Anyone tune there car and to what extent?

[Silverbullet28]

My 2007 runs flawless with 91,200 miles, been running Mobil 1 synthetic and changing every 6000 miles like clock work. Have a buddy with a Bully dog programmer and says he can tune it for me and add 50hp, only upgrade I have is a K&N filter. What should we turn up? I have a itch for more power, any help would be appreciated.

[Ilya]

Welcome to the forum. You won't get 50HP with just an air filter. You might get like 7-8. And another 1-2 just by undoing some of Infiniti's conservative settings.

99% of the people here use UpRev, not Bully Dog...so can't comment on that product. UpRev is nice.

[mrmikemtr]

posted in Altima forum, so repost here as I am a Maxima owner--

just installed BullyDog 40417 on my 2010 Maxima. I must say, **qualitatively**, the car performs better. Smoother idle, no "lag" or hesitation time that happens when you punch the gas. Just linear, progressive acceleration. No measurement process on that unfortunately, but something I always noticed prior to installation in driving the car for 4 years. I always cleaned the throttle body and thought that was the issue but that never solved the "thinking" the car was doing.

I did run a performance test using the included function but I'm **a bit dubious** of the results. Using the premium tune, it returned a 12.9 quarter mile @ 82mph. And a 0-60 of 8 seconds. Hmmm--seems those 2 don't jive well together. I did the 'ol 1 1000, 2 1000, counting while the BullyDog was doing its test and I got 5 and change as it should be. So that part of the equation, I'm not 100% sure of the information displayed as that is on par with the 370Z performance.

Minor tidbit- slightly longer tire chirp when you floor it with the install--something TC takes care of right away though...These qualitative things are just things you notice after driving the car for 4 years. I tend to drive in silence a lot as I like to relax and enjoy things so I tend to notice small nuances that others might miss.

Other than that, I like it. I'm confused on some of the complaints of the install time for the program. If your battery is charged, less then 30 minutes! And that is conservative!! Read instructions first, and you won't have a problem! The old saying of measure twice and cut once applies!

Only other mods I have is an Injen shorty tuned ram intake. Total of less then $500 invested and I'm happy. Not sure how much more you can do to add hp for that cheap. I know it's old but someone on one of these forums mentioned "only" 7%. 7% is **a lot** for a few hundred bucks. On a 290hp Maxima, that's 25$ per hp. Put another way, I bought this car used for $24k 4 years ago. That's 82$ per hp. For the performance vs money spent, these little add-ons are cheap and good relative value. You could easily spend a few thousand on a turbo or super and prob add 25% hp safely without breaking anything. That's $50 per hp roughly. I think for the money, intake, exhaust, chip will make most casual performance folk (that's me) happy. I'll try and do some more performance tests using this equipment but may have to find an iPhone app to get a more accurate result.

I'm curious about the UpRev....is that the same as BullyDog? What is the preferred tool here? I just got into little mods as trying to keep the bang for buck factor HIGH as you might have ascertained ;-) I've also seen alot of posts doubting the BullyDog tune. I got the most recent 40417 model so not sure if that's the model other folks have/had?

[Ilya]

posted in Altima forum, so repost here as I am a Maxima owner--

just installed BullyDog 40417 on my 2010 Maxima. I must say, **qualitatively**, the car performs better. Smoother idle, no "lag" or hesitation time that happens when you punch the gas. Just linear, progressive acceleration. No measurement process on that unfortunately, but something I always noticed prior to installation in driving the car for 4 years. I always cleaned the throttle body and thought that was the issue but that never solved the "thinking" the car was doing.

I did run a performance test using the included function but I'm **a bit dubious** of the results. Using the premium tune, it returned a 12.9 quarter mile @ 82mph. And a 0-60 of 8 seconds. Hmmm--seems those 2 don't jive well together. I did the 'ol 1 1000, 2 1000, counting while the BullyDog was doing its test and I got 5 and change as it should be. So that part of the equation, I'm not 100% sure of the information displayed as that is on par with the 370Z performance.

Minor tidbit- slightly longer tire chirp when you floor it with the install--something TC takes care of right away though...These qualitative things are just things you notice after driving the car for 4 years. I tend to drive in silence a lot as I like to relax and enjoy things so I tend to notice small nuances that others might miss.

Other than that, I like it. I'm confused on some of the complaints of the install time for the program. If your battery is charged, less then 30 minutes! And that is conservative!! Read instructions first, and you won't have a problem! The old saying of measure twice and cut once applies!

Only other mods I have is an Injen shorty tuned ram intake. Total of less then $500 invested and I'm happy. Not sure how much more you can do to add hp for that cheap. I know it's old but someone on one of these forums mentioned "only" 7%. 7% is **a lot** for a few hundred bucks. On a 290hp Maxima, that's 25$ per hp. Put another way, I bought this car used for $24k 4 years ago. That's 82$ per hp. For the performance vs money spent, these little add-ons are cheap and good relative value. You could easily spend a few thousand on a turbo or super and prob add 25% hp safely without breaking anything. That's $50 per hp roughly. I think for the money, intake, exhaust, chip will make most casual performance folk (that's me) happy. I'll try and do some more performance tests using this equipment but may have to find an iPhone app to get a more accurate result.

I'm curious about the UpRev....is that the same as BullyDog? What is the preferred tool here? I just got into little mods as trying to keep the bang for buck factor HIGH as you might have ascertained ;-) I've also seen alot of posts doubting the BullyDog tune. I got the most recent 40417 model so not sure if that's the model other folks have/had?

Thanks for sharing that...you're probably the first person to use BullyDog that we've had here. But, just in case you didn't realize you, you're posting in an Infiniti M forum, not a Nissan Maxima forum. 100% of our members use UpRev as it is a much more widely known Nissan tuner with more locations to tune, etc.

[ArmedAviator]

You will NOT get 50hp (at the wheels or crank) with just a tune. With headers, hi flow cats, and a catback you may get 20-30hp at the crank after a tune.

EcuTek and UpRev seem to be the popular tuner software for Infinitis. If it were me, I'd go with an EcuTek dyno tune based on reviews online. Even an EcuTek email tune if I was in a pinch.

But don't mind me, I'm keeping my ECU stock.

[JoshuaM]

If it were me, I did not any tune, it enough already。

[Ilya]

You will NOT get 50hp (at the wheels or crank) with just a tune. With headers, hi flow cats, and a catback you may get 20-30hp at the crank after a tune.

EcuTek and UpRev seem to be the popular tuner software for Infinitis. If it were me, I'd go with an EcuTek dyno tune based on reviews online. Even an EcuTek email tune if I was in a pinch.

But don't mind me, I'm keeping my ECU stock.

This. You will need a slew of bolt-on parts to get 50hp.

EcuTek huh? I've never heard of that one either. Interesting. UpRev also does email tuning, but honestly...for anyone reading this thinking about UpRev...just message Seymore4 on here. He's out in WA State but is SUPER responsive to texts and he's a dealer/tuner so he can sell you the product and support it. UpRev support is GARBAZHHHHHHHHH. Seriously, some of the worst support on the planet.

[ArmedAviator]

Yeah EcuTek seems popular amongst G37 and 370Z owners especially through Visconti Tuning (who does dyno and email tunes). According to the threads I've read comparing EcuTek to UpRev, EcuTek was superior in terms of engine and shifting reaponsiveness thanks to better and more complete maps. Most of the threads I've read were from 2 years ago or so, however, so things may be different.

If excessive funds became available to me, I might still get a tune from Visconti on my otherwise stock M37. After years of modding and twice having my car totalled and not able to get that money back, I bought the M because it was everything I want without requiring modification. Although I would prefer a 5.6 next time

[Cp13]

What tuning product should I go with my 06 m45 everyone saying something different.

[Ilya]

Guys this has been covered ad nauseum. On this forum, 99.98% of people go with UpRev. It's tried and it's tested.

I've heard of Bully Dog but people say it's snake oil. EcuTek I've never even heard of until the posts above and I've been on NICOClub since 2010.

[ArmedAviator]

I would avoid BullyDog, myself. "Tunes-in-a-can" are never worth the money. An email tune from a reputable tuner is better if you can't do a dyno tune.

Here's a good read that a tuner and a customer experienced with EcuTek vs UpRev on a G37. EcuTek was able to perform better (subjectively and objectively) than UpRev. This, however, was two years ago, so UpRev may have better options and maps these days.

[pedsemdoc]

Here's a good read that a tuner and a customer experienced with EcuTek vs UpRev on a G37. EcuTek was able to perform better (subjectively and objectively) than UpRev. This, however, was two years ago, so UpRev may have better options and maps these days.

I actually visit that site alot (BTW you can sometimes get some great deals on parts in their private classified ads section), and there is a more recent thread regarding which tuning software/product is "better."

I can see 2 major differences:
1. is that EcuTek does not allow any DIY end user tuning (you must go to your tuner to get the ECU programmed), whereas Uprev does - although you could probably hurt your car's performance if you have no idea what you're doing.

2. Don't know what the service support is like for EcuTek, but I'm pretty sure that Uprev doesn't look at any of their emails, so their support is basically non-existent. Uprev also used to have a discussion board section where you could see what sort of questions/problems end users had and read about the solutuions - that is no longer there. I think it would be smarter to just let Joe Waldal (Seymore4 on this site) help you tune if you don't have easy access to a dyno/Uprev tuner. I know a lot of guys that have used him, he's very responsive, quite professional, AND takes time to answer your questions. (I had a bunch and he made things waaay clearer than the Uprev site)

[Ilya]

Yeah, don't bother with UpRev support. Just go to Joe.

[HarvesterUT]

Only thing I've done to my 2003 M45 is a 2 degree timing advance via Car Gauge Lite app.

[ArmedAviator]

I don't believe you can change ECU settings with any Android OBDII apps.