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AWDTuning.com - eTune/online tune

STI Tuner Review: 
70K views 179 replies 70 participants last post by  Renagade 
#1 ·
online/e-tune done by Keith @ AWDTuning.com

he's located in the DFW area and does road tunes as well as installs.

i was tuned via opensource flash.

service is second to none (have tried two other well known tuners). i was treated like i was the only and most important customer. lots of communication, lots of explanation, LOTS of patience. customer service is truly exceptional and by far, austin to melbourne far, better than the more established, "well known", tuners i had dealt with prior to AWDTuning.

fp green (2.4" 7cm iwg)
ebay tmic
perrin inlet
gimmick after maf hose
aps 70mm cai
maddad header
maddad uppipe
helix catted dp
3" cbe
perrin ebcs clone
pe850's
walbro

goal: safe tune i can run year round and even drive to the midwest in the winter.

@ 22psi

 
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#3 ·
I am starting to consider dropping the $700 budget for AP and get a opensource tune from Keith instead. Everything i have heard about his tune has been great :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
I finally got tuned by Keith yesterday. The only mod is the Cobb catted downpipe. (mmm catty goodness). After all was said and done it was 11 pm and the car runs flawlessly. His road dyno software said 273/293 and the midrange pull over 3k rpm is just phenomenal. The attentional to detail and the professionalism is second to none. Highly recommend anyone who wants to be tuned to check out awdtuning.com before making a final decision. :)

Dyno plot is from 4th gear pull.

 
#5 ·
the power your making was what i made on gothams mustang dyno. almost exactly those numbers. chris from xxtuning said their dyno was bout 8% lower than his dyno. good numbers and it says a lot about what he can do.

nice lookin results
 
#8 ·
Gents,

How are you're cars doing now that you've had the tune for a few months? Looking at your post dates, Hollywood has the "oldest" tune...is the car still running reliably with no issues? Has anything come up since? Have the changes in weather affected the performance of your cars?

Any new inputs to add? Would you mind posting or PM'ing about how much your tunes ended up costing?
 
#13 ·
let me start off saying I haven't slept for the past 16 hours so this review may be a little bit confusion. Yesterday I was schedule to be tuned by keith in dallas at 4:00 he calls me at 2:30 and says he finished early and I go over there. He generously helps me install a kstech cai, iwg bracket to hold it shut, and the perrin ebcs. I get to meet his wife, his dogs, his cats, and his daughter. Right off the start I feel like family. What happens next is pretty insane. A few things that happened that evening included clogging his toilet-which he handed me a plunger with a smile, eating dinner with the family, napping on one of the beds in his house, and spending about 14 hours tuning with him. For starters he was having trouble with his wideband working so after a while he worked that out, then we hit the road for tuning. I was going to get an economy tune hi boost pump tune and a q16 tune (which would be keiths first q16 on a stock turbo sti) I had no idea how long it would take but he continually surprised me. After a few pulls he noticed my car is knocking and pulling timing so he suggest we do a compression test. I freaked out...an hour or so later I'm smiling while cylinder 4 reads 150 and is free of leaks. He did a compression test for me for free... Then we had to find out what was triggering the nock sensor. He concluded that the sensor was torqued well over the 17.5lbs specs.. He loosened it and then torqued it to spec. Knock solved. He took his time and made a pretty perfect pump gas map. He made me feel special taking all the time in the world to make my tune perfect. He had to work a lot with the maf tables and such because the intake was an 83mm and he had to do some figuring out. Later after we get back from the pump gas tune it is time for the q16 tune. We first eat with the family and then find a way to get rid of the rest of the gas in my tank. We concluded that 07' sti's don't have a fuel tank bolt to release the gas. So we unhooked the return line from the motor and put the car in test mode and the fuel pump just emptied it self in a timely manner. After that while working in a closed garage... it was pretty stupid.. we became slightly altered by the gas fumes pouring the q16 into a tank that would make it easier to put into the car... it was pretty hilarious we where cracking jokes and having a good ol' time. Then we went out for the race gas tune and he took his time and made it perfect. It pulled hard!!! After all that was done he took his open source maps and put them on my cobb ap.. and I ended up leaving at about 4:00 in the morning...that is over 12 hours.. He never once got mad or lost his patience.. and he is not charging me like 1600 that a bigger tuner would charge.. just 325 and maybe a little more...
He is professional and very friendly. It feels as if he is family now. My recommendation is go to keith...you won't be disappointed.. he is willing to go the extra mile.!
+1 for Keith @ awdtuning
 
#29 ·
Worst service and interaction I have ever had.

I requested a remote stage 2 tune for a 2004 forester xt, at.

took him several days before he responded, claiming he had sent a mpa, but "something" was wrong with his email server.... OK, gave him that. ( oddly much later on he claims he gets over 200 emails a day... thought something was wrong with teh email server... which is it? )

So then he sends over a tune & a copy of learningview. He asks me to use learningview to log the car.

I load his map... motor barely starts, idles like crap, if I touch the throttle it stalls, start it up again, throws a CEL, backfires as I touch the throttle. Real professional.

I email him back, a day later he responds tells me nothing is wrong with the map.. I offered a copy of my stock map as a starting point, which he now decides to take.

He sends back "the same" map, even though I check it and there is over 75 differences in it from his first try.

I reluctantly load it. It runs, fairly good, as requested I send him the learning view logs, I get back a request to log it using his xml file... huh?

I reply back that learning view doesn't acccept config files, and ask for clarification.

3 days later nothing... must be those 200 emails a day or his server... lol.

I send back another request for clarification highlighting the issues I had, he respomds back in a very condescending manner, implying I am ot smart enough to be tuning my car... who the f offered to send him the basemap? who put up his first crap map, and offered a suggestion on how to fix it?

Yea, worst experience I ever had, stay far, far away.
 
#26 ·
Can't say enough good things about Keith and Mary. They really make you feel like you've known them forever. Very down-to-earth people. Keith really knows his stuff. Came out on a Sunday, got the car tuned up in a few hours, and drove away with a huge smile on my face! And at an unbeatable price. Can't ask for better service or better people.

spencer
 
#27 ·
I agree. Keith tuned my friend's 08 sti was top notch. I never seen a tuner with so much patience. Wit the amount of hourless effort he put into tuning, I can say I would trust him with my car from my own observation.

Hey Mary,

When is the next tuning session in Houston? :D Hopefully, my car would be finish by then.. If not, I will have to trailer my car up your way to pay a visit..
 
#28 ·
Keith tuned my '07 sti with a FP Green this past weekend in Austin. Wow is all I can say. He did a truely amazing job. It feels like the car was sleeping before and now it is awake and kicking ass. Love it. At 300 dollars for a tune, you can't beat it! A lot of other shops will cost you around 500 dollars just a base tune.

My Perrin boost controller wasn't working, so he installed a grimmspeed controller that he had on hand. Of course he didn't charge anything for the install, just for the part.

Keith is such a laid back guy it's hilarious. He was calm even after we got pulled over by Austin Police(because of my tags, not for speeding..only got a warning) and having to pull over to fix my intercooler piping that blew off during a 4th gear pull.

Had lots of fun! He and his wife are more like friends than just a tuner.
 
#31 ·
Thank you from everyone who has provided feedback and supports my company.

As many of you know I work very hard to provide great service - but as you can see it’s impossible to satisfy everyone.

A few things need to be known though, to prevent future misunderstandings.

1.) I am not just a tuner, but I'm only one man.

I do not sit idle behind a keyboard 24/7 - this is especially true during weekends, I run a performance facility where all kinds of services are performed. These range from road tuning, to full engine swaps, to basic maintenance services. If I do not reply to an email right away it’s usually because I'm elbow deep in engine oil.

This is one of the reasons I'm very good at figuring out problems and resolving them when people come to me for troubleshooting - I am not someone who will tell you to go fix your car and come back when an issue arises with a tuning session.

2.) I do travel from time to time.

In today’s technology its easy to stay connected, that is if nothing else is going on. Usually when I travel I am busy tuning for over 24-48hrs straight which can create additional delays. This usually only happens on weekends - most tuning trips are also posted on the news section of the website as well as local forums to try and maintain awareness.

3.) I did recently change hosting services.

This did create some communication challenges a few weeks ago, but should all be resolved now. If I haven't replied to your email within one-two business days please resend.

4.) A note regarding remote tuning.

If you are interested in remote tuning - it’s highly recommended that you have the recommended equipment. This would include but not limit tools such as: 1) the correct tactrix cable for your make/year. 2) A working/calibrated wideband that can be included in romraider data logging software such as Innovate LC/LM, AEM UEGO, etc. 3) Romraider working with all the necessary updated ECU and Logging definitions. 4) The most up-to-date ECU Flash and open port drivers. 5) Basic understanding of how to flash/data log your car - this link will help get you started

Other optional, but highly recommend tools would be - a knock light, guages such as boost, egt, etc.

You can also find alot of helpful tools created by other members on romraider.com, such as Mechgod's learning view, etc.

I do not mind helping to get all of this going for you, but I'm not physic - so if you need some guidance please ask that way I know the best way to help you be successful and have a positive experience.
 
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