Stage 1 remap considerations

[josh717]

Hi all,

I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong place, but still fairly new!

I have had an '04 Fabia vRS with a full service history and 76K miles for a few weeks now, and am considering a stage 1 remap.

Having seen posts about clutch's starting to slip after a remap, I was concerned that this may be an issue...

 

I understand it is impossible to say if my clutch will slip after a remap, but is it less likely to happen on a well maintained, low mileage car? Does anyone have any experience of this?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for somewhere to get it remapped in the Cardiff/Bristol area? 

 

Thanks in advance,

Josh

[sepulchrave]

Ask for a torque-limited map to preserve your existing clutch.

[penguin17]

Any reputable tuner should do a pre-check/inspection of your car and also advise of potential pitfalls due to mileage/make/model etc.  I know a clutch plate and DMF isn't practical to examine but some cars have clutch plates made of cheese and an experienced tuner should be able to advise you of this.   I had a car that was <6months old with ~10K on the clock but the tuner still had the bonnet up and carried out some data logging on a test drive before they even said they'd be happy to remap the car. 

 

IMHO some people's driving styles will break a clutch regardless of having a remap.  Mechanical sympathy, or lack of, will be more detrimental to the life expectancy of components. 

 

I would be wary of anyone telling you that 180bhp is achievable and then just cracks on with a laptop without even lifting the bonnet.  Hunt out a tuner on reputation and then go from there. 

[skidpan]

22 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Ask for a torque-limited map to preserve your existing clutch.

 

If you limit the torque you limit the power simply because power is calculated from the torque measured by a cunning formula.

 

Or do you mean limit the torque in the low gears or limit torque at low revs? Both these can help preserve your transmission but surely the idea of remapping is to increase performance and whilst its possible to remap for all top end power this would not IMHO be worth bothering with simply because you do not spend that much time hitting the limiter when driving in the real world.

[bspman]

Mine remapped, slipped a fair bit, but altered my driving style and it's not generally happier and not slipping except on the odd occasion. 

 

Did mine at about 100k on the clock. Now at 110k. 

Edited 8 March, 2018 by bspman

[sepulchrave]

20 minutes ago, skidpan said:

 

If you limit the torque you limit the power simply because power is calculated from the torque measured by a cunning formula.

 

Or do you mean limit the torque in the low gears or limit torque at low revs? Both these can help preserve your transmission but surely the idea of remapping is to increase performance and whilst its possible to remap for all top end power this would not IMHO be worth bothering with simply because you do not spend that much time hitting the limiter when driving in the real world.

 

Are you serious?

 

A torque-limited map will work in ALL the gears because when your clutch starts to slip it'll do it in the highest gears first, it's a cunning formula called multiplication, you were taught it at primary school remember.

 

A torque-limited remap will still make ~160 BHP but it'll keep your clutch alive much longer, obviously if you drive like an idiot then you'll still kill it.

It is somewhat outside the scope of this forum to provide advice about something for which you have to take personal responsibility!

[josh717]

Thanks very much for the advice, I guess it is a lot down to how the previous owners have driven it!

[Brogeur]

Get a map, plant your foot, let it slip, flog it when required.

 

i joke.

[skidpan]

4 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Are you serious?

 

A torque-limited map will work in ALL the gears because when your clutch starts to slip it'll do it in the highest gears first, it's a cunning formula called multiplication, you were taught it at primary school remember.

 

A torque-limited remap will still make ~160 BHP but it'll keep your clutch alive much longer, obviously if you drive like an idiot then you'll still kill it.

It is somewhat outside the scope of this forum to provide advice about something for which you have to take personal responsibility!

 

If you have the car remapped and it makes 160 bhp at 5000 rpm the car will be making 168 lbs of torque at 5000 rpm. That is a simple fact.

 

Some cars have the power/torque limited in the lower gears to prevent damage to gearboxes and clutches, probably more important when they are fitted with dubious DSG boxes, even VAG limit the torque output on those.

[JWvrs25]

54 minutes ago, skidpan said:

 

If you have the car remapped and it makes 160 bhp at 5000 rpm the car will be making 168 lbs of torque at 5000 rpm. That is a simple fact.

 

Some cars have the power/torque limited in the lower gears to prevent damage to gearboxes and clutches, probably more important when they are fitted with dubious DSG boxes, even VAG limit the torque output on those.

its the low revs torque which kills the clutch and boxes, not top end power

 You cant limit torque in specific gears on these manual boxes, and if you could why would you want to do it in lower gears? its the higher gears which cause the most strain on the clutch when your putting most torque through at lower revs.

[stevobeavo]

Go to a proper company and as stated ask them to limit the torque. The Standard clutch is rated to 300lbft. You can also ask them for the torque to come in a bit later in the rev range to help prevent the clutch from slipping. 

 

Personally I'd budget for a clutch replacement then get a remap so if it does go you have the funds available for a new one. 

[josh717]

Thanks again, will look at the cost of changing the clutch if needed and look into a torque limited map.