Piggyback vs ECU tune - banter removed from PRESSERtech RESULTS!!

[MisterMac]

*Forum member: singular....


..I think Wash is giving that particular forum member a hard time because the guy went in the Piggyback thread and lectured everyone about why they shouldn't use Piggybacks.

Lectured?, not exactly, but yes, I did post in one of the piggyback threads that a piggyback is neither sizzle or steak, it is all trickery. The Piggyback equipment tricks the vehicles' sensors into doing things it wouldn't normally do. Whereas, the PRESSERTech full ECU tune is an actual reprogram of the ECU which changes performance in a balanced manner specific to the individual car. Those are the facts.

The Thread Kamauxx is referring to is named something like "Buying a piggy-back....which one should I get?"

For a number of reasons there are very few ECU tuning options for the Stinger: The ECU software encryption is difficult to crack. The expertise to hack into an ECU and reprogram it is quite expensive, especially to do it in a competent manner. Due largely to the cost of creating an ECU tune (and correspondingly the selling price-point) vs the cheaper piggyback option limits sales of ECU programing to a smaller segment of the population.

My intent was not to degrade anybody's decision to purchase a piggy-back. When I was younger, I experimented with a piggy-back that resulted in catastrophic drivetrain failure. Many people don't know the difference and don't fully understand all of their options when it comes to tuning. They read the hype on forums like this and disregard the posts to the contrary. My hope is that my provocative post in that thread, and this one, will help buyers to seek a greater awareness of their options and therein make their best decision in what they aim to purchase.

After they've executed their research, they can then make the best fully-informed decision as to what they will do to enhance the performance of their Stinger. My bias is for an the PRESSERTech ECU tune over a tool of trickery.

 

[Kamauxx]

Lectured?, not exactly ...

You see the heat being thrown at someone who suggested a different performance meter in a Pressertech thread? Now I actually think the amount of heat generated from that is misplaced.

On the flip side you went into a "which piggyback?" Thread and said, essentially, "no! Buy Pressertech, you're cheating!" (Laughable) I think a little bit of backlash from what you posted should be expected, ESPECIALLY after seeing how Terry was treated for suggesting you monitor your car with a Dragy.

For the record though, I do think you were lecturing. Maybe you should have a look at "how" you told everyone not to buy a piggyback, instead of just "why" you told them not to.

Specifically you said: "It's trickery. It's false. It's fake" ... "Maybe you can remove it and dishonestly pursue a warranty claim when your piggy-back breaks something" ... "get your car fully tuned by a reputable programmer/tuner like PRESSERTech; or leave it stock".

Lecturing, preaching, advertising for Pressertech...you can call it whatever you want. As far as I'm concerned you're standing on a soap box telling everyone what they should/shouldn't do, and that will always ruffle people's feathers.

 

[MisterMac]

I both expected the heat and counted on it. I have no problem with washguy's opinion, or any others for that matter.

 

[Socalstinga]

I think most people are (or should be) aware that the piggyback's are just tricking the ECU. Personally, I'd prefer the full ECU tune (I did that on my other car with great results) but until we can get someone local to CA, I'll have to settle on the JB4. But eventually, at least I'm hoping, there will be at least one reputable tuner in CA that cracks this crazy code!

 

[brancky3]

I think most people are (or should be) aware that the piggyback's are just tricking the ECU. Personally, I'd prefer the full ECU tune (I did that on my other car with great results) but until we can get someone local to CA, I'll have to settle on the JB4. But eventually, at least I'm hoping, there will be at least one reputable tuner in CA that cracks this crazy code!

Sure, but it's no different than an ECU tune for the sensors that it's connected to. What's the difference between your tuned ECU telling <sensor 1> to limit boost to 15psi vs a piggyback telling <sensor 1> to limit boost to 15psi? Both are talking to the same sensor, both are using (relatively) the same values.

 

[Jwolf]

Sure, but it's no different than an ECU tune for the sensors that it's connected to. What's the difference between your tuned ECU telling <sensor 1> to limit boost to 15psi vs a piggyback telling <sensor 1> to limit boost to 15psi? Both are talking to the same sensor, both are using (relatively) the same values.

The difference is that when the piggyback changes the sensor value, the ECU doesn't know it. So on a more basic piggyback where you only adjust boost for example, you are running at 18psi. However, the ECU thinks you are running at 12 psi. Therefore it's timing strategy is based on a lower load, and the transmission is shifting based on calculations for lower load, and fueling is being controlled by adjusting the fuel trims higher than normal (which is one way dealers can detect piggybacks), and other parameters are being forced to adjust on the fly based on feedback instead of based on expected values. It works, but it isn't the safest way to do it unless the manufacturer does an extremely thorough job of programming the parameters and testing in various conditions.

 

[Socalstinga]

@Jwolf thanks, you beat me to the reply.