Atlanta Club Lounge

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

yep the old ECU was cooked so 412 was a base line number. that thing picked up allot of power. i was very impressed with it.

I also have a question for you guys...I have a lot of respect for your shop and haven't heard anything but good things...but whats gonna stop all the heat in the engine bay from melting and frying the new stuff? Did you guys relocate it all? Not bashing just curious.

[rhunley14]

Ken I'm just about ready to get mine back from vengeance. I hope they did do some things to help you with heat as that is really one of the main issues with forward facing headers. I've upgraded my radiator and went with a lower thermostat. I went away from the shiny ceramic coated headers to wrap that helps with heat. My saga seems to never end. I just new tune awakens this beast to what I was expecting. If not someone will get a car real cheap and I'll be riding in a stingray..

[timtim13]

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

Jumping on a bash HPS bandwagon isn't a bandwagon at all...that company screwed over many people and deserves 0 credit.



I really want your headers.....but I can't pay what your asking.

PM me the lowest you're willing to go.

Just shot you a pm ..pm me your cell and ill text you pics.

Headers are coated too! Chrome heat shield

[Mydivorcegift]

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

Damian,
Every shop that tunes will lock the tune with a password, we are no different. About the fact that you have zero access to it is false. you can still access the PCM, get check engine lights and other diagnostic codes. If you want to tune it yourself we will reset it back to stock for free. no questions asked. If you move away and want another shop to tune your ECU we have a mail order core system. we will ask for a deposit on your ecu, and send you a re-flashed one. when we get your core, we will refund the deposit. that service is absolutely free. Or you can just mail it to us and we will set it back to stock.

if anyone has any questions about our tuning please call me at the shop. -Johnny

So essentially it is locked? Or should I say you are "shop committed" because by your own admission if you want to tune yourself or move after you have tuned it, your only option is going back to stock.

So if you tune a blown car, or a h/c car with a converter you would expect your past client, say if they move, to drive to a shop on a stock tune? And contrary to what you say I've had tunes by 3 shops in ATL on past cars and none of them were password protected.

[Josh @ Spartan LSX]

Johnny,

With all due respect, I'm going to have to clear up some of the smoke & mirrors in your post.

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

Damian,
Every shop that tunes will lock the tune with a password, we are no different.

No they don't. None of the big shops in Atlanta lock their customers computers except MTI. It's something I've seen a lot of guys get ticked off about once they find out the hard way.

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

About the fact that you have zero access to it is false. you can still access the PCM, get check engine lights and other diagnostic codes.

I apologize. I should have specified "no tuning access". Yes you can still scan SES lights but otherwise the PCM is rendered encrypted by any other means of tuning capability outside of MTI.

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

If you want to tune it yourself we will reset it back to stock for free. no questions asked.

Roughly translated, this is saying that you are going to charge your customer your normal rate of $500-600 for a tune but it still belongs to you. If they want their PCM unlocked, you'll happily flash it back to stock for free all while keeping the $600 you were paid and taking back the tune along with it.

Locking your customers PCM's & making them proprietary to MTI's tuning cables only is something you guys should definitely communicate more so to your customers.

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

If you move away and want another shop to tune your ECU we have a mail order core system. we will ask for a deposit on your ecu, and send you a re-flashed one. when we get your core, we will refund the deposit. that service is absolutely free. Or you can just mail it to us and we will set it back to stock.

That's reasonable.


Locking peoples' computers wouldn't be as much of an issue if its communicated to the customer before hand. Problem is, I bet almost every MTI customer reading this post right now had absolutely no idea their PCM was tuner locked.


Cheers.

[Gizz69]

Damn... Josh hits the boards and starts shaking the tree doesn't he?



I can say with 100% certainty that MTI was on my list of shops to look at when doing my upgrades on the ZL1, but if they are going to lock the tune, then that is a deal breaker for me. I am moving to Fort Worth in January, and I will not have a way to take it back to them for anything and I am certainly not going to use any of the other available options listed. I guess this means they are not on my very short list anymore.

[Josh @ Spartan LSX]

Not trying to shake any tree's Tony. Just keeping things honest, as it should be.

What's the reason for the move? Work?

[Gizz69]

Originally Posted by Damian

Not trying to shake any tree's Tony. Just keeping things honest, as it should be.

What's the reason for the move? Work?

I am glad someone brought it up to be honest Josh. Everyone is always talking about how great the big two are but they are expensive. The common excuse of "you get what you pay for" is only good if it is honest, and if they are locking tunes and not telling people until it is after the fact, that is bullshit and I am glad you called it out.

As for the move, yeah. I took a new job with a huge financial firm. They are letting me work remotely from here until my lease is up. I am moving at the end of January. That is one of the main reasons I have been holding off on the ZL1 upgrades. I want to be able to get the tune and everything checked after it is done, especially if I do additional work to the car. Most places will update your tune if they do all the work as you keep adding goodies.

I also have to dig into what the laws are in Texas for emissions and stuff so I make sure I do not do anything to my car that would make it fail any sort of tests. I am still working on that, and hope to do at least some stuff to it before I move.

[Brolik10]

Wow. Just when I thought this place was dead... LOL I may have to come back more often.


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[4SFEDSS]

Originally Posted by Brolik10

Wow. Just when I thought this place was dead... LOL I may have to come back more often.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hell you started it.

[572HP]

I understand locking "the tune" so that people can't mess with something and in the process hurting the engine, they change the settings back, and take it back to MTI telling them that their tune hurt their car. This I understand.

However, if you pay for a tune, and it is "not yours", then I can really only see two reasons for this: 1-The shop doesn't want other shops to be able to copy what they changed. 2-The shop doesn't want anyone to know what they changed.

Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture, but if I paid for a tune and all I got back after asking for it to be unlocked (in person or remote) was the original tune, I would also be upset. Maybe you just need to make a little tweak to something because of something you added or removed (cats for example). I would expect MTI to say that they are no longer responsible for your tune. That would be fine.

Johnny, if you could explain the thought process behind locking it and not unlocking it without going back to stock, then that may help. The only reason that I heard from you was "Every shop that tunes will lock the tune with a password, we are no different." That doesn't explain the reason.

And Tony, yes you do get what you pay for. Maybe other shops could have gotten Ken's ride running right, but he paid MTI, and MTI did a fine job. The car operates good now. The car had not been able to start on the first try since it left HPS. It had gone back there, and they couldn't figure it out. Sure, the locking thing needs to be addressed, and in the end may end up hurting their sales. But as far as tuning itself, Reese has proven himself. Sure, there may be other people on this thread or in town that can do well too without locking it, but as far as the work was concerned, it was done well.

[B2E2RUN]

Originally Posted by Johnny@MTI

yep the old ECU was cooked so 412 was a base line number. that thing picked up allot of power. i was very impressed with it.

Good to hear! I need to speak with someone at MTI regarding FBodygathering...shoot me a PM.

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

Jumping on a bash HPS bandwagon isn't a bandwagon at all...that company screwed over many people and deserves 0 credit.

It is a bandwagon. Most of the people on here bashing are shit talkers who have never dealt with HPS. Again, not defending them as I would challenge the same arguments if this was about MTI-vengeance or anyone, they def stirred up a hornets nest. Personally, they did me very well. And a lot of the people complaining either don't understand, or can't afford, the "pay to play" rule, expecting major mods and the car to be as flawless as the day it came off the assembly line.

and, Where are all the <other Marietta shop since closed> haters?? A lot of those people put deposits down bigger than the sticker price of your cars, and never even received a car!! Oh right, that's different....

:/ end rant.

[Johnny@MTI]

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

I also have a question for you guys...I have a lot of respect for your shop and haven't heard anything but good things...but whats gonna stop all the heat in the engine bay from melting and frying the new stuff? Did you guys relocate it all? Not bashing just curious.

on that particular header kit the install was the problem. the main engine harness was just placed over the header, so it melted. as individual wires shorted out the tune would jump around from lean to fat. who knows what the spark map was doing. it didn't take long for the ECU to just give up..

We routed all the wires in a similar way we rout our race cars.
Out of the way of the heat, and covered them with thermal insulators.

[572HP]

Originally Posted by B2E2RUN

It is a bandwagon. Most of the people on here bashing are shit talkers who have never dealt with HPS. Again, not defending them as I would challenge the same arguments if this was about MTI-vengeance or anyone, they def stirred up a hornets nest. Personally, they did me very well. And a lot of the people complaining either don't understand, or can't afford, the "pay to play" rule, expecting major mods and the car to be as flawless as the day it came off the assembly line.

Whatever Chad. I'm glad they did someone well. We have 3 active members who received crap from them, and poorly working cars in the end. They only expected what was promised. I don't have a horse in this race, but 3 of the horses are in the same corral as me.