Remap Advice

[Sam1987]

Looking at getting my s3 remapped and have been looking at a few different companies, the one thing that appears to be unclear, is whether a rolling road / dyno is worth having?

I have read mixed things but it appears to be biased based on what setup they have, revo say it's pub figures and there basically pointless, but others swear you cant make a good custom map without tuning it on a rolling road!

Any advice on what is the benefit, and if it's worth having or whether a simple plug and play map is good value would be appreciated

 

[Marek196c]

Dyno tuning should be like health check of car (dyno run) then download actual map, modify (not using pre set ones) uploading do another dyno run and then make it like 3 4 times again to get most tailored map to your vehicle. TBH I will doing my on next week (time to finish all bits and bobs needed to do) and this is only one I ve looked after. paying less for "custom" pre-loaded map isn't worth it FOR ME.

 

[prt57]

A custom remap using a rolling road will get the most out of a particular car depending on the hardware added. They can also tune the map to how you want it depending on your driving style.
The car will be revved up several times on the rolling road and logged on a laptop. Adjustments are then made untilthe tuner is happy with how the car is running.
A few years ago as I started to get interested in tuning I took my Mk 4 1.8T to a local place to talk about having a Revo stage 1. I asked how they test everything is running correctly.
The chap said before the map they accelerate along a road until they reach 60mph noting a landmark on the roadside. The map is added and then the acceleration test is repeated to check 60 mph is reached before the same landmark. No checking of fueling or timing etc.
I walked away from that and discovered R-Tech who did the job properly.
On my S3 I have a stage 2+ APR map. This is a map that has been developed previously on other cars. It was applied and the output tested on a rolling road to display the power and torque curves. It did not quite gain the values of other cars with the same hardware as there was no fine tuning for my particular car.
If I was starting again now, I would go along the. Custom map route.
Avoid some no name back street cheap company who may turn everything up too high to give you high figures as they won't be interested when things go bang!
Depending on where you live people on here will give you the best in your area.

 

[Boydie]

Having a dyno run is not essential but I prefer getting them to see where the car has come from and what gains it has made - however, a dyno run is not a true reflection on the cars power, it will just show you an increase.

You can go to one dyno and get a result and go to another a few hours later down the road and get a totally different result.

With my old S3 I kept returning to the same dyno after each stage of tuning to get the result differences.

Went to another dyno one day for a power day with a lot of other forum members and received a similar but different result, so just keep that in mind.

 

[HHS3]

All that's left, is to recommed you custom remap tuners for your S3 ME9 ECU.

The two most reputable mappers for this and rightfully so are Unicorn in Stockport or R-Tech in Hinkley. AMD Tuning who are a well respected garage in Essex also offer their own custom remaps which people have been happy with.

Revo would say that figures are only pub talk because their software is out of date and seriously lacking in comparison to custom maps, as well as APR generic maps who are all still very much supporting the 8P platform. Depending on your hardware then a typical Stage 2+ remap will see you between 360-380hp and 370-400lbs, Revo could only dream of producing those figures. I'm happy with my Revo stage 2 (and stage 1) remaps but will not be going to them for stage 2+, I wish I started off on the custom route (tends to be a little cheaper as well let alone better) which is what I'll now be doing. The driveability and power delivery of the car/remap is the most important factor of course, rather than figures.

 

[Sam1987]

Thanks for all the responses it's much as I had expected but could see some arguments either way.

Its also been notable that the chaps offering rolling road seem to have a much better steer on how the individual elements affect the output, rather than a bulk "20%" increase from the map etc. It's presumably more directly related to the individual impact read on the dyno.

I'm in the south West so not sure who's around that anyone would recommend?

 

[Marek196c]

Having a dyno run is not essential but I prefer getting them to see where the car has come from and what gains it has made - however, a dyno run is not a true reflection on the cars power, it will just show you an increase.

but still used by mappers to see the engine behaviour under the map, the run anyway will be as close as possible to normal drive, that why they checking atmospheric pressure, humidity etc etc... it's not only for figures, however if need some more info: http://www.revotechnik.com/support/technical/rolling-roads-explained