bassn_07

A couple of months ago I had my car custom tuned by LET and I was disappointed. LET had my car on the dyno for a good 3 hours and we finally pulled it off due to people waiting and not enough time left in the day . IMO they way overbooked the event which led to this. They didn't spend the whole three hours tuning due to some difficulties they were having. Either way the tune didn't drive very well. I contacted LET and the customer service was excellent after the fact but I still had a car that suffered with drivability issues that shouldn't have been there.

I spoke with LET a few times trying to arrange another dyno day but after careful consideration I decided to go another route. Trust me guys, I spent a lot of time coming to this conclusion and at first it wasn't easy. I spoke to several well-respected members here discussing my option and getting their opinions...thanks guys! I had several options on the table and I kept going back and forth, which is every consumers option. In the end I was trying to do what was best for my car in the long run with a company I could trust and grow with. I don't want to go into all the details but in the end Powerchips was chosen to tune my car.... what a great choice! To be completely honest Powerchips wanted to compare their custom tune against LET's tune. I figured what the hell, LET had the same exact chance as Powerchips was given. So IMO it's a very fair comparison.

On Thursday we strapped my car down on Autowave's Dyno Dynamics in Huntington Beach here in California. BTW...anyone in this area considering a dyno run really needs to check this place out. Mike, the dyno operator was truly awesome. This was an independent shop that was there for the car owner and not the tuner. Mike made it perfectly clear he would stop the run if he saw or heard something he didn't like. For example, during a run the tailpipe sniffer fell out which caused the AFR's to sky rocket and Mike was off that throttle in split second.... This is by far the best place I dynode my car at!!! For gauging purposes, stock E55's dyno around 380-400 rwhp on this dyno.

Sorry for mumbling on but I need to give props where deserved. Let's get back to the dyno comparison. I baselined my LET tune on Thursday morning and put up some pretty impressive peak HP numbers but lacked the qualities of a smooth solid power curve. Which I knew nothing about until I actually saw what one looked like. Anyways LET put up 532 rwhp, which was great for this dyno. We did several runs with this tune and they were all with 5-10 rwhp of each other with the 532 being the highest. We let the car cool down for about an hour while waiting for Powerchips to show up and work their magic.

In short, Powerchips shows up and within an hour and a half they smash LET's midrange power. I won't be able to post the dyno charts until I get home but you guys will definitely see what I'm talking about. Powerchips completely demolished LET's low and mid curve. I'm talking 20-25 rwhp from 3k to 6k. That's fricken huge and with the torque, the beating even gets worse. I'll get into more details when I get home and post the dyno charts. The dyno charts will tell the whole story.

Bottom line:

LET's custom tune had great peak numbers but lacked a smooth power curve, which reflected in the drivability. The power felt jerky and very undefined. I had surging issues at low RPM and idle was rough. IMO I also felt they could've been more organized and should've booked less people. Rushing tunes due to time constraints shouldn't be an issue and it was.


Powerchips FTW!!!!! They made a huge amount of power through out my entire curve compared to LET's with AFR's right on the money. Drivability.... awesome, awesome, and as smooth as silk. To be honest, if they would've made the same power as LET and just fixed the drivability issues that by itself would've been good enough. Customer service was bar none...PERIOD!!! They answered all my questions, and trust me anyone who knows me knows I have a lot of questions. In the end Powerchips provided a product that was far superior over their competitors product.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, who doesn't consider PC when doing a custom tune would be selling them self short of a great tune. If I had my choice all over again I would choose PC in a heartbeat if not faster. I don't know much about software but just from a visual stand point it was like looking at Atari Ping Pong versus Call of Duty 4 on X-box in HD. Also, watching Jeremy work his magic was a great sight. I stood there and watched this guy smooth out my entire curve. Run after run I would see the curve making more power than the last, with all the peak and valley's disappearing. Truly amazing!!!!

Here's my recommendation. If you live in the area it would be a obvious choice, Powerchips all the way. If you don't live in the area and would like to experience this first hand I would call Travis at PC and try to book them to come out. I'm sure if anyone got enough people in their area they would make the efforts to come out.

I'm not finished with my post but I need some sleep, it's been a very tiring 2 days. I'll repost more details later when charts are available.

Thericker

Good stuff Alan! I told you they could get the job done, PowerChip has more than stood the test of time, & now that they offer full Dyno tuning I have a feeling they'll be breaking down a lot of old records

Yo Travis, call me bud!

BenzoBoi

Glad you like it...

chiromikey

glad to see pc finally getting their hands dirty with their own products.

bassn_07

Hey Mike. I'm telling you, I was very impressed on how much power they gained under the curve with smoothness to boot! For the longest time modding has become more of a headache, Powerchips has brought the fun back. Thank you guys for the unbelievable tune and excellent customer service.

Anyone who knows me will vouch that I tell it as is, and I'm telling you Powerchips all the way. In the beginning I really wanted to work with LET to make this right but the more I drove my car the unhappier I became. Even though LET was willing to go out of their way to help make things right I just decided to end the relationship. They were more than willing to give me back my refund but I would need to send back my ECU and that wasn't an option for me. Instead I decided to give PC the same opportunity. I'll tell no lie - I was very close to going with a full Renntech setup for the pure fact of not dealing with either company but in the end Powerchips presented a great opportunity that couldn't be passed up.

Overall I'm sure both companies have done great things with their customers but in the end, it comes down to your gut feeling on whom you choose. The only thing I personally could do is give my recommendation on what I've experience.... Powerchips all the way! Another word of advice, deal directly with Powerchips and keep the middleman out.

Dyno charts soon to come! I have some great number on a dyno dynamics that many well known members here in LA have used and recommended. Thanks Ed for posting up and recommending Autowave.... great guys!!! I also realize most will say that dyno numbers are just that, numbers. The thing to really look at when I post up the charts is how smooth the curve is and how they just killed LET under the curve. Simply amazing to get so much more power out of a existing custom tune, makes me wonder.

Thanks to all the members whom helped me make my decision. They know who they are and their input was of great use. Finally I could know say I'm finished with my engine mods...almost LOL!! I have one more mod coming up that will put me over the top.... can you say long tubes.
choose.

If I repeated anything I apologize but I'm just excited with my new found power and amazing drivability.

Kevinw23michele

You put down 532 rwhp? What other mods do you have?

InTheBenz0

+1 on what mods you have? What size pulley, cooling mods, etc.

Thanks,
Mike

zoink

Good to hear that you're finally happy, bassn...

If LET indeed comes again to Bay Area and the day is good 60-70*, I'll have them check out the tune again. And I certainly hope it won't be at 034.... I don't know... but seeing E55's numbers are all over the place (remember azipod's stage 1 produces 490-ish wtq while mine was only 430-ish wtq with similar whp? - granted my pulley size is 168mm vs. his 180mm & numbers were uncorrected and the temp could easily be 25-30* apart but still... ) plus the dyno brakes were all smoking after being hooked up w/ SLK55R's car, I kind of doubt the dyno itself

But the bottom line, I 100% agree w/ your assessment.... time (and weather) was the main issue that day. If LET booked fewer people and weather were cool 50-60*, I think things would've been completely different.

zoink

I could be wrong... so I'll let bassn (whom I think is still sleeping ) correct me if I'm wrong...

I think his mods are 180mm pulley, header, exhaust (incl. race cats) & upgraded HE w/ trunk reservoir. I'm not sure about TB... but I think he has since his car is stage 3 (so my guess is at least pulley + header + TB).

AZIPOD

bassn_07

Zoink is right about the mods except for the 82mm mod that was installed after the comparison. I ended laying down 546 rwhp and 570 rwtq. This was done on the same dyno benzboi and blue monster use. It was a dyno dynamics.

Max.H

Allan!!! Congrats man. Those are very impressive numbers. The guys at autowave are cool guys. They are a Honda shop and know whats up. I haven't been there in years but I used there dyno in the past with good results. DD machine is a pain in the *** to operate. But, Mike is a pro at it now. Let's see a 10 sec pass!!

Blue_Monster

Awesome results
Powerchip is the only company I trust with my cars brain.

Hammer Down

Soooo you didn't like the ML63??? sorry for the hi jack, I saw that and starting lol!

Zod

You are not t he only one who feels LET has an issue servicing their customers (or could have been one)....I have been waiting….wait for it… nearly 2 months

No deal has actually gone down, simply for the mater of fact of they can not seem to give me a date and stick to it, I have been chasing and chasing and chasing them still nada....all I get is yes sure tomorrow then hear nothing back from them.
So yes it gives me the impression they are over stretched & can not coupe.

Oh well stick with tired and tested I guess. Their dyno tuning idea really interested me, but pointless if I can not get a deal going now isn’t it.

Does PC have a flash kit they can also use for dyno tuning?

I would be really interested in this if they could do it over seas

and thanks for the post
Khalid

bassn_07

It's not that I wasn't satisfied with their customer service but more of the fact of the performace and drivability issues. The power was good but very irratic with surging at low rpms. They were willing to help resolve the issue but IMO it should've been better to begin with. Having dealt with both companies I would dfinitely recommend pc over let. IMO pc was far more superior.

In the end everyone needs to choose who they feel most comfortable with. I'm just posting my experience with both companies and making a recommendation through my eyes. There's no doubt let has many satisfied customers but I'm just not one of them.

CWW

LET often takes more than one try to get it right, that's apparently not unusual for them at all. But from what I've heard once they get it right, it's really right. People say LET's A/F's aren't as lean as powerchip likes to make them, but the LET tune still produces more power. That's what people seem to be saying anyway. Obviously, YMMV.

But in any event, I guess what I'm thinking is, it's hard to call this a true LET vs. Powerchip comparison, because your LET tune wasn't really finished before you decided to switch tuners. It clearly needed some tweaking.

I Like Soup

Holy crap Alan, those are impressive numbers. I've had the itch to do a mod (exhaust) but haven't had the time.

ChicagoX

While I'm sorry we won't get a chance to finish tuning your ECU, I am glad you are happy with your car. I also would have appreciated the chance to flash your ecu back to stock to discourage "sharing" our intellectual property.
Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you in the future.

bassn_07

I agree with the tune not being finished and in need of tweaking, my intentions was to make that clear. With that being said I believe it should've been a lot better than what it was. As for calling it an unfair comparison between LET vs PC I disagree. If they both had less than 2 hours to tune the car what's not fair? I have no motive here to bring LET down but just to post my opinion of what I thought of both custom tunes. If they need a couple of tries to get it right than they shouldn't be doing custom tunes on the road, it wouldn't be fair to the customer.... right? In any case, like I said before, this was only my opinion of the experience I had with LET. My only motive here is to present my experience with both companies. I will not do any bashing here and like I said before I'm sure they have plenty of happy customers.... I'm just not one of them.

One other thing, I feel LET had it easier going up against a VRP box tune versus Powerchips going up against a custom tune JMHO.

As far as AFR's go. If I'm paying for a custom tune I don't want rich or lean. I'm paying to have a custom tune dialed into my car with perfect AFR's, timing and a nice smooth power curve. I received this from PC and not LET.

From here on out I'll always post both my experience and opinion of a supporting vendor, whether it's good or bad. This way people could take it for what it is and have more information to help make a decision.

bassn_07

Thanks Wayne. That torque converter still sounds appealing to me.

I'm sorry for not giving you guys a chance to tune back to stock but with the long drive to LA I didn't want to take the chance of having something go wrong with a new ECU flash. My apologies for that but I was just trying to do what I felt was best for my car. I gave up my refund on that decision, that's how important it was to me.

indyjoe

What is the price that you paid for each custom tune?

splinter

Their initial results were certainly not for lack of giving it an honest effort.

Perhaps a different day and/or situation would have yielded more favorable results. When I started ‘tuning,’ it would invariably consume untold hours to optimize mixture strength and spark timing for the best possible response, driveability, and WOT performance. The dragstrip and its trap speed was our dynamometer. That doing so necessitated twisting a dizzying array of carburetor jets and recurving the distributor until the timing light had flashed thousands of times against the harmonic damper best be spared from this thread. Fast forward a couple of decades to the wizard manning his omnipresent laptop. Understand and respect protecting another's proprietary and hard-earned intellectual property. What is protocol when having another vendor’s tune flashed into a previously tuned ECU? Is one expected to have it returned to its stock configuration before investing in another aftermarket company’s tuning services? Seems this same conundrum has been raised on this forum in the past, as well.

Not trying to be an *** – merely seeking clarification.

MB_Forever

Alan, your car continues to impress me everyday. At Famoso, armed with only VR600, it was already among the fastest E55s at the event And even at the infamous Zero-Traction Sacramento (), your car produced incredible results. Now, you have dominated the heart-breaker dyno dynamics, and I truly believe that soon your car will conquer track numbers as well

I am glad you finally got what you wanted, and that you are happy with the car, as that is all that matters. You've done a lot of great research and spoken to many people while learning a great deal about your car in the process, so believe me when I say this, you most definitely deserve these great results And even though I was a little disappointed (just a little) when you didn't choose the RennTech tune (just kidding ), I believe things worked out for the best.

Now lets see some dyno sheets and track results

jangy

Glad you are happy Alan!!

Just a few clarifications.... whoever said that PC runs leaner is simply trying to stir the pot. PC's tunes are extremely conservative when it comes to A/F ratios AND timing.

Second, LET should refund the money WITHOUT A DOUBT. Intellectual property? Good lord, do we need to go down this path and go back to trying to find PC's laptop?

I smell some hyper responses, so glad to hear the car is happy. I was actually considering shifting to LET since my little moment of oddness with PC but I guess I'll continue the search.