matt_m

No plans to do exhaust or CAI and I rarely tow. I'll be using 87 octane gas. Any advantage to custom tuning vs what SCT includes on the 3015 out of the box?

MGD

Hi.

When you can get an SCT programmer with 3-5 Custom tunes for the same price as a canned-only unit ( give or take a few bucks), why on Earth would you NOT buy custom "right out of the box" at order time?

The differences are significant enough that, even if there was a premium it would still be well worth it.

EDIT: Here is a good read. PHP's custom tuning development on a 2009 5.4 3V. The tuning on this platform has evolved even further since then ( PHP and SCT ):

http://www.f150online.com/forums/200...highlight=2009

A no-brainer.

Check out VMP, MPT, 5Star....

good luck
MGD

matt_m

I saw the 3015 on Amazon for $290, but now I see that's a 3rd party seller and everyone else is selling it for $380 stock. I was looking at the 5-Star site and comparing the 290 to 430 and wondering what that did for me on an otherwise stock powertrain.

So what are the advantages of custom vs. SCT's tunes on an otherwise stock truck?

Don't have much experience with tuned vehicles--the only one I ever did was a 2006 Colorado I had for about 2 years before buying my 2009 F150. There I bought a core PCM which they flashed with my new calibration and I swapped that in in place of the original PCM. Made a HUGE difference on that "truck."

zimmer0

iTrader: (1)

MPT, use f150forums code for a discount.

I tried both just recently. The canned SCT tunes are ok and do make a difference, but the cooling fans stay on and the shifting is off. It catches 2nd gear when downshifting and jerks the truck, no bueno IMO. I did get a revised SCT canned tune from them that fixed the fan issue but the shifting was still off.

Go MPT, $55 tunes and great customer service.

2011FX4boost

If you think you seen a huge difference on a Colorado, you will wet your pants with a custom tune from a majority of the ecoboost tuners out there

matt_m

This is a 2010 5.4.

MGD

Hi.

I would never buy a programmer from Amazon. Think about after-sale support. Would the seller care, or even respond? Think about the additional costs of adding custom tuning later.

Buy direct from an SCT custom-tuning dealer - with custom files @ order time. Best bang-fer-buck.

Here's VMP's offering: http://vmptuning.com/sct-tuning-devices/3000/

Custom advantages are detailed at the bottom of that page.

And more info: http://vmptuning.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=tuningfaq

It's up to you to decide whether 5Star's 2 extra included tunes are worth the additional cost. If purchased separately, that would be another $160.

I've run canned in the past and now run custom - would never go back. Stock truck.

MGD

bobkyle2

SCT From [MENTION=99933]Franchi Motorsports[/MENTION] .... He can hook you up. For sure.

hillclimber

Do they have a dyno for the 5.0?

matt_m

That's the underlying question in my original post. My assumption is that out of the box support would be through SCT, custom through the tuner. I wouldn't buy from Amazon then take that to a tuner. But really sounds like no question I should just go to one of the tuners discussed in this thread.