Feedback from USERS of Reflashes

[kaoticice]

The proof is in the driving not in a piece of paper..

yeh ur right on that, but i really want to know the gains of torque and kw on specific rpm's. In fact one of my major focus is earlier torque and more torque + kw at the higher rev range.

[maca]

If you don't want any "sermons" get up, go out and get a trial and make up your own mind. Pretty simple hey?

You can trial these things?

[Tick]

Kaoticice, I understand what you are after and reckon it would be difficult to obtain definitive results due to characteristics of each dyno/dyno operator.

I have had tunes from 2 different companies, and while they were on different VAG cars, the characteristics of each are quite different. APR v2 in my Polo GTI had a massive shove quite low in the rev range and seemed to flatten out quite quickly (my experience, others peoples may differ) while the tune I am running at the moment, Bluefin, has certainly increased torque in the lower rev range, it does not seem to flatten out once past 5000 rpm. As for ease of driving, my wife was so impressed with the smoothness post tune. She really loved it.

It seems like I am prattling on here, but it is rather difficult (for me anyway) to convey or explain the exact differences pre and post tune. Probably best to try and hitch a ride with someone who has a tune you are thinking about. Hope this is of some help

[maca]

You see my main issue (and I hope someone can shed some light on this) is how it affects insurance and the whole new car warranty thing. Should anything go wrong with my car I don't want VW to turn around and say "Sorry, it's not covered because you've had the engine remapped".

Also, my brother's told me that these can potentially destroy the ECU on the car.. Is this true?

Anyone have any experience with Superchips Blufin upgrade and why is it so much cheaper than the Oettinger one?

[Maverick]

You see my main issue (and I hope someone can shed some light on this) is how it affects insurance and the whole new car warranty thing. Should anything go wrong with my car I don't want VW to turn around and say "Sorry, it's not covered because you've had the engine remapped".

That's the risk you take, you can change the car back to stock before you get the car serviced or fixed or after an accident so no-one needs to know that you have it.

Some of the companies offer from the cruise control stalk the ability to switch modes and lock the system so it's invisible, others have a box that you plug in to switch and others have a handheld device that rewrites the ECU each time and allows you to change back to stock.

Also, my brother's told me that these can potentially destroy the ECU on the car.. Is this true?

This depends, like anything they can fail but it's very very very rate. I call BS.

Anyone have any experience with Superchips Blufin upgrade and why is it so much cheaper than the Oettinger one?

Different products, different markets, different levels of R&D, different levels of support (one is Brisbane based, the other UK based), different delivery of power, one has a warranty with it as well. Best to research them both yourself and check out their websites for details.

[kaoticice]

Kaoticice, I understand what you are after and reckon it would be difficult to obtain definitive results due to characteristics of each dyno/dyno operator.

I have had tunes from 2 different companies, and while they were on different VAG cars, the characteristics of each are quite different. APR v2 in my Polo GTI had a massive shove quite low in the rev range and seemed to flatten out quite quickly (my experience, others peoples may differ) while the tune I am running at the moment, Bluefin, has certainly increased torque in the lower rev range, it does not seem to flatten out once past 5000 rpm. As for ease of driving, my wife was so impressed with the smoothness post tune. She really loved it.

It seems like I am prattling on here, but it is rather difficult (for me anyway) to convey or explain the exact differences pre and post tune. Probably best to try and hitch a ride with someone who has a tune you are thinking about. Hope this is of some help

damn...then i really must trial all these brands

I think i might try oettinger first, since they have an option for lower powered engine calibration. Once i have the $$$

thx for the help tho,
Ed

[brad]

Anyone have any experience with Superchips Blufin upgrade and why is it so much cheaper than the Oettinger one?

Different power increase, different brand awareness, different warranty, different support structure, different overheads, different greed.

For my 1.8TSI the blufin "releases" considerably less power than the competitors. Still great bang for buck though.

[brad]

Found that the acceleration has become highly aggressive promoting heaps of traction loss. launching the car is extremely difficult now due to the increase in torque at very low revs. Idle is a little more rough - you can feel the vibration in the car more. The DPF clogs up more often and fuel consumption has increased by about 0.8-1L/100km

Have you emailed them about these issues? Bluefin site says "save fuel on turbodiesels or you money back"

[kaoticice]

^ actually /.. just realised that bluefins do have some lower powered calibration

[LotusGTI]

OK. Now I've driven the car another 80kms. Second and third drive impressions are great. I'm still feeling considerable gains everywhere. OK, full throttle in first is not possible under any conditions. Even second is wheel spin central with full throttle. I wound out first slowly and slotted second on a dry down hill start @ 15 degrees ambient and with the TC off and got spin that needed feathering to control. You will need to budget for new tyres far more often if you use the torque these things unleash. I took my car to around the old ton from the legal limit in 6th and was very impressed with how it picked up speed (clearly on my private race track out the back of my house). Unless the car is significantly over engineered, in the long run (i.e. 5+yrs) I can't see how these types of mods are not going to wear the poor things out more quickly. Can't comment of fuel consumption as I've been gunning it everywhere and the tune aparently takes some time to settle with the learning codes. I report on that later.

Mods, thanks for keeping the thread clean. Can we all just concentrate of giving feedback of your own experiences of fiddling with your ECU. Remember, you're supposed to be helping those who have not yet done this and want first hand info.

[kaoticice]

^ thanks alot for the feedback and review mate.. glad you enjoyed the product.... I won't really be concerning on fuel economy, as you could just revert back to stock settings..

Now i cant wait for the next end of year financial sale!!!

[Bug_racer]

This depends, like anything they can fail but it's very very very rare. I call BS.

Would you like to tell that to some of these guys , a few have changed their ecu more than once :

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=915672&page=1

[Bug_racer]

So, for the sake of those wanting to look into these types of products, post up your personal experiences here, but only do so if you are not in the trade, are a paying customer and having nothing to sell. If not then please stay off this thread (no offence intended).

I think this is a bit naive to mention that considering most people only do the 1 tune and are happy with it . Those who are not happy or have had issues very rarely post about it . I sometimes wonder why when I have a pile of busted up turbo's and cracked manifolds due to poor tuning

[Maverick]

Would you like to tell that to some of these guys , a few have changed their ecu more than once :

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=915672&page=1

That's a 6 year old thread.

How many do you hear about on the mark 5 golfs? The occasional ECU is replaced but it's not just flashed one.

[Bug_racer]

That's a 6 year old thread.

How many do you hear about on the mark 5 golfs? The occasional ECU is replaced but it's not just flashed one.

Have you looked at the most recent post ? It seems to be an ongoing problem that was never fixed ! How many of those people have sold their cars or never chipped again do you think ?

So you want me to post up all the mk5 ecu failures , I wish I had the time , but I can tell you there have been a few