Trifecta Install, Black Friday 2020

[Wlepse]

Yes, this perplexes me too.

The fact that Trifecta didn't follow through with their commitment to post times speaks volumes to me.

And those with the upgraded cluster even have a timer built in to use. It couldn't be any easier. Can someone please toggle the cruise on and off and compare the times between NA and tune?

Not sure cruise puts you back to stock, I think it is like a stage 0.5 a little less aggressive. But without boost gauges we can't confirm if boost is more than stock.

 

[FavaBean]

@Wlepse As you posted I was researching past posts and see that I misunderstood. Toggling cruise does not give you the stock mapping back. [Updated original post #60]

Rhetorical question...But where are the promised numbers Trifecta?? (Yes, later in thread they decommitted).

We do have a TourX that we developed the calibration on. We do not use "donor" cars. The vehicle was tested before tune and after tune. That's where the dyno numbers came from. Testing acceleration is a whole different beast because what we achieve might not be what you achieve. Things like "driver mod", tire quality and/or tire health, fuel quality, environmental conditions, etc etc etc will impact those numbers. Also, this is not the only platform we offer calibration products for. We have a pretty busy development schedule. We will have acceleration numbers posted eventually as we promised, though.



🤣😆 never say never.



Thanks for the positive feedback! We appreciate it 😎



That feature is not something offered on this calibration product at this time. The custom performance programming is active all the time. However, you can get the vehicle to behave like stock under low throttle input. It's not "undrivable" power 😉

 

[Greyfixer]

So yesterday I restored it back to the factory tune then re-installed the Trifecta. Neither had an issue and both went smoothly. The check engine light and service transmission warning both went away. It's definitely a lot faster now and has a lot more pull. It's a noticeable difference but it's not so extreme I'm worried about damaging the engine. I also kinda like the auto start/stop so I'm glad it still works in the Standard (cruise on) mode. It was worth the money.

 

[mike69440]

Good new reported by Greyfixer.
FYI, Real 1/4 Mile time on an Essence with a 240 Lb Driver, at least 100 Lbs. of heavy floor mats, dog bed liner, aftermarket accessories, Tools, emergency stuff, flashlights, a blanket, Fix a flat, bottled water, even a change of socks and underwear, putting car over 4,000 lbs. was best of 15 sec Flat @ 93 MPH. Best times were Auto mode thru 1st, Hold shift in Manual Mode in 2nd, then let car do its thing thru rest of run.
Car has acceptable pull thru 3 gear, but when it drops into 4th gear at about 75 mph, you realize it is just a typical 250 hp car.
I forget the DA that day, but pretty close to seal level. With Trifecta Tune, if I see 14.6-14.7 at 95-96, with same environmental that would meet my expectations.
I normally run regular gas, so that and the Buick 2018 warranty 4 yr/50,000 mi basic, 6 yr/70,000 mi powertrain warranty, convinces me to run stock for another 2 years at least.
I'm surprised apparently I am the only one on this site who actual went to a drag strip with a TourX.

 

[bleyrer]

Finally got mine this past Friday. Pulled the information over the weekend and got the tune today. Installed in about 10 minutes. Did a short drive around the neighborhood - WOW! What an improvement. Can't wait to drive to work tomorrow and see how it does on the highway.

 

[Wlepse]

Finally got mine this past Friday. Pulled the information over the weekend and got the tune today. Installed in about 10 minutes. Did a short drive around the neighborhood - WOW! What an improvement. Can't wait to drive to work tomorrow and see how it does on the highway.

I haven't loaded mine yet...we have 2' of snow coming and figured now wasn't the time to be playing around with new found power.

 

[mike69440]

Finally got mine this past Friday. Pulled the information over the weekend and got the tune today. Installed in about 10 minutes. Did a short drive around the neighborhood - WOW! What an improvement. Can't wait to drive to work tomorrow and see how it does on the highway.

Running what Octane?

 

[bleyrer]

Running what Octane?

93

 

[Wlepse]

Ha ha...I suck. I downloaded the tune and when I went to grab the cable I realized my wife took it since my son wanted to give me the tune for Christmas. All wrapped up now, so I guess I have to wait.

 

[Billib]

Ha ha...I suck. I downloaded the tune and when I went to grab the cable I realized my wife took it since my son wanted to give me the tune for Christmas. All wrapped up now, so I guess I have to wait.

Dammit man, lol.

 

[Wlepse]

Dammit man, lol.

Well I guess the upside is my son is into cars...he actually wants us to get a project car to work on together. He wants it to be his car when he gets a license... he's 10! Not sure if he is saying he wants to do a full restoration or if he thinks I just work slow. 😂

 

[Opietheopel]

Finally got it

 

[Wlepse]

Things are finally starting to calm down from the holidays so I was about to do the tune but had a question. Do you need to download your current program first? I watched a video Trifecta has but it doesn't show it as a necessary step. But others here have mentioned reverting to stock, so is that just a canned Trifecta version stock mode? I think Cobb Tuners used to have their version of stock but then later allowed you to store your actual stock tune before tuning. Just don't want to miss the opportunity to preserve my actual stock program in case like many things with these cars there are little quirks.

Update: In parallel I posted this question direct to Trifecta and got a quick response. So if anyone comes across this thread with the same question this was their answer.
Hello,

We already include the factory calibration in the file we issued you

No need to do anything special.

 

[Wlepse]

Tune was quick and uneventful, took maybe 10 minutes start to finish.

First impressions are mixed. Doesn't seem to do much in 1st or 2nd but by 3rd it is pulling much harder. Because of this I don't think you will see much of a 0-60 improvement, I am guessing this is to protect the drive line from too much torque. I think this tune will really improve passing power from about 40mph up.

With cruise off shifts are more aggressive and hold longer than stock but nothing too crazy. But where the old program would lug a bit this quickly drops two gears to get you going. With cruise on it is a bit less likely to drop down on every gas pedal input so it might be a more drive able solution for most.

Any claims of increased gas mileage I expect to be false. Even if you try to drive like you did prior to the tune, the trans will still be dropping gears quicker. Doing this increases gas consumption so I can't see how you would get any savings. Unlike when I had my manual trans Audi tuned, the extra torque allowed us to stay in a higher gear more often. So unless you drive in manual mode I doubt you will see an increase.

Speaking of manual mode, has anyone else felt like the shifts there are slower than if you just drive in auto? I am not talking about acceleration times...just actual time for it to change gears.

I go back to work next week so I should get more time with this soon.

 

[agaric]

I noticed with my 17 GS that after 2 or 3 weeks of driving there seems to have been some "learning" by the ecm/tcm and I am much happier with the shift points and gear holding so don't forget to "teach " it going to work. 🙂 Also noticed a nice little edgy engine note a full throttle and higher rpm.
I will probably never see better mileage since it's now so much fun to push the go pedal.

 

[Wlepse]

Just a quick update...I drove up to my uncle's today in the Catskills, it is mostly rural roads but a lot of up and down hills cruising at 55-60 most of the time. During the trip I averaged 24mpg, not bad, I might get 1-2mpg more if it were stock. But honestly I did have a little more fun than usual in a few places so perhaps that was the difference. I really don't notice much of a difference until you moving a bit but it does start pulling real hard in 3rd. I will need to recalibrate myself since in stock mode I could gauge speed based on rate of acceleration, today I notice there was no slowing down at 80. So I will need to be a bit careful.

 

[FavaBean]

@Wlepse I've seen a lot of folks say it pulls harder in third. Assuming manual shift, do you think there is any benefit to to shifting out of 2nd (maybe 1k rpm) earlier so that you're in third quicker to utilize that extra pull on a quarter mile run?

 

[Wlepse]

@Wlepse I've seen a lot of folks say it pulls harder in third. Assuming manual shift, do you think there is any benefit to to shifting out of 2nd (maybe 1k rpm) earlier so that you're in third quicker to utilize that extra pull on a quarter mile run?

Next week I will be back to work, with that comes some highway driving where I could mess with this a bit. I will let you know if there is anything conclusive.

 

[mike69440]

Next week I will be back to work, with that comes some highway driving where I could mess with this a bit. I will let you know if there is anything conclusive.

I wonder how the car reacts with tune and 87 Octane?

 

[BradyB0225]

I have a 2020 Sportback, just got the tune with about 1500 miles on the car. My car has a good amount of wheel slippage out of the hole now and it pulls hard all the way to 100 mph. I'm impressed with what feels like an extra 50 hp power. I especially love being able to quickly switch back and forth from stock to tuned with just the cruise control being on/off. It's interesting how different throttle tip-in is with pedal position. I would suggest that the tune is a bit too aggressive on pedal position but it's okay because I can drive normally with the stock tune when I want to enjoy my quiet and comfy old-man Buick. Great job Trifecta.