alumacomp Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Howdy. Brand new to the forum and just purchased a 2010 MKS with 2500 km. I love the car so far, but want a little more in throttle response and seat in the pants get up and go. I am familiar with tuning having done so with my Mustang. In reading on this forum it seems like a number of members started out with the Livernois Stage 2 but moved up to 3 or 4+. I only have access to 91 octane and since the MKS is primarily the wife's car would be comfortable staying with Stage 2 as long as it improved performance. So my question is simple, is it work paying the money for the Stage 2 tune? Will I feel and appreciate it? Any feedback would be welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKsuperman Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Talked with Rick today and you can run the stage 3 on 91. I have an 11 MKS and plan on getting 2 thru 4 but run 3 for the daily commute. You will get a choice of tunes you want so just get them all and give it a shot, thats my plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpd1151 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Short answer..... yes. Even if just for the change in shift points, and crisper shifts overall. You (or your wife for that matter) will appreciate the uptick in the "butt dyno" as well. Stage 2 is a nice bump from OEM, w/o the overall insanity of the 4+ But be forewarned, you may be fighting the inevitable as you are correct, most of us transitioned from the 2 ourselves. Welcome to the EBOF family :welcome: Fantastic to see so many new members signing up recently (think we've had nearly 2 dozen in just the last 1.5weeks or so).... So thanks for registering, congrats on the purchase, and spread the word around about us :thumb: Mike :yo: Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Yes, I actually ran Stage 2 for months before and after Stages 4 and 4+ were available. I personally liked Stage 2 much better then Stage 3. The Stage 2 gave the best performance increase for the money I had ever spent. Don't wait get the tunes and once you have installed Stage 2 you will be amazed at how much stronger the car feels. I highly recommend it. You won't be disappointed with Stage 2 and you can comfortably run it with 91 octane. BTW, just FYI I am currently running Stage 4+ for my daily driving on 93 octane. It has worked great, I have seen increases in both performance and my fuel mileage in normal driving. That Livernois gang has found a great combination and it is GREAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Good to see so many new MKS owners here! I too am priming for a Livernois on my MKS. I just want to wait until a little more of my warranty is used up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcoBrick Bob Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 There are some real deals on used low mile MKS on Auto Trader! Dealer in FL has an 11' Pearl White loaded with 11K for under $32.K As for tuning... Tranny tune was the best part of the package early on. Ford just wasn't getting it right! Also, tunes, if driven as you did un-tuned, will almost always get better mileage. BUT... most people drive em' like they stole it after tuning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve142857 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Good to see so many new MKS owners here! I too am priming for a Livernois on my MKS. I just want to wait until a little more of my warranty is used up. I have been debating about the pertinency of waiting until warranty is over before tuning the car. I understand people being afraid, but I believe it is better to tune it while under warranty... at least if anything goes wrong, you still have a chance to have it repaired under warranty. If you wait after and it breaks, you are sure to have to pay for it yourself... I think it is good to drive it a bit to make sure you didn't get a «bad car», but then, the sooner the better... Not only for the reason mentioned above but also, you will enjoy the car the way it was meant to be programmed. Just saying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Not to mention that Livernois has had zero failures and over 200 cars tuned...perhaps Rick could update the number of cars tuned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 ^^ Not worried abour Rick's work - he has enough of a track record here! I am worried something else breaks and they blame the tune (incorrectly). After the thread here about the exhaust allegedly voiding a warranty (ultimately corrected by another dealer), I am chicken, because my dealer is not very good and I have no repoire with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve142857 Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Not to mention that Livernois has had zero failures and over 200 cars tuned...perhaps Rick could update the number of cars tuned? I believe it is closer to 250 now, but much more F150 ecoboost tuned than SHO apparently... 0 failure. Rick, please update numbers if you read this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 ^^ Not worried abour Rick's work - he has enough of a track record here! I am worried something else breaks and they blame the tune (incorrectly). After the thread here about the exhaust allegedly voiding a warranty (ultimately corrected by another dealer)' date=' I am chicken, because my dealer is not very good and I have no repoire with them.[/quote'] I completely understand, I am so glad that I have a great dealer, having good relation with a dealership can not be understated. Regardless of brand, if you have a dealer that takes care of you, it really can make the whole ownership experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 ^^ So very true. There is one other dealer, less convenient, that is a stand alone Ford dealer (no Lincoln), that I may try next for warranty service. Perhaps if I can establish a good relationship with them, I will tune sooner than later. No kidding, the only Ford/Lincoln dealer in the whole area here truly is sub-par. And my only remaining choice is the other Ford dealer farther waway that I mentioned. Conversely, we make GMs here in Lansing (Traverse/Acadia/Enclave/CTS/ATS/etc) and there are about a dozen GM dealers close by, and I love them, and have tuned while under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alumacomp Posted August 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Thanks for the replies and the welcome to the forum. I would like to hear from more owners about their experiences with Stage 2 and performance improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobback Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Isn't the verdict still out if Ford can tell if the car has been tuned; if you turn back to stock? I know on other brands the dealer can tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vernonator Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Isn't the verdict still out if Ford can tell if the car has been tuned; if you turn back to stock? I know on other brands the dealer can tell. Yes they can tell. How long since it was reset and how many starts it has had since....so no jury is in and they can tell it has reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve142857 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 My dealer told me that : «Our car is a Taurus, not a Mustang... So, Ford Motor don't bother investigating». If you arrive with a broken tranny on a Taurus, they just rebuild it and that's it... I think people are too worried... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhenne4 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 My dealer told me that : «Our car is a Taurus' date=' not a Mustang... So, Ford Motor don't bother investigating». If you arrive with a broken tranny on a Taurus, they just rebuild it and that's it... I think people are too worried...[/quote'] I lol'd at that. Glad to see dealers have humor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fueld13 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Isn't the only difference from stage 2 to 3 shifting dynamics? I would also love to hear users thoughts on 2 vs 3. Is the shifting drastically different or too firm with stage 2? Also, is it just preference or do you actually gain performance increases (1/4 mile times) with the firmer shifting of stage 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 When Livernois put out Stage 4+ they seem to have picked the reduced torque management of stage 2 not the removed torque management of Stage 3. They could have offered 2 versions of Stage 4+ but instead they just picked the one. I'm going to assume they had a reason. I ran Stage 3 for a while and loved the firm shifts,but now that I'm used to 4+ I love that also. Actually not a huge difference in how it feels in my opinion. The real difference is how much better my tuned car shifts compared to stock. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imminent Rueage Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 ...Welcome to the EBOF family :welcome: Fantastic to see so many new members signing up recently (think we've had nearly 2 dozen in just the last 1.5weeks or so).... So thanks for registering, congrats on the purchase, and spread the word around about us :thumb: Mike :yo: Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 This is turning out to be a really great forum Mike. I came from F150online.com which was a GREAT automotive community to be a part of and this place is turning out to be just as good, if not better. There is definitely a lot less "bickering" that goes on here, but I think that is partly due to the fact that this is a relatively new forum and we don't have any of those members with "senioritis". All of you who help support and maintain the forum have been doing a great job. Keep it up. :cheer2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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