After I add a bit of hardware to the car, I'm looking to get a custom tune. I already have the Cobb Accessport, running Stage 2 map. I'm looking for opinions/advice on where to go. It looks like we have some good choices in the Atlanta area, with Topspeed, Forged Performance, and Batlground. I would love to get some advice/suggestions on where to go, and hear of any personal experiences - good or bad. An earlier thread from awhile back did not seem to mention Forged - maybe the thread pre-dated them, I don't know. I swear I am not trying to start any trouble, just looking for help in making the best decision I can regarding a custom tune, both from a performance and financial perspective. If it helps, just pm me if more comfortable. Being new to the Subaru world, I don't know any of these tuners or shops, but understand that there are probably fans of one or the other, detractors of one or the other, and fans/detractors of more than one. Coming from the MINI world, there are very few custom tuning options available - I tried to get something going for the Atlanta/North Georgia area by bringing in a recognized tuner from the West Coast, but it fell apart due to lack of interest (Most MINI people tend to be MINI people - not car people), so I run a canned GIAC tune. It's nice to have choices and competition - it generally makes for a better product at a better price. I just want to make the most informed decision before plunking down xxx.xx dollars. Thank you in advance for any responses. Len P.S. if any of you vendors see this and want to hook up a Chattanooga Region SCCA Solo Staff member/Street Survival Driving School Instructor/sort of nice guy, let me know!
best of luck... it really comes down to you talking to the shop and who you feel comfortable with... everyone has there likes and dislikes but in the end its really all up to you!
Mike: Sorry, didn't mean to leave you out in the original post, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything Subaru, and I'm a newbie with this platform. I realize that ultimately I will have to make a decision, but ANY information that may help guide me will be appreciated, whether in the form of before/after data, anecdotal information, personal experiences, personal opinions, etc. I really would like to hear or see some before/after dyno charts/numbers, as that seems more relevant to me than just final numbers. I'm not just interested in hp, but torque and a tractable power tune for autocross/track days/daily driver use. I apologize in advance to any other tuners that I have failed to mention, my knowledge is a bit limited on this subject and I just mentioned some that popped into my head. I had met Andrew with Dyno4mance in Calhoun, GA, but he shut down right before I acquired the Subaru. Len
No worries, call, talk to everyone and in the end, like others have said, go with who you are comfortable with.
Just to bring you up to speed a bit, 7 years ago I started working / tuning at Subaru of Gwinnett. I think Dan was already tuning at Batlground at a different location than his current one. Doug was working at Boost Solutions. I think Mike had a "real job" Sharif, the owner of Forged was going Nissans and Infinitis. About 5 years ago Doug was part of the startup of TopSpeed. I had never planned on working at a dealership for long and was surprised by staying there for 3.5 years. Out of 35 employees there were only 4 that had been there longer than me. I went to Batlground for 4 months, but they were too hardcore for me (they work LATE a lot) Doug had TopSpeed well established and he had a 1-year-old daughter so he had been able to get home at reasonable times and my wife and I were wanting to start a family. So I moved to TopSpeed. 6 weeks ago we moved to Forged and things are going well. Sorry if this is a little odd, the pain-killers have me a little loopy after surgery yesterday. Siegel
There are a lot of different opinions regarding local Atlanta-area Tuners on this board. I suggest going to them, talking to the employees, and maybe watch a car being dyno-tuned.
Good to hear you made it out well. To the OP you can't go wrong with any of the tuners you listed. In the end it boils down to this.....talk to all of them and discuss exactly what you want. Base your decision on all of the following factors.... 1) Experience. (Topspeed and Siegel/Forged far surpass anyone else for Subaru tuning in general) 2) Getting what 'you' want out of the tune 3) Customer support and availability 4) Your first impressions and comfort with each you talk to 5) Price It really wouldn't hurt to go and see each in person. I'm sure each would talk to you and if they have a car they are tuning at the time, I'm sure each would give a quick 'tutorial' at how and why they do what they do when they tune. Good luck with your decision!
I started tuning imports in the mid 90's. It was a bit different back then, then it is now. I remember my first supra I had to wire in an electromotive Tech1 and tune it all DOS base. Now jump ahead 15years and we have nice windows interfaces that just about anyone can pick up and use after reading the instructions. I used to have a "Real Job" up until just over 5 years ago when I started TopSpeed. It seemed tuning cars took up more of my time the the real Job would allow. In any event I think any of the tuners here locally could probably tune your car just fine.
Thanks guys for the advice and for the decency, congeniality, and sense of a community spirit in the posts of the tuners themselves. I am truly impressed with the Subaru community (not to mention the car itself!). I really wish I would have started with Subaru, but I wanted to build a bit of a "Giant Killer" with the MINI, which I partially, but not wholly succeeded in doing. The MINI "community" has some pretty decent folks in it, but they are greatly outnumbered by non-car people and some real douchebags. Pettiness, sniping, and trash talk, even among some of the tuners themselves (especially one tuner in Atlanta) is par for the course. My son and I ran the Subie in a CRSCCA event today - and the car is already quite good. Had my son not nicked a cone in his last run, he would have had FTD (and would have beat Dad in MY car). As it turned out, Old Farts rule, as I beat the little punk by eight thousandths of a second. He is only 15 and on a permit - I have a feeling that my days are numbered. Thanks again - once I put some Christmas hardware on the car, I will start saving for the tune, and make a few calls. Len
you should think about coming out to the charity dyno at battleground on the 19th... get a baseline before tuning and meet alot of the people from the site... details can be found here http://WRXAtlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26587
I'm going to make every effort to make it down for the Charity dyno event. I'd like to get that baseline, meet some folks, talk to a tuner, and support a good cause - all in one trip south. For anyone interested, you can check out my son's cone-nicking would have been FTD run in the Wagon on his facebook page (Davis Gregor). This was a charity event on a really small lot. Our newest site, and the site for another charity event next weekend is an auto auction lot approximately 6 times larger. If anyone wants to head up to Chattanooga to race, check out www.crscca.com. Len
If interested, check out this guy's site - www.raysoldano.com, go to his picture gallery and links to Autocross and December 5th for shots of the Wagon in action. Len
Thanks Sharif - I'm looking forward to actually meeting some folks. Don't forget, I am here to help anyone interested in autocrossing in a Chattanooga Region SCCA event or interested in some Northwest Georgia/Southeast Tennessee mountain runs. Some well kept secret twisties up here - it seems you metro boys and girls tend to head to the Northeast for fun. Len
I am open to some North GA mountain runs on open weekends. Most of our weekends are spent at the track, so if you are interested in joining us at the various road course in the region, just shoot me a PM.
From my experiences you will most likely do business with your tuner throughout the life of your Subaru. In many cases you are almost forced to since most tuners "lock" their tunes. Subaru's are quite sensitive to mods so you may have to tweak your car often based on the modification. This is the importance of being comfortable with your tuner and the shop they work through. Things that I have had to take into consideration are cost, availability of labor on demand since quite often there are mechanical issues that are discovered during the tune may that may have to be ironed out prior to continuing with the tune at that moment and proximity of shop if your car is a daily driver. I have only dealt with Scott Siegel and Doug at Top Speed. They are both consummate pros and great to work with. I would recommend visiting all the shops that you are considering and sitting down with each tuner to discuss your short term and long term goals for your car and see is they can put together a plan of action. Since you are doing allot of tracking you may also want to consider a tuner who has a solid background in the type of racing you are doing. Go with whomever you feel will serve your short term and long term goals most cost effective and performance effective. Best of luck!
Yup....it's an electronic ho! :rofl::rofl::rofl: Least this current ECU has only been tuned by one and has 3 flashes on it. My old Ecutek one had over 200 flashes!
Scott tuned my car, I've been happy with the car since. Most of the time it's gona be what people prefer, and not who is the best.