I've been emailing Mike Butler @ 5 Star Tuning (5 Star Tuning | Custom Dynomemeter Chassis Tuning Products and Services) over the past few weeks...and I have to commend his patience while I gathered info.
I just took the plunge and purchased the SCT X3 and ordered the 87 Perf, 87 Tow, and 91 Perf tunes. Mike said that it should ship out by tomorrow!

Needless to say, I'm like a kid on Christmas eve right now. I cannot wait. I'll update this thread once tunes are here and everything is uploaded, etc. I'll also share my impressions of the gains in performance, and hopefully some efficiency gains too!

More to come...

4/14/2011: see post #18 for first driving impressions

 

Let us know I had his tunes on my last truck and it was great can't wait to tune my new truck

 

I wouldn't expect much in the way of mpg gains. (its just too hard to keeop your foot out of it once he tunes it, like mine!!!) hehe! But you will definitely notice a big difference. I tried to dyno mine two weeks ago, turns out my pickup was too long for it unfortunately. I would be real curious to see numbers on it. Anyway, I have an 06, 5.4l with 40 series flo, his tune, s&b intake, and it moves right along. Only problem is my brother has a tuned powerstroke and a Lightning so I am kind of shooting in the dark for comparison. But regardless, you will notice a big improvement. Make sure and say goodbye to that lag because you will not ever notice it again. Let us know the differences in teh 87 tow get up and go and the 91 perf. I went 91 everything when I did and I would be real curious on the difference of them. I leave mine in tow a lot because I like how it treats the transmission and leaves it in gear a little more to my liking. I think the 91econ is about useless. Not very much power at all, and zero mpg gain over the other tunes when I baby it. Anyway, good luck and enjoy your new pickup.

 

Thanks for the info.

Mike and I have discussed what would best fit my daily driver needs, etc. My main concern is the DBW lag that is present and the hesitation at times in the tranny. I know that efficiency is strictly a hopeful by-product out of all of this, but a man can dream right?
I'd honestly be happy with a noticeable 1-2mpg gain with 2mpg being the max I'd ever expect to see. With my current averages, a 2mpg improvement would 15%...I could live with that.
I went with the 87 octane tunes mainly because of the hike in fuel prices right now. I got the 91 so that if I find a pot of gold (or someone would like to provide donations!!) I could have the option at somepoint.
I'm not looking to roast the tires...those days are far behind me. My goal is to improve the overall driveability of the truck by gaining some more torque on the low end, firming up the trans shifts, and improving on the torque converter lockup schedule.

Mike has already sent me my tracking number. I should have it in my hands by the weekend!!

 

LOL. congrats. let me know if you have any questions etc. i have uploaded the tow tune and i go back and forth between that and the 87 performance tune.

 

I take that back, let me rephrase. My driving habits became more aggressive and I still gained probably 1mpg. Now it is about 14ish combined. I drive around town during the week and on the interstate on the weekend, running 75+ on there limits it to about 14.5 and that is with 3.55 gears. My dad has an 08 setup the same, except 3.73 gears and he claims he can get 16 and 17 out of it on the highway. I think he is blowing smoke because his speeds are relative to mine. Judging by your driving habits and purpose for the programmer, you will love it. I have had mine for near two years and it still gets me excited to drive it. I am 22 so my main reason was to toss that lag and get a lot more power. I have gone as far as I can with mods without doing major engine work. So sorry for the long words, once again you can tell I get excited with Mike's work and I start to preach from my pulpit. :P

 

I appreciate the words. Helps me feel even more confident that my purchase will be worth it.
I keep a very detailed, per fillup, mileage chart over on Fuelly.com. In town on winter blend I'm right in the mid to high 11s. Just went on a little 350 mile trip last weekend with some light stop and go and pulled 16.1mpg.
And while I'm not tooooo far from 22 (30 in June) the days of stoplight racing are over and done. But I'm sure I'll be tempted to put my foot in it a few times here and there, just have to make sure the wife's not in the truck when I do so!

 

So tell us Chandler, how the hell did you get the CFO (a.k.a. wife) to approve your purchase?



Nevermind - I'm sure there was a trade that is not fit for discussion on a public forum..



Regardless - congrats. I'm sure Mike is going to have another satisfied customer.

 

HAHAHAHA. To answer your question Charlie...that is safe for the public...the CFO and I keep money that is not considered "joint account money". Basically she withholds an agreed upon monthly amount, as do I, and neither of us can ask/complain/question purchases either of us make that comes from that "fun money".
Now the problem is that her amount is nearly double what I keep, since I got the new vehicle last year. So I haven't bought anything for the past month and a half and finally was able to build up enough to not even have to ask her about it.
As for that "trade"...well that's for other things and I'll let your imagination run wild

 

I am quite interested to hear about your results and the installation process. Could you post pics of the display unit installed on the dash? The one thing I hate about my truck is the hesitation when you step on it. I don't care about racing or speeding (its a truck) but something needs to be done. Good luck!

 

Hey. The SCT X3 is not a dash mounted unit. For that you would have to step up to the LiveWire. And honestly, for about $200 more, I didn't think I needed it. Plus, nothing says "Hey theif, smash my window" more than a dash mounted pod...at least in my neck of the woods.

The X3 just plugs up, upload the tunes, disconnect and drive off. It also won't be as easily noticed when and if I take the truck in for service.

 

Oh, well thats even better. I have a sirius satellite radio unit on my dash and dont want more crap stuck to it (It's cheaper than an ipod so I just suck it up). There really isnt theft problems around here anyways, too many guns haha. How do you switch between the different programs (87 vs 91, towing etc.)? Maybe I should go do some research myself haha

 

No worries. I'm happy to chat about it.
With the X3 you would have to stop and turn off the truck to change tunes. This would require completely shutting the truck down, plugging the device in the OBDII port, and switching from say the 87 Performance to the 87 Tow tune (in my case). Then doing the same to go back.
Check Mike's site (see my first post) and read up on SCT's site as well:
http://www.sctflash.com/products.php?PID=1&VID=441

 

Good choice I got 20 mpg on 87 perf, tune on the weekend and I was playing
but I run a 2 wheel drive. and get 20 -21 in summer driving nice.
love the responce from the funn peddle now no more lag

 

I would DIE to have that mileage. But then again I'm 4x4 with 3.73 gears and a slightly plus size tire. For now I'll just have to dream!