I'm tune ready but who/what to go with

monkey_alan

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Hi Guys

Forgive me, I couldn't find the "tuning for dummies thread" I only gave it a quick glance though

I have a 2019 Supra, being early I'm pretty confident the ECU won't be locked.
I wasn't planning on tuning because the thought of tampering with the ECU scares me a bit but I'm over that now.

I've got the car ready for tuning. I've got cattless down pipes with a full Akra exhaust and Eventuri intake.

Just looking for recommendations regarding BM3 and Ekutek and possibly others? is there one that's easier to understand than the other? Which one would be ideal for a first time diy tuner?

Apart from the extra power, there are other things I would like to remove too, like exhaust burbles and removing the cold start up feature.

Recommendations and experiences would be appreciated
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XtremeMaC

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Not so much as a diy unless you risk venturing into adjusting tables yourself and blowing things up.. You have to actively trace real-time data, adjust things, understand the errors and whatnot. A first timer imho probably should try things on cheaper cars, but don't let me stop you from trying. Don't know how eager, how financially sound you may be..
For true off the shelf "diy" experience you can go with BM3 or MHD. Similarly priced... Rather easy to use. Burble, etc. all have it. They both feature on the fly map switch, antilag, etc. on b58s but haven't seen support for Supra. (Though I must admit been off the topic for a while now, but haven't seen news here, fb, etc...)
Both have tuners as well. Then you have EcuTek, racerom which is more of a custom tune and more complicated, at the very least with purchasing options and expensive..
BM3 people complain about not owning the tune offline, but that's not a deal breaker for me as I'm on OTS.
If you have plans for custom you have some thinking to do.. lastly tuners for bm3 are scarce as well as for others, maybe not for EcuTek, so get in line lol.
But yeah tuners and extremely knowledgeable people on the forums. Search the forum and wait for their more educated response. But if you want to play with tables, I don't think anyone will suggest it unless one has some experience already...
 

Escapist

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I personally use BM3 after doing some research, determined that platform was the best for my personal needs. The OTS maps are strong but still conservative to maintain long term reliability. You do have the option to go custom tune which I may do down the road. I like BM3 due to the ease of use, I don't have a windows laptop (Chromebook user), I flashed my car directly from my phone. I also disabled burbles because they're fucking stupid, and turned off cold start due to also being catless with an aftermarket exhaust; all can be done directly from the app.

Currently rocking the stage 2 OTS map on 93 octane and no real complaints. Like I said, the OTS maps are very conservative. It's a noticeable bump in performance compared to a stock MKV but I still wish it was faster. They're supposed to be releasing a Stage 2+ map soon which I'm looking forward to.
 

MYA90SUPRA

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Hi Guys

Forgive me, I couldn't find the "tuning for dummies thread" I only gave it a quick glance though

I have a 2019 Supra, being early I'm pretty confident the ECU won't be locked.
I wasn't planning on tuning because the thought of tampering with the ECU scares me a bit but I'm over that now.

I've got the car ready for tuning. I've got cattless down pipes with a full Akra exhaust and Eventuri intake.

Just looking for recommendations regarding BM3 and Ekutek and possibly others? is there one that's easier to understand than the other? Which one would be ideal for a first time diy tuner?

Apart from the extra power, there are other things I would like to remove too, like exhaust burbles and removing the cold start up feature.

Recommendations and experiences would be appreciated
I'm not sure about this, but for ecutek I think you need to own a shop to get their software to tune things yourself. I gather this from going to their website and trying to apply for getting the software.
 

Loco38SUP

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The best advice I can give you is don’t mess with a DIY tune. You might as well buy a back up turbo and B58 motor when things go Kaboom.

Since you have an early car you don’t need a bench unlock. Just pick your flavor of Tuner ice cream and let them send you an Off the Shelf (OTS) map.

I would say EcuTek is quickly becoming the market leader for tuning software. They now offer tune with Phone Flash. If you can move sliders on your phone then you can adjust the parameters mentioned.

-RJM

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monkey_alan

monkey_alan

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Ok great feedback, its given some good food for thought.

I'd defiantly be downloading a pre loaded tune there is no way I'd be playing with graphs and tables that's for sure.

Being able to control settings on the phone appeals.

hmm decisions decisions

Also, what do you do when the car goes in for a service at Toyota, do you just load the stock tune back on the car ?
 

Zupra1776

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Ok great feedback, its given some good food for thought.

I'd defiantly be downloading a pre loaded tune there is no way I'd be playing with graphs and tables that's for sure.

Being able to control settings on the phone appeals.

hmm decisions decisions

Also, what do you do when the car goes in for a service at Toyota, do you just load the stock tune back on the car ?
From experience with other vehicles, specifically the Subaru world, probably the best piece of advice you will get (IN MY OPINION) is go with a custom tune, not off the shelf. Loads of good tuners out there, I personally will be going with Visconti and doing his dynamic flex fuel kit and ECUTEK tune as E85 content varies and when you're mixing you aren't always going to hit the exact e40-50 mark so having a dynamic table just makes sense.

The "problem" with OTS tunes is they are exactly that, an off the shelf product, conservatively tuned to meet a wide range of potential conditions.

However, when you custom tune a tuner is adjusting the table based on YOUR mods, your elevation, your fuel, your ambient temperature, etc... you're going to get a better tune and that obviously comes with a premium that again IMO...is well worth every penny.

Addressing your last question, once you go full mods you should NOT go to get serviced at dealer anymore unless it's a warranty claim, in which case revert the car back to stock pretend it's never been modified, pray they don't deny your claim. This warranty one comes up everytime and the reality is people need to come to the realization that if you aren't financially ready to replace an engine or major component of your vehicle due to a potential failure then aren't ready to pay and play.

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Escapist

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Also, what do you do when the car goes in for a service at Toyota, do you just load the stock tune back on the car ?
I personally don't trust Toyota to work on the MKV. I've seen more than a few posts from people who have had difficulties at Toyota dealerships doing simple things like oil changes because not every Toyota tech is trained to work on the MKV. I'd only bring mine in for a warranty claim if it's electronics or body related. Any claim associated with the powertrain is pretty much out the window once you mess with the DME ie tuning/flashing.
 
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monkey_alan

monkey_alan

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Also, my car (2019) is going in for its 12mth service next week.

There's a good chance they'll do a software update while it's in there. If they do, is there a chance I may not be able to run a tune like MHD afterwards?
Has anyone experienced this ?
 

JoeDaMechanic

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I personally don't trust Toyota to work on the MKV. I've seen more than a few posts from people who have had difficulties at Toyota dealerships doing simple things like oil changes because not every Toyota tech is trained to work on the MKV. I'd only bring mine in for a warranty claim if it's electronics or body related. Any claim associated with the powertrain is pretty much out the window once you mess with the DME ie tuning/flashing.
I was picking up an oil filter from the parts department of my local dealer, the parts guy was like 'What you don't want your free oil change?' Aside from not wanting them to relock my ecu, not wanting that terrible stock oil, and not trusting their techs, I was just like nope.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but we both had a small chuckle after my 'Nope.' that to me said he didn't trust them fully either.
 

JoeDaMechanic

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Also, what do you do when the car goes in for a service at Toyota, do you just load the stock tune back on the car ?
Lol, I just don't take it to them for service.
Also, it sounds like it doesn't really matter. From what I've heard, once you're tuned, your ecu records out of spec parameters and flags you as being tuned. So no amount of pulling things off and putting stock parts back on will really help.
Finance manager was real sad when I shot down his extended warranty sales pitch real fast with I void warranties, and I bought this one to do just that.
 

Escapist

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Lol, I just don't take it to them for service.
Also, it sounds like it doesn't really matter. From what I've heard, once you're tuned, your ecu records out of spec parameters and flags you as being tuned. So no amount of pulling things off and putting stock parts back on will really help.
Finance manager was real sad when I shot down his extended warranty sales pitch real fast with I void warranties, and I bought this one to do just that.
You just gave me an idea to wear an "I void warranties" t shirt the next time I buy a new car. The finance manager I had casually mentioned the extended service plan to me but he knew right away I wasn't keeping this thing stock.
 

7sstreet

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BM3 is a solid option. Latest updates to OTS maps are amazing and you can always do a custom map. Anyone saying go custom with x y or z so you don’t blow up is comical. Tons of custom tuned cars pushing stuff with blown turbos, motors, transmissions, etc. It all just depends how deep your pockets are.
 

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I personally use BM3 after doing some research, determined that platform was the best for my personal needs. The OTS maps are strong but still conservative to maintain long term reliability. You do have the option to go custom tune which I may do down the road. I like BM3 due to the ease of use, I don't have a windows laptop (Chromebook user), I flashed my car directly from my phone. I also disabled burbles because they're fucking stupid, and turned off cold start due to also being catless with an aftermarket exhaust; all can be done directly from the app.

Currently rocking the stage 2 OTS map on 93 octane and no real complaints. Like I said, the OTS maps are very conservative. It's a noticeable bump in performance compared to a stock MKV but I still wish it was faster. They're supposed to be releasing a Stage 2+ map soon which I'm looking forward to.
Whose tune are you running?
 

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I have MHD, it's been solid for me. Definitely faster than stock by long shots when on a stage 2 tune. Options to go custom tune also. Has the ability to datalog and if any issues arise, MHD is usually on top of their game to fix it. Easy plug and play, even lets you know if your DME is locked. I'd say do some research on it yourself to find what you want to know cause theres a lot of things to say about it but just too lazy to type up a novel about it. Lol
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