Buying custom tuner vs. having car dyno tuned

[Blk04GT]

I have been trying to decide how to work out my mods (financially). I want to put in new gears soon and get the car tuned to acct. for speedo. I found a "kit" on American Muscle with gears and an SCT or Diablo tuner. My question is, is there any reason I shouldn't get one of these tuners without having it put on a Dyno? The only mods I have or have planned are: catback, catted h-pipe, ud pulleys, gears, cai, short throw shifter, tb/plenum, and maybe headers.

Also, does anyone have any input on the 2 different tuners mentioned above--which is better?

Thanks

[mrtstang]

I can give you some personal experience here. When i had a canned tune (i had the SCT hand held tuner) my car put down the same horsepower as it did with my now custom dyno tune. The car was faster with the dyno tune however, and had better throttle response.

The way i was able to measure the difference was by racing my brothers 06 gt. With the canned tune he would pull me ever so slightly...everytime. After the dyno tune we were dead even everytime. Plus the car just felt better and more responsive.

Hope this helps.

[Blk04GT]

What is done differently on a Dyno that makes the car run better? Also, what do you mean by "canned tune"?

[Ghost Rider]

you should have it dyno tuned...I have the SCT Xcal 3 with a custom dyno tune by steeda

they can measure your A/F ratios and adjust accordingly to make sure your car is running safe and up to it's best ability with the mods you have

[mrtstang]

What is done differently on a Dyno that makes the car run better? Also, what do you mean by "canned tune"?

Sorry, i should've been a little more specific. Okay, first of all what i meant by a canned tune is that it was a tune supplied by SCT (93 tune in this case) that took my mods into account, and allowed me to upload it through my hand held tuner. The hand held also has the ability to adjust for future mods (to an extent) which is nice as well.

The custom dyno tune that i have now was done on an actual dynamometer. Which allows you to get more precise, because it's actually running the car on a set of rollers to more accuratly nail things down.

I went this route when i went with the nitrous, because i wanted the absolute best tune possible with nitrous. I really didn't feel comfortable with anything less. As a result my car ran better n/a as well.

Now the downside is that i will have to get a retune if i do any major performance upgrades, but that's the price you have to pay.

[TorchRed04GT]

Dyno tune > Canned Tune

[Cobra4me]

there are some fine tuners writing tunes for the sct software. I have owned two sct tuners the xcal2 and 3. I have had tunes sent with units. I believe nothing is better and more precise than a custom tune. To me the canned tune is just good enough to get me to the dyno shop. The custom tune fine tunes all the parameters of the car that somebody across the country just doesnt see that particular day