Originally Posted by 1Bear

While a good tune will most definitely help your truck all by itself, when you modify your vehicle by adding components such as the ones you’ve already mentioned, a tune will bring things back in align so to speak. When you add components that allow for freer breathing and so on, speaking on basic terms, you change the air/fuel ratio and while the computer can make slight alterations on its own to compensate by components such as the Mass Air Flow Sensor, a tune is required to fully make things right and get the most from your purchases. Of course there are plenty of other items, such as timing, shift timing, trans pressures, torque management, abuse modes and so on that can all be adjusted to make your vehicle more responsive and fun to drive. While you might not think so, even when changing items like torque converters, especially when going with a loose stall, it’s necessary to adjust the tune for them as well. I’m not saying that you will have to for a converter such as a Trailblazer unit, but I’m sure you get the idea. Not saying that your incapable or an idiot or anything of the sort, but if you’re asking this type of question it’s obvious that your inexperienced with modifying your PCM, so I really recommend contacting one of our sponsors to have them go over some options with you and leave the tuning to them, especially if you feel that you’re only going to do basic modifications and then leave it alone, as you will probably not get enough use out of it to pay for itself. However, if you’re like allot of us on this site and are never through playing with things and feel confident in trying new things while not getting easily discouraged, purchasing a tuning suite can be rewarding and give you the ability to alter things as they become necessary. You can speed up your learning curve by purchasing tuning tutorials from someone like Greg Banish or if you have some friends that have knowledge in tuning, you may gain enough help to give you a big jump-start and help you through whatever hic-up’s you may encounter. Definitely join whatever tuning suite you may purchase’s forum, as all they all have one and I can just about guarantee every question that you might ask has already been asked and answered by other members. The main thing is to realize that it’s not for everyone though and takes awhile to gain the years of knowledge that our sponsors are known for.

Originally Posted by 02whitelightning

(sorry if this is a repost, i tried searching but didnt find what i was looking for) so does a tune really help? ive heard that mail order tunes or hand held tunes arent as good as custom tunes, problem is i dont know where i could get a custom tune near me, but it seems like a tuner such as a diablo or an edge would still be beneficial. are they? i like the fact that i can adjust it for when im pulling or just cruisin around. what are the best options when it comes to a tune?