OTS v custom tune; your impressions

[Brodirt]

I am looking for input on switching from OTS to custom tune.
My car is FBO and wont likely be pushed more.
My goal is to maximize reliable, safe power for a car I drive regularly as a commuter car; in winter as well.
I plan to own it for a long time.
Thanks for your help.

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[lizardrko]

Yeah most know what FBO means lol it generally means turbo back exhaust, FMIC, CAI at the very least. I personally have the FP tune and love it and u cant get much more reliable than that. As for a custom tune depending which one you get, it can be more reliable than a non FP OTS tune because they can tune for your specific car and mods. You can also tell them to squeeze all the power out they can, or hold some back for reliability concerns.

 

[Brodirt]

Yeah most know what FBO means lol it generally means turbo back exhaust, FMIC, CAI at the very least. I personally have the FP tune and love it and u cant get much more reliable than that. As for a custom tune depending which one you get, it can be more reliable than a non FP OTS tune because they can tune for your specific car and mods. You can also tell them to squeeze all the power out they can, or hold some back for reliability concerns.

I have Cobb tune and its a big improvement over stock.
To me Cobb is a highly reliable vendor, one step up from FP, who is unlikely to cause damage to my vehicle but since OTS it may fall short on power and reliability.
Custom tuners seem to me to be well regarded depending on who you listen to and what their experience is; there seems to be a hierarchy among them as well.
Im just not yet convinced that a custom tuner will be both safer and more powerful; Id like some actual objective testimony from people who have their cars at risk and arent trying to make a sale.

 

[prostovovatt]

I am FBO running all CP-e parts (except step colder plugs, those are NGK). But anyways, I have the Cobb AP and bought it from CP-e with Custom tuning already included.

While I was waiting for my initial tune, I ran with the Cobb OTS Stage 3 for a couple days. Now that I am on Revision 4 of my custom tune let me tell you it is night and day.

You should definitely get a custom tune from a reputable vendor who will tune you with Safety and Reliability being first and second, and power gains being third on the priority list

 

[Memphis-EcoStang]

My two cents for what its worth. One of my biggest problems with OTS tunes especially COBB is they tend to drop off in power really quickly ( A lot of grunt at the bottom, peter off torwards redline) When I had my car tuned by Alex at Stratified Automotive, I was able to specify what I wanted ( a linear power curve pulling from idle to redline, harder shifts etc) with each iteration I was able to give him feedback on what I saw as problems or improvements.) this alone made the pro tune much more appealing, as I ended up not only with more power, but a tune that suited my own particular style of driving. I also saw a dramatic increase in fuel mileage-recently driving from Vancouver to Tacoma a 134 mile drive and saw 34.4 mpg with adaptive cruise control on using the eco slot. Your results may very, I look at OTS tunes as a gateway drug, just enough to get you hooked and wanting more.

 

[PRG3k]

OTS are made for convenience and low risk variance bc they are designed to work for all engines of a certain model range. If you truly want to mod, they should be nothing more than a stopgap on your way to a custom tune. In my personal opinion, for someone with as many mods as you, it makes more sense to run a custom tune. You're leaving a lot of safe power on the table.

 

[mainian]

OTS are made for convenience and low risk variance bc they are designed to work for all engines of a certain model range. If you truly want to mod, they should be nothing more than a stopgap on your way to a custom tune. In my personal opinion, for someone with as many mods as you, it makes more sense to run a custom tune. You're leaving a lot of safe power on the table.

I agree. Cobb and their 'pro-tuners' are still in business because they offer a great service and they aren't delivering inferior products. I'd be really comfortable running tunes based off datalogs online, and it's something I will do myself when I finish my suspension work in the next few months. I also feel very safe running Cobb's OTS tunes, they spent a lot of time on these tunes.

I'm not digging other tuners, I just have experience with Cobb.

 

[Brodirt]

I agree. Cobb and their 'pro-tuners' are still in business because they offer a great service and they aren't delivering inferior products. I'd be really comfortable running tunes based off datalogs online, and it's something I will do myself when I finish my suspension work in the next few months. I also feel very safe running Cobb's OTS tunes, they spent a lot of time on these tunes.

I'm not digging other tuners, I just have experience with Cobb.

Even though its Cobb its still custom; best of both worlds in my opinion.
Maybe I will speak with my local Cobb pro-tuner and see what they have to say.

 

[Brodirt]

OTS are made for convenience and low risk variance bc they are designed to work for all engines of a certain model range. If you truly want to mod, they should be nothing more than a stopgap on your way to a custom tune. In my personal opinion, for someone with as many mods as you, it makes more sense to run a custom tune. You're leaving a lot of safe power on the table.

Thanks, I probably agree with you, that's why I asked the question.
Maybe, as I just responded to mainian, I should speak with my local Cobb pro-tuner and not just everyone's favorite online tuner.

 

[Kaw8787]

Currently running the Cobb OTS stage 1. 2018 PP with the NGK plugs. I didn’t notice a huge difference. But it’s only stage 1. My only issue with the Cobb tunes, and I’m not saying it’s cobbs fault, is the negative corrections. I’d get a pro tune to address that issue. Since the base maps are just general tunes. I’m
Hoping the negative corrections go away when I do get my pro tune from either Adam or PD. Haven’t decided who I wanna go with yet.

 

[prostovovatt]

Just FYI CP-e is doing mine and I'm pretty hapy thus far.

 

[Twizzty]

Currently running the Cobb OTS stage 1. 2018 PP with the NGK plugs. I didn’t notice a huge difference. But it’s only stage 1. My only issue with the Cobb tunes, and I’m not saying it’s cobbs fault, is the negative corrections. I’d get a pro tune to address that issue. Since the base maps are just general tunes. I’m
Hoping the negative corrections go away when I do get my pro tune from either Adam or PD. Haven’t decided who I wanna go with yet.

That's the big issue with OTS tunes, if your fuel(91/93) is't up to par you'll see lots of negative corrections and there's really not much you can do about it.(maybe trying another station, running 93 on a 91 tune, adding one gallon of e85, ext) Any good pro tuner will be able to work with your car/fuel/goals and provide a better tune for your car. I've had great experiences with both PD and Stratified, both were very professional and produced exceptional results...not so much with Adam. YMMV

 

[Kaw8787]

That's the big issue with OTS tunes, if your fuel(91/93) is't up to par you'll see lots of negative corrections and there's really not much you can do about it.(maybe trying another station, running 93 on a 91 tune, adding one gallon of e85, ext) Any good pro tuner will be able to work with your car/fuel/goals and provide a better tune for your car. I've had great experiences with both PD and Stratified, both were very professional and produced exceptional results...not so much with Adam. YMMV

If you don’t mind explaining what was your issue with Adam tune?

 

[apx632]

So for me I ran a cobb OTS stage 1 tune for about 6 months on my car. I had a cat-back and intercooler as well. I can tell you the difference between my stage 1 and my custom tune that I had done by Adam (Tune+) is night and day. The stage 1 tune is not terrible by any means, it woke the car up a good amount over stock. But the tune itself is like the stock tune, way more timing, and grunt down low and mid range and it falls on it's face over about 4000rpm. The tune I have now that I've been running for over 2 years, yes down low I gave up some grunt, which is fine. Car still is great daily driving. But hit 2700rpm and go up and the car is much more alive. I don't really start to feel the car falling over until just around 5000-5300rpm, but I shift at 5800 or so anyways so it works out perfectly. Even looking at logs back to back i can see all of the differences. As mentioned I've been running this tune for over 2 years. I daily driver the car, it's got over 30k miles on this tune. It drives perfectly. Gas mileage was not affected in the least from stock with this tune (or the stage 1 ots for that matter). So I can definitely tell you that it is WELL worth it to get a proper custom tune for your car. Adam is fantastic with customer service, the tunes are fast, and safe. He is very careful in making sure of that. If there are any other questions you have I will try to answer them as best I can. Also for what it's worth performance was over stock here's my improvements. Stock I could do 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. With this tune My best is 4.7. Stock at the track I ran 13.64 at 100mph. On this tune 12.67 at 107.8mph.

 

[Brodirt]

So for me I ran a cobb OTS stage 1 tune for about 6 months on my car. I had a cat-back and intercooler as well. I can tell you the difference between my stage 1 and my custom tune that I had done by Adam (Tune+) is night and day. The stage 1 tune is not terrible by any means, it woke the car up a good amount over stock. But the tune itself is like the stock tune, way more timing, and grunt down low and mid range and it falls on it's face over about 4000rpm. The tune I have now that I've been running for over 2 years, yes down low I gave up some grunt, which is fine. Car still is great daily driving. But hit 2700rpm and go up and the car is much more alive. I don't really start to feel the car falling over until just around 5000-5300rpm, but I shift at 5800 or so anyways so it works out perfectly. Even looking at logs back to back i can see all of the differences. As mentioned I've been running this tune for over 2 years. I daily driver the car, it's got over 30k miles on this tune. It drives perfectly. Gas mileage was not affected in the least from stock with this tune (or the stage 1 ots for that matter). So I can definitely tell you that it is WELL worth it to get a proper custom tune for your car. Adam is fantastic with customer service, the tunes are fast, and safe. He is very careful in making sure of that. If there are any other questions you have I will try to answer them as best I can. Also for what it's worth performance was over stock here's my improvements. Stock I could do 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. With this tune My best is 4.7. Stock at the track I ran 13.64 at 100mph. On this tune 12.67 at 107.8mph.

Excellent, this is the kind of info I was looking for.
Ive driven the car a lot over the last week, really the first serious miles since the weekend of the tune.
I paid attention to the timing for all for cylinders and the OAR on my AC3.
I saw major negative corrections on Stage 2 tune. Bad gas was indicated.
I downtuned to Stage 1 and it ran about the same but was much less negatively corrected.
Mileage is not what it should be though, I got only 26 on a 100 mile round trip.
Im thinking the gas is seriously bad and Ill try one tank at my preferred station and then if no better I will go with a custom right away.

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