Racechip - plug in power increase?

[300bhp/ton]

Anyone familiar with these?

https://www.racechip.co.uk/shop/smart/fortwo-453-f...


There seem to be a number of similar products available on the market, although I don't know if they work the same.

Testimonials online seem to generally be very positive. But does anyone know what they actually do to get the extra power? The website is predictably vague.


I'm aware of plug in programmers that can essentially run a new map via the OBD port, but these don't appear to be doing that.

But for just over £100 and claims of 15hp more (big percentage increase) it almost seems too good to be true.

Would love to know how they work and what they are doing.

Thanks.

[GreenV8S]

300bhp/ton said:

seems too good to be true

Very few people are in a position to tell whether they make any actual improvement.

[300bhp/ton]

GreenV8S said:

Very few people are in a position to tell whether they make any actual improvement.

That doesn’t mean they don’t though. And seat of the pants may not be accurate down to a number. But is pretty good at gauging if the same car is running slower/faster.

[Sardonicus]

8 mile to the gallon improvement is a bold statement

[227bhp]

300bhp/ton said:

That doesn’t mean they don’t though. And seat of the pants may not be accurate down to a number. But is pretty good at gauging if the same car is running slower/faster.

No it isn't at all. The power you think you have is proportional to the amount of money you've just spent.

[300bhp/ton]

227bhp said:

No it isn't at all. The power you think you have is proportional to the amount of money you've just spent.

What a bizarre thing to say

[Sardonicus]

227bhp said:

300bhp/ton said:

That doesn’t mean they don’t though. And seat of the pants may not be accurate down to a number. But is pretty good at gauging if the same car is running slower/faster.

No it isn't at all. The power you think you have is proportional to the amount of money you've just spent.

Ah yes the spenders placebo effect ironically it makes the bitterest pill easier to swallow

[geeks]

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-germancars/rac...

I know the guys who supply alot of their kit, they seem genuine enough.

[227bhp]

Sardonicus said:

227bhp said:

300bhp/ton said:

That doesn’t mean they don’t though. And seat of the pants may not be accurate down to a number. But is pretty good at gauging if the same car is running slower/faster.

No it isn't at all. The power you think you have is proportional to the amount of money you've just spent.

Ah yes the spenders placebo effect ironically it makes the bitterest pill easier to swallow

Exactly, we see it every day, as do you no doubt. They'll argue until the cows come home that they can feel a difference from an air filter swap or even an oil change.
It's an everyday occurrence to see people that claim they've had live 'remaps' when all it is is a reflash whilst sat on the dyno and often a printout from someone else's car.

The most recent was a guy who'd had his car 'remapped' and claimed it was much faster. It was an N/A and made more power from idle all the way up to the redline, the 'after' line just followed the other 'before' line all the way up on the print out, but at +15bhp all the way.
When I looked at the figures they'd actually brought his original 'pre-map' power output down by 15bhp less than factory, then the post map run was actually the original factory figures!

[300bhp/ton]

227bhp said:

Exactly, we see it every day, as do you no doubt. They'll argue until the cows come home that they can feel a difference from an air filter swap or even an oil change.
It's an everyday occurrence to see people that claim they've had live 'remaps' when all it is is a reflash whilst sat on the dyno and often a printout from someone else's car.

The most recent was a guy who'd had his car 'remapped' and claimed it was much faster. It was an N/A and made more power from idle all the way up to the redline, the 'after' line just followed the other 'before' line all the way up on the print out, but at +15bhp all the way.
When I looked at the figures they'd actually brought his original 'pre-map' power output down by 15bhp less than factory, then the post map run was actually the original factory figures!

So do you have anything to actually contribute other than irrelevant nonesense? Tuning is a real thing by the way. And engines can indeed be made to to make more power. Even if you can’t comprehend such things. Has been going on for over 100 years now in various forms.

[GreenV8S]

300bhp/ton said:

Tuning is a real thing by the way. And engines can indeed be made to to make more power.

Certainly is, but manufacturers put a lot of time and effort into optimising the calibration for each new design and modern cars do not have much scope for improvement without compromising some other important aspect of performance. I'm skeptical about any third party claiming to make significant improvements, especially those claiming to achieve it with a generic device.

[300bhp/ton]

GreenV8S said:

Certainly is, but manufacturers put a lot of time and effort into optimising the calibration for each new design and modern cars do not have much scope for improvement without compromising some other important aspect of performance. I'm skeptical about any third party claiming to make significant improvements, especially those claiming to achieve it with a generic device.

I completely disagree that modern engines don’t have much scope. They arguably have more than older ones.

I’m also not asking about generalised trends in an industry. I’m asking about a specific item. Usually if something is nonsense, you will find first hand reviews to that extent. I’m not. So I’m asking if anyone on here has actual knowledge of these. Not just their own hunches based on absolutely no factual evidence.

[300bhp/ton]

GreenV8S said:

Certainly is, but manufacturers put a lot of time and effort into optimising the calibration for each new design and modern cars do not have much scope for improvement without compromising some other important aspect of performance. I'm skeptical about any third party claiming to make significant improvements, especially those claiming to achieve it with a generic device.

I completely disagree that modern engines don’t have much scope. They arguably have more than older ones.

I’m also not asking about generalised trends in an industry. I’m asking about a specific item. Usually if something is nonsense, you will find first hand reviews to that extent. I’m not. So I’m asking if anyone on here has actual knowledge of these. Not just their own hunches based on absolutely no factual evidence.

[227bhp]

300bhp/ton said:

227bhp said:

Exactly, we see it every day, as do you no doubt. They'll argue until the cows come home that they can feel a difference from an air filter swap or even an oil change.
It's an everyday occurrence to see people that claim they've had live 'remaps' when all it is is a reflash whilst sat on the dyno and often a printout from someone else's car.

The most recent was a guy who'd had his car 'remapped' and claimed it was much faster. It was an N/A and made more power from idle all the way up to the redline, the 'after' line just followed the other 'before' line all the way up on the print out, but at +15bhp all the way.
When I looked at the figures they'd actually brought his original 'pre-map' power output down by 15bhp less than factory, then the post map run was actually the original factory figures!

So do you have anything to actually contribute other than irrelevant nonesense? Tuning is a real thing by the way. And engines can indeed be made to to make more power. Even if you can’t comprehend such things. Has been going on for over 100 years now in various forms.

It's very relevant.
This is utter bull:

300bhp/ton said:

seat of the pants may not be accurate down to a number, but is pretty good at gauging if the same car is running slower/faster.

I work within the tuning industry, I build fast road and race engines for a living, i'm well aware where power and bullst come from.
They're claiming nearly a 25% power increase on an N/A engine Where is it coming from?
Go buy one, take your car to a dyno and get a back to back test done then report back.

[GreenV8S]

300bhp/ton said:

I completely disagree that modern engines don’t have much scope. They arguably have more than older ones.

What's your basis for that claim? It seems unlikely to me. Mass car manufacturers have a solid understanding of how to make engines perform well and the technology to optimise them very effectively. You think an aftermarket manufacturer is going to do a better job, and with a generic product that has to work many different types of engine? I don't.

[Sardonicus]

I actually presumed they was FI claimed increases winding up boost etc so I'm claiming BS too for those HP figures , I don't have anything to do with Smart cars as you can guess , I drove a Brabus one a long time ago road test post brake work and that had FI boosted

[Coilspring]

300bhp/ton said:

Anyone familiar with these?

https://www.racechip.co.uk/shop/smart/fortwo-453-f...


There seem to be a number of similar products available on the market, although I don't know if they work the same.

Testimonials online seem to generally be very positive. But does anyone know what they actually do to get the extra power? The website is predictably vague.


I'm aware of plug in programmers that can essentially run a new map via the OBD port, but these don't appear to be doing that.

But for just over £100 and claims of 15hp more (big percentage increase) it almost seems too good to be true.

Would love to know how they work and what they are doing.

Thanks.

I don't know the specific answer.

But I do know that anything that sounds too good to be true, is usually exactly that.