Lund vs. BAMA ... review

[Magic550]

First off - I don't want to start a 'Tuner war', I'd just like to share my personal experience with those two tuners.

Every Mustang (and 90% of any other car) I had so far had a tune - so when I took delivery of the '15 I had a tune already in mind, although I think the '15 is the strongest I had so far.

Anyways ... after reading through this (and others) forum I came to the conclusion that BAMA is the 'big boy' who sells more or less canned tunes vs. all the smaller tuners out there that 'take care of you' and provide a more personalized and therefore better tune. At least that's the theory ...

So I ended up ordering a Lund tune - and since I was told the HyperTech box delivers the better tune I got that '80s cell phone. The whole process is: 1) Getting the PCM code, 2) Ordering the box with the PCM code, 3) Hook to box up to the Stang and read some info, 4) Send this info to the tuner, 5) Get the tune from the tuner, 6) Load it. All-in-all about a week to get the first tune. The first tune grounded my car - it didn't start anymore. I went in panic mode but received a new one shortly after. Tune Nr 2. worked .. but I couldn't really tell a difference!? In Sport mode tho (Auto with 3.55 gears) the tune was pure crap (sorry). The rev matching was gone and the shifts felt like a crashed into a garbage truck. I - again - asked for an update and got one a day later but with no improvement. Then I was told to put the car back to stock and wait approx. 2 weeks until they had time to look at it. (Do I have to mention that 'back to stock' didn't work and I had to proof with a video before I got an update?) For me this was unacceptable and I returned the tune for a refund.

A little while I was seriously thinking about NOT getting a tune anymore but I ended up giving BAMA a shot. The process is 1) Tell them your PCM code 2) Get the SCT X4 ready to rock. Took literally one day. The tune itself is aaaaawesome. Lots of power, great responsiveness, perfect shifts. And the best news ... I still have rev match in Sport mode! Customer service is perfect - they don't make you feel you're their worst PITA ... ;)

So sometimes bigger is better ;)

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[foghat]

Interesting. I have heard nothing but good about Lund. In fact I sent them a couple questions received responses form Jon Lund himself within about an hour.

 

[Chameleon]

Thanks for the review.

 

[Pony15]

Great review, thanks

 

[foghat]

To play the Devil's Advocate, I remember there was a guy on here earlier on who received a bama tune and had nothing but problems. In fact the Bama main man ended up paying him a visit to help get things sorted. So, there can be hiccups/one off scenarios with anyone, I guess.

 

[Chargedguard5.0]

First off - I don't want to start a 'Tuner war', I'd just like to share my personal experience with those two tuners.

Every Mustang (and 90% of any other car) I had so far had a tune - so when I took delivery of the '15 I had a tune already in mind, although I think the '15 is the strongest I had so far.

Anyways ... after reading through this (and others) forum I came to the conclusion that BAMA is the 'big boy' who sells more or less canned tunes vs. all the smaller tuners out there that 'take care of you' and provide a more personalized and therefore better tune. At least that's the theory ...

So I ended up ordering a Lund tune - and since I was told the HyperTech box delivers the better tune I got that '80s cell phone. The whole process is: 1) Getting the PCM code, 2) Ordering the box with the PCM code, 3) Hook to box up to the Stang and read some info, 4) Send this info to the tuner, 5) Get the tune from the tuner, 6) Load it. All-in-all about a week to get the first tune. The first tune grounded my car - it didn't start anymore. I went in panic mode but received a new one shortly after. Tune Nr 2. worked .. but I couldn't really tell a difference!? In Sport mode tho (Auto with 3.55 gears) the tune was pure crap (sorry). The rev matching was gone and the shifts felt like a crashed into a garbage truck. I - again - asked for an update and got one a day later but with no improvement. Then I was told to put the car back to stock and wait approx. 2 weeks until they had time to look at it. (Do I have to mention that 'back to stock' didn't work and I had to proof with a video before I got an update?) For me this was unacceptable and I returned the tune for a refund.

A little while I was seriously thinking about NOT getting a tune anymore but I ended up giving BAMA a shot. The process is 1) Tell them your PCM code 2) Get the SCT X4 ready to rock. Took literally one day. The tune itself is aaaaawesome. Lots of power, great responsiveness, perfect shifts. And the best news ... I still have rev match in Sport mode! Customer service is perfect - they don't make you feel you're their worst PITA ... ;)

So sometimes bigger is better ;)

I had a similar issue with bama. My car picked up 1hp with their tune and drove like crap. With that being said their customer service was excellent. I'm just guessing that some of these companies rushed to put out tunes without having everything dialed in. I just purchased a Lund tune for my procharger hopefully they have it dialed in by now.

 

[Magic550]

I agree ... the fact that they sent somebody out is pretty cool tho.

To play the Devil's Advocate, I remember there was a guy on here earlier on who received a bama tune and had nothing but problems. In fact the Bama main man ended up paying him a visit to help get things sorted. So, there can be hiccups/one off scenarios with anyone, I guess.

 

[foghat]

I agree ... the fact that they sent somebody out is pretty cool tho.

Ya, the customer service was definitely there. If I recall correctly, in this case it was a happy coincidence that the lead guy was on vacation close to the person having the issue. Regardless, impressive he took time out of his vacation to look into.

 

[beefcake]

I apologize that Lund was going to be out of town for a week supporting a lot of customers at the texas mile event where again, they tuned 6 of the fastest cars in the world. I don't think bama had a car there.

Lund puts a lot of time and effort in to support the people that spend money with them, and they want them happy, and they also spend money traveling to things like this to support those that have spent $$ with them.

As per their conversation, they were working on some new updates for all the rev matching for the guys that really wanted to take advantage of the paddle shift / sport modes, and the testing was going on with their in house vehicles along with vehicles that had new pcm codes.

All that has now been done and completed, a simple wait for a week would have gotten your tune dialed in just as they said it would.

The same tune we can now deliver to the x4 devices as well with Lunds latest round of updates.

Once the cars start hitting the tracks as well. You will see the difference in the tunes starting to shine, ESPECIALLY, the auto cars

 

[UPRSteve]

I apologize that Lund was going to be out of town for a week supporting a lot of customers at the texas mile event where again, they tuned 6 of the fastest cars in the world. I don't think bama had a car there.

Lund puts a lot of time and effort in to support the people that spend money with them, and they want them happy, and they also spend money traveling to things like this to support those that have spent $$ with them.

As per their conversation, they were working on some new updates for all the rev matching for the guys that really wanted to take advantage of the paddle shift / sport modes, and the testing was going on with their in house vehicles along with vehicles that had new pcm codes.

All that has now been done and completed, a simple wait for a week would have gotten your tune dialed in just as they said it would.

The same tune we can now deliver to the x4 devices as well with Lunds latest round of updates.

Once the cars start hitting the tracks as well. You will see the difference in the tunes starting to shine, ESPECIALLY, the auto cars

I can also state that the Lund Racing g camp (Sr, Jr, & Ken) are spending so much time on the 15s. When I installed the tune on mine, it was night and day difference. And it will only get better.

IMO, waiting for them is in the best interest!!

 

[15GTBEN]

Interesting. I have heard nothing but good about Lund. In fact I sent them a couple questions received responses form Jon Lund himself within about an hour.

There are plenty of BAMA horror stories out there with 11-14 GT's, believe me!

Tuning for my 15' GT is out. I had a bad experience overall with tuning in my 12' manual and 14 auto GT's. A good tune will bring a noticeable difference in performance but not enough of a difference to risk your warranty imo.
I've tried the big name tuners too: AED, Bama, Steeda, Mike R@Mid Atlantic, Ford Racing...

If you are going to tune, do a lot of research on the tuner and their history. Learn how to interpret datalogs and check on the fuel quality in your area.

Tuning would be worth it if you have multiple bolt on's and or forced induction that requires a tune.

 

[Inigo]

I can also state that the Lund Racing g camp (Sr, Jr, & Ken) are spending so much time on the 15s. When I installed the tune on mine, it was night and day difference. And it will only get better.

IMO, waiting for them is in the best interest!!

All good news.

 

[AMAlexLazarus]

First off - I don't want to start a 'Tuner war', I'd just like to share my personal experience with those two tuners.

Every Mustang (and 90% of any other car) I had so far had a tune - so when I took delivery of the '15 I had a tune already in mind, although I think the '15 is the strongest I had so far.

Anyways ... after reading through this (and others) forum I came to the conclusion that BAMA is the 'big boy' who sells more or less canned tunes vs. all the smaller tuners out there that 'take care of you' and provide a more personalized and therefore better tune. At least that's the theory ...

So I ended up ordering a Lund tune - and since I was told the HyperTech box delivers the better tune I got that '80s cell phone. The whole process is: 1) Getting the PCM code, 2) Ordering the box with the PCM code, 3) Hook to box up to the Stang and read some info, 4) Send this info to the tuner, 5) Get the tune from the tuner, 6) Load it. All-in-all about a week to get the first tune. The first tune grounded my car - it didn't start anymore. I went in panic mode but received a new one shortly after. Tune Nr 2. worked .. but I couldn't really tell a difference!? In Sport mode tho (Auto with 3.55 gears) the tune was pure crap (sorry). The rev matching was gone and the shifts felt like a crashed into a garbage truck. I - again - asked for an update and got one a day later but with no improvement. Then I was told to put the car back to stock and wait approx. 2 weeks until they had time to look at it. (Do I have to mention that 'back to stock' didn't work and I had to proof with a video before I got an update?) For me this was unacceptable and I returned the tune for a refund.

A little while I was seriously thinking about NOT getting a tune anymore but I ended up giving BAMA a shot. The process is 1) Tell them your PCM code 2) Get the SCT X4 ready to rock. Took literally one day. The tune itself is aaaaawesome. Lots of power, great responsiveness, perfect shifts. And the best news ... I still have rev match in Sport mode! Customer service is perfect - they don't make you feel you're their worst PITA ... ;)

So sometimes bigger is better ;)

Hey Magic550

Thanks for taking the time to have this posted up, I appreciate your feedback - Sorry to hear about the experience working with Lund but just like Bama they can get very busy as well - Everyone's in the season right now and these cars can definitely take some time! Each '15 is going to be different than the other and they'll all require a datalog after the fact in order to truly have it dialed in. Put some miles on her and let me know when you're ready to get a datalog set up and I'm here to help facilitate this and get you set up!

We're absolutely no where done with our fleet of S550's and we're going to be hitting the track with Bama in a week or so and I should have some good stuff for everyone, in the meantime stay tuned!

Alex

To play the Devil's Advocate, I remember there was a guy on here earlier on who received a bama tune and had nothing but problems. In fact the Bama main man ended up paying him a visit to help get things sorted. So, there can be hiccups/one off scenarios with anyone, I guess.

Fog - Bama has done this a couple times - Ironically they had a couple customers around the Holiday's that we're having some trouble and I got them set up with Paul and had him made a house call! Not too shabby right!?

Alex

I had a similar issue with bama. My car picked up 1hp with their tune and drove like crap. With that being said their customer service was excellent. I'm just guessing that some of these companies rushed to put out tunes without having everything dialed in. I just purchased a Lund tune for my procharger hopefully they have it dialed in by now.

Hey Chargedguard5.0 - Sorry to hear about the trouble you had but if there's anything I can lend a hand with in the future don't hesitate to reach out, I'm always around to help out.

Alex

I agree ... the fact that they sent somebody out is pretty cool tho.

Agreed!

Ya, the customer service was definitely there. If I recall correctly, in this case it was a happy coincidence that the lead guy was on vacation close to the person having the issue. Regardless, impressive he took time out of his vacation to look into.

That's exactly what happened! You must be a lurker on another forum as Paul was down in the area working with 99-04 Customer.

If anyone has any questions at all or if there's absolutely anything I can ever help out with don't hesitate to let me know!

Alex

 

[phunk]

Is it at all possible that the issues were related to the use of the HyperTech box for the tune? Lund uses the SCT for the blower cars. Perhaps the HyperTech is used for all-motor as a less expensive option, and doesnt have all the kinks worked out yet?

I have no idea at all, I am just asking.

 

[beefcake]

Is it at all possible that the issues were related to the use of the HyperTech box for the tune? Lund uses the SCT for the blower cars. Perhaps the HyperTech is used for all-motor as a less expensive option, and doesnt have all the kinks worked out yet?

I have no idea at all, I am just asking.

no

Tune is the same no matter which device we use

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