Softronic in the UK

[Andyoz]

The Cayman R is getting Catless headers next month.

Anyone have recent experience with getting Softronic 'kit' here in the UK (I know it's just a cable and the files comes across the web).

Does it have to come straight from the US and is that now even harder than before?

Any tips appreciated thx...

[Andyoz]

Great thanks. I bet it works wonders on the Turbo.

Can you remember how Softronic handled the amounts 'stated' on the import...what sort of extra fees did the import cost?

I'll see what he comes back with anyway

At current FX rate $995 cost is £735. Even if there's another £100 on top of that it's crazy to order via Design911

[Andyoz]

OK great.

So it should be well under £800 landed here versus £1100 from Design911 after discounts...

[Andyoz]

No warranty and not risk averse.

Just want to liven things up a bit sound wise and a slightly more responsive engine is a nice by product.

[Andyoz]

Softronic landed today so I'll get the files sent off and will report back later as will load onto car pre header install.

[Andyoz]

frayz said:

Andyoz said:

Softronic landed today so I'll get the files sent off and will report back later as will load onto car pre header install.

Will you be doing a dyno run before the tune to get a baseline Andy?
I know my car was on Softronic, then the previous owner swapped to a live map from Steve Mason from MASE Engineering. Steve was in the UK at the time but im sure they can do it wirelessly these days.

Some old threads on the cars tuning you may be interested in.

https://www.planet-9.com/threads/987-2-tuning-dyno...

https://www.planet-9.com/threads/surrey-rolling-ro...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by frayz on Tuesday 9th February 07:44

Simple answer is not at this stage.

I'm in NI, so the options are more limited for me to hand the car over to a Dyno tuner who knows Porsches. If I had a Golf GTI I'd be laughing....

Ninemeister, etc would need a ferry ride or my ECU shipped to them and back.

I also wanted the option of me taking it back to stock anytime I need to rather than skipping off to the mapper again.

I'm not chasing the last few percent performance and Softronic seemed a good half way house between doing nothing and going full out.

Edited by Andyoz on Tuesday 9th February 08:53

[Andyoz]

frayz said:

Totally understand, makes for an easy plug & play solution. I wasn't aware of what you had available to you in the way of Porsche tuners in NI.

Softronic is a nice non specific name too so I can buy through my company...'R&D Software' LOL

[Andyoz]

^^^ My whole R adventure has been about doing things cost effectively, i.e. sourcing the car first of all, then the used headers...

It would be great to be able to hand a car to a one stop shop tuning place with an open cheque book but I just don't get my kicks that way (and don't have unlimited funds).

Must be the engineer in me LOL

[Andyoz]

edc said:

Have you looked at Cobb?

I don't think I got that far but I think they have similar reputation?

[Andyoz]

frayz said:

Andyoz said:

^^^ My whole R adventure has been about doing things cost effectively, i.e. sourcing the car first of all, then the used headers...

It would be great to be able to hand a car to a one stop shop tuning place with an open cheque book but I just don't get my kicks that way (and don't have unlimited funds).

Must be the engineer in me LOL

Im the same, (engineer). If we had unlimited funds, they would be wearing forged motors and ITBs

Me and a mate just bought a £450 Mini Cooper to strip out and give a good thrashing. It's MOT'd until Nov and it'll be a miracle if it lasts that long. I'll probably get nearly as much enjoyment out of that as the R

[Andyoz]

edc said:

The maps are customisable, flashable by dongle and I think there are more dealers and more support over here compared to Softronic.

I just looked at their site and I do recall it now. I think what put me off is I didn't want anything I will be fiddling with myself - you can have too many options in life. I just want to keep things really simple and Softronics seem to give me that set and forget vibe. Softronics offering does look dated now but they really seem to know Porsches ECU's inside and out.

Although, I'd say Cobb might have made sense if I was in England and had access to lads that knew it and Porsches well.

[Andyoz]

Just off the phone to Softronic...Scott is a very impressive guy and once he knew I was an engineer we got into the nitty gritty.

[Andyoz]

Hi,

I've had the tune on for 3 weeks now and had four good runs. So that's just with stock PSE car as headers go on mid March.

Even stock it's definitely worth it. Everything's just gets more 'eager' is best way to put it. I think I noticed it most in the midrange.

I have to revert back to stuck for MOT in 2 weeks so will be good to compare back again.

Scott at Softronic send me two files. One has "Pop & Bangs" which is the one I loaded first of course. I'll be keeping it on too as they're really well judged. Definitely not chav Golf GTi stuff, they kick in when your really giving it some poke.

Catless headers will take the whole sound and response to another level.

I asked Scott about any changes to throttle map and he said they were subtle. I think it's more linear but I need to compare back to stock to be sure.

One thing that wasn't mentioned was when uploading the new map, it takes about two minutes. It wipes the old map first and my car went mental with engine bay fan, etc running flat out. As long as you're prepared it's ok.

With current £sterling to US$ exchange it was £760 delivered. The package is only listed at $50 as it's just the OBD interface so not duty. The FX rate is even better than a month ago too.

I'd agree with earlier poster that car feels like it should have come out if factory if it wasn't for enviro. I'd love to see dyno's of what it does in the midrange.

Edited by Andyoz on Wednesday 24th February 00:54

[Andyoz]

SennaCGTS said:

A 981 GTS owner looking for an effective upgrade, please keep us updated. Do you have to remove the map for the MOT?

Not on a stock car.

Mines getting catless headers fitted so Softronic map includes the ECU 'delete' of the second O2 sensor. If that didn't happen, there would be a constant ECU warning light on dash.

Softronic said original stock map would need to go back on for MOT even with the stock headers on. Still some confusion here on the UK forums about that though.

Emissions testing might be different in the US but I can't see how a MOT centre could tell the there's been a second O2 sensor 'delete' from the map. It's the first O2 sensor that provides the oxyen info to the ECU and the second is just there to warn of cat failure.