As far as combining a cai and tuner does that matter? What CIA are going to give the best performance with a tune?
Your not really going to go wrong with any cold air intake setup. I would advise a CAI, along with some exhaust work as well, THEN tune it. The tuning process is the tweaking of the fuel maps, spark (timing) and in this case adding it; transmission shift points (since the motor will pull more horsepower out of the higher RPMs due to the new power, you want to take advantage of that by shifting 2-300rpm later. The tune will also take advantage of higher octane points, allowing for increased timing, which is more power.
In a sense, its not the tuner actually giving the car power, it is a tool meant to manipulate the trucks computer to take advantage of power left on the table from the factory AND modifications added aftermarket such as your cold air intakes, exhausts, etc. Even from 5star, he can only dial it in so far as there has to be some margin of error to accommodate altitude, climate, general condition of the engine, etc. If you want to get everything out of a setup, take it to an actual shop and have them tune it with software.
If you installed just a CAI and a catback exhaust on the Raptor and used just a generic handheld, you would net in the neighborhood of a 15-20 rwhp pickup on
93 octane. With a custom loaded tune on a handheld, 25-30whp. With a legit software tune with dyno time, 35-45whp.
