Johnnyu

Hello all, I want start by giving a HUGE thanks to Shawn at SSi.

I have been lurking on the forums since I had my 2013 F150 5.0. At the time I said to myself why would I want a 3.5 V6 in a truck?. 3 months after I bought that truck my dad went and bought a 2014 F150 with the 3.5 Ecoboost. After 3 days of him owning the truck I wanted to kick myself in the rear for not going with the 3.5 Ecoboost. Both trucks were XLT 4x4's super crew cabs with the same packages and yes my dad even got the same color as mine. His EB no matter what I did would pull me like I was tied to a tree every time. The worst part of this is I was 6 months into a 3 year lease. I then found some forums asking what I could do to keep up with my dad. Unfortunately unless I put a SC or turbos It was pretty much a lost cause.

Over the past couple years I have been hearing allot of people saying they tuned there EB and what a difference it made. I was hearing allot of people going with LMS, 5 Star or SSi tunes with LMS being the favorite. I called LMS on a few occasions for my dad and I have never actually spoke with someone at LMS. It was always leave a message and someone will get back with you which they NEVER have. This went on over 4 months and my dad said screw it and that was that. This was all in 2014.

Fast forward to February 12 2016. My lease was up and I was ready for an EB! I went and bought a 2016 XLT Sport 4x4 super crew with a 36g tank and the 20" wheels. I was so excited that day. My wife and I went on a drive that seemed to last forever that night. I loved the power and torque of that 3.5 EB. Soon after that I was back lurking on the various forums for tunes. I thought I would give LMS another shot because a couple buddies of mine 1 which I work with have LMS tunes on their trucks and couldn't believe how fast they were. 2 years later it was the same story with LMS. Leave a message and we will get back with you. I am local living in Milan Michigan which is about a 35-40 minute drive from LMS. I wanted to stay local but the customer service that I wasn't getting turned me off. I then got on the SSi website and called and Spoke with Shawn. He answered on the 2nd ring which was a pleasant surprise. I talked with him for about 20 minutes and he answered every question I had and then some. Dont ask why but I never did buy a tuner right after speaking with him. I still felt guilty for not staying local.

Fast forward to June 18th of this year. Summer was here and it was track season! I was sitting at work and went to the the SSi site and bought the SCT x4 with 3 custom tunes. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep that night. I ended up calling Shawn the next day and of course he answered his phone. I asked him how much it would cost to ship out my tuner priority mail and he said for $20 I can ship it overnight. I said please do that. The funny thing is a few hours later I got an email from SSi with my overnight Fedex tracking number. I thought to myself I haven't paid that $20 like Shawn said he was going to send me in invoice for. I called Shawn back and can you guess it? He ANSWERED!! When I told him I still owed him the money for shipping he said dont worry I will catch up with you sometime. I thought wow what a trusting guy. The next day I got my X4 and got the info that he needed off of my truck and filled out my custom tune form and with in less than 24 hours I had a tune in my email!!. I was at work that day and I installed that tune on my truck within 30 minutes of me having the tune. When i drove the truck for the first time with my SSi2 93 octane tune I couldn't believe it. I wanted to kick myself in the rear for waiting over a year since I had my EB to tune it.

The tune is so damn good! The throttle response is amazing and the truck shifts like it has a CVT trans in it. I data logged my truck a couple days ago and sent the logs to Shawn. I called him today because I was going to the track after work and he said something didnt log right. I thought oh well I will try again. Shawn asked if I had E85 in my area because he could send me an E85 race tune. I was told to use a 30% mixture. I figured I had about 6.5 gallons of gas in my tank so I added 2.5 gallons of E85. I was told with that tune I should be in the 12.7 possibly 12.6 range. I went to the track that night and on my way there Shawn called me to check up on me. Where do you find customer service like this? Anyway not to drag this out any longer my buddy with his LMS tune ran a 13.53@99mph. My 1 and only pass because we got rained out tonight was a 12.92@103. This was with a horrible launch I wasnt able to do a good boost launch. I was so happy with that time. My dad was there with me and he had a grin from ear to ear when I got back to the pits. My 13 month old seemed pretty happy as well!

All in all I just to say that Shawn and what he does with these trucks amazes me. Again thank you from a VERY satisfied customer! Cant wait to get some more runs in!

BadAV

More advertising shill for the "kinder, gentler" SSI......

👎 Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

cftaurus

In other words, you are an ignorant hater who is jealous of somebody else's hard work and dedication.

MudIslandMemphis

I run SSI and unleashed and both are great tunes. My experience with Shawn has been similar to the OP's, always answers his phone and doesn't care one bit to talk you through everything. Out of the box the SSI tunes are ridiculously quick, but I do like how you have to datalog tunes with Torrie while he slowly ramps it up. Just makes me feel more confident that everything is how it's suppose to be. I understand sending someone 20 datalogs for adjustments can get bothersome, but I do wish Shawn would at least include one or two free datalogs with his tunes so he can double check and make sure everything seems to be in order since every truck doesn't run exactly the same.

cftaurus

I think Shawn prefers to get your personal feedback at first rather than a log. He can fine tune it for most people in one call. Most customers don't want to log, they just want something great out of the box with little or no effort on their part. Customers that do log usually want ssi3-4(more power).

MudIslandMemphis

Yeah I get that. I actually just got my SSI2 93 octane tune from him (running SSSI2 87 octane right now for another week or so) but I don't really know much about turbo engines and all so for me a datalog would give me more piece of mind than just telling him what I like or don't like about it (cause right now there is nothing to not like lol).

For example I've never heard engine knock before so I may not realize it's even doing it, a datalog would help show that and he could make the necessary adjustment. Or maybe the air/fuel ratio is a bit off and just needs a minor revision. The SSI2 is PLENTY fast for me but it would just still be nice to have him look at it once and give it a thumbs up. I know he'll do it for a fee and I'll prob do that once I start running the 93 octane tune.

AricsFX

iTrader: (3)

I mean... the dude has a pretty unreliable track record

BadAV

I did my homework. I have done my own tuning with HPTuners on GM vehicles for over 10 years. For anybody considering SSI, just go hang out on the forum for a while and decide for yourself.

There's no denying the tunes make the trucks fast but there are many blown engines as well. There is a long history of poor customer service as well. For anyone considering purchase, make sure you do your due diligence and go into it informed. Caveat Emptor!

This is the last I will be posting on this subject.

cftaurus

Not at all, what you have heard is lies, bs, propaganda, etc from people who never ran his tunes, from people who never listened to his advice, and or people he just fired for being idiots.

AricsFX

iTrader: (3)

Well the idiots he fired represent him and his company. If you think people lie and make up BS propaganda about a small tuner... come on.