Dynotronics ECU Reflash Discount opportunity

Dynotronics/DPTUNE is offering Ecutek tuning of most Miata/MX-5's, Mazda3's and the new Subota FR-s/BRZ. Since I'm switching my tune from the older Paisani system to the new Ecutek remote cable system, I'm working with Joe to come to Dallas on a weekend and do a group deal for on-the-spot tunes.

The new system is more precise and can monitor more parameters, so makes more power and can be done remotely without having to remove/ship the ecu. For the Subotas, it also allows multiple maps to be installed and switched by the user. (93, 100, E85, flex-fuel) Joe tells me they are making 180-ish WHP on 93 octane in the BRZ with only IHE mods. I'm glad they went to STX!

If you are interested in getting your car tuned/reflashed in the next month or two and get-together with 3-5 other people on a Saturday, Joe will come to Dallas and do them all, not to mention a discount for the "group tune."

PM me or come to the GTG on Wed's to see what Joe's tunes can do. (Hint: I'm making nearly 170 WHP in my STR NC with IHE mods only on 93 octane, bone-stock motor, and DD the car.)

I'd like to get this together in the next month, before autox season, and this could be a good thing to pair with a dyno day if folks are interested in that as well.

http://dynotronicstuning.com/index.html

This sounds very tempting! Depending on cost I might be up for this :D

Now that you have sweet suspension, I'm not sure I want you reflashed and running in STR! Maybe consider CSP??? :D

Ecutek is doing some cool things in the GT-R world too, a lot of people are jumping ship from the proven Cobb platform.

Yep, Joe says he has done some GT-R's. Considering it for Godzilla?

He can really do almost any popular brand of car.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

Now that you have sweet suspension, I'm not sure I want you reflashed and running in STR! Maybe consider CSP??? :D

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Who said I wasn't reflashed already ;)

Joe used to be the Miata Technologies of tuning with Paisani. I personally know two owners who had their forced induction NCs blown up by him. Joe's code was proven to be false like the Emperor's new clothes.

Maybe Dynotronics has turned their business model around with Ecutek I know nothing about it. But I would never let Joe touch my car.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

Yep, Joe says he has done some GT-R's. Considering it for Godzilla?

He can really do almost any popular brand of car.

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Maybe but if I did I would use Visconti for ECUTek since he's the guru for this platform on the GT-R. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, I bought a Cobb and sold it.

I will say that whoever did your current flash did a good job. The car felt surprisingly strong.

I have no position on this, but this thread on m.net might be of interest of anyone considering this:

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=481935

Yeah, there are always dissatisfied customers out there, for any company. Tuning is not a "Wal-mart" consumer product. I have read dozens of threads bashing every tuner out there, but have also seen first-hand that there is often user-error or a problem-vehicle involved too. There are at least a dozen of Joe's tuned NC's that ran at Nats this year, and probably hundred on m.net with positive results and dyno evidence of substantial gains.

I highly recommend that nobody ever spend a penny without being comfortable with the product, the tuner and the process, as well as having a clear understanding of what they are paying for. Joe is one guy who has a shop that pays his bills and a tuning business also. If someone needs a retail customer experience, it would be best to contact a local speed shop like Cobb, Jotec, Vorshlag, etc. and have custom tuning done. It will cost more, but provide a more direct brick-and-mortar experience.

I've dealt with Joe for over two years and can always reach him within 24 hrs unless he's racing out-of-town, then maybe 48 hrs till a call-back.

From the miata.net thread, it appears to be those who are dissatisfied are NB owners, which there is no real good access into the ECU to tune. NC owners seem to have better luck with their better designed ECU. I was considering having Joe tune my ECU, but after he had a local MSM for over a month and not ever getting a good tune on it, I decided it wasn't worth the effort on my daily driver.

Begi is also doing NB reflashes, I've heard horror stories about their reflashes, but I've also read about great experiences with their reflash, but it's still a back and forth process shipping off your ECU. I'd be more inclined to drive down to Begi and have them work the tune out with my particular mods.

Update: got the new EcuTek-based tune in the car. Its noticably smoother and was really easy to tune remotely. The EcuTek cable and a netbook are all you need to get really detailed data (including Knock sensor readings, which most dataloggers can't read). I did three refinements via email in only a couple of days to get it just right. Each reflash takes less than 5 min.

As in the past, I'm quite pleased with the tunes I get from Joe.

My personal experience with Joe has been poor.
1. Sent me an ECU to put in while I send him mine to upgrade for a $150 deposit; it wouldn't start the car. So a found another ECU locally.
2. Took about twice as long as promised to send my upgraded ECU.
3. After 4 months and 8 phone calls, still hasn't refunded my $150 deposit or paid me for the extra ECU I sent him.

I haven't measured whether the ECU increased power.
His work maybe good, but his business management is lacking.

My car now makes over 170 whp. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :)

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

My car now makes over 170 whp. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :)

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170 WHP? I make that at 2,600 RPM ;)

True, but you also make my cars weight from the windshield forward. :D

There was just a post on TrackJunkies.org about a guy who was doing a track day with one of these and blew a hole in one of his pistons. I'll see if I can find the link.

Edit: Here's the link: http://www.trackjunkies.org/topic/24...it/#entry41028

He actually had several mods and continued to track the car after several red flags. Again, you post about topics where you have zero knowledge.

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

He actually had several mods and continued to track the car after several red flags. Again, you post about topics where you have zero knowledge.

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Shit breaks.

Continuing to drive with issues... Going to another event without resolving issues.... Full retard.

Tugg Speedman: There were times while I was playing Jack where I felt...
[pause]
Tugg Speedman: ...retarded. Like, really retarded.
Kirk Lazarus: Damn!
Tugg Speedman: In a weird way I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that is was ok to be stupid or dumb.
Kirk Lazarus: To be a moron.
Tugg Speedman: Yeah!
Kirk Lazarus: To be moronical.
Tugg Speedman: Exactly, to be a moron.
Kirk Lazarus: An imbecile.
Tugg Speedman: Yeah!
Kirk Lazarus: Like the dumbest mother fucker that ever lived.
Tugg Speedman: [pause] When I was playing the character.

[Tugg has just killed a panda]
Tugg Speedman: I killed one, Rick... the thing I love most in the world.
Rick Peck: A hooker. Oh Jesus, you killed a hooker!


Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.
Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?
Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

He actually had several mods and continued to track the car after several red flags. Again, you post about topics where you have zero knowledge.

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The point of the post was to share that someone on another forum using one of these had some issues. I leave it up to the reader of the post to decide if there were other factors at play and whether or not they want to make a similar upgrade to the car. That is all. If you read further into the post and decided that I was suggesting that the flash caused the car to run lean ... well that's your problem.

Again, the idiot craves attention. Haven't you left already?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OZMDD

True, but you also make my cars weight from the windshield forward. :D

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touche'

OZMDD, Are you picking on the newbies again? Where's miataprotege when you need him?

probably douching straponhound.

I'm reluctant to even post this here...but is Joe still a decent tuner or is there someone else you'd recommend?

For '99s he's the only one I've ever found.

For NC's there are likely others. I've heard about Cobb doing MazdaSpeed 3s, an MRZ engine like the NC.
I know of one NC owner that just drove it to New Brunsfels (sp) and had him tune it while he waited. It would probably eliminate the business issues I experienced.

Joe is a great tuner. He uses the EcuTek system now (as do most) which is the best option out there, and does a much better job than the early Sniper stuff ever did.

Both Moto-East and Dynotronics do excellent tuning and use similar tools. I've always liked Joe being just down the road in New Braunsfels, and his pricing is hands-down the cheapest.

I say the proof is in the pudding, and you are welcome to come take a ride in my car anytime. I DD the car and it runs flawlessly, plus its pretty darn fast.

I'd like to take you up on that one day soon. All of the local guys that I've talked to that have been tuned by Dynotronics can't say enough good about it. I feel bad that his image has been so badly tarnished by those on the big forum who would find a reason to complain about anything.:(

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Originally Posted by EricJ

My personal experience with Joe has been poor.
1. Sent me an ECU to put in while I send him mine to upgrade for a $150 deposit; it wouldn't start the car. So a found another ECU locally.
2. Took about twice as long as promised to send my upgraded ECU.
3. After 4 months and 8 phone calls, still hasn't refunded my $150 deposit or paid me for the extra ECU I sent him.

I haven't measured whether the ECU increased power.
His work maybe good, but his business management is lacking.

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I was never even given the chance to be disappointed other than his poor customer service. Sent him a PM and even said i had PM'd him in his own thread....no response. Then i called and left a message and never got a call back. Next i emailed him and never got a response. Finally after saying i had no response from PM or email, 7 days after original PM, i posted in his thread i was still waiting for a response and then i finally got a response although it was incomplete i decided i still might proceed forward BUT i started to notice a trend in his own thread that people was quit dissatisfied w/ his customer service. So i decided to start PM'ing people who had given him business and this trend became even more evident although most admitted their complaint was solely with his customer service and not the product so i decided just to wait till i had the money to go with a Megasquirt and get it tunned in person.

I do recognize that even though i contacted,i dunno, half a dozen or so dissatisfied customers that their are obviously satisfied ones that may have not had issues but i can only speak from my experience and those related to me. For me customer service is a HUGE part to running a business and if im unhappy w/ my experience even before i give you money i can only imagine my frustration after paying him several hundred dollars and then going through the same thing but hey thats just my ::2Cents:::chug:

Unfortunately, is the few unhappy customers(or non customers) that feel compelled to badmouth the guy repeatedly. If all the happy customers posted, it would be clear that they are the majority. Whatever, Joe tunes for the enjoyment, not the money, so I can't fault him for running DPTune as a one-man-show.

Again, I can vouch for his work, and that he is a genuinely nice guy. Maybe spreads himself thin at times.

Please spend your money wherever you see fit. I will continue spanking untuned cars' asses!

^^^And this is a huge problem with consumers. They have a good experience they tell a couple people but they have a bad experience they tell everyone that will listen. I personally always try to relate my good experiences more but people just have a tendency to focus on the negative which is unfortunate. Once again i will say that the majority of the ones i was able to contact said the product was not their complaint. :chug: