shark_90 Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 I've kept pretty quiet about this before the Buxton meet, because to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. Since owning my A4 I've done loads of research into the tuning options, and what would be the best way to go. Obviously the best way would be to leave it stock and be happy with it, but I had the taste of quick cars fairly young and then went into an area of work that requires high mileage, and have consequently had diesels since. I was stuck with company cars for a couple of years (I had a Picasso for a while. Not bad but I never new whether I was getting in the front or the back!) some of which were quite nice, but were always run-of-the-mill 90-110bhp TDi's. When I moved jobs to my current one, it was necessary to buy my own car, so I had the choice again. Obviously I wanted something reliable, comfortable, credible, good looking, and hopefully, quick. The 1.9 130bhp diesel is quite quick as standard, the trader I bought it from also said it was one of the quickest 130's he'd had. It has oodles of torque, and even though mine's an SE, it's still quite a tight, sporty drive. And although it's quick, it's just not enough for that "stick-on grin" look. I can't remember all the exact figures, but AmD quoted me £550+VAT and an increase of 30bhp and 35lb/ft of torque Revo quoted the same money and an increase of something like 50bhp (can't remember the torque) RSD (Oettinger map) who are arguably the best diesel tuner for VAG diesels quoted me upwards of £700 with the smallest guaranteed increase of 20bhp. I wanted to go the extra mile and have the Oettinger map. Firstly I guess this would be the cheapest inurance wise. Also, I do a hell of a lot of miles and don't want to be replacing clutches every few months, and tyres every few weeks. And, through a lot of forum research, anyone who has had an Oettinger remap says it is the best they have ever driven. I believe FatCat had his car Revo'd then took it to RSD, and he was much, much more pleased with the RSD remap. A lot of you know I have been running a tuning box for some time, which gave me a rather unrefined increase, which was fun. But in the end, I decided to remove it. I lost DIS functionality which I could really do with on the long runs on the motorway, and it did affect driveability and also seemed to cause a couple of niggly problems. However there was no way I could afford a remap without sticking it on the never never and after just clambering myself out of a pile of debt, I really didn't want to do that. Whilst looking on t'ebay (of all places) to see how much I was likely to get for the tuning box, I came across 2 people advertising remaps for silly money. An astonishing £175. I emailed them both, and they both replied by the next day. I preferred one of the responses over the other, purely because I like to speak to a professional. Will from Performance Torque wrote back a very polite, concise reply (instead of the large, bold-fonted reply that my mate's 4 year old could've written that I got from the other bloke) and after I'd confirmed that I would, infact be getting a proper remap for £175, I booked a time with him. Will tells me the way he does his remaps is by reading the original ECU code, sending it off to a programmer in Germany who looks at the original code and the ECU parameters, and rewrites it accordingly. This is then sent back to Will who then remaps the ECU and Bob's your mother's brother. To remap mine, he did remove the ECU module - NOT the chip, but the entire plug-in module from the engine bay. He told me this was because he'd been doing a remap on a chap's car (which apparently involves the removal of Fuse 11) and when he had VAG-COM on it erasing the consequent fault code, the chap's wife had walked into the garage and trod on his VAG-COM cable, damaging it. Even with this laborious method, he was still done within 2 hours. The quoted figures were 161bhp and +75Nm of torque and after a test drive, I handed over my quoted £190 (£175+travelling expenses) and off I pootled down the motorway. So, first impressions: The car smoked, a lot. Even at idle there were blacky-grey whisps of smoke coming out the exhaust, which worried me a little. Will told me that this was completely normal and it would have disappeared after the test drive.. and it did! At first I wasn't sure what to think..yes the car was a little faster, and yes it had a bit more pull. I resigned myself to the fact that I'd paid £190 when I could've paid £700+ and I should be happy with the nominal increase. You get what you pay for, I guess. But I was wrong.. Will told me it would get better the more I drove it, for about 500 miles which should give it time to settle, and me to get used to it. As I was going straight on the motorway down to Bristol from Stafford it got a good long run straight away. Firstly, I had DIS, which was great. Even better was that the MPG figures were still in the mid fifties all the way down to Bristol. I could feel more urgency on the motorway, it was definately more responsive and had more "get up and go" to it. Also, I couldn't see any smoke That night, I was at John Carter's and he had a drive. I still couldn't decide if I was entirely happy with it. John said he could feel an increase and that I was probably being paranoid. So all in all, not going so well? It got a HELL of a lot better! Since Thursday I've done about 800 miles, and my God the car has been transformed! Anyone at Buxton will tell you how fast it is, and apparently according to the Smoke Police (John_Carter and audi_tosser) it's all looking good from the rear! It really is a flying machine now, and the delivery is so smooth you would never know it's not OEM. I don't know what the power increase actually is, but it feels good. 1st gear is a tyre shredder, 2nd is too unless you're careful. 3rd is monstrous for overtaking, and 70-100 on the motorway passes in the blink of an eye, without taking it out of 5th. I'd throughly recommend Will's service to anyone. He does a wide range of cars, petrol and diesel, and his prices and service really are great. And he's a top bloke to boot! I don't know how the mods feel about me posting Will's contact details here, so I won't do it at the moment, but if one of you lovely lot can OK it I'll put his email address on here so people can contact him directly if they are interested. Thanks again to Will at Performance Torque Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanW Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Sounds like a cracking deal mate, I take it this guy deals with all cars - not just diesels? Might be very useful to a few people who are talking about re maps at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Yep, lots of different makes, petrol/diesel turbo/non-turbo. He drives a Mini One at the moment and he's even remapped that! He says it is useless though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 [ QUOTE ] I've kept pretty quiet about this before the Buxton meet, because to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. Since owning my A4 I've done loads of research into the tuning options, and what would be the best way to go. Obviously the best way would be to leave it stock and be happy with it, but I had the taste of quick cars fairly young and then went into an area of work that requires high mileage, and have consequently had diesels since. I was stuck with company cars for a couple of years (I had a Picasso for a while. Not bad but I never new whether I was getting in the front or the back!) some of which were quite nice, but were always run-of-the-mill 90-110bhp TDi's. When I moved jobs to my current one, it was necessary to buy my own car, so I had the choice again. Obviously I wanted something reliable, comfortable, credible, good looking, and hopefully, quick. The 1.9 130bhp diesel is quite quick as standard, the trader I bought it from also said it was one of the quickest 130's he'd had. It has oodles of torque, and even though mine's an SE, it's still quite a tight, sporty drive. And although it's quick, it's just not enough for that "stick-on grin" look. I can't remember all the exact figures, but AmD quoted me £550+VAT and an increase of 30bhp and 35lb/ft of torque Revo quoted the same money and an increase of something like 50bhp (can't remember the torque) RSD (Oettinger map) who are arguably the best diesel tuner for VAG diesels quoted me upwards of £700 with the smallest guaranteed increase of 20bhp. I wanted to go the extra mile and have the Oettinger map. Firstly I guess this would be the cheapest inurance wise. Also, I do a hell of a lot of miles and don't want to be replacing clutches every few months, and tyres every few weeks. And, through a lot of forum research, anyone who has had an Oettinger remap says it is the best they have ever driven. I believe FatCat had his car Revo'd then took it to RSD, and he was much, much more pleased with the RSD remap. A lot of you know I have been running a tuning box for some time, which gave me a rather unrefined increase, which was fun. But in the end, I decided to remove it. I lost DIS functionality which I could really do with on the long runs on the motorway, and it did affect driveability and also seemed to cause a couple of niggly problems. However there was no way I could afford a remap without sticking it on the never never and after just clambering myself out of a pile of debt, I really didn't want to do that. Whilst looking on t'ebay (of all places) to see how much I was likely to get for the tuning box, I came across 2 people advertising remaps for silly money. An astonishing £175. I emailed them both, and they both replied by the next day. I preferred one of the responses over the other, purely because I like to speak to a professional. Will from Performance Torque wrote back a very polite, concise reply (instead of the large, bold-fonted reply that my mate's 4 year old could've written that I got from the other bloke) and after I'd confirmed that I would, infact be getting a proper remap for £175, I booked a time with him. Will tells me the way he does his remaps is by reading the original ECU code, sending it off to a programmer in Germany who looks at the original code and the ECU parameters, and rewrites it accordingly. This is then sent back to Will who then remaps the ECU and Bob's your mother's brother. To remap mine, he did remove the ECU module - NOT the chip, but the entire plug-in module from the engine bay. He told me this was because he'd been doing a remap on a chap's car (which apparently involves the removal of Fuse 11) and when he had VAG-COM on it erasing the consequent fault code, the chap's wife had walked into the garage and trod on his VAG-COM cable, damaging it. Even with this laborious method, he was still done within 2 hours. The quoted figures were 161bhp and +75Nm of torque and after a test drive, I handed over my quoted £190 (£175+travelling expenses) and off I pootled down the motorway. So, first impressions: The car smoked, a lot. Even at idle there were blacky-grey whisps of smoke coming out the exhaust, which worried me a little. Will told me that this was completely normal and it would have disappeared after the test drive.. and it did! At first I wasn't sure what to think..yes the car was a little faster, and yes it had a bit more pull. I resigned myself to the fact that I'd paid £190 when I could've paid £700+ and I should be happy with the nominal increase. You get what you pay for, I guess. But I was wrong.. Will told me it would get better the more I drove it, for about 500 miles which should give it time to settle, and me to get used to it. As I was going straight on the motorway down to Bristol from Stafford it got a good long run straight away. Firstly, I had DIS, which was great. Even better was that the MPG figures were still in the mid fifties all the way down to Bristol. I could feel more urgency on the motorway, it was definately more responsive and had more "get up and go" to it. Also, I couldn't see any smoke That night, I was at John Carter's and he had a drive. I still couldn't decide if I was entirely happy with it. John said he could feel an increase and that I was probably being paranoid. So all in all, not going so well? It got a HELL of a lot better! Since Thursday I've done about 800 miles, and my God the car has been transformed! Anyone at Buxton will tell you how fast it is, and apparently according to the Smoke Police (John_Carter and audi_tosser) it's all looking good from the rear! It really is a flying machine now, and the delivery is so smooth you would never know it's not OEM. I don't know what the power increase actually is, but it feels good. 1st gear is a tyre shredder, 2nd is too unless you're careful. 3rd is monstrous for overtaking, and 70-100 on the motorway passes in the blink of an eye, without taking it out of 5th. I'd throughly recommend Will's service to anyone. He does a wide range of cars, petrol and diesel, and his prices and service really are great. And he's a top bloke to boot! I don't know how the mods feel about me posting Will's contact details here, so I won't do it at the moment, but if one of you lovely lot can OK it I'll put his email address on here so people can contact him directly if they are interested. Thanks again to Will at Performance Torque [/ QUOTE ] So why were you so slow yesterday then? ... nah it sounds great value in terms of pounds per grin mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Good to meet you yesterday mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loddrik Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 I got a remap for the A2 from Upsolute, very happy with it, at £305 it was much better value than the 'main' companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avus_Bub Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Will tells me the way he does his remaps is by reading the original ECU code, sending it off to a programmer in Germany who looks at the original code and the ECU parameters, and rewrites it accordingly. This is then sent back to Will who then remaps the ECU and Bob's your mother's brother. [/ QUOTE ] That's what most of the better tuners in the country do anyway chaps - If you didn't know that already. Then of course the next step would be to custom 'tweak' certain areas of the map on the dyno, thus maximising any other mods or just getting that little extra! Looks like you had a result Shark !! BUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBM Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Ben - sounds like a billy bargain. Now I need to persuade the missus.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Bub - this was a mobile service, so no rolling road, but I'm still very, very pleased with it. I know you went to Star and I know their reputation is first class Paul - I've already asked him about the PD140.. he says he's waiting for the hardware but it shouldn't be long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Sounds too good to be true. You can let me know his details if you want via pm. Where about was he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 PM sent matey And he's in Staffordshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activa Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Could you PM his details to me aswell please Shark,sounds like an opportunity too good to miss. I must ask you why it improves with miles though? Whenever I've modded a turbo car the improvements have been immediate. Is it because it's a diesel? Does the ECU have like a "learn" facility that has to adapt to the new settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danksy Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Bub - this was a mobile service, so no rolling road, but I'm still very, very pleased with it. I know you went to Star and I know their reputation is first class Paul - I've already asked him about the PD140.. he says he's waiting for the hardware but it shouldn't be long [/ QUOTE ] The Dyno (Bum Dyno) is often the best. What g'tee did you get with it? Bang for the Buck sounds great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Cheers Buddy. Now let's see if i can beat your soot chucker for smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Cheers Buddy. Now let's see if i can beat your soot chucker for smoke. [/ QUOTE ] Not a CHANCE! Maybe if you catch me up on miles you won't be far off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Zero written guarantee danksy.. but I suppose if you want a guarantee you pay £550+VAT at AmD.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo283 Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Would be well keen on this sort of character to do his magic on my motor. There doesn't appear to be anyone who strikes me as being reputable in Bristol, plus I'm expecting more than £175 travelling exspenses if he's in Stafford. Anyway - good deal dude. Defo got yourself a bargain there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Maybe if you catch me up on miles you won't be far off [/ QUOTE ] Well it has done 90000 so not far off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 Only another 43,000 to go then mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markelder Posted October 13, 2005 Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 Does he do something similar for the 2.5 TDi as my parents have just bought the cabrio and there focus 1.8 TDCi out performs it! Dad wants it to be a lot quicker, but does not really want to spend huge sums of money!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subzero Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 hi, could you PM me the contact details aswel Thanks :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 Where's he based Ben? I might have to play with the Sootchucker at that price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 He's based in Stafford Chris, but I've been trying to get him to one of our meets. Might save you a bob or two that way, as he probably won't charge travelling costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durrsaku Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 so how is it going so far? how about a two week report? See if you can get a group buy. some people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted October 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 Going very well to be honest. Fuel consumption is possibly a little bit worse, but I'm only going by the DIS and I'm still getting >50mpg unless I'm thrashing it (which is rather tempting!) I'm steadily learning how to drive it and where is good for what situation, now I have more torque it's plenty easy enough to overtake in 4th at around 60 or even 5th if you have a bit more room to get her going. Even Graeme (P_G) commented on how quick it is, and he drives an S4! £190 well spent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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