Your tuner won't give you the password

Being told no — or getting no reply at all — is frustrating when it's your car. It helps to understand why tuners lock files, because that shapes the best way to ask.

Why tuners lock tunes

Password protection is a normal, legitimate part of the trade. A calibration represents hours of skilled work, and locking it protects that work from being copied, stops it being changed without the tuner knowing, and protects their reputation if someone else's edits make the car run badly.

How to ask for access

• Explain why. Moving cities, changing the build, or wanting to learn to tune yourself are all reasonable — say which applies.
• Offer to pay. Many tuners will release a tune or provide an unlocked copy for a fair fee that reflects their work.
• Accept the trade-off. Expect any warranty or ongoing support from them to end once the tune is opened up.
• Get it in writing. If they agree, ask for confirmation by email.

When the tuner is gone

Shops close, tuners retire and phone numbers stop working. If you can't reach the person who made the tune, or they've declined and you still need to work on your own car, you can have the password protection removed from the .nexmap file. We return an unlocked copy — we don't give out the tuner's password and we don't re-lock files.

Upload your tune to see your engine setup read back to you before you pay anything.

More guides: How to tell if your tune is locked · Bought a car with a locked tune?