If I had a dollar.....

The best thing to do, is search the forums and find reviews on all the vendors. They all have their good points, and bad points.... Every now and then you find a Factory Ford Calibrator like me... but rare :)

Cheers,
-Matt

I really, really want a tune for both the power and the efficiency...but have a 5 year warranty... :(

While Bama may not make the most powerful tune of the vendors, I'm not understanding what makes them unsafe. How can a company make tunes for more mustangs than any other vendors in the world and yet they be unsafe? Just curious and not being a wise guy!

If bama tunes were unsafe wouldn't thousands of mustangs be having there engine implode? How does a company become the largest tuner of mustangs if they make unsafe horrible tunes?

I want one also. However, I have a 7 year warranty. Guess I'll just have to make due with 412hp.

You're incorrect here. We do make changes in the cam timing it does not go untouched. We also do turn off torque management where it makes sense. Insert our Race tune here.. We have more capabilities than 99% of the tuners out there.

Straight from the Bama team:

Attachment 192325

You'll see above a list of a few things that we change in all of our tunes that you said we do not.

I do understand that you tune your own Mustang. That tells me that you really know Mustangs and tuning well. That is why I've offered up a free tune for you. We do value every customers feedback and I think it can be beneficial for both of us. You'll see that are tunes are good, powerful and perfectly safe. All I really want is your trust and friendship. Our recent updated Bama tunes are great. If you're located close to our Headquarters in Malvern, PA we'd be glad to strap your car to our dyno. We can then compare your current tune vs. ours. You've commented on countless threads pushing people away from Bama and haven't even given our tune a chance. This is upsetting to me and unfair. I honestly think you'd be surprised!

You can feel free to shoot me a PM with your contact information included. I can have our head tuning specialist give you a call and explain any of your questions. I look forward to speaking with you.

I have no interest in arguing back and forth. I'll be bailing out of this thread now. However, I'm still here to help anyone who has a question or concern. Feel free to shoot me a PM directly! I just don't want to spam the OP's thread.

Hope this clears things up.

-Dan

I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand since for one you've never tried anyone else's tune and two you've never actually data logged your tune. You're like many others that just flash in a tune without actually taking the time to understand and check for themselves what's going on with the tune.

Jack, the best tune has the best customer service attached to it. Plenty of tune choices out there already mentioned, so go with the company and/or tuner that gives you the most confidence starting with the pre-sale. For example, Steeda earned my tune business in this regard when Bama failed. Take your time, shop around and beware of marketing hype.

I'm not here to fuel the argument, but lets get down to the calibration itself.

Does BAMA change variable camshaft settings? Yes, out of the list provided above only max_intake_cam_phasing is different than the 2014 SCT Value file. The other tables listed are indeed modified via SCT R&D.

Bama also makes some changes to Torque Truncation 1st-6th gear to assist with torque management.

With that said, at the moment, I still think Bama and Steeda provide the best balance of power and reliability.

Why not just try their tune? I'm sure Bama would be wiling to give you a good go to right the wrong.

Remember, I'm a neutral 3rd party :)

Cheers,
-Matt

Hey Matt,

Hope all is well. You guys killed the Twins yesterday. It'll be interesting to see tonight and tomorrow's games to see if they can do it again!

As for the VCT settings, we have obviously looked through the variables that SCT changes in their testing, but those aren't what we're using. We're using our own parameters and have been working with the top tuners in the industry to build a file that we're really proud of! Our new tunes, in my opinion, are amazing in terms of power, very driveable and safe/reliable. SCT does modify most of the same tables as listed above, but we don't use SCT value files for the tunes that we provide our customers. I know that's not what you're getting at, but wanted to put it out there.

Our past tunes have made some changes to Torque Truncation, and our newest automatic trans calibrations are really well-rounded. I think we've done a really good job in our new files with finding the perfect feel for our Street, Performance and Race tunes. We've got a great lead calibrator who has been spending literally months street testing our calibrations for the best in driveability and consistency.

I appreciate that you said we're among your top choices in terms of power/reliability. That is flattering and much appreciated. Thanks again for chiming in and we definitely are willing to have GrabberBlue come test our tune right here at our HQ in the Philly area. He's only a few hours north and we'd be willing to pay for expenses as long as we create a thread about it and we can get this solved once and for all!

Don't be a stranger, man. What are you driving nowadays?

Chris are you saying you reworked all your tunes. Even the ones for the 05-09's

Scott, what's your thoughts on JDM Engineering tuning? I'm going with them since I've also researched good things, and they have experience with Magnuson. From what I understand, their tunes (written by Jim Sr.) are pretty spot on from the get go. I'm not sure of their timing, torque management, etc...

I agree whole heartedly. That's why I went with JDM Engineering, and why I steer clear of Bama. JDM folks (Nick and Jr.) were pretty open, respectful, and responsive to my inquiries. I've read and heard good things, and I hope I will have a good experience.

But yes, the customer service HAS to be there. And that is why due to the reputation that Bama/AM has, and my first hand (and second hand - friends who I know well) experience with their customer service and products, is the reason I will never have an AM product touch my car.

OP, good luck with your decision. Let us know who you go with. As I stated in another thread, stereotypes exist for a reason. They came about, for a reason. They don't just materialize out of thin air. If Bama has a "reputation" or "stereotype" for having issues, think about that for minute. There has to be a reason. My question to you is, why take that risk?

No offense Dan I have your 93R tune, the car bogged with sticky tires and I lost .4 and 2 MPH due to torque management. I was disappointed to say the least.

Unfortunately, JDM tunes disable the knock sensors on TVS cars. I didn't know that until I tried to log my tune and found this out. Their tune might be okay, but I'm not comfortable having a knock sensor disabled. I was okay with it on the Roush tune becaues it runs like 8 degrees timing. Plenty of room for error. Not so much with a more aggressive tune. Just making you aware of everything.

Thanks for all the input. Right now I am leaning towards Steeda. I will have to think about this before I make my final verdict.

Jack

See below. I've not heard anything really good or bad about them here's some feedback that doesn't look promising. Disabling the knock sensors is not good. Something Bama used to do and I believe in some capacity still does.
That's torque management not being turned off exactly as you state. I've seen it twice with my own eyes data logging for people on a Bama tune.

Thanks for the feedback. I spoke directly with JDM Engineering about this. I love the fact that I can talk to them anytime and get things cleared up. (part of why I went with them). According to them, they've tuned down the knock sensors mostly on 3V (older) Mustangs... not necessarily shut them off. If they did, it was specifically for that application, and not a broad/general practice. The knock sensors in our 4V are much more advanced and the tune I'm getting is very mild for my application. And we will "tweak" to adjust accordingly and squeeze more power out if necessary, but of course within a significantly safe window. JDM is also proud to state they work exclusively with Roush and Ford Racing, so they know them well. And they're the only tuning/tuners that have not had any engine issues due to their tune, particularly the #8 cylinder issue.

So... we'll see how it goes. I'll be datalogging as well, and we can fine tune/make changes as necessary.

I'm running a JDM tune and have no complaints. They know their **** and are very approachable.

I run bama's 91 hybrid tune and have zero issues with it. Never bogs down and feels great!

I'm not a tuner so I could look at the data on the tune and none of it would mean crap to me. The numbers look like numbers and the command codes don't mean anything to me because I'm not a tuner. That's why I paid Bama, Steeda and MPT to write my performance tunes because they are in the business of tuning mustangs. My profession is not tuning cars. My side job is not tuning cars. My hobby is not tuning cars. I have no interest in tuning my own car.

Just so there is no misunderstanding I run Bama, Steeda and MPT tunes. Very happy with all those companies. I don't only have Bama and in fact probably data logged with bama maybe 4 or 5 times. Data logged once with MPT.

I'm still trying to understand how a company makes crappy, unsafe tunes all while being the worlds leading mustang tuner.

We're talking at the track with a sticky tire.


Have you ever taken your big bad V6 to the track?:rofl2: