Two years of the tuning reliability thread

[gtman]

Since we're closing in on two years for the tuning experience/reliability thread/project, I thought it was a good time to talk about the first two years and what I hope happens down the road.

First off, thank you to all those who saw the value to the community and added their cars. Without that happening, the thread wouldn't mean much. Even more so, thank you to those who've add regular updates documenting their tuning experience, tuned miles driven, tune updates and mod changes. That's the real key to making it a successful reliability study.

As most of you know, I started the "survey" back in October 2019 basically out of frustration. At the time, we had a pretty aggressive group of people saying that tuning was dangerous and stupid. To the point they'd tell everyone who tuned (even those on mild tunes) that their engine would blow. That angered me and I wanted to help show that tuning (done right) could be safe and reliable.

And so it began. There was a basic format with 10 things people would fill out. Their vehicle, tuned miles driven, tuned time, tune used, device used, their drivetrain mods, fuel used, driving style, any issues and any tuning experience notes. It took me well under 10 minutes to fill in my info and I felt like it would be something that tuned owners could easily and happily do to help the community.

And early on, it sure seemed like it. Every day we got a ton of tuned owners adding their cars. The thread built up quickly. It was amazing to see.

At a point, when there seemed to be a big slowdown in new cars added, I changed the name from "survey" to "thread". I had gotten some feedback that a lot of people just don't like doing surveys for any reason.

Over time, it's become a struggle to get tuned owners adding their cars even though more and more people are tuning. I make a point to ONLY message people who have actively posted about their tune in the forum. Yet 90% of those I contact don't add their cars. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do to change that but I still find it kind of depressing.

Moving forward, I do hope some of those people who have hesitated before will consider adding their cars. Each car added makes a difference and helps build up our knowledge about the long term affects of tuning 10th gens. I particularly hope we can get more Type R and 2.0NA owners onboard.

As I mentioned earlier, the real key to success is getting people adding their updates. That's where we can really start showing if I'm right and tuning is reliable or the naysayers are right and tuning is a mistake. For example, if Billy Tuner adds his car with 1,000 tuned miles on it but never adds an update post we'll never really know how his tuning experience has gone. And it will totally skew the accuracy of the thread stats. We'll never know if Billy's car held up well or is in a junkyard with a blown motor.

Anyway, thank you for reading all of this. Let's keep the thread going and growing. I think it's important and I'm hoping some of you do too.

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[svffr]

You definitely took on a task that few would consider doing. As someone whos M-F is collecting data, charting it and presenting it, I really don't have patience for extra curricular activities related to this outside of work lol so hat off to you. Two years down the road and you (and the community) have proven that the naysayers were wrong and there is viability in tuning 10th gens which is amazing! Congrats on two years and looking forward to many more!

 

[gtman]

You definitely took on a task that few would consider doing... so hat off to you.

I had just gotten so f'ing tired of certain people putting down tuning and trying to scare everyone who was even considering tuning. I kind of felt like it was my Civic duty to start the thread (pun intended).

 

[rwk226]

Much thanks for all the work you've done on this forum. I wish more people saw the value of it. YOU are the reason I am tuned today, and why I picked what I did. I know others feel the same way.

 

[gtman]

I know I've made some $$ for the tuning companies. Where's my commission?

Seriously though, when something really impresses me and I believe in it, I go all out. To this day, I'm still amazed how tuning transformed my car.

I know a lot of people say how happy they are with their car's performance (stock). But, I defy any of those same people to get behind the wheel of a tuned version of their car and honestly say they're still impressed with their factory tune.

 

[86salmon]

I had just gotten so f'ing tired of certain people putting down tuning and trying to scare everyone who was even considering tuning. I kind of felt like it was my Civic duty to start the thread (pun intended).

Those folks would just be eager to jump into anyone's bad luck thread (abuse makes failure more likely, but piling on isn't productive).

Great tool for the community
Good riddance to the jackals

 

[Doc_Mello]

You definitely took on a task that few would consider doing. As someone whos M-F is collecting data, charting it and presenting it, I really don't have patience for extra curricular activities related to this outside of work lol so hat off to you. Two years down the road and you (and the community) have proven that the naysayers were wrong and there is viability in tuning 10th gens which is amazing! Congrats on two years and looking forward to many more!

???????

 

[Ep3-FK7]

@gtman Appreciate you putting in the time to run thread and keep it going. Just updated my post today after switching to the Phearable 1.5 R tune and my experience of being tuned for the last 20,000 miles.

 

[gtman]

Thanks for the props.

So about that post edit. You never want to edit your original post as an update. All updates need to be new posts. For one, they won't get seen by anyone. And two I won't see it either and won't know that the stats need to be updated.

 

[Ep3-FK7]

Thanks for the props.

So about that post edit. That's a HUGE problem and something I've posted about dozens of times and worked hard to try to overcome.

You never want to just edit your original post in the thread. All updates need to be new posts. For one, they wont get seen by anyone. And two I won't see it either and won't know that the stats need to be updated. Even worse is when people overwrite their original info.

Please add a new post for your update. Thanks.

I apologize I made a new post. I should have read more regarding this you take your time to organize this least I could do is use my time to read through thoroughly.

 

[gtman]

No need to apologize. You were trying to help so props to you. Here's the actual blip on updating from the first post in the tuning thread:

Since this is an ongoing experience and reliability thread, please add a new post from time to time. Use that new post to show additional tuned miles driven, changes to your tune or mod setup, any issues that occur and any new tuning experience notes. Don't edit your original post; update with a new post only.

 

[gtman]

Had to add this vent here to maintain my sanity so take that for what it's worth.

As always, behind the scenes I get a lot of personal messages asking for help. And i'm happy to help and help as much as I can. Point being, I try to be a good community player.

But I'm batting .000 in my recent requests to try to get people adding their cars to the thread. The message I send asking people to add their cars doesn't work. I've pretty much decided to give up on even trying.

Even more ironic, sad and funny in a weird way...

Today I added a post to a thread where a guy had some questions about his tune feeling slow. In that post, I mentioned that if he added his car to the tuning thread, I'd gladly read his datalogs to help out. He gives a thumbs up to my post.

Does he add his car to the tuning thread? Of course not.

 

[Drake]

In the early days, didn't most people claim their concern about posting there was that they didn't want to risk being found out they're tuned because it would "void their warranty"? If that's the case I would have expected the rate of voluntarily reporting to increase as time goes on, people are picking up used Civics, and the factory warranty periods approach their end.

 

[gtman]

In the early days, didn't most people claim their concern about posting there was that they didn't want to risk being found out they're tuned because it would "void their warranty"? If that's the case I would have expected the rate of voluntarily reporting to increase as time goes on, people are picking up used Civics, and the factory warranty periods approach their end.

Keep this in mind Drake. The people I ask are ONLY people who actively and publicly post about their car being tuned. At that point I figure they'd be cool with adding their car to the reliability thread. Most aren't.

Early on some people used the "Honda might find out" claim. But, think about it, we're using anonymous screen names, not VIN numbers or anything like that. I've yet to hear a case of a dealer saying "sorry bud, you're denied warranty cause we saw you posted as joeblowmycar on CivicX".

Mostly the issue is that people don't want to take the 5 minutes to fill out the "survey".

It is what it is. At least I know I'm trying to do something good for the community.

 

[Velonici]

Sorry to hear man. Easy fix though, no post in the thread no personal help from you. They are still welcome to post it to the public, but if they want 1 on 1 help, then the "cost", because honestly that would be hundreds of dollars, is at least to post in the reliability thread. Now getting them to update might be another fight.

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