Cost Of A Tune - Does This Sound Right?

[Mr Cali]

Hi all,

I finally got all the parts I need and the new turbos in, now its time for a tune.

Been searching on the site and everything suggest that I should either choose Croydon or Unigroup, of which I have chosen Unigroup for the tuning.

Also seen some prices on here and by the looks of it a full tune will average around the $500 - $600 mark, not sure if I'm right here.

Well i called them up today to get an estimate of a full tune and installing some HKS cam gears and was quoted $1200, saying that the cam gears will cost about $300 to install and dial in.

Now is this about right? from the prices I've seen this seems a lil pricey, or am I wrong?

Forgot to mention that I'm running a PFC

Edited March 10, 2009 by Mr Cali

[Guilt-Toy]

yes. if you want a quality tune by UE then you have to pay for it. You will not be disapointed

[R33GTRKid]

dialing in the cams properly is a time consuming process, make an adjustment, tune, power check, repeat until no more gains, x 2 for two cams and you get the idea. I have spent 1500 on tuning and about to go another 500 to perfect so 1200 is good price. 600 would be a very basic tune at 160 odd an hour from scratch

[N1GTR]

HUGE recommendation for Yavuz. He tuned my GTR about 2 weeks ago, and i was very impressed with what he acheived in such a small timeframe. Ask him to show you "steve white rb30gtr with microtech/autronic"'s graph, you'll know what I and others on this forum mean

[allthewaytotheskyline]

hmm definately pricey isnt it...well more then i 1st assumed.

where is uni group located.

[R.3.2.G.T.R]

umm im getting tune today, though in melb - $450 - $500

[femno]

Back in the day when I had my first tune done, full PFC tune from scratch, boost set, cam gears dialled, from one of the best GTR tuners in OZ. Was $800. And its perfect. My cam gears were already installed but thats seriously a 30min job.

I reckon $1200 is overpriced.

[Guilt-Toy]

If you want a tune that you don't have to ever get looked at again that is pretty much near perfect in any way then pay Yavus the $1200 and get it tuned. He does not have time for time wasters who complain about price.

The guy is a engineer who happens to be a car guy, he could be doing a million other things making a monsta of cash without even having to touch a car but his service comes with a price tag and I think its worth it.

If you don't think its worth it then don't waste his time.

[Parag0n]

Some of the best tunes I had on my GT-R were no more than $600 for a power FC.

That included dyno printout etc... Never had any problems, this was a couple years ago, don't know if prices have doubled, $1000+ for just a tune on a piggyback like a power FC is a little excessive, it's not a MoTeC.

[R33GTRKid]

power fc is not a piggyback mate, they take your factory ecu out and replace it, it is a standalone ecu and therefore it, by definition, cannot be a piggyback, which intercepts and manipulates signals sent from the factory ecu.

At the end of the day, if you aint happy with the price, take it elsewhere, this guy obviously has a reputation for doing great stuff and I am sure he is booked out in advance so he aint gonna miss your 1200

Edited March 10, 2009 by R33GTRKid

[N1GTR]

100% correct simon, he's booked out for weeks

[Vanilla_Rice]

  Guilt-Toy said:

pay Yavus the $1200 and get it tuned. He does not have time for time wasters who complain about price.

Im sorry but there are alot of tuners out there that would consider themselves good at tuning, paying $1200 is a lot of money especially compared to NZ where the most expensive place I know of is $800NZD for a full tune... considering Australia most likely has more tuners to choose from I'd assume that would bring the price down or this Yavus guy is a whiz kid that has prooven his tunes are better than everyone else's..

[Mr Cali]

Thanks for your opinion guys, in no way was I saying that I wouldn't pay for quality, I was just confirming if the price sounds about right as I've been reading everyone say that they pay around the $600 mark.

[Vanilla_Rice]

  Guilt-Toy said:

pay Yavus the $1200 and get it tuned. He does not have time for time wasters who complain about price.

Im sorry but there are alot of tuners out there that would consider themselves good at tuning, paying $1200 is a lot of money (I can understand no-one likes the feeling of being ripped off) especially compared to NZ where the most expensive place I know of is $800NZD or the more reasonable places 500-600NZD for a full tune... considering Australia most likely has more tuners to choose from I'd assume that would bring the price down or this Yavus guy is a whiz kid that has prooven his tunes are WAY better than everyone else's..

[Roy]

Installing cam gears is no 30min job. You have to remove the CAS, timing belt cover, all the guff associated with getting the timing belt off, then swap the came gears, replace guff and timing belt. Then adjust the cam gears a number of times to get power spread right. Then once you are happy with the setting and tune complete you need to again remove the CAS, replace the timing belt cover (put back on) then re-install the CAS and again check base timing.

Not hard work but time consumg work. Sayings its a quick and therefore cheap job is wrong. Workshops charge for their time and little time consuming jobs are by nature expesnive. Its a shame but it is what it is

[Adriano]

Exactly, setting up the cam gears is where the money is, say $700 for the basic tune, $300 for ditting the camgears and $200 for tning to suit, it requires multiple power runs and every time you adjust the exhaust cam it is a 15 minute job, then trim the tune to suit . Do you also have a boost controller that needs setting?

[R31Nismoid]

  Parag0n said:

Some of the best tunes I had on my GT-R were no more than $600 for a power FC.

But how do you know it was a good tune?

That's the question of the day

You could put two cars together and one drives better, and so on. But being you only drive your own car regularly its hard to say what "is" good and what "is" not.

[femno]

300 to install cam gears?! You dont even have to take the belt off, just the CAS and top cover, slip them in while holding the belt...its not hard.

At the end of the day, if the driveability is as good as, or better than, a factory ECU, is responsive, economical, has no hiccups or flat spots and makes target power for the setup then its a good tune.

[wolverine]

^^

exactly right

[SECURITY]

My mate (a forum member) had his PowerFC tuned twice in the space of 2 weeks at $600 a pop.

The first tune was absolute rubbish, even when they tried to fix it, the car ran okay but guzzled fuel like it was 60c/L. The second tune was much better but he didnt make the power he hoped for - $1200 later and he still doesnt have a tune he is overly happy with.

On another note, installing cams/gears is a process where a mechanic has had past experience in dealing with, he will know where they are to sit to get maximum gains because he would have done hundreds of them before and seen all the different combos so you're really only paying for their labour to fit and do small adjustments. There is no way they actually start from scratch on every cams/gears they install on an everyday setup.