Wester's Tune On 2007 Sierra Denali

[Bostonsfavson]

There's a lot of talk of the forum about custom tunes, and having recently had one done I thought I'd share some impressions...

 

The vehicle is an '07 Sierra Denali, and after doing quite a bit of research (primarily on this site and also DenaliTrucks.com) I decided to contact WesterSales (www.westersales.com) to get more information about the Wester's Tune. I emailed back and forth with the owner, a friendly fellow by the name of Butch. These conversations left me confident enough to go ahead and send out my PCM to them. I sent it out to Massachusetts from the Buffalo, New York area on Monday evening and received it back Wednesday afternoon for a total price of 479.00 dollars plus shipping (I used UPS next day air). I went with the 91/93 octane "Hot Tune" which among other things completely eliminates the abuse management. Just to clarify, torque management is separate from abuse management and can only be accessed via the transmission computer, which on the 6L80 is located inside the transmission itself. However, shifts are now a bit firmer and quicker because abuse management also impacts the transmission to a certain degree. I know this point may be a bit contentious, but this is how it was explained to me by Butch, and I have no reason to doubt his expertise. I had Butch optimize the tune for the K&N cold air kit I installed as well. After 500 miles I can say that there is a noticeable improvement in throttle response and overall performance. Butch indicated that it takes about 100 miles to fully realize the benefits of the tune, but it seemed to take about 250 or so for me to really start to notice the difference. You can feel the gains across the RPM range, and WOT shifts now occur at ~5900 RPM as opposed to the factory at ~5500 RPM. The top speed limiter has also been removed - it's nice knowing that although you probably shouldn't ever go over 95 MPH in a truck on public roads, it's nice to know that you can. I can't comment on the promised fuel economy benefits, as I've been too busy romping on the throttle to get an accurate reading ;-)

 

The bottom line is that I'm satisfied with the tune and recommend dealing with Butch at WesterSales. He is very knowledgeable and friendly, and the turnaround on emails and services is nothing short of heroic. If you have 500 dollars to spend on a performance modification to your truck, rest assured this tune is money well spent. There's an awful lot of information out there, and I hope this helps those people looking at tunes and handheld programmers make an informed decision.

[hoot29576]

I posted earlier about this tune, I also have the 2007 sierra denali. I found Butch to be absolutely fantastic in every way you can think of. As for the tune itself, I would recommend it to everyone looking for some more pep. My truck is much quicker, better response and it does seem to shift a little better, still not what I would like but I am assuming that this is as good as its gonna get with the 6 speed. As for the learning curve, i have put about 2K miles on the tune and it still seems to be picking up some everyday, I did not find an increase in fuel milage, i was disapointed in that as I do a lot of highway travel. I am averaging 18ish at 75 MPH. As for the high speed, I had the truck up to 115 and it started shaking pretty good, the stock wheels arent holding up too well I suspect but the truck was still pulling hard and i would imagine that it would reach well past 150. for the mods looking for performance This is the best bang for your buck. I looked at others and never could get any replies or answers to my questions, I believe that butch is sitting in front of his computer every 5 minutes to answer any questions.

[Bostonsfavson]

I hear you about the gas mileage Hoot. Just took a 5 hour cruise today and I think my gas mileage actually went down after the tune. Grr.

[croos]

I emailed Butch today and explained my situation. I'm looking forward to his reply. In Idaho I can only get 91 octane and I pull a light trailer during steelhead season. Not much just my drift boat. Did you guys get the E/P tuning with 3D mapping for better gas milegae?