Until I bought my vRS I knew next to nothing about remapping. Three months later (and after a lot of time on this site) I know a lot more but I'm still a bit confused. I gather there are several types of remap but I'm not totally sure of the differences. If I write my own understanding here maybe someone can tell me if I have the wrong end of the stick:

1. Generic Stage 1 remap. These maps are produced by a larger company (REVO or upsolute for example) and then sold on by independent tuning retailers. They are simply flashed onto your car's ECU (either via obd2 or by removing chip from ecu) and require little or no hardware modification to the engine. You can expect between 20 and 40 bhp of extra fun. I gather that some tuning houses may tweak them a little but essentially they are a mass produced map?

2. Custom Stage 1 remap. These are built essentially from the ground up by the tuning company that you use and are properly specific to your car. Takes more expertise to do and cost more as a result. I also gather that they are less widely available. Appears to give similar performance gains but with a much more refined delivery and possibly less issues down the line? Again, no hardware mods required.

3. Custom Stage 2 remap. I've not seen any generic stage 2 remaps around so I'm guessing they don't exist? I also have not been able to find out what the difference is between a stage 1 and stage 2 remap though I gather stage 2 remaps require some hardware changes (mainly air in, exhaust out mods), produce potentially huge power gains but that they tend to be less smooth (best suited to track days rather than road driving)?

I'm sure I have got some of this wrong so any comments gratefully received.

Cheers.

iep

Edited 10 June, 200917 yr by iep

Sounds aboutright too my knowledge.

r.e. stage 2 there are generic versions like revo iirc

Just noticed I spelt remapping wrong in the title. Great start to this post.

iep

yup looks good to me

I think it's Jabba's website explains the difference between Generic and Custom as:

Custom remap being the best map indiviudally suited to a car and its associated modifications or weak points

While a Generic map is all the custom maps put together and then averaged out

I think those are the only 2 types of map but tuners tend to offer stage 1, 2, 3 which include other mods.

I know (the now bust) Allards offered different stages for TDI tuning:

stage 1 - chip only = 30BHP ish

stage 2 - chip + intake + exhaust = 50BHP ish

stage 3 - chip + intake + exhaust + large turbo + intercooler = 100BHP+