5-Star vs Livernois Motorsports vs Unleashed Tuning

[port43]

I am new to this game but I have had great customer service with 5 Star. I just used the 87 performance for a tank and a half and was really impressed. Filled up yesterday with 93 octane so I switched to the 93 performance and we'll see how that goes.

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[sbreech]

I am new to this game but I have had great customer service with 5 Star. I just used the 87 performance for a tank and a half and was really impressed. Filled up yesterday with 93 octane so I switched to the 93 performance and we'll see how that goes.

I'm with you on this. I, too, have the 5Star tune kit. I have 5 different tunes - 87 Daily & Tow, 89 Daily & Tow, 89 Daily & Tow, 93 Daily & Tow, 87 Performance, and 93 Performance. The 93 Performance made the truck run like a scalded dog. WOW! I keep mine on the 89 Daily & Tow, because that's what I do - but I always use 93+ octane in my truck. I stepped "down" from a 2020 Jaguar EPace 3.0...and even with the 89 Daily & Tow, I accelerate way stronger than the Jag ever did. Only with this truck, I can haul and tow some serious sh...stuff. My hat goes off to 5Star Tuning.

 

[JaysOnTheEDGE]

For anyone interested I can finally give a highway MPG valuation on the 93 Performance Unleashed tune. Stock 4x4 suspension with Stock Dueler ATs , mods are 93 Unleashed the Velossa Ram pipe and a AFE Dryflow S 65-70 MPG got 24.8 MPG 70-75 MPH got 23.8 MPG..

 

[Jake]

I got the SCT BDX with 3 tunes from 5 star while it was on sale at stage 3 for black friday. I chose 87 daily/tow for daily driving, the 93 daily/tow for towing and the 93 performance for just that, performance.

The only one I have used so far is the 87 and I have a couple things to say about it. First, when I started the truck after loading the tune I noticed that the idle rpm's seem to be slightly lower than the stock profile. This produces vibration that is easily felt through the steering wheel and seats. That might just be a product of the Gibson exhaust I have but I will definitely be in contact with them to take care of it.

Second, the shifts when the tune was first loaded were absolutely terrible, slamming into gears...hard. A bit concerning at first but I decided to let it be to see if it would improve as the transmission relearned itself, thankfully it did. After about 110-120 miles the shifts were dramatically improved. I will say I do still get an intermittent hard shift usually 3rd-4th that was not present with the stock file but it is relatively rare so it doesn't bother me much.

As far as performance, it certainly is an improvement though i'm not sure how much of one as I didn't do much baseline testing before tuning. I am pretty excited to try out the 93 octane tunes, think they could be real fun.

Mileage wise I cant make a fair comparison to stock since my driving habits have changed quite drastically since being laid off right before getting the tune. Making many short trips, using remote start often, and trying to hear the turbo spool any time I can. Add to that the winter blend fuel and it makes for disappointment every time I look at the number on the dash.

Overall I think the tuner and 5 star tunes were a good buy while they were on sale, and would suggest people looking for tunes to consider 5 star.

 

[port43]

I got the SCT BDX with 3 tunes from 5 star while it was on sale at stage 3 for black friday. I chose 87 daily/tow for daily driving, the 93 daily/tow for towing and the 93 performance for just that, performance.

The only one I have used so far is the 87 and I have a couple things to say about it. First, when I started the truck after loading the tune I noticed that the idle rpm's seem to be slightly lower than the stock profile. This produces vibration that is easily felt through the steering wheel and seats. That might just be a product of the Gibson exhaust I have but I will definitely be in contact with them to take care of it.

Second, the shifts when the tune was first loaded were absolutely terrible, slamming into gears...hard. A bit concerning at first but I decided to let it be to see if it would improve as the transmission relearned itself, thankfully it did. After about 110-120 miles the shifts were dramatically improved. I will say I do still get an intermittent hard shift usually 3rd-4th that was not present with the stock file but it is relatively rare so it doesn't bother me much.

As far as performance, it certainly is an improvement though i'm not sure how much of one as I didn't do much baseline testing before tuning. I am pretty excited to try out the 93 octane tunes, think they could be real fun.

Mileage wise I cant make a fair comparison to stock since my driving habits have changed quite drastically since being laid off right before getting the tune. Making many short trips, using remote start often, and trying to hear the turbo spool any time I can. Add to that the winter blend fuel and it makes for disappointment every time I look at the number on the dash.

Overall I think the tuner and 5 star tunes were a good buy while they were on sale, and would suggest people looking for tunes to consider 5 star.

Any reason you went through Stage 3 instead of dealing directly with 5 Star?

 

[port43]

I was just checking out the 5 Star website and found something a bit interesting. Can you tell their employee preferred truck company (scroll down to "Meet Our Team")?

 

[Jake]

Any reason you went through Stage 3 instead of dealing directly with 5 Star?

No reason other than thats where I was already looking for other mods. I had purchased my running boards from them earlier in the year also.

 

[port43]

No reason other than thats where I was already looking for other mods. I had purchased my running boards from them earlier in the year also.

When I got my tuner from 5 Star it came with five tunes of my choice but it didn't have any of them already loaded. I had to create a stock tune from my truck and send that back to them. From the stock tune they created the five new tunes that I had chosen and then I downloaded them from their site and then flashed my truck.

Did your tuner come with the three tunes already loaded on it? Maybe that's why yours seemed to be a little "off", they weren't specifically for your truck? I dunno, as I said previously, I'm new to this tuning thing.

 

[Jake]

When I got my tuner from 5 Star it came with five tunes of my choice but it didn't have any of them already loaded. I had to create a stock tune from my truck and send that back to them. From the stock tune they created the five new tunes that I had chosen and then I downloaded them from their site and then flashed my truck.

Did your tuner come with the three tunes already loaded on it? Maybe that's why yours seemed to be a little "off", they weren't specifically for your truck? I dunno, as I said previously, I'm new to this tuning thing.

Same process for me. Get tuner, plug it in and pull the ecm strategy code, fill out a form on stage 3 website. 2 days later and I got an email with the tune files in a google drive folder, loaded to the tuner and was good to go.

 

[port43]

Same process for me. Get tuner, plug it in and pull the ecm strategy code, fill out a form on stage 3 website. 2 days later and I got an email with the tune files in a google drive folder, loaded to the tuner and was good to go.

Hmmm. I'm clueless.

 

[Tillikillit]

Received my nGauge yesterday, copied my stock tune this morning and I am awaiting the custom tunes from 5 Star in the next few days.

 

[OFC Ranger]

I am currently scheduled for an appointment at 5-Star on Jan 29th.

I decided on 5 Star because I wanted an excuse to have a road trip with my wife and they can download my stock tune and go ahead and load a tune for me while I am there. I also can ask them any plethora of questions I may have while on site vs back and forth in e-mail.

 

[landiscarrier]

I’m a “tune” junkie! I just got 2 tunes from 5 Star, 93 performance and 93 daily tune. I’ve only tried the performance and I’m very happy with it. I like the 1-10 shifting and the truck really takes off! So far I’m impressed.
I also have tried tunes from Unleashed, Gearheads and SSI. Unleashed is a fantastic tune! The truck is so smooth and shifts great!

 

[TORQUERULES]

I just ordered an Unleashed tune to try it. The power with 5 Star is amazing, but from all I have heard from Unleashed, they will be able to solve some of my drivability quirks, so I thought it was worth a try. Plus Torrie at Unleashed said he has perfected his files over time, so I am sure his power will be there. Right now I would be willing to give up a little ragged edge for a more refined tune. I can always switch if I needed to smack down... Lol. I have a feeling there will not be much difference in power now that Torrie has perfected things (plus I sent him all of my logs to work with, so I am sure that helps).

 

[Racket]

I just ordered an Unleashed tune to try it. The power with 5 Star is amazing, but from all I have heard from Unleashed, they will be able to solve some of my drivability quirks, so I thought it was worth a try. Plus Torrie at Unleashed said he has perfected his files over time, so I am sure his power will be there. Right now I would be willing to give up a little ragged edge for a more refined tune. I can always switch if I needed to smack down... Lol. I have a feeling there will not be much difference in power now that Torrie has perfected things (plus I sent him all of my logs to work with, so I am sure that helps).

Torrie has a lot of patience for sure (me) and has worked with me on my tune to address my driving style and fuel preferences(anything but 87 octane).

I like the power for sure, and view my driving style as spirited (not super aggressive - at my age) and I want a truck that is a truck when I haul stuff or a comfortable sedan for day to day.

Just installed the latest tune from him yesterday after having upgraded to the Mishimoto charge pipes, now I'll be re-training the transmission and monitoring my MPG's again. Unlike @Doc I got better gas mileage with the stock Ford tune than the last tune. It could be my right foot though my driving style is pretty consistent.

Raw power isn't always what every driver wants.

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