Blackbear AutoCal tune review

langston1726 · April 30, 2020

I thought I would give a review on my recent experience with Blackbear using their Autocal service. First off, my truck is 2015 Z71 Crewcab with the 5.3, 3.42 gear, leveled on some BFG KO2s 315/70/17s.

About a year ago I installed some Texas Speed longtubes headers with catted Y and had a shop in Tulsa “dynotune” the truck to get everything right for headers. I won’t mention the tuners name because this not about bashing him. The tuner did basically what I asked of him such as adjust the fuel trims and spark for the headers, correct my speedo for my tire size and change up few things with the transmission. Overall the tune seemed to work just fine. There were little things right out the gate I didn’t care for. Mainly to do with the transmission behavior. At times the shifts were firm, almost harsh and other times lazy and unpredictable. It also had some torque converter flair mainly in 3rd gear and a hesitation on hard down shifts to pass. I had asked the tuner earlier this year if he would have the time to dial these things in for me. He gave me the impression that he really didn’t have the time to mess with it. I decided screw it, I’ll have Blackbear tune it. I’ve known about Blackbear for a long time. I would say 99% all good. I’ve heard some guys ****** about their communication but most of that I can only assume is because of their workload at that time.

I purchased the Autocal and it was shipped to me within 3 days. The overall process is fairly straight forward. Just take your time and read the Autocal directions very carefully. They have done an excellent job walking you thru the entire process. Everything you need to know is there. Just read.

I emailed BB a list of my mods, my concerns with the current tune, desired outcomes for the new tune along with my driving data log and current ECM/TCM tunes. I got a response within a couple hours that I had been added to the to do list. 1 week later Justin emailed my new tunes. I received a 91+tune, an 87-89 tune, a modded TCM tune along with the stock ECM/TCM tunes.

Now to the tune itself. I loaded the 91+ octane and modded TCM tune in the truck. Of course living in Oklahoma, I literally got a tornado warning just as the tunes finished installing. Needless to say I didn’t get to drive the truck that night. So the next morning I hopped in it and drove about 10-15 minutes. Right away, the truck felt very different. It’s like Justin knew exactly how I wanted to drive the truck. It feels much lighter and nimble coming off the line. Shifts are quick, firm, predictable and the RPMs stay up in the power. No more hesitation on hard accel. Throttle response is immediate and it pulls much harder up top then it did before. It actually surprised me the first time I hammered it doing about 35-40. I have always wanted to do a 6.2 swap in this truck but honestly now it feels plenty quick with this new tune even on nearly a 35” tire. I’ve emailed BB a couple of very minor things I’d like to have changed but the more I drive the truck, the more I just want to leave it exactly as it is. I realize he’s tuned a ton of trucks over the years but still I’m very impressed on how with just a little information, Justin can get it dialed in the very first time.

I am very happy I finally went with Blackbear. I should of done this a long time ago. The up front cost may seem like a lot but honestly, it’s worth it. He’s right there with most tuners on price and he’ll update the tune for free for any future mods. Some exceptions apply I’m sure. Another happy customer here. Hopefully the truck is happy. I’ve sent them a follow up data log to confirm. Thanks for reading.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Colossus · May 1, 2020

Pleased to see that BB continues to satisfy!

truckguy82 · May 1, 2020

Yup, transforms it. My truck 0-60 went from 5.8 to 5.0, bone stock, just a blackbear tune.

Ron.s · May 2, 2020

I bought BB EFI tune for my 2016 with 6.2 Engine. Very good results but sold my truck so selling my $599 cost for $250. Has ECU-TCU tune, additional vehicle tunes can be purchased for $225 from BB.

BlackBearPerf · May 4, 2020

On 4/30/2020 at 3:44 PM, langston1726 said:

I thought I would give a review on my recent experience with Blackbear using their Autocal service. First off, my truck is 2015 Z71 Crewcab with the 5.3, 3.42 gear, leveled on some BFG KO2s 315/70/17s.

About a year ago I installed some Texas Speed longtubes headers with catted Y and had a shop in Tulsa “dynotune” the truck to get everything right for headers. I won’t mention the tuners name because this not about bashing him. The tuner did basically what I asked of him such as adjust the fuel trims and spark for the headers, correct my speedo for my tire size and change up few things with the transmission. Overall the tune seemed to work just fine. There were little things right out the gate I didn’t care for. Mainly to do with the transmission behavior. At times the shifts were firm, almost harsh and other times lazy and unpredictable. It also had some torque converter flair mainly in 3rd gear and a hesitation on hard down shifts to pass. I had asked the tuner earlier this year if he would have the time to dial these things in for me. He gave me the impression that he really didn’t have the time to mess with it. I decided screw it, I’ll have Blackbear tune it. I’ve known about Blackbear for a long time. I would say 99% all good. I’ve heard some guys ****** about their communication but most of that I can only assume is because of their workload at that time.

I purchased the Autocal and it was shipped to me within 3 days. The overall process is fairly straight forward. Just take your time and read the Autocal directions very carefully. They have done an excellent job walking you thru the entire process. Everything you need to know is there. Just read.

I emailed BB a list of my mods, my concerns with the current tune, desired outcomes for the new tune along with my driving data log and current ECM/TCM tunes. I got a response within a couple hours that I had been added to the to do list. 1 week later Justin emailed my new tunes. I received a 91+tune, an 87-89 tune, a modded TCM tune along with the stock ECM/TCM tunes.

Now to the tune itself. I loaded the 91+ octane and modded TCM tune in the truck. Of course living in Oklahoma, I literally got a tornado warning just as the tunes finished installing. Needless to say I didn’t get to drive the truck that night. So the next morning I hopped in it and drove about 10-15 minutes. Right away, the truck felt very different. It’s like Justin knew exactly how I wanted to drive the truck. It feels much lighter and nimble coming off the line. Shifts are quick, firm, predictable and the RPMs stay up in the power. No more hesitation on hard accel. Throttle response is immediate and it pulls much harder up top then it did before. It actually surprised me the first time I hammered it doing about 35-40. I have always wanted to do a 6.2 swap in this truck but honestly now it feels plenty quick with this new tune even on nearly a 35” tire. I’ve emailed BB a couple of very minor things I’d like to have changed but the more I drive the truck, the more I just want to leave it exactly as it is. I realize he’s tuned a ton of trucks over the years but still I’m very impressed on how with just a little information, Justin can get it dialed in the very first time.

I am very happy I finally went with Blackbear. I should of done this a long time ago. The up front cost may seem like a lot but honestly, it’s worth it. He’s right there with most tuners on price and he’ll update the tune for free for any future mods. Some exceptions apply I’m sure. Another happy customer here. Hopefully the truck is happy. I’ve sent them a follow up data log to confirm. Thanks for reading.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you very much for that detailed review of your tune and our service , we really appreciate that! We are happy you are enjoying the tune!

BlackBearPerf · May 4, 2020

On 5/1/2020 at 7:19 PM, Ron.s said:

I bought BB EFI tune for my 2016 with 6.2 Engine. Very good results but sold my truck so selling my $599 cost for $250. Has ECU-TCU tune, additional vehicle tunes can be purchased for $225 from BB.

If we may chime in here, the tunes are not transferable, we do update the tunes for free as long as you own the vehicle. A tune and license would need to be purchased to tune an additional vehicle, which would cost $400.

flyingfool · May 5, 2020

is it possible to edit your tune aftwards with my HPtuners device, or is it different file type

txab · May 5, 2020

11 hours ago, flyingfool said:

is it possible to edit your tune aftwards with my HPtuners device, or is it different file type

No. Totally different animal.

Edited May 5, 2020 by txab

6.0 work truck · October 28

Just bought a traditional tune for my stock 6.0. Truck just needs a little pep. Not looking for anything crazy. I'll update once I receive it. Very excited.

Edited October 28 by 6.0 work truck

txab · October 28

You'll like working with BB tunes. Tweak it as you go along

superdave160 · Saturday at 03:34 PM

On 5/4/2020 at 9:34 PM, flyingfool said:

is it possible to edit your tune aftwards with my HPtuners device, or is it different file type

When I had my Black Bear tune done several years ago, they provided me with EFI Live software to manage the tune files. I have found that you can open an change the settings of the tuning files. The EFI Live software isn't HP Tuners, but it does the exact same thing as HP Tuners.

I have a 2017 Silverado with the 5.3 engine. I purchased a Black Bear tune for the engine and transmission shortly after I bought the truck and was very happy. Years later, I had a DOD delete performed, more aggressive CAM installed, and a 6.2L intake and throttle body installed. I reached out to Black Bear and they updated the tune. The truck still didn't run right and one of my major concerns was that the engine would die when I took my foot off the gas pedal while maneuvering around parking lots or other low speed situations. I sent Black Bear another recording and a description of the issue and they updated the tune again. This change also did not fix my issue. I ended up taking the truck to a local turner to have a dyno tune performed and he was able to resolve the issue. The tuner told me that the WOT portion of the tune was "spot on," but the part throttle areas of the tune needed to be adjusted. My truck now runs as it should, engine wise. The local tuner modified my transmission tune so that up-shifts didn't occur until the engine RPM was around 3K. That was obviously killing my gas mileage. I also found that the transmission downshifted to 2nd and 1st gear at the same speed. I discovered that I could open the part throttle shift tables and modify them to get the transmission to upshift and downshift at the speeds that I wanted. You must be very careful if you are going to do this yourself because the transmission will do exactly what is in the tables. You also have to match the TCC tables with the shift tables so that they work together as they should.

This post is not intended to throw shade at Black Bear. If my current truck was totaled out and I had to purchase another one, my very first mod would be a Black Bear tune in my new truck. I just wanted to point out that, if you already have a Black Bear tune, then you have the tools to make some modifications yourself. Also, the further you get away from the delivered configuration, the more likely that you will have to have your truck tuned in person on a dyno to really make it right. I still believe that Black Bear provides a valuable service for unmodified or lightly modified trucks.