E-tuning is a rather simple concept that is very similar to dyno tuning. However, it requires more effort from the owner of the vehicle. With standard dyno tuning, you bring your car to a performance shop with a dynamometer where it is typically rated in horsepower and torque. The dyno technician then performs "pulls", each at different throttle positions, rpm, and load, then adjusts the cars ECU to fine tune the air and fuel ratio to obtain optimal stoichiometricity. After using this information, he then fine tunes the car for optimum power levels.
E-Tuning is very similar, but instead of bringing the vehicle to a performance shop, you can perform the ECU tuning at your leisure. This is very convenient for people who don’t live within driving distance of a dyno shop. While convenient, it requires additional cables and computer software programs that must be purchased by the owner. These additional materials often equate to the cost of transporting the vehicle to a dyno, but can also be less expensive depending on several factors.
A baseline “pull” is performed on the street by the owner to log ECU data and determine a baseline. This information is then sent to the tuner via email, where various adjustments are made to the cars "ROM" file. An edited ROM is then returned to the owner, and then reflashed to the car. Usually more data must be logged under load, so the owner must perform another pull, in order to adjust the cars ECU to fine tune the air/fuel ratio. This process is repeated as many times as is necessary to obtain the desired power levels.
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