My little reveiw on KEM and PIP tunes

JRLott · May 22, 2015

How smokey is ID? I'll take a bit of lag rather than smoke. No need to advertise the delete.

UNBROKEN · May 22, 2015

It's only smoky from a dead stop/WOT run. Other than that I easily drive smoke free without even thinking about it.

drunk on diesel · May 22, 2015

It's just a shame that there are so many good tuners out there whose hands were/are tied on the 15's.

I was a slow-blinking mother ****er when 15 tuning hit the streets and it was KEM... Does nobody remember KEM's 6.4 tuning or do we just hitch our wagon to any old horse that'll pull the SOB?

Then PIP? Oh, he's been tuning forever! You've never heard of him, but man, this tuning sure is the greatest thing on earth! (because they're the better of two?)

I mean, that's cool and all, but man, we sure did have some great tuning available for the 11-14's and then BAM, only the SCT secret handshake kids get to tune 15's.

Innovative is cool and all if you like their flavor. Too smokey for me... (as are most tuners) If I had a 15, I would DEFINITELY be inclined to try their tuning first as they HAVE been doing it and HAVE a good name.

I was shopping pretty heavily for a 15... buying new is cheaper/easier than buying used around here

But I kept holding out because of lack of tuning...

Oh well, looks like it's only pre-15 6.7's for me!

UNBROKEN · May 22, 2015

You're welcome to take mine for a spin any time if you wanna see how ID tuning is in person. I trust ya. lol

drunk on diesel · May 22, 2015

I definitely appreciate the offer. Might take you up on it next time I see you. I don't want to horse-whip it, just gauge off-idle and tip-in soot

sootie · May 22, 2015

drunk on diesel said:
It's just a shame that there are so many good tuners out there whose hands were/are tied on the 15's.

I was a slow-blinking mother ****er when 15 tuning hit the streets and it was KEM... Does nobody remember KEM's 6.4 tuning or do we just hitch our wagon to any old horse that'll pull the SOB?

Then PIP? Oh, he's been tuning forever! You've never heard of him, but man, this tuning sure is the greatest thing on earth! (because they're the better of two?)

I mean, that's cool and all, but man, we sure did have some great tuning available for the 11-14's and then BAM, only the SCT secret handshake kids get to tune 15's.

Innovative is cool and all if you like their flavor. Too smokey for me... (as are most tuners) If I had a 15, I would DEFINITELY be inclined to try their tuning first as they HAVE been doing it and HAVE a good name.

I was shopping pretty heavily for a 15... buying new is cheaper/easier than buying used around here But I kept holding out because of lack of tuning...

Oh well, looks like it's only pre-15 6.7's for me!

^^^werd. in the same boat. i'm likely gonna buy new as i get the trucks at dealer cost anyway...

JRLott · May 22, 2015

UNBROKEN said:
It's only smoky from a dead stop/WOT run. Other than that I easily drive smoke free without even thinking about it.

Thanks. Sounds like none of them are too smokey if you're smart on the stupid pedal.

drunk on diesel · May 22, 2015

some people don't like any smoke at all

bigrpowr · May 23, 2015

DSL_PWR said:
Yes I know. I was hoping someone else might have insight. I'll get IDP tuning on order. Thanks again for your help.

It's been rumored but never proven. Not a good way to promote your business acumen. It does not help when you chastise people for their quest for knowledge.

I am a researcher. I want to know everything there is before I drop coin on a product. It's makes for a better outcome.

Now with that said if any OTHER dealers of IDP tuning want to PM me a price for an SCT or other tuner with IDP tunes loaded I would be happy to entertain buying from you. See what I did there?

sorry man , im not trying to promote my business, and sometimes i can be crass , in a bad way, and my apologies for that. richard told you what you wanted to know , after you asked him privately, you continued to ask, as if his answer wasnt good enough. theres plenty of good vendors here to purchase from, i'm sure you'll find a good one !! best of luck to you.

bigrpowr · May 23, 2015

JRLott said:
Thanks. Sounds like none of them are too smokey if you're smart on the stupid pedal.

yeah , its a learn to drive scenario, doesn't take long to learn.

UNBROKEN · May 23, 2015

bigrpowr said:
sorry man , im not trying to promote my business, and sometimes i can be crass , in a bad way, and my apologies for that. richard told you what you wanted to know , after you asked him privately, you continued to ask, as if his answer wasnt good enough. theres plenty of good vendors here to purchase from, i'm sure you'll find a good one !! best of luck to you.

I've known you personally for over a decade...I get the humor. It's the people that only know you on the internet that don't get it. Everyone thinks I'm an asshole too. lol

lincolnlocker · May 23, 2015

JRLott said:
How smokey is ID? I'll take a bit of lag rather than smoke. No need to advertise the delete.

agreed... my tow tune is the only tune that doesnt throw a puff of smoke out when i take off from a stop light and now is what i run while in the buffalo area.

UNBROKEN said:
It's only smoky from a dead stop/WOT run. Other than that I easily drive smoke free without even thinking about it.

this is very true. although with a stock bpf back exhaust, it will for some reason swirl the exhaust upwards and accidentally fill a mini van full of smoke with just taking off from the stop light.. OOOPS! hence the reason i now leave it in the tow tune till i get a dpf back exhaust and turndown tip..

UNBROKEN said:
I've known you personally for over a decade...I get the humor. It's the people that only know you on the internet that don't get it. Everyone thinks I'm an asshole too. lol

but you both are assholes!

lol.. i have never met you or bigr.. both can be crude at times and most dont get you and get but hurt when you guys tell it like it is, but hang around long enough and you understand everyone one here for the most part.. thats the first time i have ever seen bigr apologize in the above posts... lol..

live life full throttle

borsky · May 23, 2015

KEM sucks ass they don't give a **** that there trans tuning sucks. and won't even attempt to try and fix it. they have your money so they not care. Cant be bothered to respond with "oh we are working on a fix". let alone a revision. i understand there can be issues with tuning. but their complete lack of effort is pathetic

ramonpowerstroker · May 23, 2015

I got kem tuning, pretty much my trannys toast, driving about 1/2-3/4 pedal down i pretty much have slip in all gears. I think if kem came out with better tranny tuning it would be a good tune. As for lag, coming from a 6.4 single it's not that bad. And the only way I can make it smoke enough is taking off in third gear.

bigrpowr · May 23, 2015

ramonpowerstroker said:
I got kem tuning, pretty much my trannys toast, driving about 1/2-3/4 pedal down i pretty much have slip in all gears. I think if kem came out with better tranny tuning it would be a good tune. As for lag, coming from a 6.4 single it's not that bad. And the only way I can make it smoke enough is taking off in third gear.

Just sold a trans to a guy who had kem , smoked his quick like. For any of you with harsh shifting , get updated tunes or tunes from another tuner fast , or you will be buying a trans too.

borsky · May 23, 2015

It amazes me there tuning was even released with how horrible there trans files are. I only put a couple thousand miles on with there tunes. Mostly highway so hopefully mines ok, just pisses me off that someone will sell u a product that they know is causing a $6000 trans to eat itself and doesn't care. And the customer is stuck paying $400 again to get new files that work or buy a new transmission and still have to buy new tunes!

bigrpowr · May 23, 2015

borsky said:
It amazes me there tuning was even released with how horrible there trans files are. I only put a couple thousand miles on with there tunes. Mostly highway so hopefully mines ok, just pisses me off that someone will sell u a product that they know is causing a $6000 trans to eat itself and doesn't care. And the customer is stuck paying $400 again to get new files that work or buy a new transmission and still have to buy new tunes!

Well I doubt anyone knowingly knew they were gonna shift like that. Not every truck or stratregy reacts the same. But I do agree , this shouldn't cost you more money. Bummer man , I'll do what I can to help you get some good tunes.

borsky · May 23, 2015

bigrpowr said:
Well I doubt anyone knowingly knew they were gonna shift like that. Not every truck or stratregy reacts the same. But I do agree , this shouldn't cost you more money.

If this were true you'd think somebody would chime in and say "hey my KEM tunes are good" or mine shifts good. Like with PIP, most guys are happy. and theres a few with issues. And PIP has released updates to try to correct issues. what has KEM done? SFA. Only continue to peddle there ****.

Worst part is the vendor that i got my tunes through insisted that i go with KEM, after I asked for PIP because I heard KEM was having issues.

I was told that "we do not use pip. It is junk" and "the KEM tuning is the best on the market for the 15s hands down"

Those are quotes

drunk on diesel · May 23, 2015

A lot of vendors push what they can get/what they can make the most money on.

But, again, caveat emptor...

I literally didn't trade my KR in on a 15 because the only tuning at the time was KEM. And that was before the transmission complaints ever saw the light of day.

The only parts I've ever sold in my life were parts that I was comfortable running on my own trucks.

Sucks you get to pay $6k for your lesson in how the diesel performance world can operate a lot of the time.

Just be glad it was only $6k. This merry go round has broken more than a few guys over the years

jcain · May 23, 2015

So, when it (trans killin ) was made light of back early on with KEM tuning, why did no one heed the warnings? Plenty of us WITHOUT 15s saw this exact issue transpiring with plenty of members here and made mention of it quite a few times. Hell, even a vendor USING these tunes munched a transmission.