I'm in the process of gathering the basic performance mods before my tune and will probably get one in the midst of winter with Dynoflash since I live in the northeast. I was wondering if the cold climate would ultimately affect a tune? Should I wait till spring when it is warmer? How about dynoing on snow tires?

 

Just speaking from experience as I'm not an expert here, but when the cooler weather comes in, my boost seems to go up which could affect your engine function and you may pick up some knock. This happened to me and I turned down the boost a little and the car ran great.

Just had an AEM installed and tuned at 26psi. The temperature during the tune was in the 70's. The past couple of days it's been in the 50's and my boost has been hitting 28psi and I'm getting more knock based on my data logging. I've turned the boost down as I don't know much about tuning and don't want to screw something up.

So, in my opinion and personal experience, cooler weather effects the boost and not so much the tune. Also, the cooler air is much denser.

Just my 2cts...

Mike

 

the first thing to know is that as the temp drops your boost will go higher so you need to adjust it back down.... this has nothing to do with the tune.

as long as you keep your boost where it should be the tune will do its job in any temp range.

 

thats something ive always wondered, my friends sti was tuned at 21 and sometimes in the cool nights he hits around 25psi... with no boost controller. doesnt seem very good to me.

 

The main thing for those with a MBC or EBC is to maintain a constant boost level at all times with slight adjustments

Cold air is denser and the mixture goes a bit leaner - however the ecu does have air temp and barometric pressure comps and the MAF sensor does a great job of measuring the air

I have tested long term beta testers the first year I started and the tune does an excelent job of adapting to various temps and climates. The main thing is to monitor boost levels and not over boost.

AL

 

It all boils down to cooler air is denser. More air molecules in the same amount of space (volume) will make boost go up because their is basically more air going into the engine even though your pipes, mani, throttle body, etc, etc stay the same dimensions. If you want a nice dyno number get tuned in the cold weather. It can make as much as 20whp from really cold to really hot. If you dont care about your plot then like Al said, it doesnt really matter when you get tuned because the ECU will adjust. Just adjust the boost. I was kinda dissapointed with my dyno numbers, especially since my friend had less mods and made a little more power and torque. But I got tuned on a rainy 90 degree day and he got tuned on a dry January winter day. Both cars same dyno. Just my thoughts....