Mechanic to tune indidual vehicle better outcome than preset ECU Maps

[storfix]

Gday fellas.

There are countless threads on ECU modification and map flashes available to our VW Golfs. A lot of these companies such as Bluefin send maps through and we can upload these ourselves.

I somehow dont believe this is a good way as each car is different and as a result of fixed remaps, cars may run leaner for example.

Wouldnt it be better to go to a mechanic and tune the car on a dyno for a customized job?
I believe the costs are about the same and the map can be re-flashed as many times as you want (u get to keep the map) and will be unique to each vehicle.

Please help me clear my thoughts on this.

Thanks very much.

T.

[stickshift3000]

A custom tune can* be better when trying to achieve 100% perfect fuelling.

Is it worth the time and cost when off the shelf maps will suit 99% of us? Not for me it's not...


*A lot depends on a proficient operator.

[h100vw]

Off the shelf maps are a great deal better than you imagine.

For a nearly standard spec car or even a slightly modified one, these maps have been flashed to hundreds if not thousands of cars Worldwide. Could that compare to a one off map by someone who doesn't work on VW/Audi/Skoda everyday?

All these maps are written to leave a safe margin and all the standard protection remains.

I would say getting a one off tune could be more risky. Does your selected tuner know the ins and outs of Bosch ECUs well enough to mess around inside the code?

You can read the internet from now until Christmas and not find a snag on a off the shelf tune, that didn't prove to be hardware related.

You'll have a dyno to show the gains though.

I truly believe an established VW tuner would be the way to go for 99.9999999% of the public.

Cheers

Gavin


EDIT.

If the guy spent all day tuning your car and you weren't happy. Would you get a refund? Ask that question of all the guys on here. You can have your money back from me, no drama.

[TomC]

I somehow dont believe this is a good way as each car is different and as a result of fixed remaps, cars may run leaner for example.

Happy to be corrected/informed on this one, but... I can't see the relevence in taking into account small inconsistancies in fuelling etc car-to-car when all of those parameters are going to be overwritten by the tune anyway?

What benefit is there in knowing such inconsistancies when doing a custom tune? And if a manufacturer was producing engine tunes with such large inconsistancies I would have thought there'd be bigger concerns than doing a custom tune? Surely the inconsistancies are miniscule?

[DNA Tuning]

I find the older the car, the more messing around/fine tuning is required but for generally new'ish vehicles (under 10 years old or under 100k kms, etc.) as long as they are properly maintained, there's not much a custom tune can do.

Of course, for custom mods, now that's a different story!

[zbeasty]

Custom tunes really come into their own when you have extensive mods. Depending on the dyno operator you'll pay between $100 and $200 per hour plus whatever time it takes the tuner to do the changes to the file. If they already have a base tune for your mods then it will be faster but the gains you make over the base tune will probably not be that great. I know there is someone in Qld offering custom tunes but I'd like to know how many runs they do on the dyno to get the result. The other issue is the adaption that the computer does after you load a tune. You need to do at least 100km for the computer to make the most of the new file. After that you need to log it again and make sure that you are still getting the best results.

[storfix]

I like how this thread is developing.

TomC - What I meant was could it be possible that after installing an off the shelf tune, the car runs too lean?

H100vw/Zbeasty - So for me to have a worthy custom tune, I should have a tuner who not only knows the ins and outs of Bosch ECUs but also willing to put my car back on the dyno after 100kms to see if my computer has followed to the new curve, all for the set price that I'm willing to pay?

What sort of questions should I ask to assess if he knows Bosch ECUs well enough? TBH, he looks like a Jap car expert.

Cheers fellas.

T.

[TomC]

TomC - What I meant was could it be possible that after installing an off the shelf tune, the car runs too lean?

The question I raised though (and I'm no expert on this btw) is that if fueling is set by the tune, then how could it run lean? It could only run lean if other parameters of the ecu were altered but fueling was kept stock, but I know for a fact that fueling is altered by a off-the-shelf retune, so I can't see how the car could run lean. It would run as the parameters have been set by the tune...

[stickshift3000]

What sort of questions should I ask to assess if he knows Bosch ECUs well enough? TBH, he looks like a Jap car expert.

Sounds like an off-the-shelf solution is what you need. It's a no-brainer to me if you have doubts over this tuner's abilities with vw software...

Unless you have massively modified hardware (think bigger turbo etc) then an off-the-shelf map will save you money, be just as effective, and involves less risk when it comes to the tuner's unknown abilities with this software.

[dave_r]

T, a lot of people here love to push the off the shelf flash tune. I have one and think its pretty average. Gimme a custom job over some monkey downloading one from the internet any day!

That said, you need to find a competent tuner who is familiar with the vehicle. I'm not aware of such a tuner in Melbourne as yet but I haven't looked very hard either.

[kaanage]

What tuning company did your remap, dave_r?
I can't fault 2 of the remaps that I'd had supplied for my car (the 3rd is waiting for the next trackday).

[storfix]

I'm curious to find out what you got too Dave_r?

How about you kaanage?

Cheers, T.

[dave_r]

APR

...10char

[kaanage]

I guess the more highly tuned a car comes as stock, the less impressive effect of just a remap alone?

Mine are from Viezu and since my car (Polo TDi) comes in a very mildly tuned state, the remaps have a very pronounced effect and are quite distinctive.

[parso_rex]

I can't really reply with a non-biased answer as we do both Custom and pre built/preset remaps. Zbeasts car is a custom tune of course and I could not simply roll this onto another car without some work but for many of the cars we touch we may use a pre-tuned base file then modify this to suit the customers or perhaps our requirements be it hardware fuel or whatever. I do like the pre packaged non custom tunes cause I can just load the file and walk away without any stress but of course most people want that bit more or just like seeing me crawl around under the dyno so it rarely happens.
Unfortunately for me It is in fact very complex and a great time consumer so unless your right into that particular ECU variant the tuned files are a good place to start.