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Blackbear Tune vs Diablew Tune

Kerrslight

By Kerrslight
in Engines & Drivetrain

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Kerrslight Enthusiast

Kerrslight

Posted
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I know the TUNE topic has been addressed a bunch of times and I know there's a thread on this already. I've skimmed through it and I know enough about each of them at this point that I don't think it'd do me much good to read through 30 pages or so. I figured I'd just ask my direct questions in a new thread.

 

My last truck was an 08 Silverado and I had a custom "in-person" tune done here by a guy in houston and it was amazing. I miss driving that truck just because of the tune. As most of us know, a tune can really wake these new trucks up and improved driveability by 1000%. Everything I've read about tuning directs me to either a Blackbear tune or a Diablo, which I would have a custom tune done by Lew. I know blackbear carries a heaver cost and everyone has good things to say about them, but is there much of a difference that you guys would recommend that over Diablew? What I am really looking for is a tune with results and the ability to switch between lets say a 91octane tune and an economy tune, or something similar. Diablo seems very user friendly in that aspect. Plug it in and select what you want. Is the AutoCal the same way? Also I plan on getting some 33's down the road and a possible regear. Can both of these tuners correct the speedo to reflect the change in tire size and gear ratio?

 

Long story short, looking for a great tune and also something I can keep in my glove box and be able to change the settings when I need to.

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Isriam Enthusiast

Isriam

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if money doesnt matter, go blackbear with auto cal. your custom tune will adjust for tire size and gear ratio. if you go with diablew you just have to pay to adjust the tune. i believe BB includes lifetime adjustments.

 

i paid 200 for my diablo and then 140 i think to diablew. pretty sure bb/autocal is 500-600 total.

Kerrslight Enthusiast

Kerrslight

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if money doesnt matter, go blackbear with auto cal. your custom tune will adjust for tire size and gear ratio. if you go with diablew you just have to pay to adjust the tune. i believe BB includes lifetime adjustments.

 

i paid 200 for my diablo and then 140 i think to diablew. pretty sure bb/autocal is 500-600 total.

 

That's a good price for the diablo. I haven't seen any under $300.

Kerrslight Enthusiast

Kerrslight

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if money doesnt matter, go blackbear with auto cal. your custom tune will adjust for tire size and gear ratio. if you go with diablew you just have to pay to adjust the tune. i believe BB includes lifetime adjustments.

 

i paid 200 for my diablo and then 140 i think to diablew. pretty sure bb/autocal is 500-600 total.

 

With your diablew tune, once he sends you a custom tune can you switch between several tunes? For example if he sends you a custom 91octane tune, are there options on the Diablo that allow you to change back to stock, or to an 87 octane tune, or an economy tune? Or would you have to pay to get another custom tune for those options?

WendysOrBust Enthusiast

WendysOrBust

Posted
Posted

I can't speak for the Diablew tune. I like my Black Bear tune because aside from the much better TCM tune the truck behaves and acts just like stock. What I mean by that is that the shifts arn't overly firm to give anything away. I've added my review for the tune below;

 

 

I'm on the 91+ tune right now. And I really like it, I feel like this is the way the truck should of been from the dealer. I still havn't sent back the log after the tune since I'm still trying to test it and to see if I want anything different.

And I wish I could give you a fair estimation on milage, but its been so cold here that I've been remote starting the truck every chance I get. As it sits I'm at 14.5mpg three quarters of the way through this tank. But here are my overall impressions of the tune;

  • Tip in torque and response has greatly increased. Before I felt like I really needed to get into the throttle to get it moving. You can de definitely feel the added torque as soon as you touch the pedal, probably from a reduction in torque management.
  • Before the tune, the trucks transmission did this annoying thing, kinda hard to explain. But for example, if I gave it 50-70% throttle from low speed it would hold the gear I was in, but over extend the shift point, past its power band to the point that I had to wait till it shifted or blip the throttle to initiate a shift. Now when I do the same it'll do a real nice quick upshift but maintains the engine in the power band. Feels allot better.
  • Shift firmness feels better at WOT. Not drastic enough for me to ask for a reduction though, doesn't feel too firm or aggressive.
  • I can tell he added 300-400 rpms for the WOT shift points. At first I was a little weary, but I really like it now. Off the top of my head, with my 3.42 rear end, 1st will go up to almost 45mph, 2nd to 70, and I let off at 3rd when I was at 100. It was still pulling really well though. I guess I can hit higher in 3rd.
  • Daily driving is much improved with the modified TCM. The truck just picks up speed allot easier and downshifts come sooner and smoother. I wish I could be more accurate here, but the truck never displays what gear I'm in, but I'm assuming that at any point I am a gear lower than what I used to be pre-tune. However I don't feel like I'm overworking the truck, at most on stop and go city traffic I'll see 2500-3000rpm shift points.

Driving a truck on a tune, especially giving a review is so hard because all the factors are so subjective. My overall complaint about my 5.3 is that it had overall poor throttle response, and lazy shifting. I can honestly say none of those are issues now. I do plan on getting an air raid jr. kit in a week or so, after that I will probably stop with the truck. I don't plan to race it or heavily modify it. I just wanted a more responsive truck.

 

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/158551-2014-engine-transmission-tuning/?p=1582391

 

With that said, if you are already in Houston, why not go to Chuck for Tuning. He is very well known for his GM tunes. He tunes via HP Tuner and seems to be very good at it. I'm sure you've heard of him. He has a 2014 Silverado 5.3. This is his truck below

 

 

 

His Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/chuckstuning

Shop page; http://www.chuckstuning.com/

Instagram; https://instagram.com/chuckstuning/

 

He seems to do grade A work, and if you are thinking about doing a cam down the road this guy is the deal.

Isriam Enthusiast

Isriam

Posted
Posted

yea I'd get the custom tune posted above.

 

diablosport has a tune menu, with all the canned tunes like diablotune, fuel tune, and then a menu for custom tunes. each time you get your custom tune adjusted, lew charges like 70 i think.

 

if knew more about this when i started i'd have gotten black bear, but the price i paid for lew and diablo i couldn't imagine the truck driving any better. i bought my tuner used which is why it was only 200.

440hsp Enthusiast

440hsp

Posted
Posted

Are all of these tunes traceable at the dealership?

WendysOrBust Enthusiast

WendysOrBust

Posted
Posted

Are all of these tunes traceable at the dealership?

It is not known. Diablo claims their tunes are completely untraceable. Something other tuners don't claim. That being said no one here has had a warranty claim that's been denied due to a tune. However the guy with the blown 6.2 has had a ton of issues over his simple cold air intake. Dealer is wanting to say the CAI is at fault for the engine blown. He also goes into detail about how they scanned his ecu for a tune.

440hsp Enthusiast

440hsp

Posted
Posted

I haven't heard of this guy? Do you have a link to this thread?

wurgs Senior Enthusiast

wurgs

Posted
Posted

if money doesnt matter, go blackbear with auto cal. your custom tune will adjust for tire size and gear ratio. if you go with diablew you just have to pay to adjust the tune. i believe BB includes lifetime adjustments.

 

i paid 200 for my diablo and then 140 i think to diablew. pretty sure bb/autocal is 500-600 total.

Adjustments are free for the first year with Lew. The Intune has options for 87 octane, mpg, and Diablotune(93 octane tune) and custom tune. You can switch between them at any time, only takes a couple minutes. If you have the 6spd he can tune that too.

Kerrslight Enthusiast

Kerrslight

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Adjustments are free for the first year with Lew. The Intune has options for 87 octane, mpg, and Diablotune(93 octane tune) and custom tune. You can switch between them at any time, only takes a couple minutes. If you have the 6spd he can tune that too.

Do you know, or can someone else chime in, does the AutoCal have basically the same functionality? Would I be able to switch between different tunes?

WendysOrBust Enthusiast

WendysOrBust

Posted
Posted

Do you know, or can someone else chime in, does the AutoCal have basically the same functionality? Would I be able to switch between different tunes?

The AutoCal can carry a few tunes on it. Usually Justin will give you an 87-89 tune and a 91+ tune. Here is what he sent me below;

T6qF2WV.png

 

The only issue with the AutoCal device is that it doesn't have that much memory. So you could load up the "MOD TCM" and both of the octane tunes. Upload the ModTCM tune from the truck then go back and remove the ModTCM tune from the device. You would then have both octane tunes left on the AutoCal and enough writeable space to log a ~30min run. Realistically after you do your initial log you don't need to go back and log anything unless you want something changed on the tune. I personally flashed the 91+ tune once and have left it at that. The writing process to the ECM takes around 10min and I just pump 91 octane wherever I go. You could always keep your preferred modded tune on the AutoCal along with the StockECM tune just in case.

 

I really don't have an issue with any of the above as I always carry my laptop on me and neither ECM or TCM tune has given me any issues. Loading and removing tunes from the AutoCal is as easy as plugging it into your computer via a usb cable and opening the "EFI File Explorer" app. Its really easy to use.

 

What's really cool about EFI though is that once you go out and do a log, you can upload the file and open it up with the EFI Live Scan Tool and few all of your engine parameters. Everything from throttle position, A/F Ratio, knock, desired torque, delivered torque, etc, etc.

 

5GkHNfZ.png

 

What you see between the 800-1000 frames is a ton of wheel spin and the traction control pulling throttle and fuel to get things sorted out. :cool:

 

 

Now, depending on the Diablo device you get you can also view all of these parameters real time since those devices can display that information. You can even buy a nifty windshield mount for them. Technically the AutoCal device can do this as well, but you are limited to viewing one particular item real time, and its not really all that handy since there is no windshield mount. Its really not meant for viewing live readings. You COULD plug it in to the OBD port and to your laptop at the same time to view a live feed via your laptop, but honestly, this is only useful if you are tuning at the same time. The EFI Scan tool you download is locked so you cannot modify or tune on it. Only view logs and readings.

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