IPF vs Trifecta Full Review

[peregrine_alpha]

Hello mates!

Too many questions about what is better, IPF or trifecta, and what gives you more HP. Well after you read this you will wonder no more.

First i would like to say that i am not offending any company, and that some may agree with me, some may not, but i am just sharing my own experience to help you out guys make your own proper decision.

So after fully modding my 2011 Camaro v6 with performance hardware, time for the software.

I went with Trifecta, and bought the tune and Flash EZ cable from Bad News Racing website. when I loaded the tune i was so excited i took my baby to a small ride, and i didnt felt happy with it. there was some times the car was taking long to respond, sometimes i feel it suddenly loses power and then gain the power again. the transmission was so bumpy and hard. so after a week of driving, i sent the Data Logs to bad news racing for analysis by trifecta. a week later i got a reply back that my car is doing great!

I said in my mind maybe i am just wrong about what i am feeling. If trifecta says its good, then good it is

One day i was cruising, and i crossed by a dyno shop. And ohhh went too excited to put my baby on it and see how well shes performing

Too sadly my excitement and happiness didnt last long. as i got an awful result which you can see below



As u see in the dyno pic, the car is taking a bit long to accelerate well. Torque has ups and downs, engine power is getting low then getting high exactly what i was feeling when i first loaded the tune. The Dyno guy told me these differences in the graph lines are bad to the engine

I sent this directly to bad news racing, they replied after days that the graph is ok. i mailed them back to forward the graph to trifecta. they replied after 2 weeks that they will. and till this very moment i am writing this thread i didnt recieve anything back from trifecta or bad news racing, knowing that the First email was sent back in december 2013.

Cldnt wait much longer, i talked to Arno from IPF (camaro5 user: ASH@IPF-Tuning). He was also surprised by the horribly dyno result of trifecta, and promised me if i go IPF, ill see a huge improvement. So we agreed on the new tune and he sent it to the local dealer. next day i went to the shop and here comes the most shocking part of trifecta

After half a day trying to load the tune on my car with always a fail result, it appeared that Trifecta has locked my ECM and TCM, so no one else can modify, tune or do anything with them EXCEPT Trifecta!!! Arno suggested to go to a local GM dealer and do an MDI to reflash my ECU and TCU, so trifecta's tune is deleted, and the stock tune is loaded. After doing so, went back to the shop and.... NO!! it didnt work! after too many tries, i finally had no option than going back to GM, and this time with the somewhat dangerous option to do which is Replace and Reflash ... Once done, i headed back to the shop, and Arno was praparing a special tune to overcome Trifecta's Locking thing. Happily it finally worked.

Couldn't wait any more second, took my baby to the dyno, and hell yeah just from the tune shop to the dyno shop which is only 1 mile away, i could feel the difference in drving better acceleration, better stiffer shifting, more power and faster response.

The Dyno agreed with my feelings again and here you go the new dyno graph, and you can clearly see the staight line i got with IPF and increase in torque and HP and better performace.



Arno told me that i should drive the car for at least 100 miles, so the car learns the tune, and then ill get better performance. and that what happened, a week later, i can feel the car is better.

I have to say Arno was very responsive, too helpful, replying to me day and night, weekdays or weekends. What a service and what a tune IPF!! Trifecta ? I am sorry, what an awful tune and what a bad service!!! and what an unethical work by locking down our Computers.

Hope my bad experience will save u time and money. It's up to you to decide

[Nutbutt]

Arno is the greatest ! His services is the best.

[KMPrenger]

Thanks for sharing!

Do you happen to have a graph of the 2nd dyno you did with IPF installed?

[pierre777]

Glad you had a happy ending but sad you had to pay twice for a tune

[BiG_TiMe]

how much was the IPF tune? i don't want to pay about $400 twice for a tune...

[peregrine_alpha]

Originally Posted by Nutbutt

Arno is the greatest ! His services is the best.

True that! one of the best!!

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Thanks for sharing!

Do you happen to have a graph of the 2nd dyno you did with IPF installed?

I wish i took a pic!! that was a 297.6rwhp !!!

Originally Posted by pierre777

Glad you had a happy ending but sad you had to pay twice for a tune

yeah too bad for paying twice, but better than having to pay for a new engine!!

Originally Posted by BiG_TiMe

how much was the IPF tune? i don't want to pay about $400 twice for a tune...

I dont live in the US, i live in Lebanon, prices here may deffer. y dont you pm Arno and ask for a price ?

[RickRay]

Originally Posted by peregrine_alpha

True that! one of the best!!



I wish i took a pic!! that was a 297.6rwhp !!!



yeah too bad for paying twice, but better than having to pay for a new engine!!



I dont live in the US, i live in Lebanon, prices here may deffer. y dont you pm Arno and ask for a price ?

Don`t we have that option to reflash the ECU and TCU in the program?

[laborsmith]

Originally Posted by RickRay

Don`t we have that option to reflash the ECU and TCU in the program?

That is my understanding. And it works. Some users always reflash to oem before going to a dealer than back to their Trifecta when done.

I haven't followed this debate and this is the first thread where someone indicated Trifecta locked their tune so no one could flash over their work.

Laborsmith

[peregrine_alpha]

Originally Posted by RickRay

Don`t we have that option to reflash the ECU and TCU in the program?

Originally Posted by laborsmith

That is my understanding. And it works. Some users always reflash to oem before going to a dealer than back to their Trifecta when done.

I haven't followed this debate and this is the first thread where someone indicated Trifecta locked their tune so no one could flash over their work.

Laborsmith

Yes, you can reflash back to STOCK, but ur ECU and TCU will still be Locked to trifecta. in other words, when u flash back to stock with trifecta, ull get a stock tune and trifecta lock, ull never get rid of the lock. So u wont be able to load IPF tune as long as ur locked

[MagnumForceGB]

I've loaded an IPF tune on top of a Trifecta tune, the ECU nor the TCU was locked. Don't know what you are doing to get your ECU locked.

[KMPrenger]

The locked issue is not something he is just making up.

I have read about it before, but it is confusing because sometimes I've heard that the car had to be flashed back to stock at the dealership, and other times I've heard similar stories like MagnumForce describes above.

[Nutbutt]

I have seen the lock on the trifecta and it was denied when we asked about it. Just like any software a lock can be put in or left out.

[peregrine_alpha]

Originally Posted by MagnumForceGB

I've loaded an IPF tune on top of a Trifecta tune, the ECU nor the TCU was locked. Don't know what you are doing to get your ECU locked.

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

The locked issue is not something he is just making up.

I have read about it before, but it is confusing because sometimes I've heard that the car had to be flashed back to stock at the dealership, and other times I've heard similar stories like MagnumForce describes above.

Originally Posted by Nutbutt

I have seen the lock on the trifecta and it was denied when we asked about it. Just like any software a lock can be put in or left out.

Guys, it feels like trifecta is trying to run away from the answer!! i sent them an email asking about if they lock the ECM and TCM since the 3rd of Januray and till now no reply!!

[ASH@IPF-TUNING]

Hi everybody !

All Tuning requests in the USA will be handled by IPF-TUNING in Arizona and by Andy from IPF-TUNING ...

Greets Arno Schindler