SCT X3 with Torrie Tunes - first impressions

gcwimmer said:
Torrie was instrumental in cracking the Lincoln LS code, and safe to say he has done more Lincoln LS tunes than all other Lincoln LS tuners combine. $150 for three tunes seems very reasonable to me with the short turn around time. Have heard of other members getting tunes from other tuners with little or no follow up and end up buying another tune from Torrie.

I purchased from Torrie my tunes, and can't say enough good in customer support and performance.
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I think it's great Torrie cracked the code for the LS and has tuned a chit load of LSes. That doesn't give him the right to sit back and give 3 word answers to serious questions from a customer, or blow them off completely. To me there's something to be desired there and personally I'd rather go find John Q Public from the street corner that has tuned 2 LSes because he's friendly, follows through, and doesn't stop until the customer is happy. The price, well I understand he has overhead, but he has the canned file sitting there waiting. You call/email, give him the info, he puts it in the tune and emails it to you within an hour. Worth $150? I paid it, only because he doesn't, and won't, offer a single tune. If I could find someone to do an in person tune I'd do it tomorrow.
 
If you think Torrie is bad (which he isn't), you should have tried dealing with ILLS. I got even less back from him than you did with Torrie.
 
Torrie didn't ask me for the strategy code, but ILLS did. I was waiting for an email saying " ok send me your strategy code and I'll write your tune" but he just said he already uploaded the tune to the sct before shipping it to me. My Livewire was stolen so I couldn't send him the code until the xcal arrived but there was no need for that. :confused:
 
tl;dr: Dude, you got the product promised, at the price, and he's providing fixes almost immediately. What's your problem?

I would recommend you consider Torrie also in the light of the rest of the tuner community. I've not had a huge wealth of experience here, but $150 for 3 files is pretty much a standard rate, and there are VERY FEW tuners that touch the LS.
Not telling you a whole lot is also part of the business model. Now if you contract his tuning services to specifically work with you and your vehicle - which is a LOT MORE than $150 - you'd expect significant service.

You really should realize that all these tunes do is modify some easily-accessible flags in the computer. The tuners invest a lot of money and time to generate profiles for specific vehicles and combinations, and charging that rate for the files is just part of the business plan. You are free to find someone else that can provide effective files and exceptional support, but that will be tough. You are also free to acquire the requisite experience and tools to build tunes yourself.

A more useful thread is "How do I get started in the tuner community?"
 
Alax7 said:
Torrie didn't ask me for the strategy code, but ILLS did. I was waiting for an email saying " ok send me your strategy code and I'll write your tune" but he just said he already uploaded the tune to the sct before shipping it to me. My Livewire was stolen so I couldn't send him the code until the xcal arrived but there was no need for that. :confused:
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Torrie ask for strategy code after problems came up using just the vin # and my dealer up date re-flash. It took about three or four tries to get my daily driver tune the way I wanted it, this took place over forth of July years ago. I'm sure with his large data base and experience of tunes for the Lincoln LS, it doesn't take him long to turn out a tune. Of course the best way to go is a dyno tune, not sure how much that goes for.
 
When I got my tunes from Torrie it was much the same, I was polite in asking questions but he answered what he wanted with as little as possible. I had the same deal where the RPM's wouldn't rev as fast as I wanted them to in Park or Neutral and he upped the Torq value for P / N is about all I could get out of him. Either way he fixed the tunes the way I wanted them.

Is it the customer experience I would like... No.. Did he deliver the product I wanted.. Yes.
 
When you get a tune from Torrie, is the tune locked or do you still have the ability to play with some of the factors such as octane levels, etc like you can with the stock SCT tune.
 
Mine are unlocked, able to do some minor adjustments with my SCTII, and have. You can change the tire size to correct speed odometer, timing(octane level), idle speed, transmission shift schedule, line pressure on the 1-2, 2-3, 3-4 shift, and speed limiter by removing or setting a speed.
 
Oddball, I have NO desire to "get started in the tuner industry," and I also don't really know or care what the "name of the game" is in it.

I haven't trashed the quality of his tune files, nor his responsiveness. I think I've fairly and objectively represented both of those. My issue (as a few others has been) with what I would consider to be pretty much a common courtesy. I'm not looking for the guy to divulge his uber-secret tuner secrets - I've stated several times that I don't even have a desire to modify the files at all. Could I probably start poking around to see what I CAN change? Yeah, I probably could. But that's not what I want to do - for several reasons.

Basically, I wouldn't have HAD any issue if one of the following things would have occurred:

1. He could have provided brief, canned descriptions of the tunes - no technical details, just an overview of what the tune is designed to do.

2. When I started to ask a couple questions of what he needed to change to fix my issue, he could have simply said that the nature of his business is that the the technical details or aspects really aren't provided.

Again, I think these are just more of a common courtesy. The canned descriptions only need to be created once, and they can be used over and over again - just like the tune files themselves. None of the extra effort on communication would have taken very long.

My purpose in the thread was to post ALL my experience in dealing with putting a custom tune on my LS. Several other people have asked various questions within other threads or posts, so I thought I'd put something out there.

I don't really care if someone agrees or disagrees with me. My experience is what it was for me, and it's formulated my opinion. I don't feel I ran anyone down, and provided what I felt was the good and bad of the experience - nothing more.
 
i dont think there is anything wrong with a full and complete review of the entire deal, to give us a full expectation of what to expect if we decide to purchase his services.

its not that anyone is questioning his ability to answer the questions, however if i'm gonna choose any person for my tuning needs, you better believe he better be able to fully answer any questions that i may have as this is not HIS vehicle that is running the tune.

just my $.01
 
Agreed. The next member who considers buying tunes from Torrie should ask any and all questions BEFOREHAND...and see if his communication is any more forthcoming.

The SCT X3+custom tunes are definitely on my to-do list, but probably several months away. I know I will be asking what exactly he will be adjusting on my car so I can know what to look for, both in terms of gains and potential areas in need of further adjustment.
 
I touched base with Torrie when looking for a tune, and got the same vibe. So, I went with James and could not be happier:
http://www.hensonperformance.com/
Just shoot him an email and you can get a single tune for $50...which is all that is really needed when it is done correctly. He has done plenty of T-Birds and LSs.
 
JoshMcMadMac said:
I touched base with Torrie when looking for a tune, and got the same vibe. So, I went with James and could not be happier:
http://www.hensonperformance.com/
Just shoot him an email and you can get a single tune for $50...which is all that is really needed when it is done correctly. He has done plenty of T-Birds and LSs.
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Thanks for the info because I didn't like how Torrie or ILLS run their businesses. I want a tuner that I can give him some info on what I want and they build a file around that and not like Torrie and ILLS who just send out generic tunes to customers.
 
SlickLS said:
Thanks for the info because I didn't like how Torrie or ILLS run their businesses. I want a tuner that I can give him some info on what I want and they build a file around that and not like Torrie and ILLS who just send out generic tunes to customers.
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Not my experience with Torrie, he asked for info outside stock, I supplied:cold air induction, 91 octane fuel only, remove speed limiter, high living altitude(4,300 ft.), and lots of stop & go in town driving, we then fine tuned my daily driver tune with about three up dates until I was happy.

Just my experience.
 
Torrie was always a little short with me, but I had some questions 4 years after I bought the tunes from him and he gave me support. I have a friend that owns a shop. He connected my car to his diagnostic equipment and couldnt read any of the values (timing, AF ratio etc.). He says that some people will buy a tune from a good tuner and try to reverse engineer it. He thinks that Torrie probably locked his settings somehow so that they cant be duplicated.
 
gcwimmer said:
Not my experience with Torrie, he asked for info outside stock, I supplied:cold air induction, 91 octane fuel only, remove speed limiter, high living altitude(4,300 ft.), and lots of stop & go in town driving, we then fine tuned my daily driver tune with about three up dates until I was happy.

Just my experience.
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Well one good experience compared to several bad experiences, I think I will avoid this one. Torrie was real short with me when I inquired about a tune. Only info he asked was year, motor, and if I had aftermarket wheels on my car.
 
It seems like a lot of the tuners are tight lipped about what they do. In some ways I can understand, but if you have a question about what you just purchased and it was on YOUR car (like one of the members said) I think it would be reasonable to explain at least a little bit about what you do, you don't have to give them the whole enchilada. I'm sure the tuner tech could B.S. the owner into feeling good about it LoL!

A friend of mine had his Bullitt Mustang trailered to Anderson Ford Motorsports for tuning and he was nice but tight on info too he said.
http://www.andersonfordmotorsport.c...ategory_id=268&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1
 
For those of you who had a Torri tune, did you ask for or receive any major benefit on the low end of RFP?
 
I'll chime in and say just from what I've read, there isn't going to be a world of difference at your rear wheels no matter what tune you get. I think any boost is worth it, but I could care less about the rev limiter. If you can plug in it, throw the tune and feel it at your foot that's great. and this is just what the canned tunes will do just as well from others experience. So why patronize someone with a head bigger then an LS rear end for the same results?
 
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