Removing Locks on tuned vehicles!

[Mep_q8]

for the price of 2credits over a model/year license credit.. as in if let's say an '04 Silverado was locked, but you already have the year/model license for them, you pay an extra 2 credits for it to get unlocked...

the average joe using hptuners won't want to invest $400 on getting their pcm unlocked, where as the tuner shop/garages should have this model/year license.. hence enabling the customer with better service with helping out with the problem..

[Chris@HPTuners]

the reality is the shop would need to have a stock of replacement PCMs on hand. I doubt a customer would want to have their car off the road for up to a week to unlock their PCM.

[Doubledip]

most of the shops we unlock PCM's for do have a pile of PCM's on standby.. also we have a turn around of overnight for unlocking PCM's .. the quicker we can get them in and out leaves more time to do the other jobs

[Mep_q8]

ok, so when it comes down to it.. even if we used a tech2 to flash it back to stock, would that still enable the tuner lock?

[Doubledip]

tech 2 will fail... when trying to load it right at the start will come back with an error cause it hits the lock

[jimmypop13]

Why are shops locking tunes? It doesn't make sense to me. When their customers decide to tune their own car & buy a tuning suite, and find out it's locked, I doubt they're too happy, at best, they waste a few days waiting to get into the shop to have it unlocked, and at worst, they have to buy a new pcm cuz the tuner is gone or they moved, etc... I wouldn't wanna use that shop again if I had to go through a hassle like that.

[Doubledip]

One easy way to explain why some shops lock it is this scenario.... Shop in question has spent the last 5 years perfecting tunes and doing it the right way .... cars run fantastic and does everything the customer asks of... tuner has invested so much time into this... then finds out that Bill Bloggs down the road who bought the tuning software next to nothing has copied his tune and selling it for less...... if that was you and your time and effort... would you feel happy.. or be more likely to lock your tunes as well

[vortec]

One easy way to explain why some shops lock it is this scenario.... Shop in question has spent the last 5 years perfecting tunes and doing it the right way .... cars run fantastic and does everything the customer asks of... tuner has invested so much time into this... then finds out that Bill Bloggs down the road who bought the tuning software next to nothing has copied his tune and selling it for less...... if that was you and your time and effort... would you feel happy.. or be more likely to lock your tunes as well

Exactly.I understand alot of people do not like the fact of locking the PCM,but it does solve alot of headaches IMO..

[omega_5]

Shop in question has spent the last 5 years perfecting tunes and doing it the right way ....

That's debatable.
From what I've seen... many 'professional' shops just hack job their tunes. It wouldn't surprise me if many of them are using the lock feature to hide this fact.

[MMGT1]

Wrecking yard, 50 bucks, get another one and your down time will be as long as it takes for you to get it. Maybe 2 hours tops? They probably lock it to hide how crappy it actually is as Omega says.... lol

[jimmypop13]

That's debatable.
From what I've seen... many 'professional' shops just hack job their tunes. It wouldn't surprise me if many of them are using the lock feature to hide this fact.

Agreed. From the tunes I've seen, some of the best and most thorough tuners are right on this site and they have no problem posting tunes. If someone is copying tunes of better shops and putting them in their customer's cars, they won't be in business long or have a good reputation because no two cars are alike, and with big mods, it's definitely not gonna work out well. People would stop paying for someone doing that.

[jah81592]

That's debatable.
From what I've seen... many 'professional' shops just hack job their tunes. It wouldn't surprise me if many of them are using the lock feature to hide this fact.

I have to agree with this statement. I have never once locked a tune which my customer paid for. Every car is different, every tune is different regardless of whether the mods are identical. I prefer to start with a stock tune everytime and modify from there. Unless I have tuned the car before and it is just a touch up. I feel it isn't my property to put a lock on unless the customer requests it. I actually have had customers come to me to be tuned only to find the PCM to be locked. This definately leaves a bad taste in thier mouth and they always say they will never go to that tuner again. I just don't understand locking the pcm. It isn't my pcm to lock, even if the customer has paid me for the tune. It isn't my tune it is thiers!

I also would like to state that if someone down the road is stealing tunes then eventually they will get a combo that they won't be able to tune. I just don't see locks being worthwhile. Just my .02.

[Chris@HPTuners]

people will spend thousands of dollars on heads, camshafts, superchargers, turbos etc. and take it to anyone to tune to save $100. This is a fact.

Additionally, people will take a $20k motor built and tuned by a reputable shop and think they can tune it better. Or they have a buddy who is a whiz with a laptop. Guess who is expected to fix the broken engine...

It's not a simple argument.

If the tuner tells the customer his PCM will be locked and can only be tuned by that shop and he agrees then, there is no problem. This is the #1 issue, tuners do not inform customers of the lock (if they use it).

[Alvin]

I will unlock PCM's but if I unlock it I'll put a stock calibration back on it. I don't agree with tuners using locks but if the customer purchased the tune knowing that it was going to be locked that is what he gets. I'm going to respect that the other tuner didn't want the tune leaked regardless of who it is, what it is, etc. If he was unaware of the lock that is between him and his tuner.

We worked hard to be able to do this because we had trouble with a vendor who wouldn't patch PCM's for our fan kits because they sold one similar. Mind you they sold tuning with "free updates". I guess that depended on what you where updating for. The situation made us a little bitter because the fan kit was damn similar to ours. I'm not going to say it was a copy but you get where I'm going.

This capability let us either get the customers PCM working again so that we can tune it. Or we would patch the PCM for our efans and lock it back exactly the way it came in.



I will say every locked tune I've looked at so far has been FAR from cutting edge or in anyway good looking. We just unlocked a truck that had full bolt-ons but a stock MAF table and totally raped PE table and IFR jacked around. The PE table goes anywhere between 1.11-1.31

[Alvin]

PS.

Unless you have credits tied up in a locked PCM in most cases its far cheaper to just buy a new computer out of the junkyard or ebay than to pay someone to unlock it. PCM's that still hold a bit of value like E40, E67, and E38's are the only ones I would really consider worth unlocking.