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Everyone Beware Of ADC (Arizona Dyno Chip)!!!!!!

svt4stv said:
yep, the cobra tuner i go to refuses to sell any mail order tunes because he said they always have problems and make the tuner look bad. he'll only do it on the dyno, and his are considered top notch in the area.
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I was looking at the Special Forces Software to do my SVT as I want to get rid of the Superchip. You can build your own basic tune using a laptop, and to fine tune, assumption is that it is similar in principle to most of the better tuning products.
 
You might consider going to a lawyer and paying him to draft a demand letter. You paid for a usable tune, which they have failed to provide you. I would think that since they refuse to refund your money, and you haven't received what you paid for, then they're guilty of theft. Sometimes the 'Lawyer Letter' and the threat of a lawsuit will give them the kick they need to do what they agreed upon.
 
I know that DanG had a horrible time getting a decent base tune out of ADC and eventually ended up getting it dyno tuned locally in Manasas, VA.

I have a base tune for my 3L waiting to go in ... from Warmonger of course!
 
IRingTwyce said:
You might consider going to a lawyer and paying him to draft a demand letter. You paid for a usable tune, which they have failed to provide you. I would think that since they refuse to refund your money, and you haven't received what you paid for, then they're guilty of theft. Sometimes the 'Lawyer Letter' and the threat of a lawsuit will give them the kick they need to do what they agreed upon.
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I think what he may have to do is first get a tune from someone else whether it be a mail order tune from brendspeed or a dynotune from someone else, and have them vouch that nothing was wrong with the car to prevent them from giving you an insufficient tune. As of right now, its basically his word against ADC.
 
ADC totally fell apart right around the time they changed their name.. Keyser left... etc.

I would never consider getting a tune from them mailorder... or dyno tune after seeing their tunes and hearing about their customer service. I mean the customer service thing is the biggest thing in the world.

However I should say that it's up to the car owner to make sure their car is runing right if they are ging to get a mail order tune.
 
I've gotten dicked by ADC too. I can't get a response from them at all. I had a tune from them that worked fine, except for the speed limiter wasn't removed. They told me to get a XCal2 for an extra $300 and they could fix it. Well after almost a year the tune is about right again but the speed limiter, the very reason I spent another $300, still isnt' removed. Last I heard from them, many many months ago, we were going to send my stock program over to SCT so they could look at it, but they stopped responding to me and wont answer the phone.

This sucks big time. What a waste of $300 and a lot of time. I think my only option is to try to contact SCT directly.
 
rkneeshaw said:
I've gotten dicked by ADC too. I can't get a response from them at all. I had a tune from them that worked fine, except for the speed limiter wasn't removed. They told me to get a XCal2 for an extra $300 and they could fix it. Well after almost a year the tune is about right again but the speed limiter, the very reason I spent another $300, still isnt' removed. Last I heard from them, many many months ago, we were going to send my stock program over to SCT so they could look at it, but they stopped responding to me and wont answer the phone.

This sucks big time. What a waste of $300 and a lot of time. I think my only option is to try to contact SCT directly.
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Try to get at least the tune file from ADC. From what I've seen in the SCT forums, you might be able to send it to one of the SCT staff for them to do the edit.
 
Tourige said:
Mail order tunes suck. The only way to get a good tune is on a dyno with someone who knows how a car actually works.

For instance. The guy that tuned my car (Cam at Lightspeed Innovations) Tuned a Stock CSVT about a year ago, When i got my car tuned we decided to start off with the old tune he used on the other CSVT. Basically nothing worked and the car ran like crap, so we changed a bunch of things and pretty much built a brand new tune. My car needed a LOT more fuel than the other one and some more timing.

Just my .02
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Oh I don't know about that. I've mail order tuned probably 6 different cars and I can seem to get them running pretty darn good. If not I keep trying till its right.
 
Guys I am the orginal 3rd turbo kit out the door for ADC. I blew two stock motors not reall y sure if it was tuned right but I not going to point fingers but Keyser (Chris) was the life saver of my struggles when he was with Keith. He should have been his second equal partner because when Chris left he went downhill. I spent over 10k with ADC if not more and I recently bought the xcal2 from him for 500 bucks (high) but a loyal customer I paid. His tune never worked and man he would screen his calls and watch his caller ID. I spent endless weeks waiting for a new tune but heck I spent thousands more than most here with him and I still receieved no resolution of my problems.

So then there came the light Tom (warmonger) took on the challenge to tune my car and unreal he was right on the money once you had the basics fundamentals right. I have a very reliable car and I love my tune.........

But guys you must buy a AEM or some kind of wideband trust me you can tune the car at home with him. One trip to the dyno can cost you the price of the wideband trying to tune it.

Spend 300 on a Guage and 150-200 tune with Tom and save yourself the headaches and be able to sleep knowing you can see your A/F every second.

Keith has moved on from us he has more money in the drag cars and f bodies than we ever give him. Though I agree he should not treat us that way since one day it may effect his business.

Give Tom a try I bet you will never look back or even say ADC name again. Heck who knows one day one of us may make a affordable kit heck I even thought about it since some of us have the time to do so.

GL though joey
 
Its sad to see ADC becoming like a lot of shops Ive heard nightmares about. Too bad they arent like Street Flight like the good ole days.

Well, I think this definetely puts the nail in the coffin that ADC wont be making anymore turbo kits for the contour anymore. :cry: This pretty much tells me that Keith doesnt want to deal with Contours anymore.

On a side note. I wonder how many kits they produced?
 
Just moved to tucson and was thinking about going down the road and getting a tune through ADC. After reading the post about the poor service i am thinking about staying away.

If i decide to stay away from ADC what would you suggest i do for a tune? Buy the XCAL?
 
The complaints are only for their mail order service... which they have since stopped offering. I just got dyno tuned there a couple weeks ago... and my car runs better than it has ever ran before. This is compared to the OEM tune and even a mail order tune from a different company.

If you're local, I wouldn't disregard them as a valuable tuner. There was a Focus dyno day there 3 months ago, and everyone had about 15-20 minutes on the dyno. He spent about an hour on mine and 45 mins on another Contour... datalogging while dynoing, and adjusting some stuff via my xcal2.
 
I had some problems with my xcal tunes from ADC and contacted SCT. One of their guys fixed my tunes for free.

I then upgraded to warmonger tunes, and I highly recommend him. The best customer service, and he really knows these cars.
 
Just to add to the fun...

I bought an xcal2 and 'unlimited' mail order tuning from ADC when I first turbo'd my car. Sadly, me experience is a bad as the rest. Constantly insisting that my install was flawed. Promised tunes within days and they never showed up. I believe over about 60 days I got 3 tunes from them. The original file on the xcal (which i paid overnight shipping for, was sent to the wrong address, overnight not refunded), and about two other files that all were terrible. I would provided datalogs within hours of recieveing the tune files and then wait weeks for a responce.

You guys are sooo right about screen calls. Keith was/is NEVER around!!!

I eventually threw in the towel, cut my losses and stopped calling and e-mailing.

Went with Warmonger and will never go anywhere else with this car. His baseline tune was far better than ADC 3rd iteration.

So, mail order can be done well. Go with Nautilus and Tom (warmonger), follow his advice and enjoy your ride....and typically extra $$ in your pocket too.

I hate to admit this but my xcal and 'unlimited' tunes was 620$ from ADC.
 
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