Downsides to remapping a car?
Discussion
Just bought myself a low mileage 2010 Cooper S, which is quick, but can't help but feel there is plenty more to come....this engine has over 200bhp in other variants.
Tempted to get it mapped / tuned, and Superchips will do it for less than 500 quid giving 40bhp more and oodles more torque.
If I did this on such a new car would I be opening up a can of worms with my insurers and dealer (warranty, free servicing etc), or is it as undetectable as everyone says?
Also there will undoubtedly be more strain through the mechanicals, is it likely to prematurely wear gearboxes, clutches and turbos. Plan to keep the car until about 60k.
Tempted to get it mapped / tuned, and Superchips will do it for less than 500 quid giving 40bhp more and oodles more torque.
If I did this on such a new car would I be opening up a can of worms with my insurers and dealer (warranty, free servicing etc), or is it as undetectable as everyone says?
Also there will undoubtedly be more strain through the mechanicals, is it likely to prematurely wear gearboxes, clutches and turbos. Plan to keep the car until about 60k.
Insurance increase. But some companies are OK with them.
Warranty void, although they're probably only likely to make an issue of it if the problem is caused by the map. I don't know the full terms and conditions but it wouldn't surprise me if a remap technically invalidated the entire warranty. The dealer however isn't likely to try and refuse a claim (they're making money out of it). But BMW may well. They are definitely NOT undetectable.
If it's done by someone who doesn't know what they're doing it could lead to sensor/boost issues etc.
Some maps will be very aggressive on the clutch.
Warranty void, although they're probably only likely to make an issue of it if the problem is caused by the map. I don't know the full terms and conditions but it wouldn't surprise me if a remap technically invalidated the entire warranty. The dealer however isn't likely to try and refuse a claim (they're making money out of it). But BMW may well. They are definitely NOT undetectable.
If it's done by someone who doesn't know what they're doing it could lead to sensor/boost issues etc.
Some maps will be very aggressive on the clutch.
Edited by blank on Sunday 7th August 22:59
Few points:
For the R56 Cooper S I strongly recommend you do not go through the likes of superchips. The engine/ECU in that car is very sensitive and flips out easily if tampered with incorrectly, alot of tuners have had issues with it.
There are only two who are well recommended in the MINI communities:
Evolve - They do a tuning box if you don't wish to go to them.
P-Torque - In wolverhampton, did my Ibiza and a top bloke but I have read on some of the MINI forums that people have had misfires etc after a remap here, never read a bad thing about Evolve.
In terms of wear and tear, it depends how you drive the car but most engines/turbo's can run much more power than they do as standard safely if asked to do so. As an example my SEAT ibiza 1.8t (standard should be 150bhp) has been running 215bhp for 15,000 miles now and no problems at all, people have been running remaps for way way more than that (some well into the 100k miles) with no issues.
With regards to insurance, depends on your company so check prior to doing so. With your dealer warranty etc, if you go to Evolve and get the tuning box you can take it off when it goes in for work so they'll most likely never know.
Hope this helps,
Matt
P.s. Since i've given you all this useful information, care to write a review of your MINI over in the MINI subforum? I have been looking for a few months now for the perfect spec/colour/price combo for me and i'm always interested to read peoples experiences.
For the R56 Cooper S I strongly recommend you do not go through the likes of superchips. The engine/ECU in that car is very sensitive and flips out easily if tampered with incorrectly, alot of tuners have had issues with it.
There are only two who are well recommended in the MINI communities:
Evolve - They do a tuning box if you don't wish to go to them.
P-Torque - In wolverhampton, did my Ibiza and a top bloke but I have read on some of the MINI forums that people have had misfires etc after a remap here, never read a bad thing about Evolve.
In terms of wear and tear, it depends how you drive the car but most engines/turbo's can run much more power than they do as standard safely if asked to do so. As an example my SEAT ibiza 1.8t (standard should be 150bhp) has been running 215bhp for 15,000 miles now and no problems at all, people have been running remaps for way way more than that (some well into the 100k miles) with no issues.
With regards to insurance, depends on your company so check prior to doing so. With your dealer warranty etc, if you go to Evolve and get the tuning box you can take it off when it goes in for work so they'll most likely never know.
Hope this helps,
Matt
P.s. Since i've given you all this useful information, care to write a review of your MINI over in the MINI subforum? I have been looking for a few months now for the perfect spec/colour/price combo for me and i'm always interested to read peoples experiences.
already done....
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
let me know if there is anything specific you wish to know. Overall, very pleased with it.
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
let me know if there is anything specific you wish to know. Overall, very pleased with it.
I've toyed with remapping my MINI Cooper S too. The reason I've not done it is two-fold:
1. Increased insurance. My premium more than doubled from around £350 to over £800 when I was getting some quotes. I guess some people will think that is not too bad but I just can't stomach it.
2. I keep doubting if I really need it. The car is quick enough and all a remap does is make it quicker in a straight line, as I only use it to commute I'm only going to get more frustrated that I can't use the performance.
Plenty of people do tune them and if mine were a toy I'd do it but I can't help but feel my money would be better spent elsewhere.
1. Increased insurance. My premium more than doubled from around £350 to over £800 when I was getting some quotes. I guess some people will think that is not too bad but I just can't stomach it.
2. I keep doubting if I really need it. The car is quick enough and all a remap does is make it quicker in a straight line, as I only use it to commute I'm only going to get more frustrated that I can't use the performance.
Plenty of people do tune them and if mine were a toy I'd do it but I can't help but feel my money would be better spent elsewhere.
Has it got the same ECU as the new 1 series? A colleague of mine has been told by several mapping companies that the encryption BMW use is proving difficult to circumvent, meaning an entire map needs creating from scratch. For me, this rules out a remap, god only know how it would interact with the dealer equipment come service, or even if they will get all the warnings correct.
Last thing you want is to be blindly missing warning lights for somethingimportant and driving until it goes bang....
Last thing you want is to be blindly missing warning lights for somethingimportant and driving until it goes bang....
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