REMAPPING newbie, help!!
Discussion
Hi guys so I’ve only even owned big engine n/a BMW’s in terms of sporty cars. I’ve now acquired a MK 7 golf R, I’m booked in to stage 1 her along with dsg tune next week. I’ve never mapped or tuned a car ever, in fact this is also my first turbo car.
My question is: what are the available option for the cars behaviour in the Rev band, I.e a linear constant surge of power, a shove up the backside from a dead stop, but what else is there? What other options do I have? What do other people commonly do? Sounds like a silly question, not sure if I’m even explains it right haha. I’d ideally like a shove up the back side when initially flooring it, but the car is also my daily so I want something I can live with day to day rather than bunny hopping like a kangaroo at every set of lights haha, I’m tuning at a place called R-tech in Nuneaton apparently good in the VAG world, anyone know anything more about these guys??
Many thanks
My question is: what are the available option for the cars behaviour in the Rev band, I.e a linear constant surge of power, a shove up the backside from a dead stop, but what else is there? What other options do I have? What do other people commonly do? Sounds like a silly question, not sure if I’m even explains it right haha. I’d ideally like a shove up the back side when initially flooring it, but the car is also my daily so I want something I can live with day to day rather than bunny hopping like a kangaroo at every set of lights haha, I’m tuning at a place called R-tech in Nuneaton apparently good in the VAG world, anyone know anything more about these guys??
Many thanks
so liked the OP's question
Lots to cover here, and it fits in with the development of turbo mapping. These days you can be hard pressed to know an engine is turbo charged, the electronics integrate the turbo into the engine dynamics so seamlessly. You also have a wider range of turbos available than what you did in the 80's.
Having driven the 80's archetypical turbo hot hatches its obvious where the fun came from with these cars. and it was addictive, the handling of these cars what was basically a shopping trolley with some mild handling upgrades. who can forget the ridiculous dual personalities of these cars, meek until the turbo woke up, adding a turbo they often dropped the compression ration so that weakened the engine performance at low revs, and added to the feeling of woosh.
The bad thing about this is that this wake up could be substantial in torque which can cause issues with the drivetrain gearbox and clutch.
These days the turbo is so well integrated and done in such a way that it doesn't surprise the driver, more turbo cars out there and can you imagine the litigation with all those drivers caught out mid corner when the turbo wakes up ? Also engines are mapped to deal with different markets as well as drivers, dealing with 40 degree heat and high altitudes with crap fuel. So add that into the mix and its not surprising that we find turbo cars a bit tepid these days. The performance though.... we have diesel 2 litres doing 150 and hitting 60 well under that 6s mark, That 20 years ago was bona fide supercar figures.
So you have a golf and considering a remap - go for it as long as it a proper remap and from a reputable dealer. they can work magic, eat into that margin and provide some considerable increase. However do you really want that thud in the back when you realise that thud is a slab of torque and what that torque could be doing to your drivetrain and tyres. a good remap will likely be faster over all but just not feel like it. but that's not a bad thing really. 350 hp is always going to be 350hp.
Lots to cover here, and it fits in with the development of turbo mapping. These days you can be hard pressed to know an engine is turbo charged, the electronics integrate the turbo into the engine dynamics so seamlessly. You also have a wider range of turbos available than what you did in the 80's.
Having driven the 80's archetypical turbo hot hatches its obvious where the fun came from with these cars. and it was addictive, the handling of these cars what was basically a shopping trolley with some mild handling upgrades. who can forget the ridiculous dual personalities of these cars, meek until the turbo woke up, adding a turbo they often dropped the compression ration so that weakened the engine performance at low revs, and added to the feeling of woosh.
The bad thing about this is that this wake up could be substantial in torque which can cause issues with the drivetrain gearbox and clutch.
These days the turbo is so well integrated and done in such a way that it doesn't surprise the driver, more turbo cars out there and can you imagine the litigation with all those drivers caught out mid corner when the turbo wakes up ? Also engines are mapped to deal with different markets as well as drivers, dealing with 40 degree heat and high altitudes with crap fuel. So add that into the mix and its not surprising that we find turbo cars a bit tepid these days. The performance though.... we have diesel 2 litres doing 150 and hitting 60 well under that 6s mark, That 20 years ago was bona fide supercar figures.
So you have a golf and considering a remap - go for it as long as it a proper remap and from a reputable dealer. they can work magic, eat into that margin and provide some considerable increase. However do you really want that thud in the back when you realise that thud is a slab of torque and what that torque could be doing to your drivetrain and tyres. a good remap will likely be faster over all but just not feel like it. but that's not a bad thing really. 350 hp is always going to be 350hp.
Thanks for input guys, still abit confused though unfortunately 
sorry I know the question was put forward in a confusing manor, but hard to explain lol was ultimately asking what are the actual tweaks the tuner can make to a map? How do they vary? And basically what would best suit a car which I daily, meaning I don’t always like to trash it about and throw it around bends, like the occasional civilised drive with the mrs etc haha ruggedscotty loved the comment mate sounded like I was reading something from a column a journalist of a motoring mag wrote lol what diesel you got producing them impressive figures? Yeah After actually reading people’s reviews seems r tech have made a lot of customers happy bunnies, just not heard of them before, I hear many other names of tuning companies many times, r tech have never popped up that’s all, seems there undercutting all the others tuners by a fair whack too, seems to good to be true if you ask me....
sorry I know the question was put forward in a confusing manor, but hard to explain lol was ultimately asking what are the actual tweaks the tuner can make to a map? How do they vary? And basically what would best suit a car which I daily, meaning I don’t always like to trash it about and throw it around bends, like the occasional civilised drive with the mrs etc haha ruggedscotty loved the comment mate sounded like I was reading something from a column a journalist of a motoring mag wrote lol what diesel you got producing them impressive figures? Yeah After actually reading people’s reviews seems r tech have made a lot of customers happy bunnies, just not heard of them before, I hear many other names of tuning companies many times, r tech have never popped up that’s all, seems there undercutting all the others tuners by a fair whack too, seems to good to be true if you ask me.... Whp what car have you got mate? Gti or R? I was thinking to go APR too as my local tuner is apr approved but it’s 700 odd for the ecu and 700 odd for the dsg, seems way too overpriced imo, I know they have Black Friday sales at 20-25% off, which is a great offer still a fair bit more then a custom tune. R tech are servicing the haldex free for me too, which is included in the price and at a 1/3 off the price of a APR tune
Speak to R-tech, they will be able to answer all these questions and anymore that you have. They can tailor the map to pretty much however you would like it, that being outright power/big slug of torque/linear throttle mapping etc.
And yes they are well respected in the Vag world, Starting from the 1.8t/2.0tfsi right up to the newer Tsi stuff.
And yes they are well respected in the Vag world, Starting from the 1.8t/2.0tfsi right up to the newer Tsi stuff.
Rugged scotty nice mate! Bet it pulls like a train with that much torque. I’m not sure what I’m wanting tbh, as I say I knew to this mapping business so don’t know what option I have. Obviously want more power and noise is possible, but don’t want the car burning through tyres and kangarooing every time I plant my foot down. I’m sure r tech will be able to explain to me when I do turn up, just don’t want to seem like a complete novice when I do turn up and end up having them mug me off with any old rubbish
And yeah I’m a member to the golf r forums on Facebook, hear nothing but great things about rtech on there. Fingers crossed the cars okay once done as it a 200mike round journey! Is a induction recommended and/turbo elbow? Seems a lot of guys seem to upgrade them too, any recommendations for what to go for?
Is that so mate? Would love to go unicorn but there way too far from me, I’m in London. APR was a strong fave at first as my local tuner just 10 mins away is apr approved garage, thing is it’s a rip off 726 for ecu tune and 719 for dsg tune, even with the Black Friday sales they do it’s still the best part of 1100 quid
While i would agree R-tech are a little behind others in moving into the Tsi market, it does give them the advantage of knowing the weak points of the platform from seeing others development, mainly turbos from what i have seen. I would be questioning if pre mapping checks are going to include checking shaft play etc before it is mapped whoever is doing it. R-tech do this.
Edited by Warby80 on Sunday 3rd November 20:16
Warby so do you think nothing to worry about with going r tech? Been told they map within safe limits of what the turbo can take, seems many golf r and s3 owners out there. Is pops and bangs achievable on a stage 1 map, been told it can fry the cat, I know it works on a stage 2 as many people remove the cat
I would have no problems going to R-tech.
My current S3(8L) and a friends S3(8P) have both been mapped by them. Infact when my friends S3 went it was the only car they actually mapped that day as the others all had issues picked up by pre map checks.
They may not make the biggest peak numbers but they are mindful of the limits of the hardware.
I would stay away from pops/bangs with cats still fitted.
My current S3(8L) and a friends S3(8P) have both been mapped by them. Infact when my friends S3 went it was the only car they actually mapped that day as the others all had issues picked up by pre map checks.
They may not make the biggest peak numbers but they are mindful of the limits of the hardware.
I would stay away from pops/bangs with cats still fitted.
Warby80 said:
While i would agree R-tech are a little behind others in moving into the Tsi market, it does give them the advantage of knowing the weak points of the platform from seeing others development, mainly turbos from what i have seen. I would be questioning if pre mapping checks are going to include checking shaft play etc before it is mapped whoever is doing it. R-tech do this.
Turbos were a known weak point 3 months after the first Golf Mk7 R's were released. he sticks with TFSI because that's his bread and butter and makes plenty of money for him.Edited by Warby80 on Sunday 3rd November 20:16
I'm quite embedded into the TFSI & TSI tuning scene and Rtech are safe , sure, figures are reasonable, but the only reason to go there is because it's cheap IMO for the TSI
Cheap, safe map and they will check for any obvious faults. I think with dsg it's £500. Which is maybe half what some other vendors charge.
But their maps are very samey, i suspect he has a few files for each stage (eg a stg1 stock hardware, stg1 with r600, stg1 with ramair, stage1 with intercooler, etc)
They claim DSG tuning part of the package deal, but it still kicks down, and changes are no faster, and the one car i checked with vcds had stock clamping pressures, so it's very basic dsg tune whatever he did.. You'd have to pay more I guess if you wanted different behaviour.
but pushing the boundaries they have not done for a LONG time.
i know Niki relatively well, i have met him several times , he is a nice guy, likes a joke, obviously good at his speciality, but cares about Facebook appearance all too much....he cares TOO much about his business reputation.
chan61922 said:
Is that so mate? Would love to go unicorn but there way too far from me, I’m in London. APR was a strong fave at first as my local tuner just 10 mins away is apr approved garage, thing is it’s a rip off 726 for ecu tune and 719 for dsg tune, even with the Black Friday sales they do it’s still the best part of 1100 quid
ok, fair enough. So look at Devil Developments.again many of my friends are in Cupras and Mk7 GTI / R's as that's what my friendship group tend to have. aside from one they all are tuned at devil developments by Ben Parson's.
if I was you, I would use either APR, Unicorn or Devil developments..
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Devil-Developments/...
Edited by xjay1337 on Sunday 3rd November 23:36
Thanks for input guys, even more confused now haha, seems like there good at what they do and a very competent bunch but there a little behind the ‘bigger’ companies. Slighty worries they don’t fully map the dsg as this is something I need doing because I will more than likely get bored and go stage 2 eventually. I like the idea of getting a custom map rather than an off the shelf map like revo or APR. I also made a cheeky booking with mrc tuning for the Thursday should Wednesday at r tech not fall through, if I can’t make it etc. Would I be better off with them? It’s almost double the price mind, well no it is double the price. Are they more hands on with the newer vag cars? If I straight piped my car stage 1 pops and bangs should be fine then right? As I said I will probably go stage 2 eventually so might be worth getting that done?
Well there goes my RTech dreams shattered lol rang them today to check if spot for Wednesday was still available it’s been taken (I didn’t leave a 90 quid deposit on the morning slot) only thing available is 8.30am thurs which is no good to me as I’m driving from London, FFS!! It’s either wait till next week where I’d have to see if I can get the time off work or go with thursdays MRC booking, also phoned NV motorsport who are fully booked and MSL performance who are able to do from midday Thursday and Friday? Want to get this sorted this week as I’m off work. Any suggestions guys? Would it be worth waiting till Black Friday
chan61922 said:
Well there goes my RTech dreams shattered lol rang them today to check if spot for Wednesday was still available it’s been taken (I didn’t leave a 90 quid deposit on the morning slot) only thing available is 8.30am thurs which is no good to me as I’m driving from London, FFS!! It’s either wait till next week where I’d have to see if I can get the time off work or go with thursdays MRC booking, also phoned NV motorsport who are fully booked and MSL performance who are able to do from midday Thursday and Friday? Want to get this sorted this week as I’m off work. Any suggestions guys? Would it be worth waiting till Black Friday
Rtech are usually a 2 or 3 month wait. You should have put a deposit down if you were serious.It's 2 and a bit hours from Hinckley. 5am alarm and out the door by 6 should give you time.
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