Thoughts on Preformance Chips

[sparkone]

I've been looking on ebay, and they have these chips that increase horsepower, torque, and save on gas. Is it true,or B.S. Let me know,I have a 4.6 and a 5.4, and they have them for both them. Thanks!

 

[tonydiv]

Those super cheap chips are pure junk. A buddy of mine wanted to buy one, so I did some research. They are just a $0.40 resistor in a ton of potting material that changes some of the data that the computer sees. The thing is though, that the computer will eventually recalibrate itself and your back where you started.

If you want to do computer mods, buy a decent programmer from companies like Hypertech or Edge.

 

[KWT2000]

my thoughts

i dont have any gas engine but on diesels superchips, diablo, and banks are known for high power increases and mpg gains as for edge,max energy, and bully dog are known for there (dirty tunes) very unsafe for the engine and drive train

 

[mmrseed]

I would go with a programmer over a chip because of the ability to easily customize, HOWEVER, they are all useless and do little to nothing if you don't at least make a few changes to your vehicle first (this excludes diesel tuners which can make mad torque without anything else) and the most important change to REALLy notice the improvement in performance is a free breathing CAI with a new or recalibrated mass air sensor. The MAS is most important for a nearly stock vehicle. Unless you modify your engine system to allow more registered air, your factory set up will limit the computers ability to run a more aggresive tune. My advice, get a bigger MAS, THEN get a chip or programmer that can compensate for that increase and you will definately notice...otherwise, I can almost promise you won't notice any diff whatsoever

 

[tonydiv]

The biggest difference that I have seen since I installed my Edge is in the shifting. That alone made it worth the price.

Keep in mind though, that I already had all the bolt-on "go fast" goodies installed.