Call me skeptical but...

I'm very skeptical of any tune that isn't built for YOUR specific truck, on a dyno, or on a street tune. I see all this stuff about KDMAX and OV and whatever else. A blanket tune for an entire fleet of Tacoma's, nothing specific to your vehicle. In the LS world, it is FAR better to get your truck tuned versus some baseline tune from another truck that worked for them.

I have also seen Dyno results from these tunes and I just don't see the value, some trucks LOSE power and torque. Some people that have theirs tuned have experienced some mechanical issues that they attribute to the tune (true or not, who knows)

Anyway, I just have a hard time buying into the fact that some random tune on 1 truck can just be copy pasted onto 1000s of trucks (fot a good amount of money at that). It just doesn't make sense to me..

Rant over...

 

You are not wrong, but for most, the point of the vF Tune was to fix the large flaws that Toyota gave us. It took vF years to get right, and the tunes do it very well, IMHO.

After recently seeing some dyno efforts, dialing anything with a Toyota / Lexus ECU is a monster task. This isn't an LS, which you have to acknowledge is simpler and has much wider support and development.


I have not heard of any damage?

 

I saw some posts somewhere where the owners attributed a failing transmission to the tuning, but you know how that goes.. who knows..

Yes, LS are much easier, thats for sure.

 

Interesting. I had not seen that. You are right though, lots of factors there. We know for sure what the wrong ATF spec can do to ATs thanks to OG Chrysler. Burning out valve bodies due to being over worked. I had one of those malaise-era Dodges and at least did well on the transmission side because I used the OE spec.

 

Are there even any legit dyno results from these generic tunes?

 

If you're going for top numbers, yes you would Dyno for your own vehicle. Otherwise, assuming the tune has safe edits that the engine should be able to handle, then a blanket tune should be just fine.

Our Nexus tune has Dyno results here.

 

Yes. vF posted them in the old threads along with independent verification.

 

The overall drivability of my truck improved significantly after tuning….don’t know what the dyno results are after and don’t care.

Your points are valid in the LS/Subaru world for sure, but less here. I think there are a lot fewer bolt-on mods for us engine performance wise also, so less of a need to tailor a tune to a specific vehicle/setup.

 

"off the shelf" maps have been popular for many years in many aspects of tuning. Off the shelf maps from well-known tuners and vendors are typically very safe and designed to perform in any condition.
A big majority of factory stock turbo cars you see modified have "off the shelf" maps. Cars like the WRX, Focus, VW/Audi, BMW etc. Any of these cars would benefit from a legit dyno tune but to spend $$$$ more money to gain a few more HP isn't important to everyone.


There is a big difference from trying to make big HP on an LS motor and improving drivability in an economy pick up.

 

The Tacoma tunes are for stock vehicles, not high horsepower Imprezas & BMW’s. Why would all the tunes need to be unique? The factory tune isn’t unique to each specific vehicle…

 

Yeah, every vehicle is slightly different and every vehicle requires a custom tune to run optimally. But if you don't have the time and/or money for a custom tune, blanket tunes are still an improvement and do a good enough job for most

 

Because every single motor is slightly different. One look at any of the million mpg threads demonstrates what a factory tune does, that's why some trucks get 23+ mpg and some never see 20. You could put two engines on the dyno that were built one right after the other and they're going to put out different HP/TQ numbers. A "blanket" tune will get most vehicles in the ballpark, but every vehicle would benefit from its own custom tune.

 

I’m well aware of all that. So if you’re building a high HP custom engine, get a custom tune. My point was, for what these tunes are trying to accomplish, it’s not really necessary. I’m agreeing with your statement about the “blanket tune” being ok for most.

 

The "blanket tune" on the 3rd gen is thing because the stock tune sacrifices alot in the name of fuel economy. It can be adjusted quite a bit away from that without coming to the point of each engine's unique tolerances.

 

...except, you are not taking into account that all the Tacomas are the same. They are identical. THey have no tuner parts. When there is a difference, they do a specific tune, say for a larger size tire.
I am not tuned nor do I want to be, but you have to know almost all the tacomas getting tuned are really the same.

 

I don't necessarily think you're wrong, but I think you're looking at the "baseline tunes" from a different perspective. That being a perspective that wouldn't benefit from the tune, hence not understanding why so many others are getting it. To your point, a more personalized tune is definitely better, and from what I understand the reason OV came out with the VF tuner option, to open up the realm for others to go outside of the baseline. That being said, the KDMAX isn't exactly a "baseline" tune, and there's huge informative threads detailing what in particular it does, compared to the stock tune. I think the divide really just comes down to what you expect from a tune coming from the LS realm (tons of power) verses what the KDMAX (for example) tune actually highlights and fixes. I don't know of many that went to that particular tune for HP gains as I do that went to it for other reasons such as a more linear throttle response, a change in shift points, actually finding 5th/6th gear again, etc. I view that particular tune more as a "fix" for the crappy stock tune; basically the stock tune they wish they had from the start. But agreed, you'd benefit more finding a personalized tune if you're searching for something other than that.

 

This is not correct. No motor and no truck are identical. I can get on board with blanket tuning being effective for these trucks but it'll never reach its potential that way. Which i understand isnt important to a majority of owners. I just think people put way too much stock in them like they are the gospel.

I personally only have 1 main complaint with my auto truck, which is the laggy throttle. Throw it in ECT and its gone..

 

This makes a lot of sense and I agree with it. I just find it hard to believe when people are preaching ZOMG i got huge gains! when in reality its likely drivability

 

I agree with the OP being skepticism but for different reasons. My experience with tunes before coming on this site was with my Harley, which I will start out by acknowledging is a different animal. The solution I used for my bike was a Dynojet Power Commander. I chose this solution rather than others that were available because it was an add-on device that altered what was coming out of the ECU and did not actually alter the stock tune in the ECU itself. If there was a problem with the unit or I had a problem that required warranty service, it took literally 5 min to pull the unit out and you were right back to stock. With the PC you had a choice of using stock maps from DynoJet based on the hardware you had installed on the bike, or you could have a custom map for your bike done based on dyno results. I started with a stock map and once I was done modding, I took it to a dyno shop and had the stock map tweeked specifically for my bike. The performance differences weren't huge but they were noticeable and they certainly showed on the dyno runs. So in this regard I know where the OP is coming from. If you want optimum performance, you need a tune customized for your specific vehicle.

Unlike my Harley, I will not have my truck tuned for a couple of reasons. One is the warranty concern. I know people here minimize it but I have a low risk tolerance when it comes to being on the hook for major repairs, and if there is even the slightest chance that Toyota will start digging into my ECU because of a major powertrain warranty claim, I won't go for it. Yes I know it's highly unlikely, but it's not impossible. Unlike the Power Commander, a tune actually alters the stock programming of the ECU itself rather than being an add-on device after the ECU. The other thing that does not make me warm and fuzzy is who would actually do the tune for me. While I may be wrong and would be happy to have folks like tonered or PapaRee correct me, it seems like many of the tuners are Tacoma enthusiasts who purchase the necessary hardware and software and offer their services at $300-$400 a pop. They don't own a shop, don't have a business location, don't carry liability insurance, and are not actual auto techs. If some guy I meet in a parking lot hooks up to my truck and bricks my ECU in the process of doing the tune, what's to stop him or her from just disappearing, leaving me stuck with a dead truck and no recourse? It's very possible that the folks who run these tuning networks/business may have minimum requirements for their associated tuners and make them carry liability insurance and register a trade name, etc, but if they do I am not aware of it.

I have a great deal of respect for folks like tonered and PapaRee who are very knowledgeable and have put countless hours into developing their tunes. I'm skeptical about what happens downstream once things leave their control and how much quality control there is once it gets down to the individual tuner level.

 

There is one huge gain though. The bottom end. Unfortunately, it isn't captured on the dyno very well. GearLocked or MTs can do a pull from 1k where the big torque bump really shines.

For 7yrs now, Toyota has released TSB after TSB and addressed enough issues to keep some folks happy, but the bottom end grunt isn't there on the Stock tune. Makes a night and day different at either WOT or normal, partial throttle driving.