When is it time for a Tune?

[Braski]

I'm waiting until around 10,000 miles which will be about when the car is 1.5 years old. I'm figuring, if there is something that is going to go wrong with my engine it will show up by then.

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[Chameleon]

A tune is great but you run that risk. The real question is, can you afford the repairs?

 

[soldier989]

When you want bragging rights? When you get bored with having more power than 90% of the cars on the road, and want more power than 91% of those cars? When you get tired of having a 50,000 mile warranty on your engine? When you want to make a post in the future asking the entire forum if you think the tune voided your warranty for (insert warranty issue here)?

All valid reasons? Now, if you do put a tune on the engine and something does go wrong that needs to be warrantied, then Ford would have to prove that without a doubt, the failed part was caused by the tune. But it would still be you against a large automaker, so make sure you want to give Ford the potential way out of repairing something if it went bad.

 

[Higgs Boson]

If you don't change parts that alter airflow characteristics through the engine (a catback does not, for example) then you don't NEED a tune even though you may want a tune.

When you change the amount of airflow the engine is capable of moving, you need a tune. If you change the way the airflow moves through the engine, even if it's not technically more (like a CAI) then you need a tune.

When you want to optimize the air/fuel ratio and spark timing or obtain the ability to run E85 or remove some of the power reducing nannies so you can get the most out of your combination, you need a tune.

Many people are risk averse and many others believe that engineers have the last say in a vehicle's design, construction, and calibration rather than the accountants and decide to stay stock, more power to them.

Personally, I would LOVE to buy my cars without a powertrain warranty and put the money towards something useful....

I tuned my GT and my C7 on the way home from the dealer with less than 10 miles on them. I built my C7 engine into a 416ci stroker motor with 1800 miles on it and added a supercharger about a year later.

Don't be scared.

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