2014 5.0 bama tune advise needed

[mystickb1996]

So i just got a black 2014 premium manual. the first thing i bought was magnaflow street axle back and off road x pipe. so now everyone is saying i will need a tune for deleting the cats. i dont really understand this as every other mustang i had when i deleted the cats i didnt need a tune if i kept the rear o2s. only thing i can think of is being the 5.0 has wideband stock it might run rich when i take the cats out. not really sure... but im leaning toward bama for the tune because of the warranty they include. i didnt plan on tuning the car and dont really want to but if i have to in order the run the off road x then so be it.. i was wondering how the power will be with the bama tune? i see an ungodly amount of mixed reviews online about how its great then others saying they cant tell a difference.

also i have sct advantage 3 pro race pkg from my last cobra, i was wondering if anyone has used the value file for the 2011-2014 5.0 that sct has? i was just wondering how that canned tune is..

thanks for all the help in advance, kinda lost with the new 5.0 right now

 

[nosympathy]

Bama is a joke. Their tunes suck. I had them and dumped them for AED. Power is better with AED by a lot, and drivability is far better. Had my car brick twice with Bama, and the last time I tried to get them to write tunes for my new parts, they were just bad. All kinds of power loss and surging. No physical changes made to the car, but got an AED tune, car runs perfect now.

Drink the Kool AID!

You don't "have" to tune when running catless mid pipe. What will happen is two things. One your car will try to cool the cats by dumping unburnt gas down the pipes, even though the cats are not there. So wasting gas. Second you'll constantly have a CEL code.

 

[kcsvt94l]

Here's some advice.

PM "Shaun@AED" and never look back.

I could be wrong but with out flashing that device to the SF3 firmware it's not going to work, SCT I believe is the only place to get this done and from what I've heard it's not always possible and when it is, it's almost the price of a new tuner.

2nd #8 Warranty is pointless once you get the factory loaded tunes lean condition resolved(I.E. a new tune) Again Shaun@AED is the way to go here though his fix I believe has been distributed to all reputable tuners.

3rd. Smoother Tune than stock, Safer tune than stock, more power than stock, better fuel economy than stock. Why again don't you want to be tuned ?

 

[HEMI LOL]

my BAMA tune seems to be just fine.

 

[Tony_GT_14]

I had Bama for a couple of months before going with Tony Gonyon in Jacksonville. Bama was fine for a while. With the CAI and O/R X-pipe, it did make more power. But nothing beat having it on the dyno and knowing that someone was taking the time to look over ALL the parameters of my car. I do have to say that the customer service I get with am.com and Bama is/was really good. I'll continue to use them for certain parts and accessories.

The tunes Tony wrote are GREAT! The race tune cuts off all electronic nannies and has an adjustable 2-step. The street tune has awesome throttle response, better power all over the rev range, and like some have said, gets BETTER MPG!

If I had to do it all over again, I would have skipped the Bama tunes and went to Tony right off the bat.

 

[kcsvt94l]

Bama is fine out of the gate as I got free tunes when I bought the tuner. However, it seems they fail to understand how VCT adjustments directly correlate to increased power more so then adjusting spark values. I've heard they'll datalog if you ask, but the problem is monday you might talk to X tuesday Y and Friday Z. So who knows what's actually happening.

I can tell you my car is leaps and bounds better with the AED Tune. Bama sent me over 25 revisions and never could resolve the surging ultimately blamed the Install of the CAI or said I damaged the MAF. Baseline AED Tune solved the random surging and dieing immediately. Just my .02

 

[nosympathy]

Bama is fine out of the gate as I got free tunes when I bought the tuner. However, it seems they fail to understand how VCT adjustments directly correlate to increased power more so then adjusting spark values. I've heard they'll datalog if you ask, but the problem is monday you might talk to X tuesday Y and Friday Z. So who knows what's actually happening.

I can tell you my car is leaps and bounds better with the AED Tune. Bama sent me over 25 revisions and never could resolve the surging ultimately blamed the Install of the CAI or said I damaged the MAF. Baseline AED Tune solved the random surging and dieing immediately. Just my .02

+1 except I didn't give them that many revisions. Did datalogs a few times and they said they were good and couldn't do anything else. Instead of fighting them I PM'd Shaun and took the steps to have him tune the car.

Also, Shaun's CS is far above and beyond Bama/AM. I thought they were good, but he is far superior.

 

[The Guz]

I had Bama for a couple of months before going with Tony Gonyon in Jacksonville. Bama was fine for a while. With the CAI and O/R X-pipe, it did make more power. But nothing beat having it on the dyno and knowing that someone was taking the time to look over ALL the parameters of my car. I do have to say that the customer service I get with am.com and Bama is/was really good. I'll continue to use them for certain parts and accessories.

The tunes Tony wrote are GREAT! The race tune cuts off all electronic nannies and has an adjustable 2-step. The street tune has awesome throttle response, better power all over the rev range, and like some have said, gets BETTER MPG!

If I had to do it all over again, I would have skipped the Bama tunes and went to Tony right off the bat.

hey man, just curious what did tony charge to do your tunes? i have bama now and im looking to switch will i be able to use the sct tuner from bama?

 

[dead man walkin]

I have zero issues with bama. They always get back to me the same day I request tunes and for a guy like me that adds parts every year, free tunes for life!! Yeah that's paid for it self already. Also you won't see anyone claiming this tune is better than that tune take each tune to the track and load them into the same car and prove it. Unless its a dyno tune. I bet bama has tuned more mustangs than any other tuner also.. more experience.

 

[kcsvt94l]

I have zero issues with bama. They always get back to me the same day I request tunes and for a guy like me that adds parts every year, free tunes for life!! Yeah that's paid for it self already. Also you won't see anyone claiming this tune is better than that tune take each tune to the track and load them into the same car and prove it. Unless its a dyno tune. I bet bama has tuned more mustangs than any other tuner also.. more experience.

People have done this.

Quality trumps quantity everyday, Shaun@AED will redo your tunes for free unless you add a power adder then you have to pay him a little extra. How many people have you heard of or read about that has had issues with #8 on an AED tune? None.

Shaun essentially designed the fix for Ford's factory Lean condition on the stock tune. He 100% requires datalogs or he doesn't tune the vehicle period. While some may think this is a hassle, the wrong settings in a number of areas can absolutely destroy an otherwise stock coyote engine. So while he may not have done as many as bama, he does have the most powerful & refined tunes out of anyone. We're talking about cars that cost 40k, not a ragged out fox body that's been rode hard an put away wet. Why wouldn't you want the most refined/safest tune possible?

It's hilarious because people won't bat an eye to spend 600 bucks on an axle back for 500 on a CAI but the key to getting the most out of every single modification you can do lays with the tune. Bah! Lets go with Bama! or Hell Why do I need a tune, I'll run it as is.

The technology in these engines now a days puts the "ricer" logic to bed. "I got a new tune it added 40 HP." A tune with the proper VCT Calibration vs. a tune without VCT calibration makes an immense difference. We've seen it time and time again, People on Shaun@AED tunes not only dyno higher than most folks, yet seem to run the fastest 1/4 times. I implore anyone in the KC Metro area to contact me if you have doubts, I still have bama tunes I can load and show you the difference.

 

[dead man walkin]

"People have done this"? I've never seen it. Look I have nothing against AED don't know them. But everyone who has ever shouted this tuner is better than that tuner has never run tunes back to back?? If I knew my tunes were better I'd do that and you tube it and prove it. Or point out driveability concerns of the others, right?

 

[kcsvt94l]

"People have done this"? I've never seen it. Look I have nothing against AED don't know them. But everyone who has ever shouted this tuner is better than that tuner has never run tunes back to back?? If I knew my tunes were better I'd do that and you tube it and prove it. Or point out driveability concerns of the others, right?

Plenty of comparisons on this thread if you look. People don't want to come out and make a thread Tuner "X" Sucks and Tuner "Y"made "Z" more power over tuner "X" because there is a fine line between showing improvements by changing a tune, and Vendor bashing. Plenty of time slips posted out there, Pretty difficult to capture video that coveys an accurate representation of the common driveability issues some tuners can't seem to get resolved. Personally, mine was bad enough that I wouldn't even attempt trying to record it and drive at the same time, that's how bad the surging was. If you're happy with Bama that's fine, I'm not going to twist your arm. I'm just going to simply tell you. You're leaving a very noticeable amount of power on the table. Some folks are ok with that because of the glorious #8 warranty. Which if you followed the accounts leading up to that offering you would know is quite ironic.

 

[5pointohh]

thread has some wrong info in it.

However, I've had Bama tunes before. They seem to be more conservative, but still made good power and awesome customer service. Bama is a good choice for people looking "not to squeeze" every HP out of the car. OP - I think it would be a great option for you if your worried about the #8 cyl. & for running a O/R mid pipe. A couple of friends of my has Bama tunes, and their cars haul ass. I've had several email tunes from other companys as well. Including JPC and AED. That said, I believe the JPC tune I had was the quickest. I never got to run the car with the AED tune cause I went FI, but basically a stock A6 13 GT with a axleback & tune ran 11.80 @ 116-117 on a drag radial. Never ran the car with the Bama tune either, but comparing between JPC and Bama, I liked the way the car shifted normally driving better with Bama and all out drivability. But the JPC felt stronger top end, and seemed to get better MPG.

To each their own, but if your not looking to squeeze every ounce of power out of the car, BAMA will work just fine. Those enthusiast that want too, go with a datalogged email tune.

 

[125oh]

I've had a lot of different ones aed is the best . Give him a call you won't regret it

 

[ScotTFO]

This was my thread about my experience with BAMA vs. AED with track times.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...932202-track-two-different-tunes-tonight.html

 

[nosympathy]

"People have done this"? I've never seen it. Look I have nothing against AED don't know them. But everyone who has ever shouted this tuner is better than that tuner has never run tunes back to back?? If I knew my tunes were better I'd do that and you tube it and prove it. Or point out driveability concerns of the others, right?

Yeah as the other guy said, I am not trying to straight up vendor bash, but when people ask I will give my opinion.

I had Bama for a year and a half. Still have them technically but don't run them. As I stated before, my car has bricked twice by them writing bad tunes. Thankfully SCT wrote a recovery file that saved my ass from Bamas screw up. Mind you that even though the tunes were botched, were not willing to pay to have the dealer reflash the car if needed.

The last changes I made was when I installed a Boss IM and JLT Cai. Installed the CAI correctly as there is a tab on it that keeps you from installing it wrong, Bamas tunes would surge so bad the car would nearly, and sometimes actually would, stall. Their fix for this, was to raise my idle RPM from 750 to 900. Still surged, but with that extra RPM wouldn't surge enough to stall. Still sounds bad when your car almost stalls and then catches itself constantly at idle.

I also lost a lot of power in the midrange(expected to a degree with the Boss IM) and lost a crap ton up top. I could feel it driving the car too, it felt slow. I thought I wasted a crap ton of money to just make my car slower. I data logged with them and still no resolve. Felt slow.

I contacted Shaun at AED and he made a promise too me I couldn't resist. His initial tune, for data logging, would be stronger than Bamas data logged tunes or my money back. He was right. I ran his initial tune for 2 days, taking it easy on the car, before I could data log. The surging stopped, the car felt alive again. The other big change? The car feels smooth and extremely easy to shift and drive. With bama it felt like I was fighting the car to drive it at times.

The thing was, I didn't even realize drivability was that bad, until I got the AED tune. I really was just pissed about the power.

I think the single biggest mistake people make, as evidence by some posts here, is that these other tunes, AED, LUND, VMP, etc. that there only better than Bama because of power. There is so much more too the car than that. Shaun has so many little tweaks, that make the car drive so much better. Not even counting his Drag tune, that turns off all the nannies and holds RPMs for a split second while you shift. I love that tune, I have run it as a daily when the weather is nice, because it is super fun to drive that tune.

Also, Bama is just full of hype and trickery. You'd think people would get sick of the false advertising. Other companies do free tune revisions. Other companies don't warranty #8 because they fixed the issue causing the #8 cylinder failure. Know why Bama warranties that? Because they've had failures. Who figured out and provided fixes to Bama for the #8 issue? Oh that is right...Shaun at AED. Also if you do some digging and find some of the threads from when Bama did warranty the #8 issue...they really didn't pay for all of it. They'd cover some of it, still leaving the owner of the car with a bill for a large sum of money, if they even agreed to pay any of it at all. You don't see those threads anymore because the #8 issue just doesn't happen if the tuner knows how to prevent it.

I also hate Bamas tune gimmicks. Their three tunes they give you with two more being special request, really in all honesty they should offer 2 different tunes, of their 5 types, for people. The Hybrid tune and the Lope tune. I say that, because the Hybrid tune, is their closest tune to what everyone else writes. No one else makes tunes specific to just being good at one thing. AEDs Performance and Drag tunes are identical, minus the held RPMs on shifting and the nannies turned off.

Said my 2 cents.

 

[HEMI LOL]

This was my thread about my experience with BAMA vs. AED with track times.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...932202-track-two-different-tunes-tonight.html

the list of ricer excuses in that thread is fantastic.:lol1: but it shows cold hard results, which the AED fanboys hate. AED tunes are good, are they THAT much better than this sub section would like you to think....nope.

i dunno why im evening falling for this again. its the same thread every 3-4 weeks. we should just make cliffs and post a stickey.

it would read like this?

AED TOONS are teh best. every one else sucks. i did LOGZ!!! my car runs SOOOOO much better.

track results....silence, followed by excuses.

have some BAMA tunes be bad, OF COURSE. have some of shauns toons been bad YEP. you just cant read about it here, as this forum LOVES TO edit posts.

on the average, two cars with EXACT mods and the only difference being tune, a drivers race. id put my lowly crap 425/401 bama tuned car against any AED car with the same mods. will one trap 175 and the other 78. NOPE. as the link shows the difference is a +/- situation.

you know why i dont have an AED tune? because of his customers that can't NOT trash another tuner, especially when the #'s NEVER back up the claims. all the fastest coyotes(talking record holders) dont have AED tunes.


LIKE IVE SAID before. my statements DO NOT APPLY to ALL AED guys. its the select usual suspects that reflect my opinions.

 

[Shaun@AED]

I've never driven or raced a Bama tuned 5.0, so I can't comment on that, but the guy who Wrote your Bama tune is a buddy of mine. He is a quality tuner and I have nothing but respect for the man.

 

[HEMI LOL]

I've never driven or raced a Bama tuned 5.0, so I can't comment on that, but the guy who Wrote your Bama tune is a buddy of mine. He is a quality tuner and I have nothing but respect for the man.

:beer:

 

[Blazer707@TBR]

the list of ricer excuses in that thread is fantastic.:lol1: but it shows cold hard results, which the AED fanboys hate. AED tunes are good, are they THAT much better than this sub section would like you to think....nope.

i dunno why im evening falling for this again. its the same thread every 3-4 weeks. we should just make cliffs and post a stickey.

it would read like this?

AED TOONS are teh best. every one else sucks. i did LOGZ!!! my car runs SOOOOO much better.

track results....silence, followed by excuses.

have some BAMA tunes be bad, OF COURSE. have some of shauns toons been bad YEP. you just cant read about it here, as this forum LOVES TO edit posts.

on the average, two cars with EXACT mods and the only difference being tune, a drivers race. id put my lowly crap 425/401 bama tuned car against any AED car with the same mods. will one trap 175 and the other 78. NOPE. as the link shows the difference is a +/- situation.

you know why i dont have an AED tune? because of his customers that can't NOT trash another tuner, especially when the #'s NEVER back up the claims. all the fastest coyotes(talking record holders) dont have AED tunes.


LIKE IVE SAID before. my statements DO NOT APPLY to ALL AED guys. its the select usual suspects that reflect my opinions.

I've never seen a BAMA fan boy before, but if there ever was one... It would be you.