How many have tuned their STs?

[Rick]

I am just curious as to how many folks have already tuned their 2020+ STs. I am in the not yet but will be doing so category.

 

[RDynamic]

I've seen some tuned ST's go 0-60 in just 3.9 seconds with minor upgrades with the tune! That's X5M territory. I think you could go in the 4.2-4.5 range with just a tune. I'd recommend it.

 

[Sgt1411]

IMHO the new SPORT mode is enough of a tune for me but I'm not racing mine on weekends so different duty cycle.

 

[themishmosh]

The extra power is one thing, but a tune also nets you extra features (depending on tuner): firmer shifts, display gear always, disable auto start/stop.

 

[jhu8]

IMHO the new SPORT mode is enough of a tune for me but I'm not racing mine on weekends so different duty cycle.

Just clarifying as someone who doesn’t own an ST yet, when you say “new sport mode”, are you just talking about the the regular sport that comes with the ST? Like there wasn’t any new updates from Ford or anything was there?

 

[Sgt1411]

Just clarifying as someone who doesn’t own an ST yet, when you say “new sport mode”, are you just talking about the the regular sport that comes with the ST? Like there wasn’t any new updates from Ford or anything was there?

Yes correct the "Sport Mode" that changes the vehicle dynamics when you turn the round selector on the center console. I have access to the engineers who worked on this vehicle so I will do my best to find out exactly what happens when the "Sport" mode is engaged

 

[themishmosh]

Sport mode is on all Explorers: increased throttle response, faster shifts, and holds gears longer. For sporty feel moreso than being actually faster.

 

[Rick]

Sport mode is on all Explorers: increased throttle response, faster shifts, and holds gears longer. For sporty feel moreso than being actually faster.

And don't forget the vroom, vroom sounds piped into the cabin through the sound system to make it seem like the car has a high flow exhaust on it

 

[Forddealz]

And don't forget the vroom, vroom sounds piped into the cabin through the sound system to make it seem like the car has a high flow exhaust on it

I am happy with Borla exhaust in normal mode. Makes real nice sound and it seems like you actually are pressing on the gas pedal.

 

[I bleed Ford Blue]

Add me to the list of those who have a tuned ST. I didn't even wait until I got some miles on it, I only have 850 miles so far and I've had it about a month. I bought them from 5 star tuning and I got 5 tunes for $230. I got a 87 street/tow, 87 performance, 91 street/tow, 91 performance, and an E50 performance.

Since my SCT X4 device is about 7-8 years old, I had to update the firmware so it will work on my 21 ST and part of the update is they have a canned tune for the ST that you can use until you get your custom tunes.

BTW, I would give 5 star 5 stars for their customer service. I ordered the tunes yesterday and about 24 hrs later I received the email from them and downloaded my new tunes. I installed the 87 perf tune already.

 

[Sgt1411]

Add me to the list of those who have a tuned ST. I didn't even wait until I got some miles on it, I only have 850 miles so far and I've had it about a month. I bought them from 5 star tuning and I got 5 tunes for $230. I got a 87 street/tow, 87 performance, 91 street/tow, 91 performance, and an E50 performance.

Since my SCT X4 device is about 7-8 years old, I had to update the firmware so it will work on my 21 ST and part of the update is they have a canned tune for the ST that you can use until you get your custom tunes.

BTW, I would give 5 star 5 stars for their customer service. I ordered the tunes yesterday and about 24 hrs later I received the email from them and downloaded my new tunes. I installed the 87 perf tune already.

Thats nice you can move your tuning device from vehicle to vehicle with a simple firmware update. Unlike the crooks at Livernois who make you lock the device to a VIN so its a paper weight when you sell the vehicle. Never again!

 

[I bleed Ford Blue]

It's a little more than that, you have to unmarry the device when you sell the vehicle so you can reuse it. SCT allows you to marry the device 5 times before it becomes locked. For a fee they will reset the device and give you 5 more marriages.

I updated the firmware because the last vehicle I used it on was a 13 f150, and SCT devices are notorious for not being able to read a PCM strategy code on a new vehicle with an outdated firmware.

Unlike the crooks at Livernois who make you lock the device to a VIN so its a paper weight when you sell the vehicle. Never again!

That's is why I never went with Livernois. They make good tunes but use an off the wall device that gets locked to a vehicle so you have to buy a new device for every vehicle.

 

[Sgt1411]

It's a little more than that, you have to unmarry the device when you sell the vehicle so you can reuse it. SCT allows you to marry the device 5 times before it becomes locked. For a fee they will reset the device and give you 5 more marriages.

I updated the firmware because the last vehicle I used it on was a 13 f150, and SCT devices are notorious for not being able to read a PCM strategy code on a new vehicle with an outdated firmware.

Unlike the crooks at Livernois who make you lock the device to a VIN so its a paper weight when you sell the vehicle. Never again!

That's is why I never went with Livernois. They make good tunes but use an off the wall device that gets locked to a vehicle so you have to buy a new device for every vehicle.

I have an X4 laying around so I think I might breathe new life into it

 

[I bleed Ford Blue]

The latest firmware for the X4 is 1.1.1.8 that one allows you to read the pcm on a 20 explorer and there is a canned tune for the ST/platinum engine that you can use until you get your custom tunes.
Have you ever used the DeRIVE software from SCT to update your device? download the latest version direct from sct, it's free and install it. If you have any issues or don't understand or can't figure a part of it out, just ask. I'll walk you thru it the best I can.

 

[themishmosh]

Unlike the crooks at Livernois who make you lock the device to a VIN so its a paper weight when you sell the vehicle. Never again!

That's is why I never went with Livernois. They make good tunes but use an off the wall device that gets locked to a vehicle so you have to buy a new device for every vehicle.

I never understood why Livernois doesn't publish their policies on switching vehicles or selling their device.

Plenty of people on this forum have reported that they had a Livernois tune for a vehicle they just sold and were able to send the device in for use on their new ST for a nominal fee. If you do a google search, a Livernois rep has stated in the past that you can return your car to stock (ie. unpair the device from your vehicle), sell the device, and the new owner would have to pay $300 and be able to use the device and download tunes for their vehicle. In either case, I would hardly call your initial purchase a paperweight. Is that any different than selling your HP Tuners device, with the new owner needing to buy credits (licensing for their VIN) for their vehicle and then money for tunes?

 

[Sgt1411]

My issue is the manner in which the device is marketed, I don't know what the Livernois website or staff say now when you buy their programming hardware but in 2017 when I bought mine there was little or no information about the device being locked to a vehicle. I learned that here on this forum. The $600 original purchase price plus an unlock fee of $300 isn't on the cheap side of tuning vendor pricing. Or suggesting I need a whole new unit because the HDD or RAM on the existing tuner won't accept the 2020 tunes is questionable. But my 2007 SCT X4 will take all the 2021 tunes?

My fault for not researching it better and knowing that but unethical IMHO.

Once you want to transfer the device Livernois wants another $300, that's approximately 50% of the original price of the hardware, again IMHO very unethical.

Had they stated up front there would be a 50% transfer fee if I sold my vehicle and transferred the device to a new similar model then I would be less inclined to suggest misleading behaviour.

The majority of other tuning vendors charge you a new tune and upgrade nominal fee for around half that and you can continue to move the device from vehicle to vehicle.

Again just my opinion and I wanted to make anyone new to their products knows what their in for moving forward.

 

[themishmosh]

I don't think $300 is cheap. But that is for a totally different owner and new VIN for a new set of tunes. From what I gather from reading other posts, if I sold my ST and bought a Ranger, all I'd have to do is send my MyCal Touch in and I'd be able to use it with the Ranger and get a set of tunes for next to nothing. LINK: Price of Livernois tuner transfer

You look at HP TUNERS RTD or MPVI2, you are looking at $200 in credits and $200+ for new tunes if you sold your device to someone else or used it for another vehicle. Any way you look at it, you're going to take a major loss. I'm guessing maybe SCT and others are a lot more cost friendly if you sell it.