Well I finally pulled the trigger and bought an SCT X4. It should be here like Thursday and I'm going to load up one of the canned tunes because right now the wife doesn't want to let loose on the purse strings to pay for a custom tune. She thought it was crazy that I paid 400 for a "little black box". Anyway that begins up a few questions. Since I don't have head studs, should I not run the highest performance canned tune? I mean I'm not that worries about it because 90% of my driving is on the interstate at 75 for 2-3 hours at a time. I don't really get all over it very often but at the same time I don't want to pop a head from over boosting. Second question, what tune did you all decide and why? I am looking at SLR from Matt at gearhead and tunes from Innovative Diesel. Let me know what you guys think, I'm just not sure which to pick when I finally decide to get a custom tune.

 

When I bought my Gearhead Tunes, I went for the three tune package for $100. It included SRL, 8K# Max Tow, and Unlimited Tow. I use the Unlimited Tow tune for towing my fifth wheel, the 8K Tow for general use and the SRL for fun. I hardly ever use the SRL because of the smoke it produces. It is lots of fun once in a while, but I don't like smoke so I rarely step into it hard while the SRL is loaded. I don't accidentally soot anyone. The power is quite impressive on SRL, however. 8K, IMO is good for around town and highway, general purpose tune when not towing. No turbo lag and a modest yet enjoyable bump in HP/TQ.

 

Oh yeah, I wasn't studded when I got my tunes. I ran SCT canned tunes, then I bought the custom tunes, but didn't stud it until I cracked a head. Not sure if running SCT, or SRL tunes while un-studded had anything to do with it. Matt said it shouldn't be a problem with his tunes, but if I could do it over I would have probably studded before running anything over stock. JMHO

 

I recommend Gearhead tunes as well.

I've been running Matt's tunes on my '05 Excursion since October 2013 and have no complaints. Try anyone else's tunes you want, you simply cannot beat the power and the shifting of Matt's tunes. I've tried quite a few and always came back to Matt's tunes.

They run so good that I had Matt himself tune BOTH my 7.3 and 6.0 Excursion to my liking.

You won't have any regrets with Matt's tunes

 

Regarding GH Tunes:
I tried, (for the first time) the extreme tune running empty across town for the day.
It made the truck act like like the power delivery was simply effortless no matter what was demanded from the go pedal. 1/3rd throttle was touched a few times but never really went over that, didn't have to.
I noticed that tune is set up for street competition as it wanted to bang through the gears.
For the guy who uses his truck for GP deliveries, the 8K tow file is definitely a contender for DD !
For just running around on a gofer list, SRL+ is my choice. Still trying to see how the truck responds with each tune being affected when engaging the tow/haul button.
The multi package choice of files that guys usually get gives the operator a wide choice of powerplant deliverability based on what the load demand. The worst part is forgetting what is already installed on the PCM as payloads change throughout the work week.
These are fantastic running trucks offering the operator excellent feedback, once they get dialed in!

A Big thanks you guys for helping me choose the correct writer of these files.

OP if you choose ID, you might want to ask if you can change parameters within the file. I don't recall if they'll allow you to do that.