Thinking Blackbear

tanked_darren · August 11, 2010

Im seriously looking to get this tune for my truck, firstly my truck is bone stock and Im not going to add intake or anything just the tune, my questions are:

1)Has anyone had problems with tunes.

2)If I want to keep my warrenty I have to buy a PCM? or whats that about?

3)Im in Canada has anyone ordered to Canada succesfully?

4)I still want to run 87 octane and no mods, so what kind of gains will I get?

[email protected] · August 12, 2010

Im seriously looking to get this tune for my truck, firstly my truck is bone stock and Im not going to add intake or anything just the tune, my questions are:

1)Has anyone had problems with tunes.

2)If I want to keep my warrenty I have to buy a PCM? or whats that about?

3)Im in Canada has anyone ordered to Canada succesfully?

4)I still want to run 87 octane and no mods, so what kind of gains will I get?

You need to talk to jennabear, she'll be on here, eventually, to answer all your questions. I've never heard anything negative about them, myself. It's definitely the best money you can spend on your trucks performance.

Zembonez · August 12, 2010

My BB tune woke my truck up! I love it! I have tons of friends who have BB tunes and I haven't ever heard anybody complaining or wishing they had not done it. Anything that you don't like about the tune... Justin will take care of it.

I recommend them highly.

700 sportsman · August 12, 2010

A Black Bear tune, will definately bring your truck to life, I have one, as do many others on here, and I haven't heard a single complaint.

1. The only troubles I have heard of are running turbo's or superchargers, or other major mods. but they were quickly resolved by Justin.

2. Depends on your dealer, if you worried abou it, you can buy a spare set of modules from them, and swap them out if you need to take it in for service or warranty work.

3. I have heard of a few folks from canada, and there was even some talk of Justin going up for an in person tune.

4. I have a 91 octane tune, and I usually run 89, but can run 87 without issues, but it would be better to run the reccomended octane for long periods of time. But from what I hear, you get very good results with the 87 tune also

Jennabear · August 12, 2010

We have plenty of customers up in Canada, and yes we did just do a tuning meet in Buffalo for the Canadian forum members. As far as problems, I encourage you to do a search and be the judge. We have tons of customers with turbos, superchargers (we are dealers for Magnacharger), cams which adds to the difficulty of tuning, but I would not call it an issue or problem.

Stevens03 · August 12, 2010

What are you waiting for... Happy customer here

jfm1982 · August 12, 2010

We have plenty of customers up in Canada, and yes we did just do a tuning meet in Buffalo for the Canadian forum members. As far as problems, I encourage you to do a search and be the judge. We have tons of customers with turbos, superchargers (we dealers for Magnacharger), cams which adds to the difficulty of tuning, but I would not call it an issue or problem.

I drove 6 hours for this tuning meet and it was WELL Worth it. This is the best money I spent. My truck is stock and I went with the 89 octane tune. Hope this helps

tanked_darren · August 19, 2010

Ok heres my next question:

I have a Genesys Scanner at work its pretty expensive model. If I have to do crank re-learn is it pretty straight forward, will this machine work? Or do I have to go to the dealer.

I have some experience using it because I have to work on the GMC's at my work.

Doug_Scott · August 19, 2010

Ok heres my next question:

I have a Genesys Scanner at work its pretty expensive model. If I have to do crank re-learn is it pretty straight forward, will this machine work? Or do I have to go to the dealer.

I have some experience using it because I have to work on the GMC's at my work.

I had mine done at the buffalo meet. I have a 2010 Sierra 1500 2wd with the 4.8. I have added CAI and exhaust. The tune made a huge difference in daily driving. Do not know what truck you have, but if you have the 4.8 (which means you also have the 4sp) get it. Just the trans part alone is worth it. They clean up the trans shifting and make it work like it should have all along. I got the PCM/TCM combo, and the dealer actually did the case learn for free for me. Check your scan tool, it may have that function already so no need for dealer.

tanked_darren · August 19, 2010

Ok heres my next question:

I have a Genesys Scanner at work its pretty expensive model. If I have to do crank re-learn is it pretty straight forward, will this machine work? Or do I have to go to the dealer.

I have some experience using it because I have to work on the GMC's at my work.

I had mine done at the buffalo meet. I have a 2010 Sierra 1500 2wd with the 4.8. I have added CAI and exhaust. The tune made a huge difference in daily driving. Do not know what truck you have, but if you have the 4.8 (which means you also have the 4sp) get it. Just the trans part alone is worth it. They clean up the trans shifting and make it work like it should have all along. I got the PCM/TCM combo, and the dealer actually did the case learn for free for me. Check your scan tool, it may have that function already so no need for dealer.

Thanks for your input.

I have a 4.8l 2007 Sierra 2wd New-body style.

I have to wait a until next week to look at the tool.

So you are happy? I have hard time finding anything bad about blackbear tunes. (none)

Jennabear · August 19, 2010

Ok heres my next question:

I have a Genesys Scanner at work its pretty expensive model. If I have to do crank re-learn is it pretty straight forward, will this machine work? Or do I have to go to the dealer.

I have some experience using it because I have to work on the GMC's at my work.

The Genesys works with most vehicles for the crank relearn. You should be able to do the crank relearn on your vehicle depending on if it is supported or not.

tanked_darren · August 19, 2010

Ok heres my next question:

I have a Genesys Scanner at work its pretty expensive model. If I have to do crank re-learn is it pretty straight forward, will this machine work? Or do I have to go to the dealer.

I have some experience using it because I have to work on the GMC's at my work.

The Genesys works with most vehicles for the crank relearn. You should be able to do the crank relearn on your vehicle depending on if it is supported or not.

Thanks for the reply Im going to check when I get back to work next week.

Doug_Scott · August 19, 2010

Thanks for your input.
I have a 4.8l 2007 Sierra 2wd New-body style.

I have to wait a until next week to look at the tool.

So you are happy? I have hard time finding anything bad about blackbear tunes. (none)

Very happy. Not sure how you like the way the truck shifts stock, but mine sucked at part throttle downshifts. It would not downshift one gear under light throttle as it should have, it would make me give it more gas, the drop down two gears. Now it is so smooth on the light throttle, one gear downshifts. I used to rebuild Chrysler RWD trans (back when they used to make good transmissions) and knew how a good trans should work. Keep in mind I also have 4.10 gears in mine. I asked Justin to firm up the shifts, he did that and seemed to have reworked the downshifts.

The engine portion generally smoothed out the engine. Mine had this almost lean surge to it, afterwards it was very smooth. My mileage went up after the tune, if I drove it normally, normally means not trying to see how much power it added.

csm_274 · September 4, 2010

Also interested in Black Bear - not interested in handhelds (i.e. Hypertech; bully dog, etc.). However, I am interested in a device that allows me to track torque, speed, 0-60 time; horsepower, etc. Just don't want the tuning feature - I'll get that from Black Bear.

Any suggestions on devices that will simply record/track the data...not looking for a device that implements tuning changes to optimize performance. Just need something to help me track the performance changes associated with a Black Bear installation.

Thanks in advance.

Jennabear · September 4, 2010

Also interested in Black Bear - not interested in handhelds (i.e. Hypertech; bully dog, etc.). However, I am interested in a device that allows me to track torque, speed, 0-60 time; horsepower, etc. Just don't want the tuning feature - I'll get that from Black Bear.

Any suggestions on devices that will simply record/track the data...not looking for a device that implements tuning changes to optimize performance. Just need something to help me track the performance changes associated with a Black Bear installation.

Thanks in advance.

Check out the Aeroforce Interceptor, I loved mine! Great gauge.

EDIT:

It is the one on the bottom, tracks so many different values, and will also read/clear codes.