This is my first auto ever in my life, i always was use to rowing my own gears , Unfortuanetly i am not satisfied with just stomping on the gas and going.

I notice from a dead stop if your in 4th and you stomp on it, the car shifts at its desired shift points and the revs fall every time the car shifts until the desired speed. If your going your desired speed in 4th and you want to accelerate or pass someone, you stomp on the gas , hoping the car kicks down fast enough.Sometimes the auto tranny nails it right and sometimes it doesn't.I think all of us can agree on that...

What i found out is to have better acceleration from a dead stop , leave it in 4th , stomp on the gas , when the max gets right around 30-40 mph , shift it into 3rd without letting up on the gas. If you notice , no drops in rpms from the auto tranny shifting, just strait acceleration to the desired speed.Its just a good feeling of a constant pull. I also found out it doesn't make sense when your going your constant speed and mash the gas to go faster because sometimes the auto tranny responds and sometimes it doesn't , so i found out its better to drop it into 3rd then mash the gas. All guessing games from the auto tranny is thrown out the window, so the auto tranny has no reason not to respond when shifted into 3rd.

I found out that since now i have a Intake system and a cat back system the car seems to repsond better to the 3rd gear drop and mashing the gas instead of just mashing the gas in 4th/D.

Hope this helps anybody trying to get the full potential out of there car.

 

why not just leave it in 3rd unless you're highway cruising or being lazy? that way you always have thrust on tap, works for me.

either way autos will lose accel potential because the shift points are way before redline.

 

i know exactly what the OP was talking about, except i downshifted. basically went from D-2-1, 40mph-20mph doing a right angle turn without touching the brakes.

i think i wanna stick shift now... autos aren't as fun.

 

The "drop" occurs at ~4000rpm with or without the overdrive on. At least that's what i have noticed. Which is weird since the VAIS shouldn't kick in until 5000

 

Or you can go see Jeff at "MAXIMUMTUNING" in Long Island & get the VB stage 2 modification done to your tranny . Best investment for tranny life and performance. Shifts on a dime! Jeff is the man There is a link to MaximumTuning on my homepage with all the info you will need.

 

What is this VB mod? Alos for 2002 Maxes what i wrote above works, don't know if it works for 2k,2k1 vehicles.

I had to pull away pretty quickly yesterday and i shifted into 3rd right around 30ish and my max kept pulling strong if i left it in 4th/D.

I tried leaving it in 3rd , for some reason i don't get a strong pull from a dead stop if i romp on the gas. I get a better take off if i leave it in 4th/D then do it. Thats me though...

 

Leaving it in 4th, 3rd, or 2nd on takeoff is the same exact launch. If you want maximum acceleration, shift manually starting in 1st at 6000 RPM (it will actually shift at the limiter that way-there's a minor delay between the level being put into 2nd and the actual shift by the tranny into 2nd), the same for 2nd, and the same for 3rd...

Leaving it in 3rd makes no difference than leaving it in D (4th)...

 

So what your saying is shift manually for all gears? That won't hurt the tranny will it?

 

VB mod? What exactly is that. I dont see any descriptions on the website. How much did this tuning cost you?

 

ok nvm, its valve body mod, but can i get the price, and how long did it take them to do it. A drive from Boston to NYC isnt far, but its still a long ride.

 

shifting manually in autos take practice to get better accel compared to just leaving it in D and mashing the gas. shifting at the precise moment to take advantage of higher rpms isn't as easy in an auto. the computer on the other hand is usually pretty good at getting the shift points right if you're flooring it from a stop.

i've found that the car is able to use more of it's power band by leaving it in 3. from a stop i haven't noticed any difference in accel than any other gear, but once the car is moving it is noticeably more responsive than when in 4th. mainly due to 3rd gear staying closer to the rpm sweet spot.