Just ordered my 5 Star Tune - Any advice?

[Alex Taylor]

Hi everyone happy 4th in advance. Just ordered my 5 star tune (a sponsor here) , getting 87, 89 and 91 both daily street and performance tunes (so 6 in total) as Arizona only goes up to 91 octane. I'm also getting the SCT X4 tuner as well. First time tuning my vehicle so taking a fairly straight forward approach here, but plan on adding a TS, Heat Exchanger, Downpipes down the road that hopefully will take it to +600HP (at wheels) on 93 octane eventually.

Any advice for me for the above order? First timing tuning my Expedition.

Thanks.

Alex

 

[joezek]

Just from experience, message the guys (Shawn) at SSi performance and get a tune from them as well.

5 star is weird, they're all talk until 4:45 in the afternoon and then ghost you until next week. They hosed me a while back, but SSi helped me out. Then a few weeks later they helped me again on a holiday weekend, at 5am Shawn answered his phone to help me out.

They truly personalize their work for what you want and are always ready to help you

 

[ThwopKing]

Had no real issues with my 5star tune... they answered all my questions but I did do a pretty basic tune. 87 perf,93perf and 87 economy. I have only uploaded the 87 performance tune so far. Only slight issue is a slight, random child engine dead pedal feel that last for about 2-3 seconds on the first moderate trials take off.
Only does it few times a week and within the first 5mins of a cold start.... not enough to pinpoint yet and idk if it does it on the other tunes either. Other than that been OK.
At times the trans seems to short shift but it stays in the poweband pretty well so can't really complain about it. It most definitely turns the 35s better.

 

[jruppert]

I purchased an SCT X4 with a couple tunes from 5 star for my 2010 Navigator. I purchased it mainly for towing as I would be going from Michigan to Georgia in a 24 ft travel trailer. I installed the tune and it seemed ok. It didn't feel like it did a whole lot. This was just street driving. I put the trailer on it and it felt like it had a little more pull to it. The downside is that I could not use cruise in any form. It would constantly kick in and out of overdrive. That tune lasted about 5 miles and then I pulled over to remove. I contacted them for an update to my situation. It took around 3 weeks to get it and the problem persisted. I removed the tuner and never used it since. So now I have the 2015 Expedition. I may have to give SSI an opportunity. Their dyno results page sounds impressive!

 

[Alex Taylor]

All,

Thanks for your feedback. I did order 87, 89 and 91 daily tow and performance tunes , 6 in total (as here in Arizona they just go up to 91 Octane) and so far have just uploaded the daily 87 performance tune and what a difference wow! I'm very happy, again this is just a week of having 87 in can't wait until I fill it up with 91 then tune it again but, it's much, much faster off the line and just pulls and pulls. No issues at all the transmission occasionally shifts a bit roughly as it's still learning the new tune but every happy. So no issues at all very happy with them.

My next upgrades from 5 star as I get tunes for life, is the whipple heat exchanger, downpipes and a cooler TS (170 degrees) and will retune again. With all of this and 93 Octane tuned properly I'm confident I can get to 600 HP / 600 lb/ft at the crank which is plenty for me. 0-60 MPH should be in the 5's which is great for a very heavy vehicle. (I have the Max is there is extra weight there.

 

[Silver-Bullet-Bus]

This has been my personal experience:

Good luck getting actually working tunes, & tune revisions are almost impossible from 5*. Customer service is really bad.

MPT is the complete opposite with spot on tunes & excellent customer service.

No CEL/codes & safe, reliable performance.

 

[Rednecked]

This has been my personal experience:

Good luck getting actually working tunes, & tune revisions are almost impossible from 5*. Customer service is really bad.

MPT is the complete opposite with spot on tunes & excellent customer service.

No CEL/codes & safe, reliable performance.

I lost money with 5 star. Customer service sucks. Takes them forever to respond to emails. I was on my 6th tune revision and I gave up. Went to MPT he nailed it with the 2nd revised tune.

 

[wk99]

Great thread here all. I was looking into ordering a 5 star tune myself. Already use the can tunes that come with SCT Livewire TS+. I'm only ordering 91 and 94 performance/tow tune and maybe 94 economy. Here in Colorado 91 is the highest but E85 is readily available so I'll probably run E85 with the 94 tune since the octane rating for E85 is higher than 94. I don't have an ecoboost, unfortunately just the infamous 5.4 3V. The SCT 87 can tune worked pretty for towing. The shifts are snappier. I do have 33" tires and 4.56 gears which I'm sure the gears helped too. Looking at getting the CX racing T76 turbo kit in the near future. Tried Procharger before I left TX and they said they no longer make the kit for my engine. Anyway, not sure if AZ has E85 but it's another way to get more power out of the engine. Not to mention the octane rating is 100+ typically and it's cheaper than regular gas. Not sure if your rig is Flex fuel capable. My expe is. Best of luck cheers!