Viezu Tuning

[Arjxh56]

I was bored and googling the other night and came accross this company.
Has anyone used this company before or even got one of thier tuning options on their AM?

How do they compare to the offerings from BR?

There are details and pictures of the components if you click the following link..

http://www.viezutuning.com/wpblog/?page_id=724

In summary, they offer the following.....

• Full OBD Remap, Including home remap kits
• Sports Air filters
• Sports catback exhaust
• 200 cell sports cats

[Neil1300R]

remapping the Aston ECU - yeah right!

[yeti]

I posted on the other thread. Claims based on nothing.

They can't remap the ECU by the way, and the rest are bolt on parts. What they can do is shorten the electronic throttle travel so a smaller input gives a bigger response. It's a good trick. I fell for it once.

BR offer their own design of exhaust manifolds based on the championship winning racing cars they build and that's where their massive gains come from. Of course they also do their own cats and filters to complement them but the backbox has no effect so BR recommend to keep the original and have the exhaust switch. This kit will lose that.

I will bet my car that this package you've found does not yield 40bhp, nor even 20bhp. Put simply... It can't. What it will do is make the car louder and feel slightly more responsive with the throttle trick and the cats.

[jonby]

yeti said:

I posted on the other thread. Claims based on nothing.

They can't remap the ECU by the way, and the rest are bolt on parts. What they can do is shorten the electronic throttle travel so a smaller input gives a bigger response. It's a good trick. I fell for it once.

BR offer their own design of exhaust manifolds based on the championship winning racing cars they build and that's where their massive gains come from. Of course they also do their own cats and filters to complement them but the backbox has no effect so BR recommend to keep the original and have the exhaust switch. This kit will lose that.

I will bet my car that this package you've found does not yield 40bhp, nor even 20bhp. Put simply... It can't. What it will do is make the car louder and feel slightly more responsive with the throttle trick and the cats.

so pleased that you & others have been the 'test beds' for the various BR options.....wonder if I'll wait 3 yrs til post-warranty before I go for the same.........hahahahaha, there's two hopes of that......bob & no !

Just cats & valve switch for step 1, probably a month or two after collection to check everything is running fine first.......... I reckon next winter for the manifolds (which ones ?) and maybe cams, etc at the same time. Though in all seriousness, I don't want to go further than that on such a ltd ed car

[Cockernee]

jonby said:

so pleased that you & others have been the 'test beds' for the various BR options.....wonder if I'll wait 3 yrs til post-warranty before I go for the same.........hahahahaha, there's two hopes of that......bob & no !

Just cats & valve switch for step 1, probably a month or two after collection to check everything is running fine first.......... I reckon next winter for the manifolds (which ones ?) and maybe cams, etc at the same time. Though in all seriousness, I don't want to go further than that on such a ltd ed car

And no need, as you can swap the parts out easily for resale Also 570BHP is plenty....... for now

[jonby]

Cockernee said:

jonby said:

so pleased that you & others have been the 'test beds' for the various BR options.....wonder if I'll wait 3 yrs til post-warranty before I go for the same.........hahahahaha, there's two hopes of that......bob & no !

Just cats & valve switch for step 1, probably a month or two after collection to check everything is running fine first.......... I reckon next winter for the manifolds (which ones ?) and maybe cams, etc at the same time. Though in all seriousness, I don't want to go further than that on such a ltd ed car

And no need, as you can swap the parts out easily for resale Also 570BHP is plenty....... for now

you're assuming I'll go the 570 route not the 550 one ! :-) I guess those figures change with yeti's manifolds so there are at least 3 choices. It's a hard life !

I know parts can be swapped out but whilst you can rub this comment in my face in the future if things change, I do think that would be enough !

[robgt]

Strongly suggest that you stick with BAMFORD ROSE. My V8S gained a very noticeable 34BHP plus more torque. I am so impressed by their sheer professionalism that I am going back to have a nice chunk more!

[Speculatore]

Viezu Tuning used to be the team from Paramount Performance in Slough. They have a rolling road that measures the BHP at the rear wheels and do a before and after run once they have tweaked the ECU. I had my XKR re-mapped but only after having the sports exhaust, Upper and Lower Supercharger pulleys changed, a cold air induction system and a high flow water pump with larger radiator (To cope with the additional heat generated by the faster speed of the SC. The before was 405bhp and after the remap was 453bhp.

I had already had the throttle cable shortened before the Re-Map. I nearly trashed my car on the way home...the difference was unavailable....But like I said...That was an XKR and not an AM.

Mt wife had her Fabia VRs re-mapped which went from 150 to 190bhp.

When Tony H had hos DB9 he had it 'Re-Mapped' and to quote Tony....."What a waste of money...I didn't notice ant difference".

[Magic919]

Of course they'd never ever fiddle rolling road figures.

[yeti]

Agreed; Paramount (or Viezu) do seem to know their big Jags

What you can do with forced induction is VERY different to what you can do with a normally aspirated engine though hence the 'mapped 535 diesel' obsession on PH

If I still had my 4.2 XKR, I'd go there for sure.

[whoami]

Magic919 said:

Of course they'd never ever fiddle rolling road figures.

Certainly not.

No one ever does.

[AWV12]

Neil1300R said:

remapping the Aston ECU - yeah right!

And why would that be so? It is "just" a normal ECU, like in every other car, and it can be optimised e.g. for higher octane fuel, etc. Of course with turbo/SC engines, the improvement can be huge, but even on N/A cars, there can be 10-30 bhp improvement, but more importantly, better response, more smoothness in lower gears, etc

(Aston itself offered it too on the original 4.3V8, as well as prodrive, in addition to some hardware mods (that can improve things of course even more; the AM kit was a great improvement BTW, not on absolute power increase, but it was way more smooth than the original setup)

[GTDB7]

Magic919 said:

Of course they'd never ever fiddle rolling road figures.

How True!

Just look at the many posted print outs from the dyno runs.. All the settings are totally wrong and thus give an exaggerated second run figure!

Things to watch for are Ambient Temp, Barometric Pressure, Ramp Rates and inlet Air temps to name but a few.

[JohnG1]

AWV12 said:

Neil1300R said:

remapping the Aston ECU - yeah right!

And why would that be so? It is "just" a normal ECU, like in every other car, and it can be optimised e.g. for higher octane fuel, etc. Of course with turbo/SC engines, the improvement can be huge, but even on N/A cars, there can be 10-30 bhp improvement, but more importantly, better response, more smoothness in lower gears, etc

(Aston itself offered it too on the original 4.3V8, as well as prodrive, in addition to some hardware mods (that can improve things of course even more; the AM kit was a great improvement BTW, not on absolute power increase, but it was way more smooth than the original setup)

What a crock...

You tell me this - why would AML leave 30bhp 'on the table' for some aftermarket monkey to pick up for free??

The AM 4.3V8 powerkit was a remap for 100 octane fuel to gain 10bhp if and only if you use 100 octane fuel and a new airbox design to get 10bhp. The gentleman who designed that airbox is a thoroughly nice chap, he left Aston Martin, wonder what he does now??

I will reissue my charity challenge. You prove to me and/or a respected engineer such as Mike at Bamford Rose that an aftermarket tuner can add 30bhp to an AML 4.3 V8 just by an 'ecu-remap' and I'll donate £100 to Help for Heroes.

[Neil1300R]

AWV12 said:

Neil1300R said:

remapping the Aston ECU - yeah right!

And why would that be so? It is "just" a normal ECU, like in every other car, and it can be optimised e.g. for higher octane fuel, etc. Of course with turbo/SC engines, the improvement can be huge, but even on N/A cars, there can be 10-30 bhp improvement, but more importantly, better response, more smoothness in lower gears, etc

(Aston itself offered it too on the original 4.3V8, as well as prodrive, in addition to some hardware mods (that can improve things of course even more; the AM kit was a great improvement BTW, not on absolute power increase, but it was way more smooth than the original setup)

From the Bamford Rose thread

ECU Re-mapping:
An ‘upgrade’ ECU (engine control unit) ‘Re-map’ seems another very popular modification, but seriously, buyer beware, there are some vendors selling the ‘emperors clothes’.
To give you an example why this statement is true, regarding the AMV8, performance is achieved at peak power by running a certain; variable inlet cam position, airflow, spark timing and fuelling value. So, anybody considering an ECU re-map, where an increase in performance is being offered, should ask the vendor these questions before making a purchase;
Will a re-map ECU change the variable inlet cam position giving more performance? = No, as manufacturer set cams to optimum in the standard map.
Will a re-map ECU provide more airflow giving more performance? = No, as the throttle is set wide open by manufacturer at full driver pedal demand.
Will a re-map ECU advance the spark? = No, as when running 97 Octane fuel the knock control sensors deliver optimum spark at all times.
Will a re-map ECU return a fuelling based performance gain? Yes, but only if fuel is taken out. The maximum performance fuelling for most engines is 0.89 lambda and represents the 'plateau' of torque output. Richer (more fuel) than this (a figure less than 0.89) will detract performance, leaner (less fuel) than 0.89 and up to lambda 1.00, will also loose performance. The lambda value of the AMV8 Vantage at peak power speed is circa. 0.79. This is because additional fuel (more / richer than 0.89) is required to quench / reduce catalyst temperatures to their maximum permissible, via more fuel resulting in a cooler exhaust gas temperature. So, if fuelling is taken out (going from 0.79 lambda to 0.89), performance will increase by approx. 5BHP per 0.05 Lambda. So, by taking 0.1 lambda out to return 0.89 will result in an increase of circa 10BHP. But, if fuel is taken out, this will over-temp the catalysts (from the hotter exhaust gas temperature due to the leaner mixture), with disastrous consequences (broken cat, burnt-out exhaust valve seats - expensive repair bill). However, the common approach by most aftermarket tuning companies is to 'hose-in' more fuel, under the misconception this act will return more power. Trying to get some people to understand the inverse can often be quite difficult...!


So, what other options are there to increase driveability from an ECU re-map?
Increased engine speed perhaps? I recall a commonly spoken about ECU re-flash on this forum, which increased engine speed limit up to 7500 rpm. Will this return more power? No, because one of the biggest contributing factors to engine performance is the length / volume of the inlet runner within the inlet manifold. The AMV8 achieves peak power at 7300 rpm, above that speed power drops off dramatically. So, if speed is increased and the runner length is not shortened, there will be no power increase. However, due to the engine revs being higher at point of gearshift into the next gear from redline, torque output will be higher. This means that when the next gear is selected the driver will feel increased torque and 'perceive' a small performance increase. In reality what is this worth? Very, very little, unless you hit the redline in each and every gear change.

Last thing on the list then; throttle progression mapping.
What this basically means is the rate of increase and percentage the pedal is depressed by the driver returns a pre-programmed torque output figure. More torque delivered from the engine for less pedal input from the driver, gives the driver the 'perception' that the car has sportier driveability feel. In reality do you get more performance? No, as the engine produces the same torque as it always did, it's just the driver is fooled into thinking performance is greater due to less pedal input giving faster acceleration. An analogy to explain this is where rally drivers fit quick rack steering system, less turns to go from lock-to-lock. This is needed because its time consuming and physically difficult to go from lock-to-lock. In reality, is it that difficult to depress the pedal to give the required torque the driver wants? Not in my opinion. Experimentation with aggressive pedal demand maps on all Aston Martin cars returns more thrilling driveability. But in reality, try parking the car or move backwards and forwards slowly in confined spaces - a disaster..! My advice is stick with the pedal maps set by the manufacturer, as what is programmed by them has been researched and tested in all circumstances - but each to their own I guess.

long story short, will an ECU Re-map return significant improvements? No, and those aftermarket tuning companies who advertise significant gains are trading the ‘emperors clothes’.
Anybody thinking about an ECU Re-map should question the vendor hard, get them to explain the detail behind the pretty 3d mapping graphs they display (if they can that is). Another tip, ask for your ECU to remain in the car and after a series of baseline tests plug the modified ECU in and back-to-back drive / feel what you are being sold. If they offer excuses why this can’t be done, steer clear…


That being said, the only ECU update / kit with any credibility is actually being offered by the factory. This kit comprises of a new airbox which reduces induction system losses and an ECU programmed to advance the spark if 100 Octane fuel is used. The factory took this kit from the N400 and now offers as a retro fit to 4.3L Vantage at the price of £2k. The factory declares 20BHP, this represents approx. 50/50 split from the increased performance coming from each element (airbox/fuel). But, the factory upgrade here, similar to the exhaust system modifications, will only return more performance / better driveability above 5500rpm. And if the driver hasn’t filled with 100 octane, the kit will only return 10 of the 20BHP due to the knock control system reducing spark back down to 97 Octane numbers.

The reason why most drivers want more performance from the 4.3L vantage is not necessarily the way the engine performs above 5500rpm, but how torque output gets you there.
At 420Nm the 4.3L engine can hardly be described as lacking torque (when compared with Porsche engine performance figures), but the weight of the Vantage could be identified as route cause for slightly lacklustre acceleration. For this reason the wise performance upgrade should come from a massive torque increase, which as explained here, will not come from an ECU re-map, exhaust system or air induction system. As the adage goes, ‘there is no replacement for displacement’…! The 4.3L Vantage requires a significant torque increase to return thrilling ‘SuperCar’ performance.