I reached out to them on IG and they sent me their link:
https://www.mforce.ca/product/lexus-...formance-tune/

Friend of mine was saying I'd probably blow my cats out (because of the fuel being burned in that area) and I asked mforce.ca how it works and they said "it delays ignition timing" (not really sure what that means).

What're your guys thoughts?

Do this mod if you hate your car.

I did read that it is unsafe and could damage your catalytic converter. I reached out to mforce about this concern, they have yet to get back to me. It sounds really good to me though

Although it would be cool, this is horrible for your car and is definitely not worth in the long run and this is coming form me a 17 year old kid who loves attention about his car 😭

Pretty much going to echo what everyone has said already...it's super cool but will pretty much destroy your engine and exhaust after prolonged use.

mforce replied saying (when I said the cats could blow out): "i understand your concern, but even if a car without a tune cause a catalytic converter failure. BMW M series have some burble, does it kill the engine? also depends on the exhaust you have. there is a possibly it may damage the cat, but pop&bang feature is an option you can choose add it or not, if you want it you take the risk"

pretty much a HUGE no go.

I think the keyword there is "burble".
Burble is a long way from pop and bang...with visible flames coming out the exhaust tips.
Burble can be achieved with the right exhaust setup even with the stock cats.

I get they are trying to sell a product and also not trying to corner themselves into a lawsuit saying "it's fine, you have nothing to worry about".
They are basically putting the onus on the end-user...but then again almost all aftermarket performance parts have that "For Off Road Use Only" or "For Race Use Only" disclaimer.

Pretty shady business practice if you ask me. When I first messaged them, I asked if they had the pop/bang tune for IS 250/350 and they said yes and immediately linked me to where I could make the purchase. It's not until I told them I heard it can cause damage to the cats / engine they gave me the "if you want to do it, you can" line. They should've disclosed it first, especially because these IS's are mostly used as dailies, they're expensive, and they're relatively new. Why would anyone want to F up their relatively new car? Left a sour taste in my mouth.

Remove your cats...

But as the others have said, this isn't good for your car. If you're looking for attention, especially from cops and social media, then this is what you want. Keep in mind, the tuners are doing this for the specific purpose of pops and bangs, not for performance or driveability which is why they're essentially try at your own risk.

You ask why anyone would want to F up their relatively new car? Well, why would anyone want to add pops and bangs to their relatively new car? Cars aren't naturally making these pops and bangs, they're being tuned to do so which is not in the best interest of the car. Anytime you modify your car, or use an aftermarket tune, there's an inherent risk the owner takes. Some businesses will warranty their work but they'll also look for any reason to blame the user for user error purposes to void the warranty.

No, my question was, why would a business sell an item which would knowingly damage your vehicle. It's not even just that, I first asked, "do you have the pop / bang tune for the IS250 / 350" and they said yes and immediately linked me to where I could purchase it. They gave me no indication that this is bad for your engine or could cause issues UNTIL I asked. And then at that point, they still tried to coerce me into thinking it's safe by saying "BMW M cars have it, will it kill their engine?" My concern is why would a company put a consumer at risk with such a valuable item (such as our cars) not that I have a valuable car and I want to go F it up. I have a muffler and resonator delete on the car which I've never done before but did research what effects it could have on the car (which are basically none except increase air flow). You said "delete your cat", without mentioning the implications of the check engine light going off in the car.

A friend of mine has a pop/bang tune on his 370Z and he can switch it on or off at will depending on what mode he is in his car. If mforce offered that, that would be good instead of getting your car tuned by them and it being stuck that way until you wanted to make a change.

Sorry when I said delete your cat, I assumed you’d understand you would require a o2 adapter to remove the CEL or a tune to remove it.

Even then, if you didn’t run an o2 sensor adapter you would be fine if the CEL was on. It does not do long term damage. The downstream sensor is only there to tell you something is wrong but if you’re catless you already know what’s wrong lol. The Secondary o2 sensor measures the temperature of your exhaust gas in the catalytic converter as the exhaust gas chemically reacts to the minerals in the catalytic converter. If it’s too hot, it triggers the CEL indicating a malfunction in your catalytic converter or o2 sensor. A simple adapter would fix that or a tune turning it off. If you were running catless with other supporting mods, you’d definitely want a tune to maximize your parts to optimize your performance. Pops and bangs don’t maximize performance. It’s a show feature, not a daily driver performance upgrade.

Even if you had the ability to flash to pops and bangs to stock, you’re still doing harm to your engine running the pop and bang tune just for kicks. They sell it because people want it. And they probably have some disclaimer that releases them of such liability.

You might want to recheck that line above I bolded...O2 sensor measures the oxygen content in the exhaust gas...it doesn't have a temperature sensing capability.

yes you are correct I was inaccurate in my explanation I messed up lol. My bad it was late. It is an o2 sensor not a temp sensor. Part of the sensors job is comparing the levels against the primary. When I was having problems with my CEL due to my downpipe, part of the explanation was the o2 was too close to the downstream and without the cat, the extra heat and lack of converter caused the o2 levels from the secondary to be off so it causing the CEL. I needed to find a way to distance the o2 sensor from the exhaust gas and put it in a cooler position in the downpipe. By further distancing it, it would help the o2 sensor keep the CEL off by detecting a different oxygen level by being further away. The hotter the fumes the different oxygen levels were being read so I would need the sensor to be further away from being so hot in order to read a good enough level to keep my cel off, sort of tricking it into reading levels it would normally read with a cat.

To get to the point of keeping the CEL off, I just tried a few adapter lengths and restrictors to find the right match. No CEL or P0031 code since then. I did install an exhaust that caused my o2 to rattle loose once causing a CEL. When I checked the code, it wasn’t a P0031. I was using a Harbor Freight tool that read a P0001. I got frustrated trying to figure it out since a P0001 is rare. When I actually got a look at the sensor, first thing I did was try to disconnect the plug and I was really glad to find that it was rattling lol

Alright since nobody I’ve seen on this forum has brain cells or any mechanical knowledge I’m going to explain why it could or could not be bad for your engine. Now if you didn’t delete both primary and secondary cats yes the pop and bang tune is completely not safe for your vehicle. But mforce on the website when you go to buy the tune and tuning machine it clearly states if you don’t just want the performance increase and you want the pop and bang tune you need to have no cats on the vehicle. It will blow your cats out for sure no doubt I’ve seen it. If you de cat your exhaust system fully you will have minimal to no problem with that specific tune. Now that being said you gotta keep up with maintenance especially on tuned vehicles, they will wear harder than stock due to the gain in timing and so forth alone. Yes if not done correctly with proper mods you’ll have issues with pop and bang tunes, if you do it properly with the correct corresponding mods and keep up with simple maintenance you’ll get gains and the sound you want. Definitely isn’t cheap, I just got a half custom exhaust done on my 07’ is250 and it was just around a grand. Still need the CAI and some other supporting mods but if you want this type of tune or power or sound you gotta do it right.

Quick addition to mforce tuning in general, if you want all they have to offer you need to have straight pipes done no muffler no cats no resonator nothing. This is for the flames in specific, regular tune will get you performance increase, pop and bang if possible. Premium is performance increase, pop and bang if possible, flames if possible.