Ok so I'm a little long winded and for that I'm sorry.

Back at the end of 07 I purchased an SCT XCAL2 from Brenspeed with 3 tunes & a CAI. I have been very happy with the performance of the tune & CAI. It did everything they said it would and has proven to be very reliable in all driving conditions. Last year & again this year I had to get an emissions inspection and the car fails with to the O'2 being turned off. Recently I have been having trouble with my SCT tuner, at certain time it will pop the fuse for the DLC & dash. This has become quite annoying, I hate to keep doing that to the car fearing it could cause some damage.

I contacted Brenspeed about the issue and their only suggestion was to contact SCT. I guess I had hoped for slightly more insight into the issue from them and felt a little let down after all of the props I have given them over the years and people I have sent in their direction. Again, Brenspeed owes me nothing and I have no issues with them or the quality of their tunes.

This got me thinking and I started looking for someone else to buy a new XCAL3 & tunes from. This way I can try something new, get an emissions tune for when I need it and "all out/race" type tunes for the remainder of the time. I started looking around and from back in 07 I remembered the "BIG THREE" Brenspeed, Tillman & Bama. As I'm sure most of you know some things have changed, Brenspeed has pretty much stayed the same but the others haven't. Chris Rose of Tillman & Doug Stoddard of Bama Tunning were both always highly spoken of and were always the go to guys for this type of stuff. The way I now understand it Bama only sells tunes through American Muscle but Doug is no longer with Bama & CR is working for American Muscle.

Here is my question/dilemma:

Who is making the Bama/American Muscle tunes? Are they the work of CR, or does he have another function at American Muscle? Again, who is doing the tuning for Tillman? Are they just using the tunes from when CR was there? Tillman's website is somewhat lacking since they moved to the new site so there is very little information on it regarding their tunes.

I guess in the end I'm looking for some insight into this and asking for some input from some people who maybe know more about the story or who have purchased tunes in the past months. Where should I turn to get some new tunes so I try something different.

 

Hey, great question! First, thanks for the interest in our tuning. Let me clear a few things up for you.

All of the tune AmericanMuscle currently sells are a mash of Mike Wilson and I. We've taken our best work and combined them to offer what I truly believe are the best tunes in the market. When you place an order on our website, one of the Bama Tuning experts in our team will create the file(s), using parameters that Mike Wilson and I have developed over our previous dyno tuning experience. As well, we have an in-house dyno, unlimited access to AmericanMuscle inventory and vehicles including Mustang's of every generation. This means that we can offer you the best in custom tuning at all times. Our files are always randomly tested to ensure that our accuracy is up to par. We've send these files out to thousands of people a week without issues.

I hope this clears things up a little bit. I think you'll be extremely happy with what we have to offer. Absolutely any questions at all, please feel free to give the guys over at Bama a call, as I'll be working heavily in development and not on the phones. Thanks again!

 

Can the American Muscle tunes handle LARGE changes in altitude? I live in Denver, Co. but make some trips to the mountains. So I go from ~6000 ft to 9000-1000 ft at times.

Thanks.

 

I went the custom dyno tune route with Reedspeed in the Dallas area. The tuner used an SCT. The car recently passed inspection with no problems. I live in one of the urban counties in Texas that requires a "sniff test".

 

Thanks for the info CR, I made the purchase last night and filled out the vehicle info page. One thing to note is the page had a glitch, as you fill out the info it goes below the bottom border of the page and then the option boxes at the bottom of the page can't be filled in. They disappear behind the "legal" writing at the footer of the page.

Also I added in a note asking for the "street" tune to be emissions legal. We here in MA have to pass a readiness monitor test and so i need all of the sensors turned on to pass it. I hope that is something the guys a Bama do for me.

 

 

really???

Thanks, I called Bama. That was more to give CR an update and let him know I purchased a tune. If you noticed I didn't ask any questions of him just stated facts.

 

haha

 

SO who do I call? AM or BAMA? I've emailed AM twice about my tune not being right and got no reply. I called and spoke to someone and they said they would send it out via email within a week. That was months ago! I ended up buying a Brenspeed tune which thankfully is AWESOME. Still, I'd like to have the tunes I paid for sent to me!

07S197 no disrespect and not trying to hijack your thread! I'm skeptical of AM's claims!

 

No problem, I called 888.226.9764, the number listed on Bama's site. They picked the phone within 5 rings and were able to pull up my order with just my name.

I say try calling them

 

Thanks for that, and how do you like your GT500 wheels if you don't mind me asking? I've been eying a set of those.

 

They are great wheels and if you buy a takeoff set from somewhere they will have a perfect balance. I could not believe the huge difference in road feel and stability with them.

But, TBH they are not my fav design and when I have the $$ I will be getting a set of 10+ 19" GT500's. But right now I can't swing the 2K, at 1K for the 07-09 style shipped I couldn't go wrong.

 

You call Bama custom tuning. The AmericanMuscle team can help you with the sales/customer service aspect. However, if you have tune related problems or technical issues, contact the Bama team. Everyone's in the same building, it's just a matter of calling Bama to speak to the people who actually tuned your vehicle.

Call the Bama team, and they'll have a file to you over the phone within 5-10 minutes. If you don't call them, they don't know you have an issue! And I'm sorry the customer service reps over at AM didn't send you to Bama, that's what they're instructed to do. Not that they aren't all great with Mustangs, and most drive Mustangs themselves. The problem is that TUNING Mustangs is a much more complicated aspect, and we have a team dedicated to taking care of this (Bama). The Customer Service Reps are starting to understand this, and should direct you to the Bama line and transfer you to one of the members.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only that is confused...

Marketing 101 = KISS!

 

Thanks Chris, I appreciate it. I love the fast shipping but the customer service side seems to be lacking..

 

So far I'm enjoying the new tunes. They seem to be running great and the car pulls really hard.

 

Can you tell me in what respect? I'd like to fix the underlying issue, and make you happy.