Flash Tune Favorite

[Clint Beastwood]

Thanks for your write-up! I'll look further into Adapt-x-tune. I'm liking the that it seems like a safe option. Also liking Dizzy over Stratified.

Right on - all the tunes make approximately the same power, it's just that the delivery is very different.

The adapt-x tune is kinda expensive, but you can feel it when driving the car it's OEM feeling. Thats a big deal to me, personally.

 

[LilPartyBox]

I've only ever run Stratified (Cobb caca don't count) and while I agree it's aggressive, I don't find it crude or hard to modulate at all. I also did the single log adjustment but even b4 that I had no problems driving smooth with it.

In the end, it's all personal preference. I like having the aggressive punch there when I'm in the mood.

That being said, I'll probably go with Tune+ when I eventually go S280 only because he's got a ton of experience with it.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I've only ever run Stratified (Cobb caca don't count) and while I agree it's aggressive, I don't find it crude or hard to modulate at all. I also did the single log adjustment but even b4 that I had no problems driving smooth with it.

In the end, it's all personal preference. I like having the aggressive punch there when I'm in the mood.

That being said, I'll probably go with Tune+ when I eventually go S280 only because he's got a ton of experience with it.

It's not *bad*, just more sensitive and peaky than I prefer. Like, you let someone drive the car and they're either going to say "wow that's tuned!" or "what's wrong with this car?" With the stratified I found myself breaking traction in second or sometimes third just pulling over to pass someone. Probably great for many, but I am spoiled and so the hunt stayed on for me to find what I was looking for

 

[LilPartyBox]

It's not *bad*, just more sensitive and peaky than I prefer. Like, you let someone drive the car and they're either going to say "wow that's tuned!" or "what's wrong with this car?" With the stratified I found myself breaking traction in second or sometimes third just pulling over to pass someone. Probably great for many, but I am spoiled and so the hunt stayed on for me to find what I was looking for

Haha I'm spoiled too! But on the other side of the spectrum. Strat has always had a donkey kick rep. Exactly what I wanted. So I found what I was looking for quickly 😁

 

[Noma660]

I never tried their burble tune, but from videos and descriptions it's probably what I'd have wanted. I went back to stock exhaust with a resonator delete, so I haven't bothered with an updated burble tune. Very daily drive-able without being obnoxious about it.

I have, well had, the Dizzy Burb add on. With a Mishimoto catted DP, and Thermal exhaust, it was a bit much. Around town, sure not bad. But where I live is a lot of long straight roads running alongside farmland. So when I'd wind it up through 4th or so and let it coast, it was just a constant barrage of pops. Much more obnoxious than I was wanting. I had a R56 JCW Mini before and was looking for a slight burble similar to that, but it seems that pops and bangs are a bit more popular on this platform, even with a "burble" tune. I ended up taking off the DizzyBurb and running the normal stage 2, which has a hint of burble on decel which is good enough for me for now.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I have, well had, the Dizzy Burb add on. With a Mishimoto catted DP, and Thermal exhaust, it was a bit much. Around town, sure not bad. But where I live is a lot of long straight roads running alongside farmland. So when I'd wind it up through 4th or so and let it coast, it was just a constant barrage of pops. Much more obnoxious than I was wanting. I had a R56 JCW Mini before and was looking for a slight burble similar to that, but it seems that pops and bangs are a bit more popular on this platform, even with a "burble" tune. I ended up taking off the DizzyBurb and running the normal stage 2, which has a hint of burble on decel which is good enough for me for now.

I went back to stock exhaust with resonator delete + an adapt-X tune, and its got great little burbles on decel, especially low speed through a parking lot for example, that wet drippy crackle driving around at 10-12mph is especially neat sounding. I miss the pops from my Fiat 500 Abarth, that thing was great.

 

[Noma660]

I loved when I did the resonator and muffler delete, though I felt bad about starting her up in the mornings for everyone around me trying to sleep. Eventually got a little too obnoxious though. Even stock tune had a nice decel burble and the occasional pop between shifts, which were always super loud if I was putting around for a little while. Almost like it would build them up, and of course it would always go bang right next to someone on the sidewalk so it looked like I did it on purpose. Used to have a 500 Abarth drive by me everyday during break at work, and I always liked how it sounded. Still miss the Mini's sound, was a bit throatier and just nice. JCW exhaust with a resonator delete was the sweet spot for those cars. If only those N14 motors weren't ticking timebombs

 

[FiestaSTdude]

Is dizzypops or dizzyburb louder/more obnoxious?

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Is dizzypops or dizzyburb louder/more obnoxious?

dizzyburb is pretty sedate, its along the lines of thermal progressive crackles and normal driving. For me at least, dizzypops was full dickhead mode - who cares if the neighbors kids are sleeping, POP POP POP.
Backing out of the driveway? POP
Driving around in a parking garage? POP POP :car alarms:

I liked the crackle tunes for a bit but I kinda outgrew them, I'm back to trying to fly under the radiator.

 

[FiestaSTdude]

dizzyburb is pretty sedate, its along the lines of thermal progressive crackles and normal driving. For me at least, dizzypops was full dickhead mode - who cares if the neighbors kids are sleeping, POP POP POP.
Backing out of the driveway? POP
Driving around in a parking garage? POP POP :car alarms:

I liked the crackle tunes for a bit but I kinda outgrew them, I'm back to trying to fly under the radiator.

Ok thanks.
Also, "under the radiator"? Was that meant to be radar? If not, I just learned a new term 😂

 

[pwnall1337]

I've used a couple, I'll drop my thoughts below.

Cobb stage 0 - Look, the access port shows things!

Cobb stage 1 - I guess it did something? Sharpened stuff up, and felt a little increased beef. Nothing to write home about. Felt obviously aftermarket. Better than nothing, but stage 1 is total buttcheeks.

Cobb stage 2 - more of the above - a little more power, a little more aggressive. Even more obviously an aftermarket tune. It's like those free samples at costco - you try the stage 2 and now you want to see what a tune can *really* do for the car.

Stratified stage 2 - Makes pretty good power, gets a lot of negative corrections, costs me money in tires because the throttle is tuned so aggressively the tires spin easily, but the loss of traction is pretty progressive so I don't notice it as much. Front brake pads went pretty fast. Really likes one gallon e85 to a full tank of CA-91. Lots of fun, occasionally. Wouldn't want to run it all the time. Gets rid of rev hang which is really why I bought a tune. I found this tune "uncomfortable" because it was so aggressive. Not a bad tune, just not my cup of tea. Tried the pops tune, and the progressive pops tune. The pops tune was obnoxious and too much. The progressive pops tune was pretty cool, but ultimately a bit too much. I'd love a dash button to turn it on and off (the pops) on the fly, but that's not a thing. I liked the power and character, but the specific tuning I would describe as... vulgar. I wouldn't hand the keys to someone who hadn't driven the car with this tune without a warning to take it easy until they get used to how it responds.

Dizzy stage 2 - Seems to make similar power as the stratified, but the throttle tuning/mapping is *much* better for daily driving. Doesn't "kick" as much down low, but seems to pull better in the midrange and up top. I really liked how the dizzy wasn't so aggressive in terms of how the throttle pedal felt. It was less obviously an aftermarket tune than the cobb and stratified tunes, but you could still tell there was a non-stock feel about it. I was not a fan of the dizzy pop tunes. I never tried their burble tune, but from videos and descriptions it's probably what I'd have wanted. I went back to stock exhaust with a resonator delete, so I haven't bothered with an updated burble tune. Very daily drive-able without being obnoxious about it. If I was handing the keys to someone to drive the car, I'd mention "it's running a tune so it's making a bit more power than stock".

Adapt-x tune - It feels super-stock. In my seat of the pants opinion, feels significantly stronger than stock. Does not feel as "strong" as stratified or dizzy, but that wasn't the point. It's very safe, almost never get negative corrections. I would best describe the adapt-x tune as "super stock". Of note, getting the adapt-x tune to actually "learn" is kinda a pain in the ass. Very specific oil temp and other factors before it'll actually learn. Once school's out though, feels great. I think I could hand my car to a friend running this adapt-x tune and they'd simply say "wow ford made this fiesta a lot faster than I'd have thought", and that meshes with my desires. Very progressive and predictable. I know I've said it before, but "super stock" is exactly how it feels. Does not get grumpy when running shitty gas, it simply "adapts" without drama. I don't think it spins the tires as much as the other tunes, but it's honestly hard to tell in my FiST. When the tires spin, it does it progressively without drama or excess noise, but the tires are living a lot longer.

The Adapt-X tune should be as powerful as any other tune option if not stronger, but this will be heavily dependent on the learned octane value (OAR) so you'll want to compare the tunes with octane fully learned for your fuel. A dragy is a nice testing device is only around $159.

In regards to the learning difficulty, we use the factory octane learning from Ford and we leave the OAR learning system stock so your OAR on stage 0 (oem map) should always match Adapt-X when fully learned. The reason the OAR is difficult to learn on the Fiesta ST is because the car is light and moves quickly, the OAR system learns under load and you can trick it to learn faster by cruising at highway speeds, get into 6th gear and go 30-50% throttle or enough to just build around 12~ psi, go throttle in, hold that for 10-12 seconds and let out, rinse and repeat multiple times. Normally when ford designed it, it would eventually learn overtime, but when you reset KAM you lose the OAR value. KAM is reset during a power drain or ECU flash and your OAR defaults to 0.00. On our tune it defaults to -0.50 (89 octane) and moves from there.

I've considered making some tweaks to help make it faster, but I don't have a hands on test car and the OEM designed it this way to be more accurate at the cost learning time, however the trick above should allow OAR to learn after cycling that process 5-6 times with the car fully warmed up (oil temp doesn't matter).

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the calibration, but between the Focus ST/RS and Fiesta ST we have seen 0 engine failures even though the Focus ST has a bad rap for cyl 1/4 on the Factory tune the greater enrichment on our tune at power demand helps keep the ringlands safer where as OEM has to account for emissions produced at wide open throttle we do not.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

The Adapt-X tune should be as powerful as any other tune option if not stronger, but this will be heavily dependent on the learned octane value (OAR) so you'll want to compare the tunes with octane fully learned for your fuel. A dragy is a nice testing device is only around $159.

In regards to the learning difficulty, we use the factory octane learning from Ford and we leave the OAR learning system stock so your OAR on stage 0 (oem map) should always match Adapt-X when fully learned. The reason the OAR is difficult to learn on the Fiesta ST is because the car is light and moves quickly, the OAR system learns under load and you can trick it to learn faster by cruising at highway speeds, get into 6th gear and go 30-50% throttle or enough to just build around 12~ psi, go throttle in, hold that for 10-12 seconds and let out, rinse and repeat multiple times. Normally when ford designed it, it would eventually learn overtime, but when you reset KAM you lose the OAR value. KAM is reset during a power drain or ECU flash and your OAR defaults to 0.00. On our tune it defaults to -0.50 (89 octane) and moves from there.

I've considered making some tweaks to help make it faster, but I don't have a hands on test car and the OEM designed it this way to be more accurate at the cost learning time, however the trick above should allow OAR to learn after cycling that process 5-6 times with the car fully warmed up (oil temp doesn't matter).

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the calibration, but between the Focus ST/RS and Fiesta ST we have seen 0 engine failures even though the Focus ST has a bad rap for cyl 1/4 on the Factory tune the greater enrichment on our tune at power demand helps keep the ringlands safer where as OEM has to account for emissions produced at wide open throttle we do not.

Thanks for taking the time to reply - I had posted an update elsewhere stating that it keeps getting "beefier" the longer I let it learn, but I forgot to go append that to my first review of the tune - I'll do that

With the learning - the big issue for me was, there was an unfortunate intersection of where I moved to, my available time to go on a freeway run, and traffic - so I had a hard time finding the time to go out and find a long stretch to do a couple of pulls without traffic. Once I stopped thinking about it and just drove around, it was done learning the next time I looked. A watched pot never boils and all that still digging the tune - it's not as up front "exciting" feeling as the artificially boosted throttle response of the stratified, but that makes it much better for people (like me) looking for a "stock but more" type of experience. It also adapts *really fast* if I throw a gallon and a half of e85 in with my cruddy CA 91 octane.

I'm very much so about "feel", and to me, the stratified was absurdly overboosted and amplified, it just feels like someone added multipliers to a couple of values, said "that feels crazy!" and left it that way. Some people like that, and thats great for them - but I wanted the feel of a stock Fiesta ST, but just... more of it, and the adapt-x did that. No overboosted throttle response, no absurd levels of crackling, etc. My favorite is the adapt-x now, with Dizzy second, cobb third, stratified last.