AMS tune really that good?
Ams has some good tuners And they make awesome products...But honestly tuning is pretty simple. I have never tuned anything myself. But after going through a few email tunes it isn't black magic or anything. There are only a few things you change to make power and it's all trial and error. Most experienced tuners are able to predict how a car is going to react and that is one of the few skills I'd say that separates a bad tuner from a great tuner. However, There isn't a bad tuner that's a vendor on this site. I'm sure some tuners have a few tricks up their sleeves that I'm unaware of but the bottom line is in most cases the car itself will limit you before the tuner will. So all wrapped up, yes, an AMS tune is good. But is it really any better than a Mellon tune, or a VRSF tune, or an ER tune? IMO, No it isn't.
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From: woburn ma
Fine we all agree ams is good and i see all these wonderful numbers off the dynos. But what is everyones baseline? I would think that the percent of increase from a tune far out weighs the hp fine someone pushes 260 but did you start at 220 im doing the math and ams stage 2 says a 30% increase well 237 x 30% doesnt equal 330 and yes i know its crank power they say a boost pill can be a 50 whp increase with the stage 2 i have ordered everything that the stage 2 requires im not discrediting ams i just want to make the best chose for my money if everyone who brags about hp can you tell me about the increase with your baseline cuz im at 186 whp and 210 wtq on a mustang dyno it would help us all detemine better decision for are money as far as custom tune vs ams flash
theres more to a tune then power tuning.. but the basics of power tuning are pretty much having a smooth timing curve & controlled afr .. example im going to do a pull in 3rd gear
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
etc..
notice the numbers start low and go up.. (this is after spoolup) - prespool you will see the numbers start high then taper down until they reach peak load.
if you look at one of your logs and this is after full boost occurs
and you see something along the lines of
5
5
6
6
7
8
7
8
9
8
see how its going 7, 8, 7, 8, 9, 8?
thats a good sign theres to much timing in the tune and the knock sensor is getting triggered and pulling timing in hopes to save the engine from more detonation.
simply put.. power tuning is easy.. as someone mentioned in here its not black magic.
to tune a car and get good drive ability, proper idle, and just good driving manors in general and still have great spool and response takes some skill. if the tuner knows how to dial in fuel trims its pretty easy to get all the above granted the ecu has the support for it.
if your car has bigger injectors and;
it fires first crank cold
fires first crank warm
drive smooth when youre driving it around town
and has great spoolup response and a smooth powerband
in general then its safe to say whoever tuned your car knows
their stuff.
another thing if you wanna see how good your tuner is.. log your pull.
check the timing curve as i gave an example above, and make sure the
timing is following a proper curve up and not fighting itself.
after you confirm that, then check your timing map.. open it and then view the
actual 3d map.. is it smooth? is it blocked? a good tuner will spend the time to smooth
the map.. even tho it takes time to do they do it.. why? because a efi car will run much
better with smooth transitions on the timing map.. you want the timing map as smooth
as you can get it without jeopardizing the vehicles performance.
in a way this rule goes for the fuel map as well.. you want it smooth. you dont want major
jumps from cell to cell, you want the car to follow your map.. not guess from random jumps.
most tuners do not waste their time with map tracing.. i cant speak for everyone else but i havent used a map tracing tool in over 2 years.. map tracing is for someone new that doesnt understand how a map works. at their beginner stages.. then its a great tool.. it helps the person figure out what their actually looking at.
maybe what i said will help some of you, maybe not.. just figured id put it out there.
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
etc..
notice the numbers start low and go up.. (this is after spoolup) - prespool you will see the numbers start high then taper down until they reach peak load.
if you look at one of your logs and this is after full boost occurs
and you see something along the lines of
5
5
6
6
7
8
7
8
9
8
see how its going 7, 8, 7, 8, 9, 8?
thats a good sign theres to much timing in the tune and the knock sensor is getting triggered and pulling timing in hopes to save the engine from more detonation.
simply put.. power tuning is easy.. as someone mentioned in here its not black magic.
to tune a car and get good drive ability, proper idle, and just good driving manors in general and still have great spool and response takes some skill. if the tuner knows how to dial in fuel trims its pretty easy to get all the above granted the ecu has the support for it.
if your car has bigger injectors and;
it fires first crank cold
fires first crank warm
drive smooth when youre driving it around town
and has great spoolup response and a smooth powerband
in general then its safe to say whoever tuned your car knows
their stuff.
another thing if you wanna see how good your tuner is.. log your pull.
check the timing curve as i gave an example above, and make sure the
timing is following a proper curve up and not fighting itself.
after you confirm that, then check your timing map.. open it and then view the
actual 3d map.. is it smooth? is it blocked? a good tuner will spend the time to smooth
the map.. even tho it takes time to do they do it.. why? because a efi car will run much
better with smooth transitions on the timing map.. you want the timing map as smooth
as you can get it without jeopardizing the vehicles performance.
in a way this rule goes for the fuel map as well.. you want it smooth. you dont want major
jumps from cell to cell, you want the car to follow your map.. not guess from random jumps.
most tuners do not waste their time with map tracing.. i cant speak for everyone else but i havent used a map tracing tool in over 2 years.. map tracing is for someone new that doesnt understand how a map works. at their beginner stages.. then its a great tool.. it helps the person figure out what their actually looking at.
maybe what i said will help some of you, maybe not.. just figured id put it out there.
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