I know it's best to tune your car right after you put new parts on..

Right now, I'm just simply doing a cat-back and intake, I'd prefer to do a tune, but how necessary is it? Does anyone know of a good shop in the SF bay area?

The 2 things that I have on order are a Tanabe Ultra Medallion and an Apex'i intake..

Any help would be great, i'm a turbo noob.

 

A tune will always help you squeeze out the power. From what I hear the TBE makes a huge differance. If you were to go get an ECU flash at this point I would recommend a boost controller and gauge, and bump the turbo to 20 psi. That will give you even more power for just an extra $100-150 before you make the investment on the flash. Just my $.02.

 

You definitely need to get a flash. First of all, you aren't even supposed to install an intake without a flash. It hurts you more than it helps you. Additionally, the exhaust isn't giving you any power either, because the stock IX ECU automatically detunes itself when it detects increased airflow.

You don't need that intake by any means, so I'd suggest returning to the stock exhaust and selling your intake, but if you aren't willing to do that, at least get an MBC, boost gauge, and then a flash. My recommendation is a mail-in Dynoflash. You send it, he flashes it, and sends it back overnight. All done...

 

Vishnu, WORKS, Gruppe-S are all in the bay area. All of them can can custom tune your car for your mods.