent me files within 20 minutes of payment. I will compare the two once i get my files from John but so far i'm very happy with the FA20Club tune, i don't know how to describe it but i'm very pleased. Can't wait to get the E85 tune next to see what else we can get out of it.

I have a Cosworth air filter, Perrin Pulley, and Motiv Test Pipe. I won't say i had a bog at low rpm's but it wasn't extremely responsive, that has changed with the tune as it goes as soon as you get on it. I ended up hitting the rev limiter in second gear, never done that before just wasn't used to it pulling that hard i guess.

[RYU]

I'm a little paranoid here but is anyone concerned about their AFR after these tunes?

It's common knowledge that a slightly leaner mixture will create the most power. Actually, a good buddy of mine blew his S2000 F22 engine with a Toda chip, I/H/E only. This was at the track but thinking it was "Toda" and rather high quality JDM we didn't even think twice about taking it to the track.

I'm hoping all these tunes run safe AND produce power and smoothness

[RedRocket]

Originally Posted by RYU

I'm a little paranoid here but is anyone concerned about their AFR after these tunes?

It's common knowledge that a slightly leaner mixture will create the most power. Actually, a good buddy of mine blew his S2000 F22 engine with a Toda chip, I/H/E only. This was at the track but thinking it was "Toda" and rather high quality JDM we didn't even think twice about taking it to the track.

I'm hoping all these tunes run safe AND produce power and smoothness

This is why my savings account is getting hooked up, and not my FR-S right now.

FACT is NOBODY knows.

There are a lot of people with 4-5 Mods already, and NONE of the parts have the proper street time in them.. Unfortunely if one of these cars take a dive it'll be hard to tell what parts are the problem.

Tune-Intane-Pulley-Exhaust.

We can rule out the exhaust, but you catch my drift... ummmm drift...

[RYU]

Originally Posted by RedRocket

This is why my savings account is getting hooked up, and not my FR-S right now.

FACT is NOBODY knows.

There are a lot of people with 4-5 Mods already, and NONE of the parts have the proper street time in them.. Unfortunely if one of these cars take a dive it'll be hard to tell what parts are the problem.

Tune-Intane-Pulley-Exhaust.

We can rule out the exhaust, but you catch my drift... ummmm drift...

To be honest.. now is probably the time to do this since most ppl are covered under warranty still. That's all I have to say about that. It's just a huge PITA to have to go thru the mess though if something catastrophic does happen.

I'm excited about the FA20 tune. Thanks JoeBoxer for your feedback.

[brichard0625]

Originally Posted by RYU

I'm a little paranoid here but is anyone concerned about their AFR after these tunes?

It's common knowledge that a slightly leaner mixture will create the most power. Actually, a good buddy of mine blew his S2000 F22 engine with a Toda chip, I/H/E only. This was at the track but thinking it was "Toda" and rather high quality JDM we didn't even think twice about taking it to the track.

I'm hoping all these tunes run safe AND produce power and smoothness

Im not sure if what im saying is right but to what i have been reading the stock ecu's afr is crazy from the start and the tune actually cleans it up..dont quote me on this but maybe somebody can clarify

[Turbowned]

The best tune is the one that your local tuner is most familiar with, and can exploit it's abilities the furthest.

[Foobar]

This point has already been made, but I do want to pitch in and agree wholeheartedly with brichard0625 and gmookher - get a tune. Who you get it from right now isn't as important, since they are all coming from ECUTek and you'll get the RaceROM features and basic stage 1 tune either way. All three of these players will tweak the map further after receiving datalogs from your specific vehicle.

Visconti and Perrin are both ECUTek Master Tuners. Not sure what difference that actually means at the end of the day, but since ECUTek went ouf ot its way to make that distinction, I figured I would throw that out there. Maybe it just means they can sell you some additional products or services that may not even be relevant to our specific platform.

All three of the ECUTek Tuners that have tunes for our platform have proven to be pretty reliable as far as customer service is concerned.

Yes, Visconti has a lot going on right now, so you can decide if that comes into your equation or not, but like others have said, the man is an absolute machine and goes after tuning with a tenacity unlike what I've seen before. If you don't need a whole lot of hand holding, and you're patient on getting his attention (if needed), then you cannot possibly go wrong with Visconti.

Perrin has also shown promising work and has satisfied customers going to bat for him before he's even officially released the product for mass consumption. I've had some offline conversations with him regarding the work they're doing and I've already invested in some of their other products. If you need reassurances that your product/service is backed by a reputable company with resources available to handle your needs, then Perrin is the way to go.

FA20club.com came on to the scene after both Visconti and Perrin, but they've got quite a few vocal customers that have provided positive reviews. It appears that they're pretty flexible, very responsive, and have a delivery model that puts Dominos Pizza to shame. I haven't had any opportunity to deal with them, but from what I've seen through others, you can't go wrong with these guys either. They may not have the history or ECUTek Master designation, but their track record is proven by the feedback provided on these forums by some of our peers.

Cost-wise they're all about the same, so as far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with any of them. Just do it.

[RYU]

Originally Posted by brichard0625

Im not sure if what im saying is right but to what i have been reading the stock ecu's afr is crazy from the start and the tune actually cleans it up..dont quote me on this but maybe somebody can clarify

I haven't seen a stock AFR dyno but i'll search for one. I'm mostly relying on the reputation of these vendors in the Subie community like Perrin & Visconti to not blow up my engine. Call me paranoid. I blame owning and tracking an expensive platform like the NSX for several years...I'm sure the risk is small if any on the FA20.

[TemeCal]

Originally Posted by brichard0625

I honestly don't think any vendor has put more time into tuning than john has and i'll bet money on that! Another reason why i trust him is because he's not new to the ecutek platform. Im not sure if this is perrins or fa20's first time using ecutek but john has been in the game for quite some time so im sure he knows how to utilize everything more efficiently.

Really? You're willing to bet money on this??? You do realize Perrin has been around for a LONG time. He was one of the premier MINI tuners, when I was tracking my car back in 2005. Everything from pulleys, to tunes, to exhaust, to intakes. I've found threads from 2008, from Perrin tuning Mitsu Evos using ECUTek. So, I know he's been working with ECUTek for at LEAST 4-5yrs. I believe they're pretty well known in the Subie world also. The times I've dealt with them, they've been pretty great to deal with.

I can't speak for FA20, but how do you know what his background looks like? Kind of a dumb statement to make, just because Visconti was one of the first to offer a tune for our cars. And for Visconti...nothing against you. I'm still debating on which tune to get myself. But your "fans" can get a little overbearing at times.

[Opposed]

Originally Posted by RYU

I'm a little paranoid here but is anyone concerned about their AFR after these tunes?

It's common knowledge that a slightly leaner mixture will create the most power. Actually, a good buddy of mine blew his S2000 F22 engine with a Toda chip, I/H/E only. This was at the track but thinking it was "Toda" and rather high quality JDM we didn't even think twice about taking it to the track.

I'm hoping all these tunes run safe AND produce power and smoothness

I had a local tuner (LJ at Fullblown) do some datalogs and dyno pulls with my FRS that has Visconti's latest tune and aFe intake. He said AFR's look good, and there is not much more he could adjust to make it better. It does run a tad lean between 3-5k, but nothing that he said was cause for concern. The stock tune is pretty decent until you get to about 6k to redline, the AFRs plummit to richville.

[brichard0625]

Originally Posted by TemeCal

Really? You're willing to bet money on this??? You do realize Perrin has been around for a LONG time. He was one of the premier MINI tuners, when I was tracking my car back in 2005. Everything from pulleys, to tunes, to exhaust, to intakes. I've found threads from 2008, from Perrin tuning Mitsu Evos using ECUTek. So, I know he's been working with ECUTek for at LEAST 4-5yrs. I believe they're pretty well known in the Subie world also. The times I've dealt with them, they've been pretty great to deal with.

I can't speak for FA20, but how do you know what his background looks like? Kind of a dumb statement to make, just because Visconti was one of the first to offer a tune for our cars. And for Visconti...nothing against you. I'm still debating on which tune to get myself. But your "fans" can get a little overbearing at times.

I wasn't talking about other cars, i was just talking about the amount of tune time put into the frs/brz itself. As far as perrin and visconti i've never heard of them until coming to the forum and thats why i said that im not sure about perrin or fa20 but i know visconti has been working with ecutek for a while so thats why i trusted him and After telling people about the frs/brz tune alot of my friends that have subbie's actually knew his work and said he was great so i knew he was a known tuner. While perrin might be a great company ive personally watched john at work and he puts alot of time into the platform and he doesnt stop until its where he wanted it to be. Nobody is a "fan" just speaking from my personal experience with john and i trust his work. Maybe i went a little too far about the betting money part but i still think he puts in more time...point is someone asked who has the best tune i put in my two cents and just basically said its preference but who ever you choose just get a tune! by far the best upgrade i think.

[xwd]

There was a post which compared the FA20 and Visconti Stage 1 93 tunes on a dyno, but I can't find the thread. I don't remember exactly what mods were done to the vehicle but the FA20 off the shelf tune ran a bit too lean IMHO above 5000 RPM. That's why it is important at least right now to get datalogs and let the tuner make some adjustments. Out of a number of folks posting dyno plots with a Visconti 93 tune I haven't seen any with an AFR which looked unsafe at all.

I would always advocate to spend the extra money for a tune on a dyno or a good road tune dedicated to your car, especially if you have a bunch of modifications.

[RedRocket]

Originally Posted by brichard0625

Im not sure if what im saying is right but to what i have been reading the stock ecu's afr is crazy from the start and the tune actually cleans it up..dont quote me on this but maybe somebody can clarify

The STOCK Tune has the BEST Cold Start proformance per ECUTeK, which is Definitly not the best for HP/Torgue