No Banks haters please...

[work truck]

I live in Norcal and I am trying to find as much feedback as I can on Banks 6 gun IQ as well as other non smokey MPG and power mods that will allow my truck to remain legal. I have done alot of research on this on other forums and honestly can say no one displays such disdain for banks as this forum. It just seems to me that they have the only serious effort out there for keeping your emission stuff in place. If you know of other emission friendly perf. products, I'd love to hear. I'm considering a water/meth injection.

[blackcloud2k]

banks has always made good safe products, but are expensive for what they are. There are a few other companies out there that I think you would be happier with over the banks products. Both spartan and h&S have dpf on tunes that will keep your truck legal and will net you a little better mpg, and not to much smoke (depending on the tune). But as im sure you have read already you will get the best outcome by deleting you DPF. To stay legal though as you have requested, I would say go with a spartan DPF on tunes and you will be happy.

[jesilvas]

We don't HATE Banks but just have way better stuff than Banks. If you're looking for as little smoke as possible, contact a custom tuner and tell them exactly what you're looking for. They can tune for that. Banks can't. Not individually.

[Dave]

Guys theres a reason he's going with Banks. He's in Cali. With their emissions testing thats starting this year banks is the only tuner he can have and not worry about failing. Banks is CARB approved.

$ per HP is really the only reason I hate Banks.

After BSing with Gale in person he's actually a pretty decent and knowledgable guy

[08stroker250]

Have you looked into Spartan's DPF on tunes? The DashDAQ that Spartan offers is just as nice and capable (if not more) than the Banks iQ.

[work truck]

I have not checked into spartan dpf tunes. What keeps me leaning towards banks is the "clean tune". I know people are rolling their eyes right now, but I've seen guys mention their regens cut in half with the banks canned tune.

[work truck]

Originally Posted by blackcloud2k

banks has always made good safe products, but are expensive for what they are. There are a few other companies out there that I think you would be happier with over the banks products. Both spartan and h&S have dpf on tunes that will keep your truck legal and will net you a little better mpg, and not to much smoke (depending on the tune). But as im sure you have read already you will get the best outcome by deleting you DPF. To stay legal though as you have requested, I would say go with a spartan DPF on tunes and you will be happy.

I'm assuming you have spartan dpf tunes. Are you happy with them? How many miles have you put on? Is your dpf surviving?

[elibenson]

I don't think that Banks is a bad company, just an over-hyped, self-important company. They make good (albeit overpriced) hard parts like exhausts, intakes, turbo kits, etc. Their electronics and tuning is not the best, although according to Banks, it's the only way to stay legal.

If you want to be technical about it, even their products are not legal. Anything that modifies the factory parameters is technically illegal in California.

I can tell you for sure that Spartan's DPF-on tunes work pretty good. It won't net you any more fuel mileage (maybe 1 mpg), but Banks' products won't either. It's just not possible to do that with the DPF in place, no matter how many dollars Banks puts into advertising. The only real benefit that you get out of a tuned DPF-on truck is more driveability. Realistically, by tuning, and using more fuel, it will clog your DPF faster, and will cause more regens, more fuel in the oil, and lower fuel mileage, period. If you are exceedingly careful with your right foot, you may get 1 mpg more.

Basically, if you want to be legal, leave it stock. You will never ever pay for a tuner of any kind in fuel mileage improvement if you don't delete the DPF..

[elibenson]

Originally Posted by Dave

Guys theres a reason he's going with Banks. He's in Cali. With their emissions testing thats starting this year banks is the only tuner he can have and not worry about failing. Banks is CARB approved.

OOps.. Didn't realize they were CARB approved. I guess they would be legal then..

[work truck]

Originally Posted by elibenson

I don't think that Banks is a bad company, just an over-hyped, self-important company. They make good (albeit overpriced) hard parts like exhausts, intakes, turbo kits, etc. Their electronics and tuning is not the best, although according to Banks, it's the only way to stay legal.

If you want to be technical about it, even their products are not legal. Anything that modifies the factory parameters is technically illegal in California.

I can tell you for sure that Spartan's DPF-on tunes work pretty good. It won't net you any more fuel mileage (maybe 1 mpg), but Banks' products won't either. It's just not possible to do that with the DPF in place, no matter how many dollars Banks puts into advertising. The only real benefit that you get out of a tuned DPF-on truck is more driveability. Realistically, by tuning, and using more fuel, it will clog your DPF faster, and will cause more regens, more fuel in the oil, and lower fuel mileage, period. If you are exceedingly careful with your right foot, you may get 1 mpg more.

Basically, if you want to be legal, leave it stock. You will never ever pay for a tuner of any kind in fuel mileage improvement if you don't delete the DPF..

You brought up a good point: drivability. I've read enough threads to know you can't expect significant gains in MPG from a tune, if you keep the dpf. But to have the extra power when you want it whithout clogging the dpf would be cool. As I stated earlier, most of what I've been able to find is that guys are having less regens with Banks. In about 2 months I want to try adding a Snow MPGMAX to whatever dpf tune I get to see what that does for mpg.