Remap - good/bad/ugly?

[ThatGuyCraig]

Hi - this has probs been posted a hundred times, so apologies, but...

ive got an A4 B8 from 2013 - has anyone had a remap? Was it worth it? any issues? and who did you go with and what was the price please?

I'm contemplating it, but ill be honest, don't know that much about it.... and am always worried its going to 'pop' the engine

 

[jdp1962]

What engine do you have in your car, @ThatGuyCraig ? Also, what transmission does it have?

 

[ThatGuyCraig]

Manual diesel 2.0 TDI 134bhp I believe....

 

[Roadrunner146]

Definitely worth it.

 

[DieselJake]

Can't say I've had a bad remap just had a good one then a better one then a better one

 

[jdp1962]

This isn't a recommendation; I've no knowledge of whether this is a good or a bad mapping company. It's simply an illustration of what a typical map for your model of A4 should produce.

Click on link

 

[THQuattro]

Where are you based mate.

 

[Sippo]

With a remap, you get what you pay for. I would say a reasonable price is around £400. Shark Performance are good at around that mark, and have been quoted £500 for APR.

Anything less than £400 I personally, would be dubious.

 

[DieselJake]

I vote for @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev.

 

[Chris90]

Ben parson at Devil Developments did mine.

and im fussy with maps.

 

[Dippy]

and am always worried its going to 'pop' the engine

There is always that risk. Yes there are plenty of us who have tuned engines and have good experiences but just search the web and you will find cases where something went wrong. Speaking for myself, but I believe others will agree, when I chose to tune my engine I did so with the full realisation that I am risking problems, and in the worst case I will have to pay for repair.

I suggest you do some of your own risk analysis. This thread is a good start but likely you will need to do some searching. Find out what problems there tend to be, if any, with untuned 2.0 TDI engines and transmissions. If there are weak points then tuning will increase the risk of those problems occurring. As an example we B8 S4/S5 owners know that there have been an uncomfortable number of reports of s-tronic gearbox problems, so those of us who tune know that we are increasing the changes that ours will break. Once you know those problems find out how much they cost to fix and this should help your decision. Although you won't know the likelihood of a failure, you will know the cost and often that is enough. So again going back to the S4/S5 case we know that fixing an s-tronic gearbox is going to be at least a couple of grand, but at the worst case a new 'box will cost many grand (I can't remember how many). If you can't be sure of finding the money to fix it, don't tune it.

 

[ThatGuyCraig]

Leigh, greater Manchester bud

Where are you based mate.

 

[ThatGuyCraig]

There is always that risk. Yes there are plenty of us who have tuned engines and have good experiences but just search the web and you will find cases where something went wrong. Speaking for myself, but I believe others will agree, when I chose to tune my engine I did so with the full realisation that I am risking problems, and in the worst case I will have to pay for repair.

I suggest you do some of your own risk analysis. This thread is a good start but likely you will need to do some searching. Find out what problems there tend to be, if any, with untuned 2.0 TDI engines and transmissions. If there are weak points then tuning will increase the risk of those problems occurring. As an example we B8 S4/S5 owners know that there have been an uncomfortable number of reports of s-tronic gearbox problems, so those of us who tune know that we are increasing the changes that ours will break. Once you know those problems find out how much they cost to fix and this should help your decision. Although you won't know the likelihood of a failure, you will know the cost and often that is enough. So again going back to the S4/S5 case we know that fixing an s-tronic gearbox is going to be at least a couple of grand, but at the worst case a new 'box will cost many grand (I can't remember how many). If you can't be sure of finding the money to fix it, don't tune it.

Good advice mate

 

[jdp1962]

Leigh, greater Manchester bud

Unicorn definitely the place for you.

 

[arad85]

Unicorn definitely the place for you.

Or Awesome who are the main EU importer of APR stuff. They did mine in conjunction with the US main office.

 

[Sippo]

I’d always be a bit weary of a company with unicorn in it....

My 7 year old is obsessed with them, and just had a unicorn party at the weekend.

 

[S3 Rav]

I recently had REVO put on mine for £399. Very happy so far. Also had this on my s3.

 

[philx4]

Just a thought, but as the OP's car is a derv, I would recommend having a 'Terraclean', or similar, before any serious mapping, just so the throttle and inlet, etc, are as clean/responsive as they can be.