Well my curiosity got the best of me
As many have read on here I ordered/installed 3 custom tunes from 5star back in January and have been extremely satisfied with them. Customer service has been fantastic, the tunes themselves (87 and 91 perf/tow and 91 econ) have all been top notch. The transmission tuning, power increase, driveability are amazing. I'm currently running 91 octane perf/tow and it absolutely rocks.

With all that said there has been a lot of chatter about VMP and Troyer and how they are the "best" mail order custom tuners. Now I still don't have any experience with Troyer but I did break down and ordered one 91 octane performance towing tune from VMP this morning at 11:24am. At 11:58am, a mere 36 minutes later, I received my tune from Justin at VMP!

As of 3pm I'd only logged about 10 miles on the VMP tune and was quite happy with it. It is far better than stock! The transmission tuning is (as stated before regarding 5star) is worth the price of admission alone.

So how does it compare? I'll have to log some miles and let the adaptive learning do it's thing. Initial thoughts however are positive but at this time the tune is not quite as "sharp" or "snappy" as the 5star tunes. VMP tune is definitely making more HP and TQ than stock but it feels slightly less than the comparable 5star 91 octane. I wouldn't say that it feels sluggish compared to 5star but maybe down just a few HP/TQ. The transmission is not quite as snappy either but this may improve over time, and if not I'll be able to firm it up myself or have Justin do it for me in a revised tune. The only quirk I had was after reversing out of a parking spot and putting the tranny back into "D" and then started to accelerate very slowly. The truck lurched and bucked like it did when it was stock. I'm hoping this is a one time event.

Maybe I just got lucky with 5star and Mike was able to "nail" it the first time around and maybe Justin and I will need to make a few revisions.

Don't interpret this post as negative, the VMP tune is really good! I will add to this post as time passes and the miles pile up so that a "more fair" comparison can be made.

As far as price and customer service goes they are a basically a wash. Both 5star and VMP were able to send me tunes very quickly.

Cheef

 

I have a Troyer tune and a VMP tune for my F150. VMP is very good driveability day to day but does feel less powerful then the Troyer tune. However the Troyer tune is horrible and surges. I wouldnt recommend troyer to anyone.

Justin did my tune in 2 weeks during the hoildays and he emails me very quickly when I have questions or concerns.

 

over the last few days iv got 87 performance tunes from innovative diesel, 5 star and vmp. running the innovative for last few days, so far so good big improvement gonna run it a few more days before i swithc to 5 star and compare than ill run the vmp. still thinking about getting in line for troyer just to see what all the hype is about. theres got to be a good reason for a 15 week waite time.

 

FX4rm - been following yer posts, very interested in your comparison. Just to clarify your info sez you got a 2004 F150. Is that a new 04 or the heritage? Assuming a 5.4? What are the other stats on yer truck?

Mine is 09/5.4/3.55 LSD. So our comparison notes, although informative, may not be apples to apples either.


I'd still like to try a troyer tune but $130 for one is a little steep, VMP's was $60 which I felt was reasonable.
Good luck!

 

Need to figure out how to update my info. i actually traded in the 2004 fx4 and got a 2008 larait 5.4. truck is leveled with 275 60 20 nitto terra grapplers.

 

Put a few more miles on today and this tune has already improved! Definitely shifted with a tad more snap and the motor had gobs of torque down low (1500rpm). So I guess the adaptive is working. I'll be putting on 20-30 miles per day for the next 5 days so the adaptive learning should do it's thing and the tune will likely keep improving for the next week or so. Unfortunately I have not been able to stand on the gas yet and really wind it up (too much traffic).

Thankfully I did not experience any lurching and bucking today while doing slow speed parking lot maneuvers.

Very happy camper!

 

i went from 5star tune to superchips cortex 1950 canned tune.

i'm not sure if it is because there isnt much tuning available for the ford expedition 2011 year model.
i put 2800 miles on the 5 star, was never too happy with it, going to the superchips was very noticeable in the way everything shifted. will see more in another thousand miles or so.

 

I'm wondering if these "custom" tunes cooperate with certain vehicles on a case by case basis. I put some decent miles on today, maybe 20 miles of city and another 20 of highway. The VMP tune lurched twice on me in first gear, the same as many have complained about with their stock tunes (most refer to it as surging). Once out of first gear the VMP tune is decent. It seems around 2000 rpm in second gear there is an obvious flat spot before the power kicks in again. I never had that issue with the 5star tune. Not sure if it's a torque converter or air/fuel issue, etc etc.

I am wondering if I need to call VMP and have them send me another tune or if I'm going to have to datalog for Justin. I'll give it a few more days before I hassle Justin. I expected this 91 tune to be at least on par with the 91 5star tune.

Rayofsi - I have not tried any of the available canned tunes out there so I can't offer any notes to compare with you.

I'm hoping MGD can chime in here with some advice or words of wisdom.

Cheef

 

I would do the datalog. That way he can see exactly what is going on for your specific vehicle and further refine the tune.

 

Hey buddy. Don't know if I can help, but you've got mail

 

i have the same issue with my vmp tune that i just loaded 2 days ago. also it feels like i shift into 2nd gear really hard and early compared to other tunes.

 

FX4rm - just to clarify your VMP tune shifts hard into 2nd?

My slow speed shifting is quite good (other than lurching once in a while), and quite a bit softer than the 5star tune. I've had 5star play with the shift pressures for me but I do like it pretty firm/snappy and the latest revision is just right. I towed with my 5star 91 the day before I put in the VMP and it was amazing.

I was able to stand on the gas last night in a rural area and the VMP scoots pretty good and the WOT shifting is good as well.

 

I had the 5star tune In today for a 200 mile turkey hunting trip. Things I noticed that I will need marks help with. I have major pinging( not sure that's spelled right) also a little bit of power loss before 4th gear. At cruising speed of 65 my stock exhaust is really really loud inside the trucks. Anyone else have this stuff? What to do? Again new to the hole tuning thing so kinda not sure in terms just describing what's happening.
The VMP tune is going into 2nd gear what feels like pretty early. No pinging with it though

 

I can't hurt my truck by changing out tunes all the time right? Been switching everytime I make a trip that's a good chance to feel different tunes for extended times

 

Switching does not hurt anything