Has anyone had a custom remap done before? Has anyone used Darkside Developments? Looking at getting my vrs mapped with these guys, a map custom made and adapted for my car.

 

What are peoples views/thoughts?

 

Cheers folks!

Not had a custom map before only generic map or tuning boxes.

There are upsides and downsides to both:

Custom map:

1) Tailored to your engine for power / torque delivery and how you like it (eg. torque delivered aggressively or not)

2) Usually has the most power gains

3) Can be tailored to suit additional hardware modifications

Generic map:

1) Often tested for many hours on many different engines, when through a reputable company lots of R&D work

2) Usually slightly lower gains but often helps with the life of turbo / DMF / clutch etc. (this again depends on your custom map and quality of the generic)

I've used generic before and have always been impressed.

Tweaking the boost / fuelling / timing is easy, it's knowing whether they are safe limits long term is the question :-)

Edited 24 February, 201610 yr by xpower

I would personally go down the route of the well known tuner - Superchips, Revo, or Shark.

Realistically, unless you're sporting loads of hardware mods, there's absolutely no need for a custom remap, and the guys above know what they're doing - as Xpower said there's hours and hours that go into the R&D to perfect the software. I've used both Shark and Superchips and both were excellent products.

Just recently fitted a DTUK tuning box to my car too, and after being a tuning box sceptic in the past, the technology is so good now that it's easily as good as any remap I've had - very impressed. Also don't have the issue of voiding warranty to worry about either.

If your VRS is a manual gearbox be aware that the clutch will not last long post tuning. The clutches are the weak points on TSI/TDI's and cannot handle much more than stock. APR have developed lower-torque remaps specifically for the weak manual VRS/GTI clutches. On the plus side the manual gearboxes are bullet-proof, but plan on spending ~£800 for a clutch replacement within 0-10K miles if the map is aggressive.

Thanks for the feedback! My mk2 vrs had a Shark map and that was good. Just wondered if there was any benefit in a custom map. Looks like I'll be back at Shark at some point!

 

Cheers

Thanks for the feedback! My mk2 vrs had a Shark map and that was good. Just wondered if there was any benefit in a custom map. Looks like I'll be back at Shark at some point!

Cheers

That's who did my Mk2 FL TSI and it was great - kept up with S3's of the time.