K tuner worth it one CVT?

I run 50 PSI in my BFGoodrich Comp 2 A/S and I have no issues with taking off/ loosing traction even in rainy days.

I was seriously considering tuning my recently purchased Civic, but now I can't. My wife hit a deer recently and it's still in the shop. They have to replace the turbo and some other items so that leaves me with a dilemma. If I tune the car and it develops problems down the road I will have no idea what the root cause might be, and I'm not going to roll the dice.

Anyway - just wanted to vent a little

kpzcivic said:

I was seriously considering tuning my recently purchased Civic, but now I can't. My wife hit a deer recently and it's still in the shop. They have to replace the turbo and some other items so that leaves me with a dilemma. If I tune the car and it develops problems down the road I will have no idea what the root cause might be, and I'm not going to roll the dice.

Anyway - just wanted to vent a little

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I'd ask the shop to buy the SI turbo while they are swapping it anyway. It's the same price and you are allowed to choose your own repairs on insurance claims. Edit just checked Majestic and the SI turbo is actually $100 cheaper.

$80-$100 not bad for a tune BUT that CVT will hold you back.

Rubber band effect will be increased.

nothome17 said:

$80-$100 not bad for a tune BUT that CVT will hold you back.

I think you will feel more of the rubber band effect.

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Actually that's not the case at all. You're welcome to read some of my hundreds of posts documenting my tuned CVT turbo Civic experiences. The tuned CVT feels great because the tune offers better throttle response, quicker spool and less lag. It's a surprisingly fun combo.

Mark11 said:

its only worth it if you don't care about your warranty, and the reliability of your CVT,

if you have money to throw away, and don't care if you have to buy a new CVT, then sure, go for it

cause a replacement CVT aint gonna be covered under your warranty

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Is there actually a way for them to see that the Ktuner was actually there if it’s flashed back to stock before taking it in?

gtman said:

Actually that's not the case at all. You're welcome to read some of my hundreds of posts documenting my tuned CVT turbo Civic experiences. The tuned CVT feels great because the tune offers better throttle response, quicker spool and less lag. It's a surprisingly fun combo.

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For sure better throttle response, quicker spool and less lag BUT the CVT is the weak link.

$500 for ktuner though, maybe better to drive in "S" mode. 2 cents. Your car your money, do as you will.

U.S.C said:

Is there actually a way for them to see that the Ktuner was actually there if it’s flashed back to stock before taking it in?

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Don't know if anyone truly knows the answer of this, heard both yes and no but from what I've read the only way is if the ECU was given to Honda and examined?

U.S.C said:

Is there actually a way for them to see that the Ktuner was actually there if it’s flashed back to stock before taking it in?

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I'd love to find out if they can see, because i don't want to void any warranty that i have just so i can get a bit more power.

My17RS said:

I'd love to find out if they can see, because i don't want to void any warranty that i have just so i can get a bit more power.

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You have to go into tuning sort of assuming that Honda can determine you've been tuned. No one seems to know definitively though.

Based on my own experience and what I'm seeing in the tuning reliability database I'm working on, tuning is basically safe... with a caveat. You can't increase power and especially torque too much. And you can't drive it in an abusive way.

nothome17 said:

For sure better throttle response, quicker spool and less lag BUT the CVT is the weak link.

$500 for ktuner though, maybe better to drive in "S" mode. 2 cents. Your car your money, do as you will.

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S mode does nothing for 0 to 60 or quarter mile although it may feel more responsive with higher rpms and worse mileage. Ktuner on the other hand will easily knock 1 second off of both those times while retaining exceptional economy.

I've been tuned for 2.5 years and the Cvt has definitely not been a weak link.

Well I had a CVT slip up this morning on the way in that almost put me into an emergency situation. I was pulling onto a 55 mph state road where people often do 70. The pull in is near a bend in the road and as I was pulling out a car came speeding around the corner. I tried to go from like 10% to 50% throttle with a jab to compensate. I was on tune 3 of TSP with aggressive VSA set, yet I still got a full second plus of flat refusal from the CVT to put any power to the wheels. It took like 3 seconds to get from 10-20 mph and was just completely befuddled with what ratio to pick and how to put the power down. That was followed by a veracious 20-70 mph rip that took only about 4 more seconds. The dude was going 70 so I did match his speed and pull away slightly at the end, but not until the tranny made it a scary close call. This ratio hang is always a problem in CVT's and has been very apparent to me for the last three years of owning this Civic, but with the new power it seems actually worse. Still if I had given it even throttle from the get go there would be no problem, it's going from light to heavy throttle too quickly where it stumbles. Sport mode fixes this, but I'm not going to waste 25% more fuel every day just in case I need quicker transmission reactions. I am used to throwing the lever in S when I see these situations coming, but when I don't anticipate and things just happen, then there is a problem.

A little trick I've learned is to initially just go lightly into the throttle and a split second later, gun it. It seems to help reduce the hesitation in those emergency moves.

Yeah, easing into it definitely works better and because I know that and am usually prepared I don't often have this issue. It was a bit of a panicked stab at the throttle when I was totally off guard. Had I floored it from the get go or eased into it I would have been fine. Instead I confused the crap out of the TCU, but this happens with all but the best traditional automatics and DCT's as well.

I'm absolutely not into the tuning, so that might be kind of a stupid question to some of you. Will the KTuner affect both drive modes S and D or is it possible just to have the tune only in S mode?