are the claimed h.p.increse numbers for cai's w/ tuners legit or are they all just full of oh and it would be on a 05 gt with an auto
for a canned tune, 20-30rwhp is common. for a custom dyno tune, a few more are available. HOWEVER, this is at a much lower elevation than Denver, so throw that into consideration. i am at 7220 ft and you can still tell the difference over stock. add some gears and the elevation performance difference is forgotten. i went with 4.30s
You'll be happy! I was skeptical about the HP claims, too; then I got mine! Just make sure whatever CAI you buy is one that requires a tune. The CAI's that go on with no tune required won't give you half the results as one that does.
Expect a 25-30 rwhp gain from a "custom" mail order tune from a reputable tuner like VMPTunnig.com, Brenspeed, Bama, etc plus an intake like C&L or JLT. I'd highly recommend a Xcal3 tuned by VMPTuning.com and a C&L Racer with a 88mm maf tube. I couldn't be happier with my set-up.
Mine feels like it easily picked up 20-30 horsepower. And With the same driving style and similiar conditions my 1/4 mile time improved by .8 with 6 MPH higher trap speed.
Although I don't have a CAI yet, I've always wondered about this term "custom tune" being thrown around. If you call/email someone and tell them what you have on your car and they make a "custom" tune for you, isn't that really just another "version" of a canned tune? I think the only way you get a "truly custom" tune is to strap your car to a dyno and have the tuner program something specific to your car.
A mail order tune is in fact a custom tune. It's custom as it's not a canned tunes. It's designed for your car, your modifications, where you live, etc. A dyno tune is a dyno tune. Both are custom. I'd like to add that just because it goes on the dyno doesn't mean it's any better. I've seen cars with "dyno tunes" from some horrible tuner who wanted to act like he knew what he was doing. It ended up putting down less power and was more unsafe than someone who was a reputable tuner and wrote a "custom mail order tune" for the car.
