What You Should Know About Canned Tunes And Custom Tunes
Getting a tune is not easy. Especially for first-timers. Should you get canned tunes? Or custom tunes? How do you know which one is better? You usually have a lot of questions. Like what should you choose for Toyota Hilux diesel tuning? It depends on your goals and budget. As well as platform options.
Canned tunes
These are tunes developed for a specific year, make, and model engine. Canned tunes are usually mass produced. These do not take advantage of improvements you made. Or modifications you plan to install at a later date. This is because they do not account for the use of extra performance enhancing equipment. Such as aftermarket intake systems, turbochargers, and injectors.
These are pre-made tunes that provide a general benefit. A tuner puts the target car on a dyno and spends time building out a tune for it. It gets tuned and tested over and over again. The car tuned is usually stock or very close to stock.
The tuner will dial the tune down for safety once he or she is happy with the results. A canned tune aims to be able to work with any stock car or a car with the most common set of basic modifications. Such as intake and exhaust. It must work in all types of environments.
These are usually the cheapest option. They never change. They are also not customized to your car. It also means the tune will leave power on the table. You usually won’t be getting the most from the tune or your car.
Tuners offer different levels of canned tunes. These include staged tunes such as stage 1 or stage 2. And also tune versions such as 1.5 and so on. Different canned tunes depend on the tuner. But they often offer more aggressive tunes. They also add extra features such as launch control. Some gears toward a specific set of modifications such as a larger turbo. There are tuners who offer a power package. This includes performance parts and a canned tune to work with those parts. Upgraded turbos, larger injectors, or major modifications should have canned tunes. Unless advertised to do so.
Custom tunes
A custom tune can be setup to handle anything. It provides more power than a canned tune does. These tunes are for your application. Including any modifications you performed or plan on performing. You can get a custom tune in two ways. It could be as simple as contacting a product manufacturer. You could inform them of your setup and get custom tunes. It could also be in-depth. You can have tunes installed and tested. Then tweaked after many pulls on a dynamometer. A truck dyno tuned is usually preferred in high performance applications. Such as racing. Custom tunes are important for outrageous twin turbo systems and large injectors. As well as modified fuel systems.
A custom tune usually starts as a canned tune. The tuner will adjust the tune through road tuning or dyno tuning. This is so that the specific modifications meet your specific car’s needs. Custom tunes are usually more aggressive than canned tunes are. It allows you to get every last drop of power from your setup.
Which tune should you get?
A custom tune is not best for basic mods or if you are still building your car. You will not be able to get the most from your setup. So it will not be cost effective. A canned tune offers gains and costs lower. You can go with a custom tune once you have installed all the mods you want.
Discounts are often offered by tuners for returning customers. If your setup is full bolt-on or there are major changes you have made then you should not get a canned tune. You will need a custom tune for this one.
