There are always risks involved in modifying a vehicle. It is up to you to properly maintain your vehicle and reduce that risk as much as possible.

Factory tunes are designed to reduce emissions and to suit every vehicle coming out of the plant, and this typically leaves a very large 'safety margin'.

Tuning the engine will put potentially additional strain on your engine and drivetrain, which will require diligent oil changes, spark plug changes etc. to keep it running 100%.

Driving habits may also need to change to reflect the increase in performance (improper shifting, lugging the engine, smooth acceleration etc.).

Unless the ECU itself is the source of the warranty issue, tuning will generally not be a concern or consideration for warranty claims. We also provide the ability to return the ECU to OEM calibration, removing the tune completely until after servicing is complete.

Further, dealerships lack the ability to detect custom flashed tuning files. They may be able to view flash count, but not that the tables have been modified.

While the possibility always exists for a dealership to deny a claim, it's very unlikely and not something we've ever seen actually happen.

We do not offer pops or bangs with any of our custom tuning. It causes additional strain and wear on some very expensive components, and traditionally is a sign of a poorly calibrated tune.

Pops/bangs/crackles are an available option with the OTS kits, as the included calibration files are built by VersaTune.

Not on its own. Tuning inherently improves the efficiency of your engine, allowing the same setup to produce more torque for the same RPM and throttle position. This means that you will be given the opportunity to use more fuel (more throttle usage = more air = more fuel), but daily driving/cruising situations will actually use less fuel. Your engine is able to perform the same tasks as before, with less exertion.

Driving habits, maintenance habits, and excess cargo are the primary factors in fuel economy.

No you certainly do not NEED to run a higher octane on most setups, with exceptions for turbo/supercharged and certain OTS calibration files. Improvements can be made with 89 or even 87 octane, though they will be severely limited in comparison to premium. Higher octane will allow the ignition timing to be advanced further, which equates to more torque.

However, once you decide on an octane level and the tuning process is initiated and subsequently completed, you must continue to use the same fuel octane. Switching to a lower octane has the potential to cause damage, and switching to a higher octane will be of no benefit.

Is it more expensive than regular? Yes.

Is it as expensive as you think? Probably not.

Switching to 91 octane will cost an additional $150-200 per year on average in the Vancouver area. (10L/100km and 10k km per year)