Why should I, or should I change my stock tune?
 

Just got my new 2011 Grand Sport. Friends have suggested getting the SCT or Diablo Sport tune. Just curious if there is concern with warranty, or if getting a custom tune is an accepted or common practice with vette owners.

First off, anyone telling you to get a tune and recommends you get a canned out of the box tune is a fool...

All vehicles operate differently. Weather, elevation, quality of fuel, and alot of other factors come into play. A tune on a stock car can make a good difference in the way it drives. From increased power to increased fuel milage. You will want to find a local shop that specializes in LSx vehicles and have them do a custom tune for you on there dyno.

Those are the pro's.

Cons: Say goodbye to your power train warranty.....

IMO, if all your considering is a Tune without other serious modifications its not worth loosing your warranty for.

Does waste your time with those handheld devices. I have a 2008 C6 M6 and after a tune, it was much more fune to drive. The midrange was greatly improved and should have come from the factory like that. I use HP Tuners and spent lots of time on my dyno. My bone stock Vette put down 407/403 with a tune only.

OP, feel free to contact us in regards to tuning your Grand Sport. Take a look in this section, and the C5 scan and tune section, and you will find literally 1000's of happy ECS tuned customers. :thumbs:

There is a myth out there that a dyno tune is absolutely the way to go, but thats only true if the shop you bring it to happens to know what they are doing, and just because they own a dyno does not necessitate that. Please trust me on that one, you should see some of the "dyno tunes" that come in here to be corrected by a mail order tune.

Within the realm of certain mods, a mail order tune when performed by a shop that knows what they are doing, and has plenty of experience doing it, will perform in the same fashion as your car did from GM with better performance of course, since after all your car came with a "canned tune" from GM..

Thanks for your consideration, we can be reached at 609-752-0321



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I will second using ECS if you MUST have a mail order tune and seriously agree about finding a GOOD shop to do a dyno tune. There are way to many clowns out there that really dont have a clue what there doing. But in the grand scheme of things, if you do have a competent shop, there is nothing better then a custom tune.

I am new to the corvette (but will never go without again!) and don't really know how a tune will affect the car. Midrange improvement, better gas mailage all sound good. I just wonder why GM does not maximize the tune to start with...why the limitations?

And just to clarify...if you change the stock tune, you can change it back if you need GM service (to maintain the warranty)?

Will there be any change in the 436HP? There seems to be alot of get this...get that.. on the forums but no one hammers down what improvements you really can get with the right tune on a stock GS.

Thanks Breecher! :thumbs:

We can send you a hand held programmer that would retain your stock and performance tune files, so you can change back and forth as you please.
Gains are generally in the 10-15 rwhp range, and 1 mpg increase, assuming your not constantly flooring it afterwards.
If you GS is and auto, the difference is huge in how the trans will shift. Criper/firmer shifts with much less lag. There are a bunch of items changed in the tune to achieve this, it would take a while to list them all out, and some items would not make sense anyway.

ECS all the way. Have their hand held and love it. They have what you need down pat. Worth every penny.

Sounds like ECS is the way to go!

:iagree: Doug is an excellent tuner. You won't be disappointed. :thumbs:

Leave your tune alone. The GM engineers had their reasons for selecting the tune they did. If they felt it was safe to put a more aggresive tune in the Corvette, and it would still meet all their operating requirements, they would have done so.

ECS tuned my car a few weeks ago (street tune). No need to spend all the extra $$$ on a dyno tune unless you just want to know your numbers. I guarntee an ECS street or email tune will show the same results. ECS has tuned enough cars that you won't be skimping on either the email tune or a regular street tune. The weather is ok so that won't be a factor for the street tune. Unless you have a highly modded car or just have the need to know your numbers you don't need a dyno tune.

Can a dealer tell if the tune has been changed and then returned to the factory tune? I guess what I am asking is does it have a record of changes that they can see. I know from using the Diablo Sport on my GTO that it is easy to restore the stored factory tune. It also will store a dyno tune as well if you need to tweek it as I have done. As long as it is unlocked it will save whatever tune you tell it to. Can GM or ONSTAR tell is my question.

:lurk:

Can the dealer tell? Maybe not. Could GM tell if you had a catastrophic failure and they wanted to find out why? I bet they could. They wouldn't know exactly what had been done, but I bet they could figure out that the PCM had been flashed.

Tuners say they cannot be detected.....GM says they can.

The only certainty is that you'll be SOL on both fronts if you have a catastrophic failure & the tune is detected.

In reality it's a crap shoot. If you have a catastrophic failure you're screwed anyhow. I'm sure that GM can detect a tune..especially a tranny tune on an A6. However, knowing the guys at ECS and seeing their results I think they certainly do know what they're doing. If I had a brand new Corvette, I think I'd put 1000 miles on it and then invest in an ECS tune...especially with an A6. I've seen the results at the track with so many cars and everyday driving. My advice is, get a tune, but, make sure you go to a reputable outfit and check their history first. In that case, you'll reduce any chance of a catastrophic failure.

In all my past cars I have added tunes. Seeing I got my first corvette a couple of weeks ago, I'm already on the search for tunes and future modifications.

I can only assume a tune on the vette will be as beneficial as tunes on past cars!

On the older PCM no GM cant tell as long as the original calibration is flashed back in, on the new PCM that use the GM Global system yes GM can tell as there is a flash counter in those PCM's now.