Is dyno tuning dead?

[jmatt07]

I've been reading up on tuning and just curious if dyno tuning is ever worth it anymore? It seems like with the handholds you are able to data log and just get tunes emailed back to you for whatever setup you have without ever having to use a dyno. It seems like the only need for a dyno is to get hp and torque numbers.

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[Jewishthunder]

Street tuning has always been better than dyno tuning. Now the technology has finally caught up to make it easy. The hard part is that it's overall more time consuming to do data logging and remote tune changes. On the spot dyno tunes or remote dyno tunes are still great and definitely faster.

 

[Barrel]

I'm dyno tuned. Maybe it's inferior as I have no idea. But I'd always do an expert dyno tuner over remote tuning any day - especially if you're doing out of the ordinary or first-of-a-kind builds.

 

[sonic]

Street tuning is better than dyno any day. Real world load and conditions.

 

[evo8904]

The most important thing is the knowledge of the tuner. Most good tuners will take your car for a drive and adjust the tune after a dyno tune.

 

[09jsw]

The most important thing is the knowledge of the tuner. Most good tuners will take your car for a drive and adjust the tune after a dyno tune.

Exactly. Best situation is a tuner doing both. Only doing a street tune can leave a lot on the table just like only doing a dyno tune.

 

[markmurfie]

I highly recommend a dyno tune over a street tune if you have the choice. With a dyno you can easily tune mostly any gear at any engine speed. Do you really want to go to some back road and be doing 110+ mph trying to get some useful data hoping some animal or worst another car doesn't cross your path? Street tuning is far inferior and always will be to dyno tuning for one reason and that is safety.

Go to a track day if you want to get useful real world data safely.

 

[Higgs Boson]

Dynos are great for stuff that is dangerous on the street like WOT pulls but they can't simulate driving through a parking lot with a mac daddy cam and 2.93 gears with an auto and tight converter.

 

[Barrel]

I should've been more clear. My tuner did a ton of driveability and fine tuning via street logging as well. Point is I didn't have to take the car to double the speed limit on the street to dial the tune in, which I think is best.

 

[Nick@JDM]

On 2011+ Fords and some 2010 trucks we can get away with only street tuning and data logging as long as we already have a tune developed for that application. This is mostly due to the use of wideband O2 sensors from the factory and the advancing tech within the factory PCMs. On these newer vehicles we can monitor everything we need to ensure the vehicle is operating as expected such as AFR.

A dyno also cannot replicate real world environments with complete accuracy. For instance when doing 120mph on a dyno we may have a fan moving about 30-40mph of air across the front of the car to just hep with cooling as well as leaving the hood open. On the street when moving 120 mph you will have wind resistance that created drag and more load on the motor the faster you go. This is the main reason why when we finish a car on the dyno we always road test it and data log it.

When on the dyno if you see your fuel injectors, fuel pumps ect.. are close to maximum duty cycles you can bet that in real world conditions you maybe well over the limit compared to what you saw on the dyno...sometimes as much as 10%.

The dyno is useful when testing out changes. That way you can safely make pull after pull and measure what each change does. Simply put, it is s a tuning tool that we use to quantify each change. Once we are satisfied with our WOT and part throttle results on the dyno everything gets retested on the street in varying conditions and engine temperatures.

There is no one method that is better than the other...we use both to get the job done especially when developing new tunes.

 

[evo8904]

On 2011+ Fords and some 2010 trucks we can get away with only street tuning and data logging as long as we already have a tune developed for that application. This is mostly due to the use of wideband O2 sensors from the factory and the advancing tech within the factory PCMs. On these newer vehicles we can monitor everything we need to ensure the vehicle is operating as expected such as AFR.

A dyno also cannot replicate real world environments with complete accuracy. For instance when doing 120mph on a dyno we may have a fan moving about 30-40mph of air across the front of the car to just hep with cooling as well as leaving the hood open. On the street when moving 120 mph you will have wind resistance that created drag and more load on the motor the faster you go. This is the main reason why when we finish a car on the dyno we always road test it and data log it.

When on the dyno if you see your fuel injectors, fuel pumps ect.. are close to maximum duty cycles you can bet that in real world conditions you maybe well over the limit compared to what you saw on the dyno...sometimes as much as 10%.

The dyno is useful when testing out changes. That way you can safely make pull after pull and measure what each change does. Simply put, it is s a tuning tool that we use to quantify each change. Once we are satisfied with our WOT and part throttle results on the dyno everything gets retested on the street in varying conditions and engine temperatures.

There is no one method that is better than the other...we use both to get the job done especially when developing new tunes.

Completely agree! Far too many people fail to realize that it is a tuning tool. Too many people get caught up comparing dyno numbers when they are all different. I find it difficult to tune my WOT pulls on the street because even in 3rd, I am at 113 mph at 7800 rpms with a 305/35 19 drag radial.

 

[Higgs Boson]

Completely agree! Far too many people fail to realize that it is a tuning tool. Too many people get caught up comparing dyno numbers when they are all different. I find it difficult to tune my WOT pulls on the street because even in 3rd, I am at 113 mph at 7800 rpms with a 305/35 19 drag radial.

nothing wrong with 113, man.

 

[evo8904]

nothing wrong with 113, man.

:lol::lol::lol: Not at all if you are in Texas. Man, there are some great roads there with no traffic. I have a ton of old people in my area and even though the roads are new, they suck! Not smooth at all lol.

 

[Nick@JDM]

:lol::lol::lol: Not at all if you are in Texas. Man, there are some great roads there with no traffic. I have a ton of old people in my area and even though the roads are new, they suck! Not smooth at all lol.

You should try NJ :frusty:

 

[evo8904]

You should try NJ :frusty:

True! Roads are hell there lol.

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