Great article. I think that is what I was eluding to. Just because the AP is offered to other tuners I would not have them do a custom tune for me. I think Cobb and sounds like GIAC have years and years of experience working on these engines.

 

Yeah, Cobb has generic "OTS (off the shelf)" tunes too. Just because you buy an AP doesn't mean you need to get it custom tuned. You can flash with their preloaded map and call it a day. The ability is there if you want it, which is a great feature in my book. If you have a tuner you trust to tweak to your specific mods, conditions, etc then they have the ability to maximize your performance.

 

Cobb FTW! End of story.

 

OK, I'll play devil's advocate here. I think it's nice to see choices, and I agree that each tuning option has it's individual merits which have all been discussed many times in various other threads.

But "Cobb FTW" is a bit of a bold statement, especially considering no 997.2 or 991 Turbo cars running the Cobb platform have been able to match the performance of GIAC-equipped cars. So, may I be so bold as to say... GIAC FTW.

 

Haha your 997 point maybe valid, but the 991 isn't. Time will tell on the 991.

 

In all fairness I guess that's true. But for now, our 991 software still rocks it.

 

The Cobb sure is nice to be able to plug in, put on tune and then plug it in and put back stock in a few minutes. Does anyone else do that? That to me makes whatever company that can do that win. That and then the company that has spent the most time testing and beating up there own car to ensure perfection.

 

Just out of curiosity, why would you need to go back to stock? For dealer visits, warranty concerns? That's why we offer a complete warranty that covers Champion-equipped cars for the life of your factory or CPO warranty.

And as for time testing our own cars, we've owned both a Turbo and Turbo S since they hit dealer lots. These are our own cars that we use for dyno testing, road testing, 1/4 mile testing, and hardware development. Nothing leaves here until it's passed our "tests". In fact, our Turbo S is currently roaming the streets with some pretty cool new hardware upgrades installed as we speak.

 

That's' awesome. I can't speak for any company other than Cobb as that is all I have ever used.

Yes for dealer visits. While that age old debate rages in forever about warranty and mods it sure made me feel better that the tune was off when sending it in to the dealer.

At the end I am in the camp that if the company wants to know you modded, they do.

 

Tom King Kong in OKC runs Cobb......

 

Kongs 997.1 runs an AP, king kong runs a ProEFI.

Anyway this could go on for days, GIAC makes a great product just made for a different consumer than us I would say.

We test our cars to no end. We spent the better part of 6 months testing non stop in all conditions around the world. From the Caribbean testing in hot humid climates, to testing at Pikes Peak for a month straight, and ultimately winning our class in not just the 991 but a 997.2 tuned on an AP took second. Our calibrations go through a ton of testing before we release them.


We are big on data. We like to be able to datalog cars, see how each one runs and if an adjustment is needed than it can get done, without going anywhere if the customer wants. If the customer wants a custom dyno tune then they can do that as well. They can also uninstall the AP at anytime and sell it or take the car to a dealer.

Honestly both are good options it just comes down to what you are looking for in a calibration.

Hope that helps if anyone has questions feel free to ping me.

mitch.mckee@cobbtuning.com

-Mitch

 

I have no experience with either company, but am interested in comparing the two based on data, features and pricing. Information about guarantees would also be helpful.
The price of the Cobb tune is on their website, but if it is available on the GIAC website, I could not find it. The installation of the Cob system seems straightforward, as does the ability to remove it. I was a bit concerned about one of the graphs that showed an irregular power curve on the Cobb device, but maybe I misinterpreted it. The fact that Cobb subjected its tune to competition is impressive. I do not know if the stock ECU records changes, but obviously that would be good to know as well in the event of an engine or PDK malfunction. Not sure I want to tune my car, but would like as much information as possible.
Subjective claims are not especially helpful. I prefer direct answers to questions that I have posed.

 

It is so predictable how these tuner vs tuner threads go...keep it factual and non personal or this thread will join the hundreds of similar threads in E-Limbo

 

Ha GT3 Chuck is your car painted like a zebra?

I knew it was a matter of time once Cobb released their AP for the 991TT/S this topic would come up.

Tom naturally as GAIC has been a very reputable company and supporting the 997 platform for a very long time comparing records is a bit of propaganda. I am in no way saying things would be different had Cobb been in the game since the first inning however they have been amazing and with their ability to adapt to progression. Also in many ways Cobb has enabled progress.

From my limited understanding of GAIC is that it's more like a menu. And you can have whatever you want as long as it's on their menu.
I don't see that as an issue as I'm sure they have tested many components and have vetted components that do not complement their tune. As Champion and GAIC clearly have vested interest in one another I'm sure they are on the menu.

With Cobb I am tuning my car with the components I have on the car at that time. The Cobb is capable of growing with you as you modify. That's appealing to me as I like to add modifications over time, and test performance (vbox) at every stage.

Having a lot of cars and being in the unique situation where I've had 2 of the very same car, I can with out a doubt tell you every car is different. And often a tune on one car will not work on another, Cobb is nice as you can dial in each car individually.


With all that being said I dislike the use of crescent wrenches, and one size fits all sort of tuning. Spandex is out dated.

 

Just brought car to dealer for a campaign, I un-installed tune, brought car to dealer and performed campaign and re-installed tune. This process took less the 10 minutes. Having several p-cars with tunes in the past, for whatever reason when a dealer performed campaigns, they overwrote ecu and tune needed to be re-installed. This required a trip back to the shop (time and money) to re-install the tune. The Cobb tune is very convenient and the performance is impressive.