BlackBear tuned!

[07-fivethree]

Well, today was the day I met with Justin. First off, great guy, very nice, and seems to know a little about what he is doing. Professional, and quick.

Next. The performance gains are amazing! Never thought a tune could do so much. Shifts are firmed, part throttle driveability is awsome. While doing the ride along tuning, at WOT it took nothing to gain speed. Then afterwards getting on the freeway, I was kncoking @ 100 MPH's backdoor before I even merged. WOW!!!!!

Nothing but good things to say about BlackBear. I even got a sticker! LOL. All I can say now is, Im extremely glad that I didnt wait a year or so to have it tuned.

Only slight concern I have is, while driving there to meet him, I was getting 16.7 MPG, than on the way home I was registering as low as 16.0 MPG. Not a good sign. Driver was the same, as well as conditions. Even though the Average MPG was registering lower, I seemed to have used a little less fuel on the way home. The real test will be this week when my wife drives to and from work.

All in All... SUPER HAPPY WITH BLACKBEAR! There isnt a better tune out there!

 

[Toadster]

Well, today was the day I met with Justin. First off, great guy, very nice, and seems to know a little about what he is doing. Professional, and quick.

Next. The performance gains are amazing! Never thought a tune could do so much. Shifts are firmed, part throttle driveability is awsome. While doing the ride along tuning, at WOT it took nothing to gain speed. Then afterwards getting on the freeway, I was kncoking @ 100 MPH's backdoor before I even merged. WOW!!!!!

Nothing but good things to say about BlackBear. I even got a sticker! LOL. All I can say now is, Im extremely glad that I didnt wait a year or so to have it tuned.

Only slight concern I have is, while driving there to meet him, I was getting 16.7 MPG, than on the way home I was registering as low as 16.0 MPG. Not a good sign. Driver was the same, as well as conditions. Even though the Average MPG was registering lower, I seemed to have used a little less fuel on the way home. The real test will be this week when my wife drives to and from work.

All in All... SUPER HAPPY WITH BLACKBEAR! There isnt a better tune out there!

oh yeah! fully agree - I LOVE IT!
I did notice on the way home, that it took much less pedal to move through the hills back to Sacramento - after we get out of 'romp' mode, I'm sure this will improve mileage

 

[blueflamed03]

nice, i have yet to see someone upset with his tunes...

 

[1STIMEYUKON]

your from bakersfield too? where was the tune at? i got mine done about a year ago down south in temecula.

 

[07-fivethree]

Lmao. Yes I am out of bakersfield! Sweet another member from bako! Hahaha

Sorry in advance if this message is all jacked up, I'm having to do this on the blackberry.

Anyways. The tune was in kingsburg, just south of fresno. I know this tune has completely sold me on a custom tune for my truck. My wife seems to be pretty happy with it, however I doubt she will ever get in like I did. She's more concerned about driveabilty in town and mostly fuel mileage. That's why I was wondering about it.1sttimeyukon, what kind of mpg gains did you see. At first when I was heading back to pick up the wife I was seeing 18.2 mpg at 70. Then the wife gets in, and it drops to 16. Less than what it was before tune. Also, did you make the towhaul a sport option? Sport option is believably a pretty big difference. I love it.

Anyways, PM me 1sttimeyukon, maybe we can get together on some events and what not.

 

[JennaBear]

Don't forget the gradient change as you are essentially going up hill when heading south, eventhough it doesn't seem like it.

 

[07-fivethree]

LOL, I know it. Thats why I was waiting a little while to see what my wife is getting in town for about a week. I hope you dont think that i am not satisfied, because I am completely! I just talked to wife, and she said that shes used almost a half a tank on 88 miles in town. That doesnt sound right. Oh well, I will keep my eye on it.

She has to drive to school tomorrow, and its a little bit of a drive on a highway, so I told her to drive it there in sport tune, than home in normal tune. thanks again!

 

[JennaBear]

I totally understand. Keep me posted on your results.

 

[1STIMEYUKON]

i actually noticed a decrease in mpg's. i have already came to the realization that no matter what i do im never going to get better then 12.1-3 around town and about 16-17 on the highway. i told justin i wanted to the most aggressive tune he could give me using 91 octane so thats what he did. ahaha and i couldnt be happier. although i did notice that when i would use 87 oct my mpg's would decrease to about 11 or so. and the power just isnt there with 87 like it is with 91 so i try and stick with 91 when i can. and yea i had 80 % or so of tm removed in normal driving and all of it removed in towhaul. i feel a difference mainy with the kick between gears in WOT it feels like it pushes you forward during shift rather than fall back like it did before the tune.

 

[07-fivethree]

Since your from Bako, you can relate. But my wife says that she was getting 18 MPG on to and from Taft when she would to school. Shes heading over there tonight, so shes going to let me know. I know the Kon performes like no other, but the wife was wanting to see some jumps in MPGs. Im thinking maybe I need to have the DOD enabled in the normal driving mode, not sport though.

I will keep you posted Jenna. Im super happy with the tune, but as you know, if the wife aint happy... nobody is. Shes threatening to have the tune taken out if MPG's dont lift. If hell ends up freezing over, what kind of options do I have with Justin for a tweek in tune or something? Scan cable?

 

[JennaBear]

Since your from Bako, you can relate. But my wife says that she was getting 18 MPG on to and from Taft when she would to school. Shes heading over there tonight, so shes going to let me know. I know the Kon performes like no other, but the wife was wanting to see some jumps in MPGs. Im thinking maybe I need to have the DOD enabled in the normal driving mode, not sport though.

I will keep you posted Jenna. Im super happy with the tune, but as you know, if the wife aint happy... nobody is. Shes threatening to have the tune taken out if MPG's dont lift. If hell ends up freezing over, what kind of options do I have with Justin for a tweek in tune or something? Scan cable?

You had AFM taken out? You can't have AFM taken out of one mode and not the other unfortunately. We will definitely work with you on any tweeks you are requesting. Are you using 87 octane?

 

[07-fivethree]

Yes, I had the AFM disabled. I was told that I wouldn't lose much, and the tune would more than make up for it. I'm thinking that maybe I should enable it again. Just to keep the wife happy. I know it doesn't effect the performance. How would I go about getting an update? Would I have to buy a new ECM then send you mine? Mainly I'm looking at how much extra will it be. Just let me know! I will keep you updated! Thanks a bunch!!!!

 

[JennaBear]

Updates are free, you just have to put down a core deposit, which is refunded when you send your stocker back out to us.

 

[Narco]

^ good customer service is so hard to find nowdays...that's awesome you guys are still working with him

 

[Brandon X]

FWIW, the mpg on my 99 tahoe hasn't went up either, if anything it has decreased a little. Kind of disappointing because I too was hoping to see a MPG gain. I'm not gonna lie though, im gonna be getting all my Chevy's BB tuned.

 

[1STIMEYUKON]

i dont believe i had all the afm taken out i just think he "de-sensitized" it. anyways yea i used the whole "oh well get better mpg's out of it and it will pay for itself in a few months" excuse to get my wife in the door. ahah and when we try we get good gas mileage ive actually seen it above 20 mpg's after the tune on a flat road. im actually using the whole better mpg excuse to justify a volant cold air so well see how it works ahah

 

[07-fivethree]

Well I'll be damned. I emailed Justin, to see what we could do about getting the MPG's back up. Im thinking that I will start with having the AFM reinstated, seeing if that will help. Im hoping I wont lose any performance out of it though. LOL, hopefully not.

I will keep you guys posted. Im excited about getting everything dialed in, kind of the perk of having a custom tune. I appreciate any other comments you guys might have!

 

[07-fivethree]

Ok, so heres an update...

Went to Vegas this weekend for the UFC fight, (Couture is the shit!), so I got a chance to stretch the Kon out a little, and see what kind of improvements the BB tune has done. Earlier in this thread I mentioned that the fuel mileage wasnt improving like I had hoped. Well after a few emails back and forth with Justin, I found that my driving style wasnt right for the tune, and that I had to drive a with a little more "gusto". In doing so, in town I saw a bit of a jump, back to stock numbers... keep that in mind.

Now, when driving to Vegas, from where I live, I have to climb out of two valleys, both multi-mile high % grades. By the time I got to stateline, the average MPG was showing 14 at best. When I fueled up, I double checked the reading with my own calculation, and was surprised to see that I had actually gotten 17 MPG. Which I was happy about, and the wife was satisfied.

So, Im thinking that I might have acheived my 1-2 MPG average gain, but for some reason the computer isnt calculaing correctly. Now I know though... BTW... the strolls up the grades were extremely effortless, especially in sport mode. It kept the tranny kick down pullin when I needed it. Even had to do a spirited pass at 60 MPH; by the time I passed the Honda on the hill I was grabbin 90 MPH... WHEW. Man I love this tune.

 

[1STIMEYUKON]

after i got my tune done in temecula i was coming down the grapevine coming towards bakersfield and gave it just a little gas and before i knew it i was passing 120! scary shit in such a big truck! but it was so effortless

 

[JennaBear]

Ok, so heres an update...

Went to Vegas this weekend for the UFC fight, (Couture is the shit!), so I got a chance to stretch the Kon out a little, and see what kind of improvements the BB tune has done. Earlier in this thread I mentioned that the fuel mileage wasnt improving like I had hoped. Well after a few emails back and forth with Justin, I found that my driving style wasnt right for the tune, and that I had to drive a with a little more "gusto". In doing so, in town I saw a bit of a jump, back to stock numbers... keep that in mind.

Now, when driving to Vegas, from where I live, I have to climb out of two valleys, both multi-mile high % grades. By the time I got to stateline, the average MPG was showing 14 at best. When I fueled up, I double checked the reading with my own calculation, and was surprised to see that I had actually gotten 17 MPG. Which I was happy about, and the wife was satisfied.

So, Im thinking that I might have acheived my 1-2 MPG average gain, but for some reason the computer isnt calculaing correctly. Now I know though... BTW... the strolls up the grades were extremely effortless, especially in sport mode. It kept the tranny kick down pullin when I needed it. Even had to do a spirited pass at 60 MPH; by the time I passed the Honda on the hill I was grabbin 90 MPH... WHEW. Man I love this tune.

Yep- drive it like you stole it!!