mb550

Looking to add a tune to my 996 TT. This will be my first time putting a tune on any of my cars so please excuse my ignorance. What is the benefit of having a custom tune vs an off the shelf tune? I do not plan on tracking the car, just spirited driving on the roads

I know there are a variety of tunes, any recommendation on best bang for the buck? Plan on adding an exhaust as well.

Thanks in advance

2fcknfst

Custom tune will be tailored to your mods, fuel (location) and personal driving preferences.

OTS is generic.

Drinaldis

Your signature doesn't say where you're located. If you're in the US, specifically Arizona, Nevada, or California, you're likely having to use ACN91 gasoline. OTS tunes do not deal well with these fuels.

TrillyPop

Let's be real here...most people don't need a "custom" tune. For stock cars or ones with basic mods such as exhaust, intercoolers, etc., an OTS tune is perfect. Additionally, when you get a "custom" tune for a basic bolt on car, you're really getting that tuner's OTS tune anyways. Do I think my file is any different than any other person's "billet K16/5bar FPR/stock injector/catless exhaust" file? Hell no. I could put my file on a ton of other people's cars, and it would be perfect for them. Custom tunes are for custom/extreme cars, and those tunes are generally done in person with road and/or dyno tuning, not with a single data log.

All that being said, lots of discussion on this topic. By the sound of it, your car is stock. Call a couple of the tuners and see who you like. Marek (Markski tuning) and Sam (ByDesign) are the two favorites around here due to actively supporting the platform and providing excellent customer support.

powdrhound

Sam is great. He did 15 revisions for me to get my tune perfect with various hardware changes along the way. All part of this custom tune package. My previous tuner charged me for a custom tune and that consisted of a couple of datalogs and a single revision. When I changed hardware, he charged me $1K for a one log retune. That's what I call a rip off.

Like Trilly said, Sam or Marek are both the go to guys on this platform.

2fcknfst

Also to consider, elevation - an OTS tune will not work as well at elevation as it will at sea level.

lost27

Glad this thread popped up. My car currently has a Marski mafless tune on it and I'll likely be reaching out to him to pick up the hand held tuner to do an updated tune on the car. That being said, I like to do road trips west where the gas is 91 vs the 93 that I have here.

Question(s): Do folks with handheld tuners have multiple maps to handle things like elevation or 91 octane gas? Is it easy to swap tunes with the handheld units to account for changes during roadtrips?

Drinaldis

Yes, I have multiple tunes but not for available gasoline. I need to flash back to stock for smog testing.

RngTrtl

Assuming your just cruising down the road and not hammering the car (i.e. staying out of boost), running a 93 octane tune on 91 octane gas is fine.

2fcknfst

That is wholly dependent on the quality of the refined product; a 93 oct tune will be running more timing to take advantage of the increased fuel quality, 91 will be more conservative - boost in that scenario is not your friend. Or, your engines for that matter.

TrillyPop

Yes, I carry the hand held tuner in the car at all times and have multiple octane tunes on it. If I was stuck away from home and had to run 91oct, I'd reflash it to the 91oct tune. But almost 100% of the time I stay on the 95oct tune and can plan ahead to stay at or above that octane level. Have been thinking about adding WM to the 996 as I am in the process of doing that on another of my cars right now, and would allow me to just forget about fuel altogether.

mb550

I am located in Atlanta so no issues with elevation or gas. Thank you all for the responses, makes a little more sense to me now on why a custom tune would be necessary.

Muskoka

Talk to Markski or Sambo. They won’t try to sell you something you don’t need.

Cam996tt

Sam@bydesignauto.com

Picked up a 996tt that had a previous tune and not much info on the upgrades that were performed. Went down the forum rabbit hole and saw MANY positive feedbacks on Sam’s knowledge and customer service. I reached out to Sam and he assisted with verifying the K16s were upgraded and ruling out any additional fuel system upgrades. I moved on to purchasing a Cobb access port through Sam, at a great price. He had it to me in 2days. I chose to have Sam put together a custom tune. We went through several tuning sessions. All along the way, Sam’s responsiveness and the time that he spent discussing expectations and sharing his knowledge and experience, was phenomenal. End result, the car is smooth as butter. Night and day difference.

Moving forward, discussing additional upgrades with Sam, to get to the next level. Sam not only tunes, but he has a storefront, as well. His parts pricing is also excellent.

I spent the time on this forum update, because it is extremely difficult to find competent, trustworthy and experienced individuals, in most industries. Sam will exceed your expectations. Throw him at the top of your list, when you are looking for tuning or parts for your pride and joy.

Lazurus

Excellent choice. As all have previously said. Sam is the man. He is Phd level for this platform and any and all Porsche in general.

+1 on his parts and perhaps more importantly - matching aftermarket component capabilities, toward end goals and results.