Sprint Booster vs. Tuning

How does one speed up the speed of light?

 

Exactly the type of thread I needed to see, thank OP. What I want is better real time accelerator response, no need to play with tranny shifting as S mode & ECT already offer that but not really for get up and go. Almost everything I've read points to the Sprint. Altho I'm currently hesitant because my new Taco just broke the first 1k and supposedly their is some kind of user memory that let's the truck adapt to a certain driving style, not sure about that stuff. Anyway will see when the booster goes on sale then grab it.

 

Here are some links that really explain how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u7lIJfWc6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB0XnIDkqSc

 

So.
Sprint Booster make throttle response more sensitive.

And.
Tuning gives you more power/torque.
Improved shifting.
Better mpg !!(results will vary)!!
Improved tip in.

What am I missing here?

 

that's the gist but there is more depending on your application. for example, with tuning you can also add in things like AGM battery charging edits. and i personally like the power delivery with a tune more than that from the boosters, because some tunes lean more on otto and direct injection while the boosters maintain the stock levels of port injection at lower rpm, which i find too mushy at the throttle and with power delivery. but I'm tweaked out over here too maximize these things, so it may not be that significant to some, but it is on my truck for sure.

 

Yep got the KDMAX with AGM upgrade

 

I have the Sprint Booster on my 2019 ORDC with a MT. I use it on R9 and love it. I also did the clutch accumulator delete mod. I have 285/70R17 tires and the truck is very responsive. I went with the Sprint Booster because I already have one in my 2016 Corvette and it makes a big difference with the throttle response in that car, and also because I don't want to risk voiding my power train warranty with a tune. Once my warranty is up I might still consider a tune and sell the SB, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

I knew relativity was bullshit.

 

Flux capacitor?

 

Anyone get the KDMax tune AND a Sprint buster?

 

I think you’re only missing that the tune didn’t improve MY shifting in all situations, and it actually made it worse for me in some... particularly the dead spot I could feel in the throttle (between about 25-50%) while in 4th gear climbing up a mountain grade that I do regularly. I could rock the pedal back and forth in that zone and feel nothing from the truck in that specific scenario). I also experienced some random stuttering while climbing grades, as the tranny would seem like it couldn’t decide what gear to be in for a second or 2 before it made up its mind (which gave a similar feeling to an engine miss). This is just my experience. I am not sure if mine had an issue with the download/software, or if I just put my truck into more unique situations that highlighted these issues for me (maybe most people would not notice because they aren’t driving up the same long mountain grade several times every week). Maybe it’s just my truck, I dunno.

But the Sprint Booster is working out better for me. Whoever thinks a tune is better for them and they love it, more power to them. I have no intention of badmouthing any tune, or trying to sway anyone away from them. I’m only sharing my own experience/opinions, and why I ultimately went back to the stock 2021 tune and the Sprint Booster. I really wanted to love the tune as much as a lot of others do around here, but I just didn’t. YMMV.

 

Love that 1st video. It perfectly shows how the Sprint Booster doesn’t only give it more gas and essentially “push the pedal down harder” for you. It demonstrates how much quicker that butterfly in the throttle body actually moves compared to stock.

Another thought about the Sprint Booster vs. simply giving it more skinny pedal... I want to be able access the power that the engine is capable of in the 1st half of the pedal, not the back half (as it is in stock form). It just makes the truck more pleasurable to drive. I think of it like this... I like putting all the plates and bowls that I use the most on the lower shelves of my cabinets at eye level. Sure I can still reach the higher shelves without getting on a ladder, but if I always had to pull everything down from the top shelves, it would be inconvenient and weird. Having to give the truck like 70% throttle just to keep up with everyone else in Versas and minivans at every stop light just pissed me off.

 

I gave it a week and about 500 miles. The issues I had showed zero improvement in that time and happened consistently at the same spots in the road.

 

Did you by chance have the tuner reset AT/LV values? after he flashed? I've had a weird issue like you described and resetting everything and letting it re-learn with the new tune fixed it up. Going from stock to a tune I think you're supposed to reset those anyways, especially an aggressive tune.

 

I think 90% of people's problem with "pedal feel" and shifting is just a slightly awkward gas pedal/seat/foot well configuration. In every other car/truck/van I've driven, my foot naturally ends up with the toe pretty near the top of the gas pedal. If I just plop my foot down in the tacoma, my toe is about 40% of the way up the pedal. This makes it feel like you're flooring it when you actually have the pedal pushed a little less than 50%. If you're conscious of this and move your foot up, the truck drives perfectly fine(for me, at least).

Not gonna get into it on tunes, but I think the "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." But hey maybe some random dude knows more about tuning a tacoma than a team of engineers who designed the truck.

 

Just wondering if you asked the tune maker to fix the lag in 4th gear and if that was the only problem you found? Kreg will work with his customers until they are happy. I’m a “set it and forget it” guy too, but it took plenty of tweaks to get my KDMax adjusted to the way I wanted.

 

I don’t know anything about tuning or resetting those values, so I did not ask the tuner that. I just let him do what he does.

We actually did talk about tweaking the tune more to my preferences before I decided to just return to the stock tune. But the lag/dead spot in the gad pedal in 4th wasn’t my only problem, I also had random harsh shifting and the quick stuttering between shifts in certain situations that felt similar to an engine miss. He said we could probably dial it in, but my problem is I had to drive 1.5 hours each way to see him, so I didn’t have the time to keep going back out there to dial it in. I had already spent 6 hours driving out there over 2 visits.

 

There are a few factors that contributed to your experience with KDMAX, especially on the hills. Those are fixable.
SB is only amplifying the voltage to ECU, which uses the value and applies it to internal calculations and comes up with a value for the throttle motor to move the plate.
They probably use small increments (1,3,5%) in their settings, otherwise your stock shift points would be all over the place.
I like to see some real-time data capture, but I think it is not possible due to obd port being used.

 

Look at the video link I shared that shows exactly how it works.

 

Except, the demo is missing a real ecu. No wonder folks are biting on it.

Here is me pressing accelerator pedal while the engine is off. The plate does not move.
You can see that the Voltage percentage at 100% of the accelerator is different between 2 sensors. SB probably increase this percentage by a few on the way to ECU.