adamfrey

Just curious about people's thoughts on these different tuning options. I live in GA with 93 octane gas.

Goes2fast

I'm in the process of buying a 2018 S4 but I have a 2017 Golf R with an APR stage 2 tune and I'm very happy with it. My car turns low 12s at our 6,000 ft altitude.

Netcho

I have gone for the RaceChip RS. Also did a video of it including the dyno test:

CroftyOriginal

I had the RaceChip for my old A4 and while I could definitely feel a difference, they are still a one tune fits all deal though. I prefer going to a company in person and getting it tuned on a rolling road, therefore it's tuned to your actually car not just a generic tune. With that being said, RaceChip and other tuning chips do work and are good for the price. It's personal preference really, just make sure your car is healthy enough before plugging it in.

Netcho

I completely understand your point and you are correct - it comes down to personal believe and money to spend. My problem with tune shops is that there a lot of those that just pretend to know what they are doing. I believe a big percentage of those work with predefined tune files that they get from their paid service for their hardware that does the tune (been there done that). In that sense I rather go with RaceChip than shoot in the dark. The real good shops charge arm and leg for their work delivering more or less the same output. As for the car condition it needs to be perfect in both ways of tuning. The good thing about Chip boxes is that you can remove it the moment you feel it is not working ok. With Remap that is impossible without going back to the shop and quite often paying a price.

Dan99

You should also consider 034.

jimmyTT01

I have ran Apr and Unitronic in the past on VWs and Audis both were good. I felt APR was a bit spikey and Uni felt smoother.
I looked at Racechip a couple times but went with JB4 as the support was really good and could be custom tuned to your preferences if needed. I have ran the JB4 on map 4 and it pulls good. Since I am coming out of warranty in Sept I am going to switch to a tune and sell the JB4.

There are a lot of companies doing flash at home as well.

pleedell

Racechip is a piggyback, and not a very good one. If you want to go the piggyback route then the gold standard is JB4.
As to APR and unitronic they are both flash tunes and to be honest are pretty much on par with the rest of the flash tunes out there. So make your choice based on cost, availability of support, and extra features you may or may not want. IE and 034 are others that you may want to consider as well.

digitalmethods

034 or APR is the 2 I'm back and forth on. 034 is looking good. Integrated engineering have some nice stuff too.

pleedell

Another thing you may want to consider is the availability of a TCU file in addition to the ECU. By all accounts tuning the 8speed auto is well worth it, I know 034 and IE both have this option.