My in depth IPF N/A Tune Review - 2010 Camaro V6

[KMPrenger]

(Mods, I hope to be able to leave this review in this section as it will surely get lots more hits, but if it must be moved, then so be it)

I'll start by saying I meant to have this review up weeks ago, but due to the birth of my first child...a sweet little girl my wife and I named Leah...you can see why this has been delayed!! Getting good rest has been pretty tough, but I was ready for it, and its totally worth it.

(Andy or Arno with IPF, if you read this feel free to correct anything I say here or add to it. I for one, really enjoy your input on this forum)

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
I had the Trifecta tune before. I didn't get it when it was first available, but I did purchase it not terribly long after it was out and it was the most up to date version. I jumped on the first good deal they had on it. I won't go into details, and I'm not here to bash Trifecta, but I never was really satisfied with it, and after running the tune for a year or two (with intake, exhaust, ported T/B, ported manifold, and manifold spacer, most of which was installed before the tune) the car began to feel sluggish. I thought maybe I was having problems, but I ended up removing the tune and going back to stock. The car seemed to get that "pep" back again that it felt was missing. I monitored my fuel trims, and all looked well so later on I sold the Trifecta cable and never looked back. The car has ran great since. I realize others here seem to be very happy with the Trifecta tune, so feel free to do your own research and make your own decisions on the matter

ABOUT IPF AND SOME QUESTIONS:
I've done my homework on the IPF tune, the tuner, and the company behind it, and I was always happy with what I read, and the IPF staff that I talked with. I was always impressed by the knowledge Arno (the tuner) had with the Bosch ECM. He said things that I had not heard from anyone else and convinced me that his knowledgeable on this thing. I wanted to pull the trigger for a long time, but never did, until finally I did so a few months back.

I talked with Andy, and he gave me answers to some questions for instance:

- When I bought the tune there was a $100 forum discount running which brought the cost to $449 + $15 shipping. It includes a tuner module which they will ship to you and you will own. You do not have to return the module. This is a reduced cost over what it was when this tune was first introduced, and I believe includes headers if you have them. Ask Andy regarding the forum discount to see if it is still active, as it is a bit pricier than the other options.
- If you have access to someone who already has the tuning module, then you can save yourself $200 and just buy a liscense for a tune, so that brings the cost down significantly.
- The module can be used for countless other vehicles that IPF supports, so essentially you could help out your friends if they are interested in an IPF tune and spread the cost around! They would just need to buy their own tune minus the cost of the module.
- You CAN resell the module if you ever decide to sell your car.
- IPF offers a standard modded tune, and a seperate tune for headers which is unique compared to other tunes for the 10 - 11 V6s.
-You can go back to the stock tune at any time.
- IPF offers a TCM tune for automatic cars, but I believe this is an added cost ( I think its $100, but don't quote me on that)
- Last but not least, IPF offers a money back guarantee for satisfaction of their tune. Again, ask Andy about this, but I feel this is awesome to be able to dive in risk free.

TUNING PROCESS:
I was able to flash to the IPF tune without having to go to a dealer first for an MDI update. So if you have Trifecta this is good news. The catch is you need to use the Trifecta suite to flash back to stock first. Then you should be good to go. Arno suggested I use the IPF module to flash back to stock again and then load the IPF tunes. I'm not sure if this accomplished anything but I did do it.

When you purchase the tune, IPF emails you installation instructions. In the meantime, you wait for the module to arrive in the mail, and you can download their "IPF Operator" program (The tuning program) and review the PDF instructions.

The tuning process itself is not difficult, but the first time you do it, it can feel a bit cumbersome, as there is some running back and forth between the car and your PC that has to be done, and getting the IPF Operator program to connect to their server could be a problem for the computer illiterate (more on that in the last point below). I will say the program does an excellent job at telling you what to do, and what to expect when using the module once you've started the tuning process.

That said, I have a few comments on this process:
- The PDF (emailed) instructions themselves are good, but I found the link to the tuning program was a dead link. I had to go to their webpage to find the software (http://www.ipf-tuning.com/). There is a link to the software in the footer of the page under "Downloads".
- The program appears to have been written first and foremost in another language (German?). This is OK, but the default language is not English and figuring out how to switch it can be a head scratcher. Simply click on the British flag icon to do this. Easy enough, but there is nothing that tells you to do this, and even clicking on the flag doesn't indicate that the language has changed (but you can see the words change, so that might be a minor gripe but as a computer programmer myself, I would expect something like this)
- At one step during the tuning process (step 3 I think) it tells you to click "Continue" but the button is grayed out and un-usable. After a minute or two it becomes available. This had me confused the first time I went through the process as when it DOES become available, its can be hard to notice its not grayed out any longer.
- You must open a port, or turn off your PC firewall, else the program will not connect to the IPF servers.

I tuned my car several times during my testing and never had a problem. Worked every time!

PERFORMANCE:
Now to the part of this review you actually care about.

I will talk only about the ECM tune, as that's is all I have really tested thus far. The first thing that was apparent to me is the throttle response. It IS quicker...its better. Even revving the car in neutral, the response is better. Immediately when driving the car, I could feel a nice increase in initial throttle response and low end pull. I'm not sure how the IPF tune accomplishes this, whether its through torque management reduction, or increased throttle input or more, but it is there. This is something I never felt with the Trifecta tune. I actually went back to stock to see if maybe it was the resetting of the ECM that was causing the better feel in power, but that was simply not the case. Barking the tires is indeed easier. Lugging up fairly steep inclines on the highway in 6th gear also seems easier.

Now, nailing it on the road. Here is where I was expecting the most, as the dyno charts I've seen for IPF always showed a nice, but steady increase in mind and even upper rpm power. But I can't say I was as impressed in this area as the low end pull. I certainly didn't lose power, but trying to feel the gains while doing hard pulls on the highway is a diffcult thing to do which just my "butt dyno" lol.

So I broke out the Torque app for my Android to compare stock versus IPF tunes. This was after I had already installed IPF, then went back to stock to record this video, then back to IPF again. In a nutshell, the Torque app uses Bluetooth and an OBD-II Bluetooth module so I can monitor the ECM while driving, and also measure performance. The following video was taken a few weeks back in 80ish degree temps. I tried to describe the testing in the video so please watch it fully to understand what I did and see the results at the end. Basically, I ran the car in 3rd gear WOT, similar to a dyno run measuring 40 - 100 mph times, nailing it at 35 mph each time. The runs starts uphill so I'm sure it would have been quicker on flat ground.



The results speak for themselves, and according to what I found, there appears to be an improvement across the entire RPM range. I guess this area is just much harder to notice compared to the low end aspect of the tune.
If I had to bicker about anything, I'll say that the car appears to shift into 3rd a bit quicker than I feel it should under normal driving conditions. I don't know if this is somehow do to the increased throttle response in the low end, but I wish it would give me just a bit more rpm before shifting into 3rd....this is while on the STOCK transmission tune.

Overall I am very happy with my purchase and glad to be an IPF customer. I hope this review helps to answer any questions you may have.

[Desertion]

There's a lot of interesting things in this review, nice write up! And you weren't kidding about in debth!

[KaBoom1701]

Not bad.

Thx for the write up!

I'm about to go under the IPF knife myself soon.

[ASH@IPF-TUNING]

Hi Keith

From my side there is nothing to correct !!

I always enjoyed the technical discussions with you in the past and always tried to explain all your questions in an understandable way !

We are working on a new operator software that is able to switch to multiple languages and have some automatic internet port helper for all worldwide customers that have problems to connect with our data server !!

Looking forward to meet all my IPF-Tuning family in Arizona from next week the next 4 weeks me and my family will stay in the USA !!

Greets Arno Schindler
EDS motorsport and IPF tuning

[KaBoom1701]

Originally Posted by ASH@IPF-TUNING

Hi Keith

From my side there is nothing to correct !!

I always enjoyed the technical discussions with you in the past and always tried to explain all your questions in an understandable way !

We are working on a new operator software that is able to switch to multiple languages and have some automatic internet port helper for all worldwide customers that have problems to connect with our data server !!

Looking forward to meet all my IPF-Tuning family in Arizona from next week the next 4 weeks me and my family will stay in the USA !!

Greets Arno Schindler
EDS motorsport and IPF tuning

Enjoy your stay in AZ with Andy and the gang.

I flew out from Southern California visited their shop a few weeks ago. I spoke with Andy about the IPF supercharger and planned my next visit to a have it installed in a few month. I hear that a new catch can solution may be in the works as well....

I do like this kit as I can remove it quickly for smog certs here in California.

I'm surprised this IPF S/C kit hasn't sold more?

[MagnumForceGB]

Glad you are enjoying the tune, Arno knows what he is doing. Now take the next step and put a Supercharger on.

[DSX_Camaro]

Very cool to see this in action! Thanks for the review!

[Nutbutt]

Arizona in the summer time Arno ? Upper Mongolia in the winter ? Boy you can pick your trips :-).
How about NewEngland in the fall ? Pretty leaves, and tuning tweaks?
Safe travel !

['11CamaroLS]

Great review. Waiting too see how hptuners pans out, but if nothing really i'll get ipf. I'm not happy with trifecta and the lack of customer service. I did notice in your video on stock runs your timing advance is 27-28 peaking at 100+ mph at 29. And on ipf tune its 28-29 peaking at 30-31 at 100+ mph. On my trifecta tune I'm always 27-28 at wot only time I'm more is on e85 if I remember right it was 28-29. Just something I realized confirming your butt dyno and feel lol.

[Jchuba03]

I too have the IPF tune and definitely agree with the throttle response statement. It's easily the most notable improvement brought on by the tune. I actually chirped my tires in the dealership parking lot on accident because it caught me way off guard haha

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by ASH@IPF-TUNING

Hi Keith

From my side there is nothing to correct !!

I always enjoyed the technical discussions with you in the past and always tried to explain all your questions in an understandable way !

We are working on a new operator software that is able to switch to multiple languages and have some automatic internet port helper for all worldwide customers that have problems to connect with our data server !!

Looking forward to meet all my IPF-Tuning family in Arizona from next week the next 4 weeks me and my family will stay in the USA !!

Greets Arno Schindler
EDS motorsport and IPF tuning

Thanks for the response Arno! I'm glad to hear you guys are making updates to the software!

Originally Posted by '11CamaroLS

Great review. Waiting too see how hptuners pans out, but if nothing really i'll get ipf. I'm not happy with trifecta and the lack of customer service. I did notice in your video on stock runs your timing advance is 27-28 peaking at 100+ mph at 29. And on ipf tune its 28-29 peaking at 30-31 at 100+ mph. On my trifecta tune I'm always 27-28 at wot only time I'm more is on e85 if I remember right it was 28-29. Just something I realized confirming your butt dyno and feel lol.

Oh yes...this is something I meant to mention in my review but totally forgot lol (I typed a lot, so forgive me!). You are correct, the IPF tune appears to peak at 30 - 31 timing advance while stock never really hits 30, so another change for the good I'd say!

[rtcat600man]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Thanks for the response Arno! I'm glad to hear you guys are making updates to the software!



Oh yes...this is something I meant to mention in my review but totally forgot lol (I typed a lot, so forgive me!). You are correct, the IPF tune appears to peak at 30 - 31 timing advance while stock never really hits 30, so another change for the good I'd say!

Thanks for the HUGE write-up and congrats again on your new baby.
Interesting comment on the timing. As I have data logged my Trifecta Tune and sent it into Vince. One of the things he noticed a while ago was that my timing was too high. Upwards of those same numbers that IPF is reporting. He felt it should be slightly lower and they tweaked it back down. I will go back and look at what I had sent him and what he tweaked it back down to. Personally if felt better at the track with the higher timing. But I never ran it that way again. Maybe I should re-load the old tune and try it again at the track........hmmmm.

[GearHeadPeter]

I will be getting my IPF tune this Thursday from Arno and Andy. Andy and I tired last week, but had issues as the tune would not work. I had Trifecta and removed it using their suite. Even did an MDI update, but we found out later from Arno that the MDI update was not completing all the updates, and the ECU was locked. We did get the car into running mode but w/o all the MDI updates.

Thank GOD for eBay as I found a new ECU as it was a never installed surplus ECU. This Thursday IPF will install it, flash it with my VIN and do a MDI update. After that the IPF tune gets loaded. Can't wait.

[slotwheels]

Is this IPF tune for regular 87 or premium 91-93 gas? Or do you have a choice between the two?