Tune questions....

Shdwdrgn

Member
Dec 4, 2011
568
If you wanted to go the technical route, you could get something like an arduino to directly read an electronic pressure sensor, and drive the stepper motor directly (after cutting the control wires to it). And if you wanted to get *really* fancy, you could include a ttl chip inline so that when the arduino is responding, it overrides the stepper, but if it fails to respond, then the PCM would still display the original values (which would be abvious to anyone who knows the difference). Essentially a fail-safe.
 

Gerbil21

Member
May 28, 2014
839
Just wondering but has anyone actually directly compared lime swap tune to pcm4less? Are there any real differences in performance & MPG changes between the two?

also for people that live in a city what settings do you go for? And what mods do you have that effects it
 
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littleblazer

Original poster
Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I would more than likely assume that there are negligible differences between the two. Seems there is a price variance though. I don't know about the lime swap but I know pcmofNC seems to have the majority here though. :undecided:
 

Shdwdrgn

Member
Dec 4, 2011
568
If you want significant differences, you would need to work with a tuner who would hook up equipment directly to your vehicle and take careful measurements under various conditions to fine-tune the PCM exactly to how your engine runs. The best you will ever get for a mail-in tune is "this works well for most people." With that in mind, unless you are a soccer-mom the mail-in tunes are still going to be noticeably better than the stock tune.
 

littleblazer

Original poster
Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Shdwdrgn said:
If you want significant differences, you would need to work with a tuner who would hook up equipment directly to your vehicle and take careful measurements under various conditions to fine-tune the PCM exactly to how your engine runs. The best you will ever get for a mail-in tune is "this works well for most people." With that in mind, unless you are a soccer-mom the mail-in tunes are still going to be noticeably better than the stock tune.
My soccer mom drives like a bat out of hell. :rotfl:
 

Gerbil21

Member
May 28, 2014
839
What is the price difference between the tune and a good tuner?
 

Shdwdrgn

Member
Dec 4, 2011
568
Depends on how much they charge. A dedicated tune can be a time-consuming process, so you may end up paying for several hours of labor plus a premium for their experience. I do my own tuning (more like poking at things to see what happens), so I can't really say what a professional tuner would charge.
 

bobdec

Member
Apr 19, 2013
233
I figure $500.00 plus for a custom performance tune, it's all labor, scan/tuning software cost recovery and dyno time. Would include tuning on a dyno for WOT and then road tuning and testing for normal drivability. Should include re-tunes for problems that come up. Basically depends on what your expectations are. You want it drivable, or do you want screeching tires and neck snapping shifts. Better mileage on cheaper gas or performance and fuel cost is not a factor. My '94 Camaro Z28 is tuned to chirp in 1st to 3rd shifts, hard, fast shifts, runs on $$$ 93 obtain only and eats through a set of $1200.00 performance tires in less than 20K miles. My '07 Envoy is tuned way different by LimeSwap. Peppy, firm shifts , but not jerkey, enters WOT earlier when I need it. timing setup for 87 octane. Turned off a problematic DTC. Last round trip Atlanta to St Louis got 21.0 MPG both ways (1200 total miles), close to 400 miles per fillup. As far as mods go a tune is the cheapest dollar to performance ratio around. I used the PCM loaner option with LimeSwap, no down time.. Only cost an extra $6.00 to send back the loaner.. I really wanted to buy HP Tuners and DIY, but the $500.00 software/cable cost for a stock 4.2 setup seemed high..
 

Gerbil21

Member
May 28, 2014
839
I think a simple mail order tune with some custom options will be better cost wise, I'm sure a real tune will be better but I mainly use the envoy to drive around NYC and the occasional long highway trip upstate so i wont need tire screeching but quick crisp shifts and 1-2 shift improvements are a definitely needed also needing to merge in quick is something that would be great so a performance improvement and torque management removal would be great but having mpg help would be a must since I'm only getting around 9mpg

so I guess I'll go with lime swap since there is not much difference between it and the pcm4less tune unless there is?


Also how about a hand held tuner? Any good for real tuning for someone who never tuned?
 

Shdwdrgn

Member
Dec 4, 2011
568
Gerbil21 said:
so I guess I'll go with lime swap since there is not much difference between it and the pcm4less tune unless there is?
If I were new here and didn't have any knowledge of either option, I think one factor would stand out to me... limequat is a long-time owner and driver of this platform. He probably has daily experience with the changes he makes in his tunes.

That being said, when I got my tune pcm4less was the best game in town, and I never regretted the tune they gave me.
 

Gerbil21

Member
May 28, 2014
839
Shdwdrgn said:
If I were new here and didn't have any knowledge of either option, I think one factor would stand out to me... limequat is a long-time owner and driver of this platform. He probably has daily experience with the changes he makes in his tunes.

That being said, when I got my tune pcm4less was the best game in town, and I never regretted the tune they gave me.
well i guess ill go for lime swap thanks for the help :thumbsup:
 

Purefection

Member
Oct 23, 2014
119
Gerbil21 said:
well i guess ill go for lime swap thanks for the help :thumbsup:
I just put a limeswap in my 3.7 and I love it. You won't be disappointed.
 

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